Would you marry a man who had put to death two of his five former wives, set two others aside and remarried quickly after one died in childbirth? If this man had the power to send you to the chopping block on just his word, would you be comfortable as his new wife? This is the situation that Queen
Katherine Parr faced.
Katherine Parr was in love with someone else when she became the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII. She really did not wish to marry Henry, but had to obey him as her sovereign lord. By the time he married her, Henry had settled down somewhat to a comparatively peaceful life. This was due in part to his painful, ulcerous leg. Katherine spent much time reading and conversing with her husband to help keep his mind off of the pain. He enjoyed her company and appreciated her fine mind. His other wives had mostly been chosen for their good looks and vivacity. For his last wife, Henry chose a woman who would be more of a comfort to him.
Katherine was a godly, and kind woman who was partially responsible for reconciling Henry with his daughters from his first two marriages, both of whom would later become Queens. His eldest daughter would become Mary I (also known in history as “Bloody Mary” due to her persecution of the Protestants). Anne Boleyn’s daughter would become Elizabeth I. Katherine also developed a good relationship with Henry’s son Edward, his child with Jane Seymour. When Henry died, this son would become king and known as Edward VI.
Katherine married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. Although she must have been brought up as a 
Catholic, she later became sympathetic to and interested in the “New Faith.” She was probably of the Reformed religion by the mid-1540s. And we can be sure that she held some strong Reformed ideas because after Henry’s death, her book, Lamentacions of a synner (“Lamentations of a Sinner”) was published in late 1547. The book promoted the reformed concept of justification by faith alone, a doctrine which the Catholic Church deemed to be heresy. Catholic Bishop Stephen Gardiner and Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of Southampton, knew of her Reformed persuasion and probably of the Bible studies that she and her ladies were conducting secretly, and these two influential men tried to turn Henry VIII against her in 1546. (One of the ladies at her Bible study was Anne Askew, a martyr for her faith, whom we have met elsewhere in this Blog.) Remember, Henry was really a staunch Catholic, and had started burning heretics again after Anne Boleyn’s death. Henry’s health was bad and the Catholics at this time were worried about what would happen after Henry’s death. Who would run the country – The Catholic party or the Reformers? In those days the political parties lined up according to religion. Often, political leaders were not that religious themselves, but used the faith of the devout followers to create factions.
An arrest warrant was drawn up for Katherine by the Catholic faction. She became aware of this and knew she needed to act quickly to save herself and her other Reformed friends. She managed to reconcile with the King by going into his chamber and bowing submissively.
She pleaded with him,
Your Majesty doth right well know, neither I myself am ignorant, what great imperfection and weakness by our first creation, is allotted unto us women, to be ordained and appointed as inferior and subject unto men as our head, from which head all our direction ought to proceed, … Where womanly weakness and natural imperfection, ought to be tolerated, aided, and borne without, so that by his wisdom such things as are lacking in her, ought to be supplied.
The idea here is that Katherine submitted herself to Henry in order to prevent her arrest. It was very courageous for this woman to face the man who had already beheaded two wives, set aside two others, and callously remarried within months after the death of the fifth one. On his whim, she could have gone to the scaffold. Henry did not accept any opinions by anyone else on religion. He considered himself to be a theologian in his own right. After all, he was a published author, having written many protests against Martin Luther. How dare a woman, even his wife, question his authority over all things religious in England?
Fortunately, Henry accepted Katherine’s obeisance and the two were on congenial terms again. The plot of Wriothesley’s faction failed. By her outstanding courage, Katherine prevented what could have been a very grave situation for England after Henry’s death.
Katherine’s brave actions may have also helped to save the Reformation in England. Henry could have been so irritated with her that he named Catholic advisors for his son after his death. Instead, Henry would name Edward’s uncles, devout Reformers, to be his councilors until Edward reached maturity. Edward VI would begin the reformation of the faith in England.
While women today would see Katherine’s behavior as humiliating, Katherine would have considered it a small price to pay for the cause of Christ. She was able to see beyond herself to the big picture. She knew what was at stake and was willing to submit herself as much as she needed in order to follow God.
We may not all be called on to face certain death, but we can learn a lesson in humility from Katherine. It is wise to submit to those in authority and trust God to take care of us.
“For the Lord will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:26)
Featured Books
Books on Christian Women in the Patristic World
Christian Women in the Early Church
For the last few months I have posted stories on significant women from the Patristic age. The lives of many thousands of people were touched as these women followed their call from God to a life of service in His Kingdom.
Due to space, the blog posts barely cover short stories of their lives. I tried to include some background in the posts, but much more has been written about life for women during the first 5 centuries after Christ. Here are 4 of the books that I relied heavily on. They do a very thorough job of recounting the stories of early Church women, their culture, and their legacies. They are both informative and exciting to read and I highly recommend them as a truly enjoyable way to learn history!
— Cohick, Lynn H. and Hughes, Amy Brown. Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017).
This scholarly work contains the stories of women in the early Church. The book also demonstrates how the Church was helped in its formation by women. Women did more than share the good news of salvation in Christ. They helped shape theology and culture. The authors, Lynn H. Cohick and Amy Brown Hughes bring the far distant past to life for us with their extremely engaging writing. I can’t put it any better than Scot McKnight in his credit for the book, “I constantly encourage students and pastors to tell more stories about women in the early church from the pulpit, in classes, and in casual conversations. … Christian Women in the Patristic World… is a book for every pastor’s and teachers’ bookshelf because it not only tells stories about women but also shows how the early church, which has often been maligned for its reputation when it comes to women, was more formed by women than many know.”
— Cooper, Kate. Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women(New York, NY: The Overlook Press, 2013).
Kate Cooper’s book gives us a picture of women in the early Church. She focuses on the stories of the individual women by putting them in their cultural context. Her chapters are somewhat divided according to the purpose and path of each woman’s life rather than a chronological order. She begins with women named in the Bible in the first century. A pivotal character is Thecla who was a disciple of the apostle Paul. Though not named in the Bible, Thecla’s story is widely known and she became an example of the early Christian life of ascetism, piety, evangelism, and pilgrimage. Other topics include martyrs, mothers, pilgrims, desert mothers, scholars, and empresses. If you followed my series on women in the Patristic era (Posts February through May, 2019) these categories will look familiar. Kate Cooper’s book is a joy to read. She connects all of these women to the overall culture and to each other. If you want to know more about history this is a really enjoyable way to learn it.
– Deen, Edith, Great Women of the Christian Faith, (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour and Company, Inc., 1959).
In this book on great Christian women in history, you will encounter the stories of 45 spiritual leaders and 76 other women from around the world. The stories include women from many denominations. Theological controversies are put aside. The important thing about each woman is that she loves Jesus and that her life shows how she served God faithfully.
You will be inspired as you read the stories of martyrs, mothers, wives, and even political leaders. The stories span the last twenty centuries (at least up until the writing of the book in 1959).
Of special interest for this review is the fact that Edith Deen relates the stories many women from the Patristic Era (2nd through 5th centuries) including some who were not covered in the blog posts. Edith Deen had a great gift as a storyteller and I think you will find it to be a great book to share with your daughters and other Christian women who are interested in stories of past female saints.
– Kavanagh, Julia, Women of Christianity, Exemplary for Acts of Piety and Charity, (My copy is a public domain reprint. Originally published by D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1869).
Don’t let the nineteenth century English deter you. The book is so full of stories of women that you have never heard of and is so fascinating that you will be delighted to wade through it.
The author explains that it would have taken her many years to cover all of the great and pious women in history; the present book is only the beginning. (There are hundreds of women included.) Of course, it only goes through 1869, but we have many modern good books to fill in since then. (Such as the other 3 books reviewed above.)
Obviously Julia Kavanagh had to condense a lot of stories, but I hope that it will encourage the reader to get larger biographies of these women; many are easy to find on Amazon.com or at other booksellers.
Her criteria for the women she chose from history included those women who, “inherited this spirit (the spirit of Christ), who have filled their lives with acts of self-denial, who like their great Master, have gone about doing good.” All of the women in the “Women of the Patristic Era” blog series fit this description.
Sisters of the Spirit
Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century
Edited with an Introduction by William L. Andrews (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986).
February is Black History Month. In honor of the many black men and women who made significant contributions to society I am dedicating the next few blog posts to three incredible and amazing black women: Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote. I highly recommend the book, Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. It is sad that so many stories of black women have been lost. In this book we are privileged to read about the women from their own accounts.
These autobiographies will reveal that the women were products of their time. They understood bondage, but they did not become fanatical. They lived in traditional marriages in submission to their husbands. But they also saw themselves as preachers called by God to bring revival. Being black women, they were on the lowest rung of the social hierarchical ladder, but that did not stop them from following their call from God to preach the Gospel. They believed that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to whomever He wills irrespective of gender.
Jarena Lee (1783 – 1864) was born to free but poor black parents. She was the first African American woman to give us an account of her religious experiences. It was first published as The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Leein 1836. (It was later revised and expanded in 1849, but the account in this book is the 1836 account.)
Zilpha Elaw (1790 – ???) was born free, but her parents died when she was twelve. She went to live with a Quaker family where she learned to rely on the Holy Spirit’s power in her life. Her preaching was compelling and many lives were changed. The book, published in 1846 contains her Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels and Labours of Mrs. Zilpha Elaw, An American Female of Colour
Julia A. J. Foote (1823 – 1900) was born to former slaves in Schenectady, New York. her book, A Brand Plucked from the Fire: An Autobiographical Sketchwas published in 1879. Julia traveled throughout the United States and Canada for more than fifty years preaching in churches, camp meetings, and revivals.
Buy Now