The Brilliant Rivalry of Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon

Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn - the first two wives of the Tudor king, Henry VIII - are so often portrayed as opposites. Katherine as the loyal, scorned wife - Anne as the bright, bewitching upstart.
But now Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb returns to Hever Castle to explore what Anne and Katherine were really like - two well-educated women whose personalities and actions lie at the heart of the upheaval of Henry VIII’s reign. They shape this story - and play just as large a role in it as any of the men.
You can watch the full episode here on History Hit TV: access.historyhit.com/what-s-...
Suzannah sifts through the evidence, the love letters sent by Henry Viii and two near-identical bibles owned by Anne and Katherine that Hever have brought together for the first time in nearly 500 years. They are full of clues about the women's personalities and beliefs.
Although Anne and Katherine’s rivalry changed history, Suzannah poses a surprising question: did these fascinating, well-educated women have more in common than separated them?
And make sure you stay tuned right to the end - you won't want to miss the secret pink bathroom where Anne read Henry's love letters!Sign up to History Hit TV now and get 14 days free: access.historyhit.com/checkout
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[@HistoryHit]

Hope you enjoyed guys! Remember you can watch the full episode on History Hit TV: access.historyhit.com/what-s-new/videos/anne-boleyn-katherine-of-aragon-brilliant-rivals

[@GMT439]

Proof of all CLAIMS on this Channel are Required for Validation Purposes.

[@wednesdayschild3627]

Catherine wasn't ugly and fat. She was still beautiful but hit menopause. Henry never respected any of his wives as he did Catherine. Henry wanted an heir period.

[@lianefehrle9921]

Back then big was beautiful

[@pawanj1019]

​@@lianefehrle9921 proof?

[@anitat9727]

Nah. He still didn't respect her given how he buried her. He was just a douche

[@mrskeeley1993]

He only loved and respected Jane Seymour considering she gave him a sin and he was buried next to her

[@cindybennett_80]

Katherine was never considered a beauty, but she was not ugly. Many foreign ambassadors have left descriptions of her, from the entire time she was in England. At the Field of the Cloth of Gold, she was described as “old and deformed”. At 35 years old, she was described by the Spanish ambassador as looking “nearly 50.” And he was definitely heavy by then.

[@sarimento1]

Prof Suzy never fails to give these old stories new life and new light! Thanks!

[@lanareed214]

She is amazing isn't she❤❤

[@Jordan-zg8yr]

It is actually ironic as their beloved daughters are buried togethereven though neither of them stated they wanted to share a tomb together.

[@N_0968]

Suzannah Lipscomb is my favourite.

[@NessaBear90]

Mine too!! 🥰🥰

[@mbgal7758]

I love her too but Dan Jones is my favorite. He’s so sexy and has all those tattoos 😂

[@NessaBear90]

@@mbgal7758 Oh yes! I loved when they did that docuseries together on the 6 Wives of Henry VIII. It's one of my favorites.

[@mbgal7758]

@@NessaBear90 I really liked that one too. I went through hell and back trying to sign up to BBC+ so I could watch it. It was worth it 😆

[@NessaBear90]

@@mbgal7758 I just bought it through Amazon prime video lol. I think it was cheaper. Idk maybe but I love it 😂😂

[@Daniel_McDonald]

Looks like Henry only upgraded from Catherine to Anne for a "better chance" at a son.

[@ammielake]

Henry got off playing Catherine and Anne against each other just like he did, Anne and Jane. Catherine was the lucky one of the three she made it out alive. Anne didn't, have her executed so she could Marry Henry, that was Jane. She paid for her own actions via childbirth.

[@simronethe1st]

Ikrr that’s also my opinion

[@mrskeeley1993]

I think Katherine Howard would not agree she was a lucky one having her head chipped off aswell

[@simronethe1st]

@@mrskeeley1993 I think she meant Catherine of Aragon

[@angyliv8040]

😂😂 you only execute a queen like Catherine, daughter of one of the powerful royal houses in the world at the moment, if you are crazy.😅

[@SWLinPHX]

Catherine (Katherine) of Aragon's parents were the famed King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who financed Columbus's voyage to America -- and then her daughter was "Bloody Mary". For what it's worth (you can take that with a stalk of celery).

[@melissa-wilson]

I just adore Professor Kathryn Lipscomb. I also adore Dan Snow and Dan Jones. In fact, ALL the History Hit narrators are fantastic. ❤️ them all!

[@N_0968]

Suzannah not Katherine.

[@namaschu2126]

Very interesting, thank you so much 👑👸🤴

[@Thor13332]

In the end Henry betrayed both.

[@stephenwarhurst6615]

Henry the VIII the first time in recorded History of a trophy wife hunter. When one gets too long in the tooth he just up-dates to a new younger wife then on to the next one. Leonardo DiCaprio could be a descendant ?

[@idontgiveafaboutyou]

Not the first time 😂

[@TheAegisClaw]

Heh, good time for this shortly after I finished the excellent Wolf Hall

[@kelliecostello5594]

Ok I guess I need to get history hit I’ve been influenced 😂

[@grrriallen7192]

I have read, many,many times and places, that the Pomegranate was a symbol of fertility (possibility due to the many, many seeds inside the Pomegranate.

[@nancyM1313]

Thank you💕

[@Stephano_v_Bove__]

Dr Lipscomb you are an awesome history presenter! Are you fluent in French too??

[@joseaugustodavila9071]

Very interesting episode. Just one thing. It is pronounced /tras’tamara/, with the stress in the second syllable.

[@williamrobinson7435]

Thanks Prof Liscomb for another great film. Especially pertinent upon the occasion of International Women's Day. The shots of Hever Castle, esp at the end are breathtaking camera work. Nice one Team! 🌟👍

[@silahsammy]

Imagine if he had a boy with KOA wow what a powerful King 👑 he would have become

[@sarahudson108]

They did have son , but he died at 52 days old , he was named after Henry and wouldhave been the ninth King of that name . Katherine lost 4 other children, Mary was the only one who lived to adult hood.

[@katherinecollins4685]

Very interesting

[@williamromine5715]

Did Henry acually write these letters, or were they written by scribe for him? If they are in his own hand, his penmanship was quite good. I imagine writing with a quill would be very difficult, and time consuming. If you write something and then change your mind, there is no erase button, and you would probably have to start a new page. So much easier to just dictate to a scribe.

[@historyofnerdom6111]

Henry was incredibly articulate and intelligent he also was known to write poetry so chances are very high that he wrote them himself

[@williamromine5715]

@@historyofnerdom6111 you are probably right. I just wonder about the time needed to make changes for spelling and grammatical errors. Of course spelling and grammar today are not as rigid as when I was in school(I'm 81), and probably less so during his reign. Anyway, thanks.

[@wednesdayschild3627]

The people who study the letters say that Henry wrote them. They also say Elizabeth of York taught him. He was the spare. His handwriting shows some of the characteristics of Elizabeth of York's handwriting.

[@williamromine5715]

@@wednesdayschild3627 Thank you. Very interesting.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks.

[@s1nb4d59]

I just love suzy as the host of these history hits.

[@graphiquejack]

I’m not sure about the story of the miniatures. Do we know for sure Katherine commissioned them and do we know if there was only the one set? Seems to me Henry could have commissioned one just of himself and gave that to Anne in a bracelet, but it’s been lost over time. With so little documented evidence to go on, it’s hard to be certain of anything, which is partly why this history has fascinated us for so long. We can make up in our minds, to a degree, what happened, what their personalities were like, even how they may have looked.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Competition between two ladies of English past upper class members for winning favorite of a British King 🤴 ...one of them a former wife ( failed to bring a son for King ,and other an attractive & enlightening mistress of that British King... both women faced slaughtering inside brilliant, glorious castles 🏰... while a second one her name related to Protestants doctrines

[@lianefehrle9921]

Oh you sneaky 😮😮😮

[@wvmountaingirl1976]

Absolutely love Suzanne, too bad Dan isn't on here with her.

[@catherineaustin2]

Dang, I want to see thee whole thing 😳

[@Rob-uv8bu]

Amazing how she get history out

[@yadiradelgado9220]

Idk who is doing he captions but they don’t know their Roman numerals They keep putting Henry VII instead of VIII smh

[@carolinemarierafaellevanhu1740]

🙏❤️🙏

[@cato1684]

I cannot agree with the word rivalry. Catherine would never have considered Lady Anne to be a rival. Queen Catherine basically stuck to her guns because as the daughter of a powerful woman Monarch, she saw no reason why Princess Mary could not be the heir. Henry’s need for a son definitely brought Anne to the forefront and she played a brilliant game to ensure he married her.

[@user-kc4rl6gt9t]

Someone's had elocution classes!

[@shahjhanhaider26]

It's strange that king Henry viii wrote love letters in french to Ann Boleyn inspite of having Catherine as her wife, Sceptical view is that either it's romance or out of worry of not having male issue from the Catherine,the king knew french language ,why an English king would write french?His mistres Catherine who latter was his wife was much worried when romance started off between king and Ann Boleyn.The letters were worthwhile and they are part of history,

[@GachaStuff-ux4ku]

You know what hurts, So you know how Anne got revenge by Elizbeth (by becoming a female monrach when Henry never wanted girls to rule) Catherine never got any revenge on him in his lifetime So respects for Catherine Of Aragon

[@aesperfect]

Catherine solos Anne

[@user-ck7dh7bw2o]

Fr

[@idontgiveafaboutyou]

Team Katherine lol

[@Daniel_McDonald]

Looks like Catherine got the short end of the stick, but at least we got Anne Boleyn out of it!

[@jackiebayliss]

Its Anne who got the short end the stick, at least Catherine got to keep her head.

[@danielhughes441]

Why does she lisp when she says “Castille”? Is is not a Spanish word, nor would the “s” be lisped in Castellano.

[@angyliv8040]

We don’t pronounce s with a lisp. We only do this with c and z. Some andalucian dialects make this lisp in s sounds. We pronounce s in the traditional Latin way but only in Spain. In other countries they don’t do the same s.

[@Bibliotecanatalie]

Catherine’s parents took Granada from the Arabs and the pomegranate is an Arab symbol

[@angyliv8040]

😂 it’s the name of the city no an Arabs symbol. Granada means pomegranate (you didn’t notice the similarities in both words??). It’s in the Spanish coat of arms and symbolizes the last kingdom. The others are Aragon, Castile, Navarra, Leon.

[@Bibliotecanatalie]

@@angyliv8040 pomegranates were brought by the Arabs from Syria to Granada. Better start reading

Yep, Henry The Eight was an outrageous person,truly but my grand-grandma Anne, she's so ellegant.

[@beckyleonardis6331]

Henry was just a terrible husband! They deserved better!

[@animallover6645]

Why do the British in those days have such weird faces with weird eyebrows.

[@lesleywilkie2848]

These portraits are over 500 years old, different times, different styles of painting, different fashions, different ways of thinking. In my opinion Hans Holbein (and later Vermeer) painted more realistic portraits.

[@A_5678]

Inbreeding.

[@peterphilstacey4698]

Boleyn won, got head lanced

[@SuperMarkizas]

If only these days we could get away with this terrible written version of French, I'd be proficient in few months 😄

[@Dreamfyre]

I don’t give a shit what people think. Anne Boleyn >>> Catherine. I’ve always preferred her over Catherine.

[@angyliv8040]

Catherine was brilliant like her mother. From the house of trastamara in Galicia, the land mother of celts nations. One of the oldest houses in Europe. They were warriors women. Bolena didn’t do anything. Well yes get in the middle of a marriage. In my country we called “ser una z…”

[@Dreamfyre]

@@angyliv8040 Congrats on your opinion, want a cookie?

[@ardenalexa94]

I admire all of the queens Henry married. They all accomplished different things.

[@ardenalexa94]

@@angyliv8040 Henry had his sights set on her. She couldn’t say no. Saying no to the king in those days was an unwise thing.

[@Dreamfyre]

@@ardenalexa94 I respect that