CATHERINE OF

See also:

• VALOIS, COUNTS AND DUKES OF
• VALOIS, HENRI DE [VALESIUS] (1603-1676)

VALOIS (1401-1437)  , queen of Henry V. of England, daughter of Charles VI. of France by his wife Isabel of Bavaria, was born in Paris on the 27th of October 1401 . The lunacy of her father and the depravity of her mother were serious drawbacks to Catherine, and her only education was obtained in a convent at Poissy . About 1408 a marriage was suggested between the princess and Henry, prince of Wales, afterwards Henry V., who renewed this proposal after he became king in March 1413 . In addition to the hand of Catherine, however, the English king asked for a large dowry both in money and lands, and when these demands were rejected war broke out . Once or twice during short intervals of peace the marriage project was revived, and was favoured by Queen Isabel . When peace was eventually made at Troyes in May 1420 Henry and Catherine were betrothed, and the marriage took place at Troyes on the 2nd of June 1420 . Having crossed to England with Henry, the queen was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 23rd of February 1421, and in the following December gave birth to a son, afterwards King Henry VI . She joined Henry in France in May 1422, returning to England after his death in the succeeding August . Catherine's name soon began to be coupled with that of Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, and in 1428 Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, secured the passing of an act to prevent her from marrying without the consent of the king and council . It appears, however, that by this time Catherine and Tudor were already married . They lived in obscurity till 1436, when Tudor was imprisoned, and Catherine retired to Bermondsey Abbey, where she died on the 3rd of January 1437 . Her body was buried in the Lady chapel of Westminster Abbey, and when the chapel was pulled down during the reign of Henry VII., was placed in Henry V.'s tomb .

It

lay afterwards under the Villiers monument, and in 1878 was re-buried in Henry V.'s chantry . By Tudor Catherine had three sons and a daughter . Her eldest son by this marriage; Edmund, was created earl of Richmond in 1452, and was the father of Henry VII . See Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, vol. iii . (London, 1877) .