Catherine of Aragon Married by Proxy: She's 13, He's 12
The signatures happened on a Sunday in May, 2,300 miles apart. Catherine stood before lawyers in a Spanish church while a proxy held Arthur's portrait. Arthur did the same in England. Neither child spoke the same language. Neither had met. Their fathers—Ferdinand and Henry VII—had been negotiating this deal for eleven years, since Catherine was two years old. The marriage would bind Spain and England against France. It lasted exactly 143 days. Arthur died of sweating sickness in 1482, leaving Catherine in diplomatic limbo for seven years until she married his younger brother Henry. That went differently.
May 19, 1499
527 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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