Our Lady of Aragon: An Alternate History of "The King's Great Matter"

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I. The Chronicles of Parnell St. Luke (Part 1.)
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    • starboy

    set colour scheme to black to see text best :)

    OUR LADY OF ARAGON:
    An Alternate History of "The King's Great Matter"

    1674401338964.jpeg

    A statue of Catherine of Aragon, imagined weeping as
    Mary, mother of God (c. 1599)

    "It's you, it's you, it's all for you,
    everything I do,
    I tell you all the time,
    Heaven is a place on earth with you,
    tell me all the things you wanna do,
    I heard that you like the bad girls"
    honey, is that true?

    It's better than I ever even knew,
    they say that this world was built for two,
    only worth living if somebody is loving you,
    and, baby, now you do."

    -Lana Del Rey, Video Games
    ​
    PROLOGUE 1501-1527
    I. The Chronicles of Parnell St. Luke (PART 1.)

    I. The Chronicles of Parnell St. Luke


    9d6b059320240beec1e95979ac7e4670.jpg

    A depiction of the ship carrying Saint Catherine of Aragon to England (c. 1530s)    ​

    The Chronicles of Parnell St. Luke have been celebrated by historians for centuries as the most in-depth and beautiful accounts of the lives of those living in Tudor England. In his chronicles, Parnell gives us an almost poetic account of the times and troubles of a wide range of people of the era, from the prejudice towards the impoverished Irish on the streets of the London, the politics and economics of the realm, opinions of the ruling class among the working class and vice versa to the hardships of the Tudor woman and the Pilgrimage of the Stars, a complex conflict of religious and moral attitude in England and Ireland which would ultimately lead to the first consolidation of real female power and hypercatholicizing of the nation, Parnell covered it all.

    In fact, it is likely that Parnell is one of the leading contributors to the growing interest of the modern day youth being so interested in the Tudor era, as his chronicles provide us with first-person experience the fanciful tales of romance, heartbreak, war, angst, miracles, tradition, religion, music and strong characters that both young men and woman can look up to and revere, his words give insight into the tension filled times before Britannia's two kingdoms were launched into glory, power and riches.

    However, the most of his chronicles success and fame come his detailed accounts on the life of Saint Catherine of Aragon, the first and true wife of Henry VIII of England and daughter of the Catholic monarchs, the couple who began the Spanish inquisition, completed the reconquista and left their greatest legacy by being patrons of Christopher Columbus.

    ImageGen.ashx.png

    The first published version of "Our Lady of Aragon",
    published in c. 1600
    ​
    The first time Parnell's writing was ever published was in 1600. It had been published originally only for the Queen Mother, who had grown a deep interest in the stories her mother used to tell her of her grandmother, soon, she had leant it to one of her ladies-in-waiting, who suggested it be published in order to spread the message of the greatest Queen that England had ever had all over the realm and to the colonies too.

    The first chapter of Our Lady of Aragon was dedicated to Catherine's premature arrival in England, her landing (and short stay) at Plymouth. He initially did not know who she was and described her as a "ethereal mystery" possessing "a beauty that would make the devil want to repent". It is from this opening chapter we draw most of our knowledge on Catherine appearance from, in her youth she had long, golden hair that "shimmered like spun-gold in the sunlight", a rosy-white colouring and a short, plumpish figure which oozed regality. He expresses that despite presumably being in a new, foreign land she held her head high, not a single move indicating she was nervous. She was queenly in every sense of the word.


    Pomegranate_Badge_of_Mary_I.svg


    Hi, sorry this first section is so short and ends on a point which doesn't really sound like an ending but when I was trying to more my mind just could
    not concentrate, so I have decided to split this into two parts.     Obviously, Parnell St. Luke is a fictional character who I will be using to occasionally to
    portray things going on in the lower classes of England at the time, and how they shaped the socio-economic state of England throughout the
    period ITTL. I feel I should note that this timeline is just for fun and to give me something that I could use to motivate me to research more into this period
    of history, so it will not be super realistic and some things may seem a bit ASB but I would really appreciate it if you would just go with it, especially since this will
    probably turn into a HUGE Catherine of Aragon wank but I don't mind, as she is my favourite historical figure jointly with her sister, Juana."

    -starboy :)

    ​
     
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    • Dragonboy

    Very promosing start! I imagine since you said that this will be a Cath wank, it means surviving babies gallore for her and henry.
     
    HortenseMancini

    HortenseMancini

    I too find Catherine of Aragon to be an impressive woman, and I am interested to see what you do with this TL. However, one quibble, please put your text in black next time, I could barely read it!
     

    Tupolev0247

    It would be fun to see the Tudors win the Spanish throne with the same IOTL quasi-ASB moment that almost killed the Bourbons during the War of the Spanish Succession. The Spanish surely in this case instead of spending all their gold ruining themselves fighting the Dutch, Germans or Portuguese would do so fighting the French and probably when in the future of ITTL someone asks them if it was worth ruining their empire just to screw the French, they will probably give you this answer:

    Spaniards: YES and we would do it again!
     
    ranichi17

    ranichi17

    Queen Mother implies Mary's daughter (at least that's who I'm assuming this is), abdicated in favor of her child around 1600.
     
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