CATHERINE

catherine, saint. the roman hagiology contains the record of six saints of this name. 1. st catherine of alexandria, virgin and martyr, whose day of commemoration recurs on the 25th of november, and in some places on the 5th of march. 2. st catherine of sweden, a daughter of st bridget, who died abbess of watzen in march 1381, and is commemorated on the 22nd of that month. 3. st catherine of siena, 1347-1380, whose festal day is observed on the 30th of april. 4. st catherine of bologna, 1413-1463, a visionary, abbess of the convent of the poor clares in bologna, canonized by pope benedict xiii., and commemorated throughout the franciscan order on the 9th of march. 5. st catherine of genoa,[1] who belonged to the noble family of fieschi, was born about 1447, spent her life and her means in succouring and attending on the sick, especially in the time of the plague which ravaged genoa in 1497 and 1501, died in that city in 1510, was beatified by clement v. in 1675 and canonized by clement xii. in 1737; her name was placed in the calendar on the 22nd of july by benedict xiv. 6. st catherine de' ricci, of florence, daughter of a wealthy merchant prince, was born in 1522, became a nun in the convent of the dominicans at prato in 1536, and died in 1589. she was famous during her life-time for the weekly ecstasy of the passion, during which in a trance she experienced the sufferings of the holy virgin contemplating the passion of her son. she was canonized in 1746 by benedict xiv., who fixed her festal day on the 13th of february. in celtic and english martyrologies (november 25) there is also commemorated st catherine audley (_c._ 1400), a recluse of ledbury, hereford, who was reputed for piety and clairvoyance. st catherine, virgin and martyr. of two of these saints, st catherine of alexandria, _the_ st catherine _par excellence_, and st catherine of siena, something more must be said. of the former history has little or nothing to tell. the maronite scholar, joseph simon assemani (1687-1768), first identified her with the royal and wealthy lady of alexandria (eusebius, _hist. eccl._ viii. 14) who, for refusing the solicitations of the emperor maximinus, was deprived of her property and banished. but rufinus (_hist. eccl._ viii. 17) called this lady dorothea, and the old catherine legend, as recorded in the roman martyrology and by simeon metaphrastes, has quite other features. according to it catherine was the daughter of king konetos, eighteen years old, beautiful and wise. during the persecution under maximinus she sought an interview with the emperor, upbraided him for his cruelties, and adjured him to give up the worship of false gods. the angry tyrant, unable to refute her arguments himself, sent for pagan scholars to argue with her, but they were discomfited. catherine was then scourged and cast into prison, and the empress was sent to reason with her; but the dauntless virgin converted not only the empress but the roman general and his soldiers who had accompanied her. maximinus now ordered her to be broken on the wheel; but the wheel was shattered by her touch. the headsman's axe proved more fatal, and the martyr's body was borne by angels to mount sinai, where justinian i. built the famous monastery in her honour. another development of the legend is that in which, having rejected many offers of marriage, she was taken to heaven in vision and betrothed to christ by the virgin mary. of all these marvellous incidents very little, by the universal admission of catholic scholars, has survived the test of modern criticism. that st catherine actually existed there is, indeed, no evidence to disprove; and it is possible that some of the elements in her legend are due to confusion with the story of hypatia (q.v.), the neo-platonic philosopher of alexandria, who was done to death by a christian mob. to the men of the middle ages, in any case, st catherine was very real; she was ranked with the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, and was the constant theme of preachers and of poets. her festival was celebrated in many places with the utmost splendour, and in certain dioceses in france was a holy day of obligation as late as the beginning of the 17th century. numberless chapels were dedicated to her, and in nearly all churches her statue was set up, the saint being represented with a wheel, her instrument of torture, and sometimes with a crown and a book. the wheel being her symbol she was the patron saint of wheelwrights and mechanics; as the confounder of heathen sophistry she was invoked by theologians, apologists, preachers and philosophers, and was chosen as the patron saint of the university of paris; as the most holy and illustrious of christian virgins she became the tutelary saint of nuns and virgins generally. so late as the 16th century, bossuet delivered a panegyric upon her, and it was the action of dom deforis, the benedictine editor of his works, in criticizing the accuracy of the data on which this was based, that first discredited the legend. the saint's feast was removed from the breviary at paris about this time, and the devotion to st catherine has since lost its earlier popularity. see leon clugnet's article in the _catholic encyclopaedia_, vol. iii. (london, 1908). st catherine of siena. st catherine of siena was the youngest of the twenty-five children of giacomo di benincasa, a dyer, and was born, with a twin-sister who did not survive her birth, on the 25th of march 1347. a highly sensitive and imaginative child, she very early began to practise asceticism and see visions, and at the age of seven solemnly dedicated her virginity to christ. she was attracted by what she had heard of the desert anchorites, and in 1363-1364, after much struggle, persuaded her parents to allow her to take the habit of the dominican tertiaries. for a while she led at home the life of a recluse, speaking only to her confessor, and spending all her time in devotion and spiritual ecstasy. her innate humanity and sound sense, however, led her gradually to return to her place in the family circle, and she began also to seek out and help the poor and the sick. in 1368 her father died, and she assumed the care of her mother lapa. during the following years she became known to an increasingly wide circle, especially as a peacemaker, and entered into correspondence with many friends. her peculiarities excited suspicion, and charges seem to have been brought against her by some of the dominicans to answer which she went to florence in 1374, soon returning to siena to tend the plague-stricken. here first she met the dominican friar, raimondo of capua, her confessor and biographer. the year 1375 found catherine entering on a wider stage. at the invitation of piero gambacorti, the ruler of the republic of pisa, she visited that city and there endeavoured to arouse enthusiasm for the proposed crusade, urging princes and presidents, commanders and private citizens alike to join in "the holy passage." to this task was added that of trying to keep pisa and lucca from joining the tuscan league against the pope. it was at pisa, in the church of santa cristina, on the fourth sunday in lent (april 1), while rapt in ecstasy after the communion, that catherine's greatest traditional glory befell her, viz. the _stigmata_ or impression on her hands, feet and heart, of the wounds corresponding with those received by christ at his crucifixion. the marks, however, were at her prayer not made visible. there is no need to doubt the reality of catherine's exaltation, but it should be remembered that she and her circle were dominicans, and that the stigmata of st francis of assisi were considered the crowning glory of the saint, and hitherto the exclusive boast of the franciscans. the tendency observable in many of the austerities and miracles attributed to st catherine to outstrip those of other saints, particularly francis, is especially remarkable in this marvel of the stigmata, and so acute became the rivalry between the two orders that pope sixtus iv., himself a franciscan, issued a decree asserting that st francis had an exclusive monopoly of this particular wonder, and making it a censurable offence to represent st catherine receiving the stigmata. in the year 1376, the 29th of catherine's life, gregory xi. was living and holding the papal court at avignon. he was the last of seven french popes in succession who had done so, and had perpetuated for seventy-three years what ecclesiastical writers are fond of terming "the babylonian captivity of the church." to put an end to this absenteeism, and to bring back the papacy to italy was the cherished and anxious wish of all good italians, and especially of all italian churchmen. petrarch had urgently pressed urban v., gregory's immediate predecessor, to accomplish the desired change; and dante had at an earlier date laboured to bring about the same object. but these and all the other influences which italy had striven to bring to bear on the popes had hitherto failed to induce them to return. in these circumstances catherine determined to try her powers of persuasion and argument, attempting first by correspondence to reconcile gregory and the florentines, who had been placed under an interdict, and then going in person as the representative of the latter to avignon, where she arrived on the 18th of june. gregory empowered her to treat for peace, but the florentine ambassadors were first tardy and then faithless. nothing daunted, catherine herself besought gregory, who, indeed, was himself so minded, to return, and he did so, in september (taking the sea route from marseilles to genoa), though perhaps intending only to make a temporary stay in italy. catherine went home by land and stayed for a month in genoa with madonna orietta scotti, a noble lady of that city, at whose house gregory had a long colloquy with her, which encouraged him to push on to rome. to this year, 1376, belongs the admission to catherine's circle of disciples of stefano di corrado maconi, a sienese noble distinguished by a character full of charm and purity, and her healing of the bitter feud between his family and the tolomei. another family quarrel, that of the salimbeni at rocca d'orcia, was ended by her intervention in 1377. this year also she turned the castle of belcaro, which had been given to her, into a monastery. meanwhile the returned pope was not having an easy time. besides perpetuating the strife with his enemies he was alienating his friends, and finding it increasingly difficult to pay his mercenaries. he vented his anger upon catherine, who reproved him for minding temporal rather than spiritual things, but in the beginning of 1378 sent her on an embassy to florence and especially to the guelph party. while she was urging the citizens to make peace with the pope there came the news of his death. during the troubles that ensued in florence catherine nearly lost her life in a popular tumult, and sorely regretted not winning her heart's desire, "the red rose of martyrdom." peace was signed with the new pope, urban vi., and catherine, having thus accomplished her second great political task, went home again to siena. thence on the outbreak of the schism urban summoned her to rome, whither, somewhat reluctantly, she journeyed with her now large spiritual family in november. once arrived she gave herself heartily to urban's cause, and wore her slender powers out in restraining his impatient temper, quieting the revolt of the people of rome, and trying to win for urban the support of europe. after prolonged and continual suffering she died on the 29th of april 1380. catherine of siena lived on not only in her writings but in her disciples. during her short course she gathered round her a devoted company of men and women trained to labour for the reformation of the individual, the church and the state. her death naturally broke up the fellowship, but its members did not cease their activity and kept up what mutual correspondence was possible. among them were fra raimondo, who became master-general of the dominicans, william flete, an ascetically-minded englishman from cambridge, stefano maconi, who joined the carthusians and ultimately became prior-general, and the two secretaries, neri di landoccio and francesco malavolti. the last of her band, tommaso caffarini, died in 1434, but the work was taken up, though in other shape, by savonarola, between francis of assisi and whom catherine forms the connecting link. catherine's works consist of (l) a treatise occupying a closely-printed quarto volume, which fra raimondo describes as "a dialogue between a soul, which asked four questions of the lord, and the same lord, who made answer and gave instruction in many most useful truths," (2) letters, and (3) prayers. the dialogue is entitled, _the book of divine doctrine, given in person by god the father, speaking to the mind of the most glorious and holy virgin catherine of siena, and written down as she dictated it in the vulgar tongue, she being the while entranced, and actually hearing what god spoke in her_. the work is declared to have been dictated by the saint in her father's house in siena, a little before she went to rome, and to have been completed on the 13th of october 1378. the book opens with a passage on the essence of mysticism, the union of the soul with god in love, and the bulk of it is a compendium of the spiritual teachings scattered throughout her letters. there is more monologue than dialogue. the book has a significant place in the history of italian literature. "in a language which is singularly poor in mystical works it stands with the _divina commedia_ as one of the two supreme attempts to express the eternal in the symbolism of a day, to paint the union of the soul with the supra-sensible while still imprisoned in the flesh." the prayers (twenty-six in all) are mostly mystical outpourings repeating the aspirations found in her other writings. of more interest are the letters, nearly four hundred in number, and addressed to kings, popes, cardinals, bishops, conventual bodies, political corporations and private individuals. their historical importance, their spiritual fragrance and their literary value combine to put their author almost on a level with petrarch as a 14th century letter-writer. her language is the purest tuscan of the golden age of the italian vernacular, and with spontaneous eloquence she passes to and fro between spiritual counsel, domestic advice and political guidance. authorities.--the sources for the personal life of catherine of siena are (l) the _vita_ or _legenda_, fra raimondo's biography written 1384-1395, first published in latin at cologne, 1553, and widely translated; (2) the _processus_, a collection of testimonies and letters by those of her followers who survived in 1411, and had to justify the reverence paid to the memory of one yet uncanonized; (3) the _supplementum_ to raimondo's _vita_, compiled by tommaso caffarini in 1414; (4) the _legenda abbreviata_, caffarini's summary of the _vita_, translated into beautiful italian by stefano maconi; (5) the _letters_, of which the standard edition is that of girolamo gigli (2 vols., siena, 1713, lucca, 1721). a selection of these has been published in english by v.d. scudder (london, 1905). a complete bibliography is given in e.g. gardner's _saint catherine of siena_ (london, 1907), a monumental study dealing with the religion, history and literature of the 14th century in italy as they centre "in the work and personality of one of the most wonderful women that have ever lived." footnote: [1] see the study in baron fr. von hugel's _mystical element in religion_ (1909). catherine i. (1683-1727), empress of russia. the true character and origin of this enigmatical woman were, until quite recently, among the most obscure problems of russian history. it now appears that she came of a lithuanian stock, and was one of the four children of a small catholic yeoman, samuel skovronsky; but her father died of the plague while she was still a babe, the family scattered, and little martha was adopted by pastor gluck, the protestant superintendent of the marienburg district. frau gluck finally rid herself of the girl by marrying her to a swedish dragoon called johan. a few months later, the swedes were compelled by the russians to evacuate marienburg, and martha became one of the prisoners of war of marshal sheremetev, who sold her to prince menshikov, at whose house, in the german suburb of moscow, peter the great first beheld and made love to her in his own peculiar fashion. after the birth of their first daughter catherine, peter made no secret of their relations. he had found, at last, the woman he wanted, and she soon became so indispensable to him that it was a torment to be without her. the situation was regulated by the reception of martha into the orthodox church, when she was rechristened under the name of catherine alekseyevna, the tsarevich alexius being her godfather, by the bestowal upon her of the title _gosudaruinya_ or sovereign (1710), and, finally (1711), by her public marriage to the tsar, who divorced the tsaritsa eudoxia to make room for her. henceforth the new tsaritsa was her husband's inseparable companion. she was with him during the campaign of the pruth, and peter always attributed the successful issue of that disastrous war to the courage and sang-froid of his consort. she was with him, too, during his earlier caspian campaigns, and was obliged on this occasion to shear off her beautiful hair and wear a close-fitting fur cap to protect her from the rays of the sun. by the _ukaz_ of 1722 catherine was proclaimed peter's successor, to the exclusion of the grand-duke peter, the only son of the tsarevich alexius, and on the 7th of may 1724 was solemnly crowned empress-consort in the uspensky cathedral at moscow, on which occasion she wore a crown studded with no fewer than 2564 precious stones, surmounted by a ruby, as large as a pigeon's egg, supporting a cross of brilliants. within a few months of this culminating triumph, she was threatened with utter ruin by the discovery of a supposed _liaison_ with her gentleman of the bedchamber, william mons, a handsome and unscrupulous upstart, and the brother of a former mistress of peter. a dangerously familiar but perfectly innocent flirtation is, however, the worst that can fairly be alleged against catherine on this occasion. so peter also seemed to have thought, for though mons was decapitated and his severed head, preserved in spirits, was placed in the apartments of the empress, she did not lose peter's favour, attended him during his last illness, and closed his eyes when he expired (january 28, 1725). she was at once raised to the throne by the party of progress, as represented by prince menshikov and count tolstoy, whose interests and perils were identical with those of the empress, before the reactionary party had time to organize opposition, her great popularity with the army powerfully contributing to her success. the arch-prelates of the russian church, theodosius, archbishop of novgorod, and theophanes, archbishop of pskov, were also on her side for very much the same reason, both of them being unpopular innovators who felt that, at this crisis, they must stand or fall with tolstoy and menshikov. the great administrative innovation of catherine's reign was the establishment of the _verkhovny tainy sovyet_, or supreme privy council, by way of strengthening the executive, by concentrating affairs in the hands of a few persons, mainly of the party of reform (_ukazoi_ february 26, 1726). as to the foreign policy of catherine i. (principally directed by the astute andrei osterman), if purely pacific and extremely cautious, it was, nevertheless, dignified, consistent and independent. russia, by the mere force of circumstances, now found herself opposed to england, chiefly because catherine protected charles frederick, duke of holstein, and george i. found that the schleswig-holstein question might be reopened to the detriment of his hanoverian possessions. things came to such a pass that, in the spring of 1726, an english squadron was sent to the baltic and cast anchor before reval. the empress vigorously protested, and the fleet was withdrawn, but on the 6th of august catherine acceded to the anti-english austro-spanish league. catherine died on the 16th of may 1727. though quite illiterate, she was an uncommonly shrewd and sensible woman, and her imperturbable good nature under exceptionally difficult circumstances, testifies equally to the soundness of her head and the goodness of her heart. see robert nisbet bain, _the pupils of peter the great_, chs. ii.-iii. (london, 1897); _the first romanovs_, ch. xiv. (london, 1905). (r. n. b.) catherine ii. (1729-1796), empress of russia, was the daughter of christian augustus, prince of anhalt-zerbst, and his wife, johanna elizabeth of holstein-gottorp. the exact date and place of her birth have been disputed, but there appears to be no reason to doubt that she was right in saying that she was born at stettin on the 2nd of may 1729. her father, who succeeded to the principality of anhalt-zerbst in 1746 and died in 1747, was a general in the prussian service, and, at the time of her birth, was military commandant at stettin. her baptismal name was sophia augusta frederica. in accordance with the custom then prevailing in german princely families, she was educated chiefly by french governesses and tutors. in 1744 she was taken to russia, to be affianced to the grand-duke peter, the nephew of the empress elizabeth (q.v.), and her recognized heir. the princess of anhalt-zerbst was the daughter of christian albert, bishop of lubeck, younger brother of frederick iv., duke of holstein-gottorp, peter's paternal grandfather. the choice of her daughter as wife of the future tsar was the result of not a little diplomatic management in which frederick the great took an active part, the object being to strengthen the friendship between prussia and russia, to weaken the influence of austria and to ruin the chancellor bestuzhev, on whom elizabeth relied, and who was a known partisan of the austrian alliance. the diplomatic intrigue failed, largely through the flighty intervention of the princess of anhalt-zerbst, a clever but very injudicious woman. but elizabeth took a strong liking to the daughter, and the marriage was finally decided on. the girl had spared no effort to ingratiate herself, not only with the empress, but with the grand-duke and the russian people. she applied herself to learning the language with such zeal that she rose at night and walked about her bedroom barefoot repeating her lessons. the result was a severe attack of congestion of the lungs in march 1744. during the worst period of her illness she completed her conquest of the good-will of the russians by declining the religious services of a protestant pastor, and sending for simon todorskiy, the orthodox priest who had been appointed to instruct her in the greek form of christianity. when she wrote her memoirs she represented herself as having made up her mind when she came to russia to do whatever had to be done, and to profess to believe whatever she was required to believe, in order to be qualified to wear the crown. the consistency of her character throughout life makes it highly probable that even at the age of fifteen she was mature enough to adopt this worldly-wise line of conduct. her father, who was a convinced lutheran, was strongly opposed to his daughter's conversion, and supplied her with books of controversy to protect her protestantism. she read them, and she listened to todorskiy, and to other advisers who told her that the russian crown was well worth a mass, or that the differences between the greek and lutheran churches were mere matters of form. on the 28th of june 1744 she was received into the orthodox church at moscow, and was renamed catherine alexeyevna. on the following day she was formally betrothed, and was married to the archduke on the 21st of august 1745 at st petersburg. at that time catherine was essentially what she was to remain till her death fifty-one years later. it was her boast that she was as "frank and original as any englishman." if she meant that she had a compact character, she was right. she had decided on her line in life and she followed it whole-heartedly. it was her determination to become a russian in order that she might the better rule in russia, and she succeeded. she acquired a full command of all the resources of the language, and a no less complete understanding of the nature of the russian people. it is true that she remained quite impervious to religious influences. the circumstances of her conversion may have helped to render her indifferent to religion, but their influence need not be exaggerated. her irreligion was shared by multitudes of contemporaries who had never been called upon to renounce one form of christianity and profess belief in another in order to gain a crown. her mere actions were, like those of other and humbler people, dictated by the conditions in which she lived. the first and the most important of them was beyond all question the misery of her married life. her husband was a wretched creature. nature had made him mean, the smallpox had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. and peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of small german prince of the time. he had the conviction that his princeship entitled him to disregard decency and the feelings of others. he planned brutal practical jokes, in which blows had always a share. his most manly taste did not rise above the kind of military interest which has been defined as "corporal's mania," the passion for uniforms, pipeclay, buttons, the "tricks of parade and the froth of discipline." he detested the russians, and surrounded himself with holsteiners. for ten years the marriage was barren, and the only reason for supposing that the future tsar paul (q.v.), who was born on the 2nd of october 1754, was the son of peter, is the strong similarity of their characters. living in the grossly animal court of the empress elizabeth, bound to a husband whom she could not but despise and detest, surrounded by suitors, and entirely uninfluenced by religion, catherine became and remained perfectly immoral in her sexual relations to men. the scandalous chronicle of her life was the commonplace of all europe. her male favourites were as openly paraded as the female favourites of king louis xv. it may be said once and for all that her most trusted agents while she was still grand-duchess, and her chief ministers when she became empress, were also her lovers, and were known to be so. for some time after the marriage, the young couple were controlled by the empress elizabeth, who appointed court officials to keep a watch on their conduct; but before long these custodians themselves had become the agents of catherine's pleasures and ambition. after the birth of paul she began to take an active part in political intrigues. her abilities forced even her husband to rely on her judgment. when in difficulty he ran to her and flattered her with the name of madame la ressource--madame quick wit--which did not prevent him from insulting and even kicking her when the immediate need of her help was over. in 1758 he endeavoured to turn the empress elizabeth against her, and for a time catherine was in danger. she faced the peril boldly, and reconquered her influence over the sovereign, but from this time she must have realized that when the empress was dead she would have to defend herself against her husband. that peter both hated and dreaded her was notorious. the empress elizabeth died on the 5th of january 1762. the grand duke succeeded without opposition as peter iii. his behaviour to his wife continued to be brutal and menacing, and he went on as before offending the national sentiment of the russian people. in july he committed the insane error of retiring with his holsteiners to oranienbaum, leaving his wife at st petersburg. on the 13th and 14th of that month a "pronunciamiento" of the regiments of the guard removed him from the throne and made catherine empress. the history of this revolt is still obscure. it has naturally been said that she organized the mutiny from the first, and some plausibility is conferred on this belief by the fact that the guards were manipulated by the four orlov brothers. the eldest, gregory, was her recognized chief lover, and he was associated with his brother alexis in the office of favourite. on the other hand, there does not appear to have been any need for organization. the hatred felt for peter iii. was spontaneous, and catherine had no need to do more than let it be known that she was prepared to profit by her husband's downfall. peter, who behaved with abject cowardice, was sent to a country house at ropcha, where he died on the 15th or 18th of july of official "apoplexy." the truth is not known, and frederick the great at least professed long afterwards to believe that catherine had no immediate share in the murder. she had no need to speak. common-sense must have shown the leaders of the revolt that they would never be safe while peter lived, and they had insults to avenge. the mere fact that catherine ii., a small german princess without hereditary claim to the throne, ruled russia from 1762 to 1796 amid the loyalty of the great mass of the people, and the respect and admiration of her neighbours, is sufficient proof of the force of her character. her title to be considered a great reforming ruler is by no means equally clear. voltaire and the encyclopaedists with whom she corresponded, and on whom she conferred gifts and pensions, repaid her by the grossest flattery, while doing their best to profit by her generosity. they made her a reputation for "philosophy," and showed the sincerity of their own love of freedom by finding excuses for the partition of poland. there is a very great difference between catherine ii. as she appears in the panegyrics of the encyclopaedists and catherine as she appears in her correspondence and in her acts. her foreign admirers amused her, and were useful in spreading her reputation. the money they cost her was a small sum in comparison to the l12,000,000 she lavished on her long series of lovers, who began with soltykov and stanislaus poniatowski (q.v.) before she came to the throne, and ended with the youthful platon zubov, who was tenant of the post at her death. she spent money freely on purchasing works of art and curios. yet she confessed with her usual candour that she had no taste for painting, sculpture or music. her supposed love of literature does not appear to have amounted to more than a lively curiosity, which could be satisfied by dipping into a great number of books. she had a passion for writing, and produced not only a mass of letters written in french, but pamphlets and plays, comic and serious, in french and russian. one on the history of oleg, the more or less legendary varangian, who was guardian to the son of rurik, was described by her as an "imitation of shakespeare." the scheme is not unlike that of a "chronicle play." her letters are full of vivacity, of colour, and at times of insight and wit, but she never learnt to write either french or german correctly. the letters to voltaire attributed to her are not hers, and were probably composed for her by andrei shuvalov. the philosophers and encyclopaedists who, by the mouth of diderot, complimented catherine on being superior to such female affectations as modesty and chastity, flattered her to some extent even here. she enforced outward decency in her household, was herself temperate in eating and drinking, and was by no means tolerant of disorderly behaviour on the part of the ladies of her court. they flattered her much more when they dwelt on her philanthropy and her large share of the enlightenment of the age. she was kind to her servants, and was very fond of young children. she was rarely angry with people who merely contradicted her or failed to perform their service in her household. but she could order the use of the knout and of mutilation as freely as the most barbarous of her predecessors when she thought the authority of the state was at stake, and she did employ them readily to suppress all opinions of a heterodox kind, whether in matters of religion or of politics, after the beginning of the french revolution. her renowned toleration stopped short of allowing the dissenters to build chapels, and her passion for legislative reform grew cold when she found that she must begin by the emancipation of the serfs. there were exceptions even to her personal kindness to those about her. she dropped her german relations. she kept a son born to her shortly before the palace revolution of 1762, whose paternity could not be attributed to peter, at a distance, though she provided for him. he was brought up in a private station under the name of bobrinski. she was a harsh mother to her son paul. it seems highly probable that she intended to exclude him from the succession, and to leave the crown to her eldest grandson alexander, afterwards the emperor alexander i. her harshness to paul was probably as much due to political distrust as to what she saw of his character. whatever else catherine may have been she was emphatically a sovereign and a politician who was in the last resort guided by the reason of state. she was resolved not to allow her authority to be disputed by her son, or shared by him. as a ruler, catherine professed a great contempt for system, which she said she had been taught to despise by her master voltaire. she declared that in politics a capable ruler must be guided by "circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions." her conduct was on the surface very unstable. in a moment of candour she confessed that she was a great _commenceuse_--that she had a mania for beginning innumerable enterprises which she never pursued. this, however, is chiefly true of her internal administration, and even there it should be qualified. many of her beginnings were carried on by others and were not barren. her foreign policy was as consistent as it could be considering the forces she had to contend against. it was steadily aimed to secure the greatness and the safety of russia. there can be no question, that she loved her adopted country sincerely, and had an affection for her people, and an opinion of their great qualities which she did not hesitate to express in hyperbolical terms. her zeal for the reputation of the russians was almost comically shown by the immense trouble she took to compile an answer to the _voyage en siberie_ of the french astronomer chappe d'auteroche. the book is in three big quartos, and catherine's answer--which was never finished--is still larger. chappe d'auteroche had discovered that siberia was not a paradise, and had observed that the russians were dirty in their habits, and that masters whipped their servants, male and female. her patriotism was less innocently shown by her conquests. yet it may be doubted whether any capable ruler of russia could have abstained from aggressions at the expense of the rights of the saxon family in courland, of poland, and of turkey (see russia: _history_). it does seem now to be clearly proved that the partition of poland was not suggested by her, as has been frequently asserted. catherine would have preferred to control the country through a vassal sovereign of the type of stanislaus poniatowski, the old lover whose election she secured in 1763. poland was incapable of maintaining its independence at the time of the first partition (1772), and the division of the unhappy country was forced on by austria and prussia. in the case of the second partition in 1793, she did show herself to be very unscrupulous. her opposition to the reform of the polish government was plainly due to a wish to preserve an excuse for further spoliation, but her conduct was less cruel and base than that of prussia. catherine had adhered to her husband's policy of a prussian alliance. while frederick the great lived she was impressed by his ability. but the prussian alliance became hateful to her, and her later correspondence with grimm overflows with contempt of his successor frederick william ii., who is always spoken of by her as "brother gu." her exasperation with the affectations of the prussian king was unquestionably increased by her discovery that he would not be induced to apply himself to a crusade against the french revolution, which by employing all his forces would have left russia free to annex the whole of what remained of poland. but at least she did not enter into a solemn engagement to defend the poles who were engaged in reforming their constitution, and then throw them over in order to share in the plunder of their country. catherine's turkish policy was at first marked by a certain grandiosity. when the turks declared war in 1768 in order to support poland, which they looked upon as a necessary buffer state, she retaliated by the great greek scheme. for a time it was a pet idea with her to revive the greek empire, and to plant the cross, with the double-headed russian eagle, at constantinople. she formed a corps of greek cadets, caused her younger grandson to be christened constantine, and began the policy of presenting russia to the christian subjects of the porte as their deliverer. in pursuit of this heroic enterprise, which excited the loud admiration of voltaire, she sent a fleet under alexis orlov into the mediterranean in 1770. orlov tempted the greeks of the morea to take up arms, and then left them in the lurch. when catherine found herself opposed by the policy of france and england, and threatened by the jealousy of prussia and austria, she dropped the greek design, observing to voltaire that the descendants of the spartans were much degenerated. the introduction into the treaty of kuchuk-kainarji of 1774 of a clause by which the porte guaranteed the rights of its christian subjects, and of another-giving russia the right to interfere on behalf of a new russian church in constantinople, advertised the claim of the tsars to be the natural protectors of the orthodox in the ottoman dominions; but when she took up arms again in 1788 in alliance with joseph ii. (q.v.), it was to make a mere war of conquest and partition. the turkish wars show the weak side of catherine as a ruler. though she had mounted the throne by a military revolt and entered on great schemes of conquest, she never took an intelligent interest in her army. she neglected it in peace, allowed it to be shamefully administered in war, and could never be made to understand that it was not in her power to improvise generals out of her favourites. it is to her credit that she saw the capacity of suvarov, yet she never had as much confidence in him as she had in potemkin, who may have been a man of genius, but was certainly no general. she took care never to have to deal with a disciplined opponent, except the swedes, who beat her, but who were very few. it was the misfortune of catherine that she lived too long. she disgraced herself by living with her last lover, zubov, when she was a woman of sixty-seven, trusting him with power and lavishing public money on him. the outbreak of the french revolution stripped off the varnish of philosophy and philanthropy which she had assumed in earlier years. she had always entertained a quiet contempt for the french writers whom she flattered and pensioned, and who served her as an advertising agency in the west. when the result of their teaching was seen in paris, good-natured contempt was turned to hatred. she then became a persecutor in her own dominions of the very ideas she had encouraged in former years. she scolded and preached a crusade, without, however, departing from the steady pursuit of her own interests in poland, while endeavouring with transparent cunning to push austria and prussia into an invasion of france with all their forces. her health began to break down, and it appears to be nearly certain that towards the end she suffered from hysteria of a shameful kind. it is plain that her intellect had begun to fail just before her death, for she allowed the reigning favourite, platon zubov, to persuade her to despatch his brother valerian, with the rank of field marshal and an army of 20,000 men, on a crack-brained scheme to invade india by way of persia and tibet. the refusal of the king of sweden to marry into her family unless the bride would become a lutheran is said to have thrown her into a convulsion of rage which hastened her death. on the 9th of november 1796, she was seized by a fit of apoplexy, and died on the evening of the 10th. all other accounts of catherine ii. have been superseded by waliszewski's two volumes, _le roman d'une imperatrice_ (paris, 1893) and _autour d'un trone: catherine ii., ses collaborateurs, ses amis, ses favoris_ (paris, 1894). the original sources for the history of her policy and her character are to be found in the publications of the imperial russian historical society, vols. i.-cix. (st petersburg), begun in 1867; her private and official correspondence will be found in vols. i., ii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., ix., x., xiii., xiv., xv., xvii., xx., xxiii., xxxii., xxxiii., xxxvi., xlii., xliii., xlvii., xlviii., li., lvii., lxvii., lxviii., lxxxvii., xcvii., xcviii., cvii., cxv., cxviii. catherine de' medici (1519-1589), queen of france, the wife of one french king and the mother of three, was born at florence in 1519. she was a daughter of lorenzo ii. de' medici and a french princess, madeleine de la tour d'auvergne. having lost both her parents at an early age, catherine was sent to a convent to be educated; and she was only fourteen when she was married (1533) at marseilles to the duke of orleans, afterwards henry ii. it was her uncle, pope clement vii., who arranged the marriage with francis i. francis, still engaged in his lifelong task of making head against charles v., was only too glad of the opportunity to strengthen his influence in the italian peninsula, while clement, ever needful of help against his too powerful protector, was equally ready to hold out a bait. during the reign of francis, catherine exercised no influence in france. she was young, a foreigner, a member of a state that had almost no weight in the great world of politics, had not given any proof of great ability, and was thrown into the shade by more important persons. for ten years after her marriage she had no children. in consequence, a divorce began to be talked of at court; and it seemed not impossible that francis, alarmed at the possible extinction of the royal house, might listen to such a proposal. but catherine had the happiness of bringing him grandchildren ere he died. during the reign of her husband, too (1547-1559), catherine lived a quiet and passive, but observant life. henry being completely under the influence of his mistress, diane de poitiers, she had little authority. in 1552, when the king left the kingdom for the campaign of metz, she was nominated regent, but with very limited powers. this continued even after the accession of her son francis ii. francis was under the spell of mary stuart, and she, little disposed to meddle with politics on her own account, was managed by her uncles, the cardinal of lorraine and the duke of guise. the queen-mother, however, soon grew weary of the domination of the guises, and entered upon a course of secret opposition. on the 1st of april 1560 she placed in the chancellorship michel de l'hopital (q.v.), who advocated the policy of conciliation. on the death of francis (5th of december 1560), catherine became regent during the minority of her second son, charles ix., and now found before her a career worthy of the most soaring ambition. she was then forty-one years old, but, although she was the mother of nine children, she was still very vigorous and active. she retained her influence for more than twenty years in the troubled period of the wars of religion. at first she listened to the moderate counsels of l'hopital in so far as to avoid siding definitely with either party, but her character and the habits of policy to which she had been accustomed, rendered her incapable of any noble aim. she had only one virtue, and that was her zeal for the interests of her children, especially of her favourite third son, the duke of anjou. like so many of the italians of that time, who were almost destitute of a moral sense, she looked upon statesmanship in particular as a career in which finesse, lying and assassination were the most admirable, because the most effective weapons. by habit a catholic, but above all things fond of power, she was determined to prevent the protestants from getting the upper hand, and almost equally resolved not to allow them to be utterly crushed, in order to use them as a counterpoise to the guises. this trimming policy met with little success: rage and suspicion so possessed men's minds, that she could no longer control the opposing parties, and one civil war followed another to the end of her life. in 1567, after the "enterprise of meaux," she dismissed l'hopital and joined the catholic party. but, having failed to crush the protestant rebellion by arms, she resumed in 1570 the policy of peace and negotiation. she conceived the project of marrying her favourite son, the duke of anjou, to queen elizabeth of england, and her daughter margaret to henry of navarre. to this end she became reconciled with the protestants, and allowed coligny to return to court and to re-enter the council. of this step she quickly repented. charles ix. conceived a great affection for the admiral and showed signs of taking up an independent attitude. catherine, thinking her influence menaced, sought to regain it, first by the murder of coligny, and, when that had failed, by the massacre of st bartholomew (q.v.). the whole of the responsibility for this crime, therefore, rests with catherine; unlike the populace, she had not even the excuse of fanaticism. this responsibility, however, weighed but lightly on her; while her son was overwhelmed with remorse, she calmly enjoyed her short-lived triumph. after the death of charles in 1574, and the succession of anjou under the name of henry iii., catherine pursued her old policy of compromise and concessions; but as her influence is lost in that of her son, it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. she died on the 5th of january 1589, a short time before the assassination of henry, and the consequent extinction of the house of valois. in her taste for art and her love of magnificence and luxury, catherine was a true medici; her banquets at fontainebleau in 1564 were famous for their sumptuousness. in architecture especially she was well versed, and philibert de l'orme relates that she discussed with him the plan and decoration of her palace of the tuileries. catherine's policy provoked a crowd of pamphlets, the most celebrated being the _discours merveilleux de la vie, actions et deportemens de la reine catherine de medicis_, in which henri estienne undoubtedly collaborated. see _lettres de catherine de medicis_, edited by hector de la ferriere (paris, 1880, seq.), in the _collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de france_; a. von reumont, _die jugend caterinas de' medici_ (1854; french translation by a. baschet, 1866); h. bouchot, _catherine de medicis_ (paris, 1899). for a more complete bibliography see ernest lavisse, _histoire de france_ (vol. v., by h. lemonnier, and vol. vi., by j.h. mariejol, 1904-1905). see also miss e. sichel's books, _catherine de' medici and the french reformation_ (1905), and _the later years of catherine de' medici_ (1908). catherine of aragon (1485-1536), queen of henry viii. of england, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of spain, was born on the 15th or 16th of december 1485. she left spain in 1501 to marry arthur, prince of wales, eldest son of king henry vii., and landed at plymouth on the 2nd of october. the wedding took place on the 14th of november in london, and soon afterwards catherine accompanied her youthful husband to wales, where, in his sixteenth year, the prince died on the 2nd of april 1502. on the 25th of june 1503, she was formally betrothed to the king's second son, henry, now prince of wales, and a papal dispensation for the alliance was obtained. the marriage, however, did not take place during the lifetime of henry vii. ferdinand endeavoured to cheat the english king of the marriage portion agreed upon, and henry made use of the presence of the unmarried princess in england to extort new conditions, and especially to secure the marriage of his daughter mary to the archduke charles, grandson of ferdinand, and afterwards charles v. catherine was thus from the first the unhappy victim of state politics. writing to ferdinand on the 11th of march 1509, she describes the state of poverty to which she was reduced, and declares the king's unkindness impossible to be borne any longer.[1] on the old king's death, however, a brighter prospect opened, for henry viii. decided immediately on marrying her, the wedding taking place on the 11th of june and the coronation on the 24th. catherine now enjoyed a few years of married happiness; henry showed himself an affectionate husband, and the alliance with ferdinand was maintained against france. she was not without some influence in state affairs. during henry's invasion of france in 1513 she was made regent; she showed great zeal and ardour in the preparations for the scottish expedition, and was riding towards the north to put herself at the head of the troops when the victory of flodden field ended the campaign. the following year an affectionate meeting took place between the king and queen at richmond on the return of the former. ferdinand's treachery, however, in making a treaty with france roused henry's wrath, and his angry reproaches fell upon his unfortunate wife; but she took occasion in 1520, during the visit of her nephew charles v. to england, to urge the policy of gaining his alliance rather than that of france. immediately on his departure, on the 31st of may 1520, she accompanied the king to france, on the celebrated visit to francis i., called from its splendour the field of the cloth of gold; but in 1522 war was declared against france and the emperor again welcomed to england. in 1521 she is represented by shakespeare as pleading for the unfortunate duke of buckingham. these early years of happiness and of useful influence and activity had, however, been gradually giving way to gloom and disappointment. between january 1510 and november 1518 catherine gave birth to six children (including two princes), who were all stillborn or died in infancy except mary, born in 1516, and rumour did not fail to ascribe this series of disasters to the curse pronounced in deuteronomy on incestuous unions. in 1526 the condition of catherine's health made it highly improbable that she would have more children. no woman had ever reigned in england, alone and in her own right, and to avoid a fresh dispute concerning the succession, and the revival of the civil war, a male heir to the throne was a pressing necessity. the act of marriage, which depended for its validity on the decision of the ecclesiastical courts, had, on account of the numerous dissolutions and dispensations granted, not then attained the security since assured to it by the secular law. for obtaining dissolutions of royal marriages the facilities were especially great. pope clement vii. himself permitted such a dissolution in the case of henry's own sister margaret, in 1528, proposed later as a solution of the problem that henry should be allowed two wives,[2] and looked not unfavourably, with the same aim, on the project for marrying the duke of richmond to mary, a brother to a sister.[3] in henry's case also the irregularity of a union, which is still generally reprobated and forbidden in christendom, and which it was very doubtful that the pope had the power to legalize, provided a moral justification for a dissolution which in other cases did not exist. it was not therefore the immorality of the plea which obstructed the papal decree in henry's favour, but the unlucky imprisonment at this time of clement vii. at the hands of charles v., catherine's nephew, which obliged the pope, placed thus "between the hammer and the anvil," to pursue a policy of delay and hesitation. nor was the immorality of henry's own character the primary cause of the project of divorce. had this been so, a succession of mistresses would have served as well as a series of single wives. the real occasion was the king's desire for a male heir. but, however clear this may be, the injustice done to catherine was no less cruel and real. rumours, probably then unfounded, of an intended divorce had been heard abroad as early as 1524. but the creation in 1525 of the king's illegitimate son henry, as duke of richmond--the title borne by his grandfather henry vii--and the precedence granted to him over all the peers as well as the princess mary, together with the special honour paid at this time by the king to his own half-sister mary, were the first real indications of the king's thoughts. in 1526, and perhaps earlier, wolsey had been making tentative inquiries at rome on the subject. in may 1527 a collusive and secret suit was begun before the cardinal, who, as legate, summoned the king to defend himself from the charge of cohabitation with his brother's wife; but these proceedings were dropped. on the 22nd of june henry informed catherine that they had been living in mortal sin and must separate. during wolsey's absence in july at paris, where he had been commissioned to discuss vaguely the divorce and henry's marriage with renee, daughter of louis xii., anne boleyn is first heard of in connexion with the king, his affection for her having, however, begun probably as early as 1523, and the cardinal on his return found her openly installed at the court. in october 1528 the pope issued a commission to cardinal campeggio and wolsey to try the cause in england, and bound himself not to revoke the case to rome, confirming his promise by a secret decretal commission which, however, was destroyed by campeggio. but the trial was a sham. campeggio was forbidden to pronounce sentence without further reference to rome, and was instructed to create delays, the pope assuring charles v. at the same time that the case should be ultimately revoked to rome.[4] the object of all parties was now to persuade catherine to enter a nunnery and thus relieve them of further embarrassment. while henry's envoys were encouraged at rome in believing that he might then make another marriage, henry himself gave catherine assurances that no other union would be contemplated in her lifetime. but catherine with courage and dignity held fast to her rights, demanded a proper trial, and appealed not only to the bull of dispensation, the validity of which was said to be vitiated by certain irregularities, but to a brief granted for the alliance by pope julius ii. henry declared the latter to be a forgery, and endeavoured unsuccessfully to procure a declaration of its falsity from the pope. the court of the legates accordingly opened on the 31st of may 1529, the queen appearing before it on the 18th of june for the purpose of denying its jurisdiction. on the 21st both henry and catherine presented themselves before the tribunal, when the queen threw herself at henry's feet and appealed for the last time to his sense of honour, recalling her own virtue and helplessness. henry replied with kindness, showing that her wish for the revocation of the cause to rome was unreasonable in view of the paramount influence then exercised by charles v. on the pope. catherine nevertheless persisted in making appeal to rome, and then withdrew. after her departure henry, according to cavendish, wolsey's biographer, praised her virtues to the court. "she is, my lords, as true, as obedient, as conformable a wife as i could in my phantasy wish or desire. she hath all the virtues and qualities that ought to be in a woman of her dignity or in any other of baser estate." on her refusal to return, her plea was overruled and she was adjudged contumacious, while the sittings of the court continued in her absence. subsequently the legates paid her a private visit of advice, but were unable to move her from her resolution. finally, however, in july 1529, the case was, according to her wish, and as the result of the treaty of barcelona and the pope's complete surrender to charles v., revoked by the pope to rome: a momentous act, which decided henry's future attitude, and occasioned the downfall of the whole papal authority in england. on the 7th of march 1530 pope clement issued a brief forbidding henry to make a second marriage, and ordering the restitution of catherine to her rights till the cause was determined; while at the same time he professed to the french ambassador, the bishop of tarbes, his pleasure should the marriage with anne boleyn have been already made, if only it were not by his authority.[5] the same year henry obtained opinions favourable to the divorce from the english, french and most of the italian universities, but unfavourable answers from germany, while a large number of english peers and ecclesiastics, including wolsey and archbishop warham, joined in a memorial to the pope in support of henry's cause. meanwhile, catherine, while the great question remained unsolved, was still treated by henry as his queen, and accompanied him in his visits in the provinces and in his hunting expeditions. on the 31st of may 1531 she was visited by thirty privy councillors, who urged the trial of the case in england, but they met only with a firm refusal. on the 14th of july henry left his wife at windsor, removing himself to woodstock, and never saw her again. in august she was ordered to reside at the moor in hertfordshire, and at the same time separated from the princess mary, who was taken to richmond. in october she again received a deputation of privy councillors, and again refused to withdraw the case from rome. in 1532 she sent the king a gold cup as a new year's gift, which the latter returned, and she was forbidden to hold any communication with him. alone and helpless in confronting henry's absolute power, her cause found champions and sympathizers among the people, among the court preachers, and in the house of commons, while bishop fisher had openly taken her part in the legatine trial. subsequently catherine was removed to bishops hatfield, while henry and anne boleyn visited francis i. their marriage, anticipating any sentence of the nullity of the union with catherine, took place after their return about the 25th of january 1533, in consequence of anne's pregnancy. on the 10th of may cranmer, for whose consecration as archbishop of canterbury henry had obtained bulls from rome, opened his court, and declared on the 23rd the nullity of catherine's marriage and the validity of anne's. on the 10th of august the king caused proclamation to be made forbidding her the style of queen; but catherine refused resolutely to yield the title for that of princess-dowager. not long afterwards she was removed to buckden in huntingdonshire. here her household was considerably reduced, and she found herself hemmed in by spies, and in fact a prisoner. in july she had refused henry the loan of a certain rich cloth, which had done service at the baptism of her children, for the use of anne boleyn's expected infant; and on the birth of elizabeth and the refusal of mary to give up the title of princess, the latter's household was entirely dismissed and she herself reduced to the position of attendant in elizabeth's retinue. a project for removing catherine from buckden to somersham, an unhealthy solitude in the isle of ely, with a still narrower maintenance, was only prevented by her own determined resistance. the attempt in november to incriminate the queen in connexion with elizabeth barton failed. she passed her life now in religious devotions, taking strict precautions against the possibility of being poisoned. on the 23rd of march 1534 the pope pronounced her marriage valid, but by this time england had thrown off the papal jurisdiction, the parliament had transferred catherine's jointure to anne boleyn, and the decree had no effect on catherine's fortunes. she refused to swear to the new act of succession, which declared her marriage null and anne's infant the heir to the throne, and soon afterwards she was removed to kimbolton, where she was well treated. on the 21st of may she was visited by the archbishop of york and tunstall, bishop of durham, who threatened her with death if she persisted in her refusal, but only succeeded in confirming her resolution. she was kept in strict seclusion, separated from mary and from all outside communications, and in december 1535 her health gave way, her death taking place on the 8th of january 1536, not without suspicions of poison, which, however, may be dismissed. she was buried by the king's order in peterborough cathedral. before her death she dictated a last letter to henry, according to polydore vergil, expressing her forgiveness, begging his good offices for mary, and concluding with the astounding assurance--"i vow that mine eyes desire you above all things." the king himself affected no sorrow at her death, and thanked god there was now no fear of war. catherine is described as "rather ugly than otherwise; of low stature and rather stout; very good and very religious; speaks spanish, french, flemish, english; more beloved by the islanders than any queen that has ever reigned." she was a woman of considerable education and culture, her scholarship and knowledge of the bible being noted by erasmus, who dedicated to her his book on _christian matrimony_ in 1526. she endured her bitter and undeserved misfortunes with extraordinary courage and resolution, and at the same time with great womanly forbearance, of which a striking instance was the compassion shown by her for the fallen wolsey. bibliography.--see the article in _dict. of nat. biog._ by j. gairdner, and those on henry viii. and wolsey, where the case is summed up very adversely to henry, and _the divorce of catherine of aragon_, by j.a. froude (1891), where it is regarded from the contrary aspect; _henry viii._, by a. f. pollard (1905); _cambridge mod. history_ (1903), ii. 416 et seq. and bibliographies, p. 789; _the wives of henry viii._, by m. hume (1905). (p. c. y.) footnotes: [1] _cat. of state pap., england and spain_, i. 469. [2] _letters and papers_, iv. 6627, 6705, and app. 261. [3] _ib._ iv. 5072. [4] _cal. of state pap., england and spain_, iii. pt. ii. 779. [5] _cal. of state pap., foreign and dom._, iv. 6290. catherine of braganza (1638-1705), queen consort of charles ii. of england, daughter of john iv. of portugal, and of louisa de gusman, daughter of the duke of medina sidonia, was born on the 15/25 of november 1638 at villia vicosa. she was early regarded as a useful medium for contracting an alliance with england, more necessary than ever to portugal after the treaty of the pyrenees in 1659 whereby portugal was ostensibly abandoned by france. negotiations for the marriage began during the reign of charles i., were renewed immediately after the restoration, and on the 23rd of june, in spite of spanish opposition, the marriage contract was signed, england securing tangier and bombay, with trading privileges in brazil and the east indies, religious and commercial freedom in portugal and two million portuguese crowns (about l300,000); while portugal obtained military and naval support against spain and liberty of worship for catherine. she reached england on the 13th of may 1662, but was not visited by charles at portsmouth till the 20th. the next day the marriage was solemnized twice, according to the roman catholic and anglican usages. catherine possessed several good qualities, but had been brought up in a conventual seclusion and was scarcely a wife charles would have chosen for himself. her personal charms were not potent enough to wean charles away from the society of his mistresses, and in a few weeks after her arrival she became aware of her painful and humiliating position as the wife of the selfish and licentious king. on the first presentation to her of lady castlemaine, charles's mistress _en titre_, whom he insisted on making lady of her bedchamber, she fainted away. she withdrew from the king's society, and in spite of clarendon's attempts to moderate her resentment, declared she would return to portugal rather than consent to a base compliance. to overcome her resistance nearly the whole of her portuguese retinue was dismissed. she was helpless, and the violence of her grief and anger soon changed to passive resistance, and then to a complete forbearance and complaisance which gained the king's regard and favour. in the midst of charles's debauched and licentious court, she lived neglected and retired, often deprived of her due allowance, having no ambitions and taking no part in english politics, but keeping up rather her interest in her native country. as the prospect diminished of her bearing children to charles, several schemes were set on foot for procuring a divorce on various pretexts. as a roman catholic and near to the king's person catherine was the special object of attack by the inventors of the popish plot. in 1678 the murder of sir edmund berry godfrey was ascribed to her servants, and titus oates accused her of a design to poison the king. these charges, of which the absurdity was soon shown by cross-examination, nevertheless placed the queen for some time in great danger. on the 28th of november oates accused her of high treason, and the commons passed an address for her removal and that of all the roman catholics from whitehall. a series of fresh depositions were sent in against her, and in june 1679 it was decided that she must stand her trial; but she was protected by the king, who in this instance showed unusual chivalry and earned her gratitude. on the 17th of november shaftesbury moved in the house of lords for a divorce to enable the king to marry a protestant and have legitimate issue; but he received little support, and the bill was opposed by charles, who continued to show his wife "extraordinary affection." during the winter the calumnies against the queen were revived by fitzharris, who, however, before his execution in 1681 confessed to their falsity; and after the revival of the king's influence subsequent to the oxford parliament, the queen's position was no more assailed. during charles's last illness in 1685 she showed great anxiety for his reconciliation with the romish church, and it was probably effected largely through her influence. she exhibited great grief at his death. she afterwards resided at somerset house and at hammersmith, where she had privately founded a convent. she interceded with great generosity, but ineffectually, for monmouth the same year. on the 10th of june 1688 she was present at the birth of the prince of wales and gave evidence before the council in favour of the genuineness of the child. she was still in england at the revolution, having delayed her return to portugal to prosecute a lawsuit against the second earl of clarendon, formerly her chamberlain. she maintained at first good terms with william and mary; but the practice of her religion aroused jealousies, while her establishment at somerset house was said to be the home of cabals against the government; and in 1691 she settled for a short time at euston. she left england finally with a train of one hundred persons in march 1692, travelling through france and arriving at lisbon on the 20th of january 1693. she took up her residence at the palace of bemposta, built by herself, near lisbon. in 1703 she supported the methuen treaty, which cemented still further the alliance between portugal and england, and in 1704 she was appointed regent of portugal during the illness of her brother king pedro ii., her administration being distinguished by several successes gained over the spaniards. she died on the 31st of december 1705, bequeathing her great wealth, the result of long hoarding, after the payment of divers charitable legacies, to king pedro; and was buried with great ceremony and splendour at belem. see l. c. davidson, _catherine of braganza_ (1908). catherine of 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