st belong to England in appearance if her
mission was to succeed; and though Spain was always in her heart as the
exotic pomegranate of Granada was on her shield, England in future was the
name she conjured by, and all England loved her, from the hour she first
set foot on English soil to the day of the final consummation of her
martyrdom.

CHAPTER II

1501-1509

KATHARINE'S WIDOWHOOD AND WHY SHE STAYED IN ENGLAND

The arrival of Katharine in England as his son's affianced wife meant very
much for Henry VII. and his house. He had already, by a master-stroke of
diplomacy, betrothed his eldest daughter to the King of Scots, and was
thus safe from French intrigue on his vulnerable northern border, whilst
the new King of France was far too apprehensive of Ferdinand's coalition
to arouse the active enmity of England. The presence of Ferdinand's
daughter on English soil completed the security against attack upon Henry
from abroad. It is true that the Yorkists and their friends were still
plotting: "Solicited, allured and provoked, by that old venomous serpent,
the Duchess of Burgundy, ever the sower of sedition and beginner of
rebellion against the King of England;"[3] but Henry knew well that with
Katharine at his Court he could strike a death-blow, as he soon did, at
his domestic enemies, without fear of reprisals from her brother-in-law
Philip, the present sovereign of Burgundy and Flanders.

Messengers were sent galloping to London to carry to the King the great
news of Katharine's arrival at Plymouth; but the roads were bad, and it
was not Henry's way to spoil his market by a show of over-eagerness, and
though he sent forward the Duchess of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey to
attend upon the Princess on her way towards London, the royal party did
not set out from Shene Palace to meet her until the 4th November.
Travelling through a drenching rain by short stages from one seat to
another, Henry VII. and his daughter-in-law gradually approached each
other with their splendid troops of followers, all muffled up, we are
told, in heavy rain cloaks to shield their finery from the inclemency of
an English winter. Young Arthur, coming from the seat of his government in
Wales, met his father near Chertsey, and together they continued their
journey towards the west. On the third day, as they rode over the
Hampshire downs, they saw approaching them a group of horsemen, the leader
of which dismounted and saluted the King