ack of
prudence after it, was, of course, quite just, and in accordance with the
law of the land--for all that Henry did was strictly legal--but it was a
heartrending thing that the good husband should suffer the distress of
having once believed in so unworthy a wife. Still Katharine Howard was not
sacrificed in vain, for, although the Catholic policy she represented
suffered no check, for reasons set forth in earlier pages, the King's sad
bereavement left him in the matrimonial market and enhanced his price as
an ally, for much of the future depended upon the wife and the party that
should be in possession when the King died. As we have seen, the
Protestants, or rather the anti-Catholics, won the last trick; and
Somerset's predominance meant that the Reformation in England should not
be one of form alone but of substance.

The life of Katharine Parr after Henry's death hardly enters into the plan
of this book; but a few lines may be devoted to it, and to her pitiable
end. The instant rise of the Protector Somerset on the death of Henry
brought with it a corresponding increase in the importance of his brother
Sir Thomas, then Lord Seymour of Sudeley, who was certainly no less
ambitious than his brother, and probably of much stronger character. For a
time all went well between the brothers, Thomas being created Lord
Admiral, to the annoyance of Dudley--now Earl of Warwick--who had held the
office, and receiving great grants of forfeited estates and other wealth.
But soon the evident attempts of Lord Seymour to rival his elder brother,
and perhaps to supplant him, aroused the jealousy of Somerset, or more
likely of his quarrelsome and haughty wife.

Some love passages, we have seen, took place between Seymour and Katharine
Parr before her marriage with the King, so that it need not be ascribed to
ambition that the lover should once more cast his eyes upon the royal
widow before the weeds for the King had been cast aside.[264] Katharine,
with a large dower that has already been mentioned, lived alternately in
her two mansion-houses at Chelsea and Hanworth; and to her care was
consigned the Lady Elizabeth, then a girl of fourteen. As early as the
beginning of May 1547, Seymour had visited the widowed Queen at Chelsea
with his tale of love. Katharine was now thirty-four years of age, and
having married in succession three old men, might fairly be entitled to
contract a fourth marriage to please herself. There was no more man