Jane Parker: Sister-in-Law and Court Schemer Jane Parker, Lady Rochford, was married to George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s brother. Her life became entangled in the highest Tudor dramas. After Anne and George were executed in 1536, Lady Rochford survived—only to reemerge years later as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife.

When people think of women in the life of Henry VIII, they almost always think of his six wives—Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. Their dramatic stories of love, betrayal, annulment, execution, and survival are the stuff of legend, inspiring countless novels, films, and televisio

Why did Catherine’s reputation become so dark? Partly it was the result of intense Protestant propaganda. Her gender and foreign (Italian) birth made her an ideal villain in a France suspicious of outsiders. Her connections to the Medici family—a dynasty often caricatured as poisoners and conspirators—fed lurid stories. Pamphlets and woodc

One of Catherine’s most striking traits was her unwavering devotion to her children and the Valois dynasty. She spent her entire political life maneuvering to secure thrones and advantageous marriages for her sons and daughters. She guided the fragile, neurotic Charles IX through his troubled reign, frequently overriding his panicked decisions