Katherine Gordon, the brightest ornament of Scotland

The remarkable life of a would-be Yorkist queen.

Before writing ‘Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick’, I knew nothing about Lady Katherine Gordon, the Scotswoman Perkin Warbeck took as his wife during his crusade to claim the English throne. I was surprised by how well-known this lady was known to many readers, largely stemming from a romanticised account of her life in Mary Shelley’s ‘The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, published in 1830.

The authenticity of Warbeck’s claim to be Richard, Duke of York, is beyond the scope of this article. But let’s look at Katherine Gordon’s life in just a little bit more detail. Katherine was born into Scottish nobility, the daughter of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly and Elizabeth Hay. Contrary to popular belief, she was not related to King James IV, but was his cousin-by-marriage. Her early life is unknown, but she came to prominence in early 1496 when her hand in marriage was given to King James’s new ally, Perkin Warbeck – or as he was known in Scotland, Richard, Duke of York.

Warbeck had arrived in Scotland a few months earlier, and quickly James resolved to support his claim to the English throne for his own ends. Together, the men, of similar age, were plotting an invasion of northern England, and to further their bond, James presented to Warbeck Lady Katherine. It wasn’t perhaps the prestigious match a genuine Yorkist prince might have expected, but in the circumstances, for Perkin Warbeck it was a reasonable opportunity to secure some modest Scottish aid.

Lady Gordon was regarded by one approving contemporary chronicler as ‘a woman of goodly personage and beauty’ and another as possessing an ‘admirable character’, and this may be attested to based on a letter Warbeck wrote her around December 1495. In the missive, Warbeck passionately declared his yearning for the virtuous lady, ‘the brightest ornament of Scotland’:

“Most noble lady, it is not without reason that all turn their eyes to you; that all admire, love, and obey you. For they see your two-fold virtues by which you are so much distinguished above all other mortals. Whilst, on the one hand, they admire your riches and immutable prosperity, which secure to you the nobility of your lineage and the loftiness of your rank, they are, on the other hand, struck by your rather divine than human beauty, and believe that you are not born in our days, but descended from Heaven.

   All look at your face, so bright and serene that it gives splendour to the cloudy sky; all look at your eyes as brilliant as stars, which make all pain to be forgotten, and turn despair into delight; all look at your neck, which outshines pearls; all look at your fine forehead, your purple light of youth, your fair hair; in one word, at the splendid perfection of your person; and looking at, they cannot choose but admire you; admiring, they cannot choose but love you; loving, they cannot choose but obey you.

   I shall, perhaps, be the happiest of all your admirers, and the happiest man on earth, since I have reason to hope you will think me worthy of your love. If I represent to my mind all your perfections, I am not only compelled to love, to adore, and to worship you, but love makes me your slave. Whether waking or sleeping, I cannot find rest or happiness except in your affection. All my hopes rest in you, and in you alone.

   Most noble lady, my soul, look mercifully down upon me your slave, who has ever been devoted to you from the first hour he saw you. Love is not an earthly thing, it is heaven born. Do not think it below yourself to obey love's dictates. Not only kings, but also gods and goddesses have bent their necks beneath its yoke.

   I beseech you, most noble lady, to accept for ever one who in all things will cheerfully do your will as long as his days shall last. Farewell, my soul and my consolation. You, the brightest ornament of Scotland, farewell, farewell”

The union between Katherine and Warbeck was celebrated on 13 January 1496 with a series of jousts in which the competitive Scottish king himself enthusiastically participated, injuring his hand in the process. There is no suggestion Warbeck competed, though he was presented with a fine white damask ‘spousing’ gown for the occasion. Other royal gifts included a purple damask-covered suit of armour, six servants, two trumpeters, a French armourer named Laurence, and an annual pension of £1344.

Warbeck launched his invasion of England in 1496, but the campaign proved a farce. Very quickly, Warbeck abandoned the theatre of war and returned to Falkland Palace and his wife, humiliated.  After maintaining a low profile, on 6 July 1497, Warbeck and Katherine set sail from Ayr harbour on a French merchant vessel known as the Cukow. It was stocked with provisions such as wine, bread, salt beef, mutton, cheese, and fish, and carried around thirty of Warbeck’s followers. Katherine, referred to in the Scottish records as the duchess of York and likely leaving her native country for the first time on what was an uncertain adventure, was at least provided some cloth by the king from which to fashion a sea-gown.

After a rough sea voyage that involved Tudor spies boarding the ship looking for them, Warbeck and Katherine eventually surfaced in Cornwall in September 1497. Whilst Warbeck recruited some Cornish rebels and departed towards London to lay claim to his crown, Katherine remained behind in the parish of St Buryan.

Now, there are no known records whatsoever of surviving children between Katherine or Warbeck, with the only indication there were any born at all coming from the pen of the Venetian ambassador Adrian Trevisano in September 1497, when he reported from London that the pretender had arrived in Cornwall, ‘leaving his wife and children’ behind in Penryn. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that any children born to the pair were later hidden from wider public knowledge by the Tudor administration, but it seems unlikely Henry VII could have suppressed such dynastically sensitive information completely; if children did exist, enough people in Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall would have known of their existence to let it slip. Henry unquestionably possessed great influence, but could not control idle gossip outside his reach, as shown with the entire Warbeck enterprise.

That a child was born in the first year of their marriage, but died during its parents’ voyage between Scotland and Cornwall, cannot be dismissed, and may account for Katherine’s safekeeping in sanctuary shortly after her arrival in Cornwall. There is no mention, however, of any child in her will, and when Trevisano personally encountered the couple in London two months after he wrote of these children, he made no further mention of their existence. It remains, therefore, wholly unproven any child of Warbeck’s blood was born, let alone living in the years after his demise.

After waving her husband off in September 1497, word soon reached a distressed Katherine that her husband had been captured, and she herself was soon detained by Tudor soldiers. Brought to Henry VII’s presence in Exeter, she was shown into a chamber where the Tudor king and her husband awaited.

According to Bernard André, the Scotswoman, ‘who had a modest and lovely countenance, surpassing beauty, and the freshness of youth’, was ‘ashamed and tearful’.  Polydore Vergil suggests the king was somewhat moved by her appearance, for ‘when the king saw the woman’s beauty he promptly judged her worthy to be among the captive hostages of a general rather than a common soldier’, that is, afforded a more honourable status than had initially been the plan.

In front of his wife, Henry commanded Warbeck to admit his deception. It is not unreasonable to suggest that Katherine was shocked to hear these words tumble from her husband’s trembling mouth, recounting how he had invented his royal pedigree, had hoodwinked the Scottish king, and scandalously entered their marriage living a mighty lie. This is, of course, assuming she wasn’t in on the lie. André suggests the tragic Katherine was overcome with grief and anger, loudly bewailing her abduction and pleading to be returned to Scotland, though unfortunately as with many women of the past, Katherine’s own voice in her story has been lost to history.

If Katherine did desire to return to her homeland, she would not be granted her wish. Henry instead sent her to London to serve his queen ‘as a true and undoubted token of his triumph and victory’. For her journey, the king purchased horses, saddles and other supplies. Katherine was also presented with new clothes, including a black satin gown garnished with velvet ribbons and tawny satin, and a black velvet bonnet. There is record of her initial meeting with the woman her husband had claimed was her sister-in-law, Elizabeth of York, or indeed future conversations. Her name was given in payment records as ‘Katherine Huntley’, her surname taken from her father’s title.

Despite Warbeck and Katherine’s predicament, it was the view of the Venetian ambassador Trevisano that at the end of November 1497, ‘the King treats them well’, even permitting them to live his own palace, though prohibited from sleeping together. Warbeck, however, would later continue to conspire and ended his days hanged at Tyburn just two years later.

As for Katherine, she continued to serve Queen Elizabeth, and would be on of the leading mourners at the queen’s funeral in 1503. On 25 January 1503, Katherine also attended the wedding ceremony marking the union of James IV with Princess Margaret Tudor, presumably taking the opportunity to speak with some of her fellow countrymen.

Though she would not remarry again during Henry VII’s reign, once his son acceded to the throne, Katherine ultimately remarried three times, in turn becoming the wife of James Strangways, Matthew Craddock, and Christopher Ashton, all regionally rather than nationally significant figures. When she died in 1537, forty years after her first husband was apprehended, Warbeck was the only person she married who did not merit a mention in her will, which is unsurprising considering his status as an executed Tudor rebel.

A Scottish noblewoman connected to royalty, this would-be Yorkist queen of England was buried quietly in Fyfield, Oxfordshire, a manor she had been granted by Henry VII. A remarkable life that, considering the circumstances when she was a young woman, was ultimately well-lived.

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To learn more about the life of Katherine Gordon and her husband Perkin Warbeck, please do consider picking up a copy of my bestselling book Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick’, which is available from all reputable and some not so reputable book retailers.

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