On This Day: February 13, 1542. Catherine Howard Beheaded

Catherine Howard – by Hans Holbein the Younger, circa 1540

On this day in 1542, King Henry VIII of England has his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, beheaded after two years of marriage.

Henry’s historic mid-life crisis, which culminated in his marrying a teenager 30 years his junior, had given England five queens in a dozen years and three heirs that will cause religious strife in years to come.