On Votaries I discuss Jeri Westerson's detective novel that takes place at the time of the Great Matter, when Henry VIII was figuring out how to divorce Queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn.
I was reminded of The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser and The Six Wives of Henry VIII, starring the great Keith Michell.
What I find most astonishing about the events of 1500 C.E. was the willingness, the positive eagerness, with which various families backed certain matches. When any wife got shuffled off (divorced, beheaded), she didn't go alone; she took swaths of relatives with her as well as various political supporters.
And yet, oh, well, there's one down; now, who else can we promote?
Of course, a modern reader has the benefit of hindsight. We know that number three wife (Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth) is the exception to the rule. Yet, it should have been reasonably obvious by the time the king reached Katherine Howard (after he divorced Anne of Cleves, which debacle Anne survived but Cromwell lost his head over) that it might not be the best idea in the world to have a pretty niece at court who might attract the king's interest. 
Of course, there are some things people have no control over, and I'm willing to bet that when Katherine Howard caught the king's eye, her uncle (Earl of Norfolk) started practicing pre-execution speeches. (As a matter of fact, he survived her, but barely.)
Nevertheless, at the same time, hangers-on to Katherine Howard emerged from the woodwork, demanding kudos, rewards, estates, etc. etc. (it was the great age of patronage). And you'd think that a certain amount of uneasiness would have crept into the picture. That rather than running to attach themselves to this new, young and wholly reckless young woman, people might have thought, "You know, I think I'll stay away from court for the next three years" (probably some did). 
Because it wasn't only Henry who encouraged the divorcing and beheading of his queens. Every queen was surrounded by supporters and detractors, and the detractors spent an enormous amount of time trying to figure out how to get the queen and her supporters locked up in the Tower (think CNN and Fox News, only these historical sycophants were right in your face--you couldn't just turn the TV or computer off). Kind of like if Kenneth Starr and the Clintons, instead of holding legal proceedings and issuing press statements, had actually been trying to maneuver the other party in front of a firing squad.
But then, thinking of the Clintons and politicians in general, I've determined that politicians always believe that they are the exceptions. The belief "this time it will be different; our queen won't do anything stupid to annoy the king" is what makes politicians tick. Otherwise, why would they bother?
It makes me very grateful for us boring middleclass types who go to work and pay our taxes. Idealists and politicians may get all the credit for making history interesting, but at least the middleclass survivalists keep history going.
As for the wives, I think they were fascinating people in general--clever, erudite, sincere, political--but Katherine Howard was rather a dope. Some of these wives had no choice. Some of them deliberately set out to play a rather dangerous game and played it as well as many of the men who also lost their positions and their heads.
However, it's hard not to see Katherine Howard as the quintessential dumb girl who even today would convince herself she was in love with a dangerous man and then convince herself that she needed a lover and then convince herself that she was living out some great drama when she was really living out a kind of ridiculous soap opera--only, more deadly.
And perhaps that is the tragedy of her--she wasn't living the life she thought she was living.
But then, were any of them? Including Henry?
