Romantic, chaotic, and terrifying, Catherine Parr's life unfolded like a romance novel. Wed at 17 to the grandson of a confirmed lunatic then widowed at 20, Catherine chose a Yorkshire lord twice her age as her second husband. Caught up in the turbulent terrors of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, she was captured by northern rebels, held hostage, and suffered violence at their hands. Fleeing to the south shortly afterward, Catherine took refuge in the household of the Princess Mary and in the arms of the king's brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Seymour. Her employment in Mary's household brought her to the attention of Mary's father, the unpredictable Henry VIII. Desperately in love with Seymour, Catherine was forced into marriage with a king whose passion for her could not be hidden and who was determined to make her his queen.

    Sessions's narrative combines historical scholarship with close readings of poetic texts and Tudor paintings to reveal the unique life of the first Renaissance courtier and a poet who wrote and created radically new forms (such as the English sonnet and blank verse).

    An astute businesswoman, she succeeded in amassing extensive estates and commensurate wealth. This volume presents a record of the contents of her three houses.