Katherine Parr was the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England, and much of her life has been reduced to being “The One Who Survived” in the historical context; but she was so much more than that. Parr was the first female writer to see her name on the title page of her own writings, in lieu of having to use a male pseudonym (Holbrook, 58). She would publish one translation and two full-length texts. Her most famous text, the Lamentations of a Sinner (1547), released 9 editions by 1556, and five additional editions would be produced during the reign of Elizabeth I: 1558-1603 (Mueller, Devotion as Indifference, 175). Parr was a Protestant Reformer when England had not completely converted to Protestantism. She used her role as Queen of England and Henry’s wife, and Dowager Queen after Henry’s death to not only spread…show more content… 2) How did she utilize her power as regent? a. Did she do anything or merely keep the throne warm while Henry was away?
3) How/if important was she to the Protestant Reformation?
a. Did her role as Elizabeth I and Edward VI’s step-mother have anything to do with the spread of Protestantism?
4) What did "Protestant" mean to her and how was it different from the royal and continental uses of the term?
These questions are important to the scholarship not only because they address Parr, but they look deeper as to the world that Parr was trying to spread her ideals in, and how she inspired later Protestant movements in England. My goal with this project and in answering these questions is to really analyze how Parr combined the multiple roles she played through her later life to be so much more in history than just the wife that outlived Henry VIII. I plan to expand upon the expanding on the current historiography by focusing on the whole person rather than just focus on a singular role or touching on her life as a whole (as Mueller and Withrow have
