Catherine's opposition to Ferdinand, she supported the position of Antipope Benedict XIII and initially spoke up against the Council of Constance (1414–1418). Second regency When Ferdinand died in 1416, Catherine's authority was reduced, because his rivals no longer supported her. The government became very conciliar. Catherine, sickly due to a stroke, relinquished the custody of her son. There is one vivid account of Catherine towards the end of her life recorded by Fernán Pérez de Guzmán. It alludes to the fact that she probably inherited physical characteristics from her father, and that she was a sickly woman. He describes her as being very tall and fat, pink with white in her complexion and fair. He states that she moved as though she was a man. He also says that she was virtuous and reserved, in both her person and her reputation. She was said to be generous and magnificent in her ways, although she did play "favourites" and was greatly influenced by them. Despite her "favouritism", she was twice as likely to banish women from her household. Death and burial Queen Catherine died at Valladolid on 2 June 1418, of a stroke, leaving her thirteen-year-old son at the mercy of self-interested courtiers. She is buried with her husband in the Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos in Cathedral of Toledo. Her monumental effigy shows her with a long face and a highly arched forehead. Catherine of Lancaster's great-granddaughter Catherine of Aragon, the first of the six wives of Henry VIII, was named after her. Genealogy Notes References Anthony Goodman: "Katherine of Lancaster" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 30 (2004), p. 890–891. MacKay, Angus. Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 1000–1500. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977. The Breakdown of 'Convivencia': The Iberian Peninsula 1350–1506 Lopes, Fernão. The English in Portugal, 1367-1287 p227-237 Echevarria, Ana. "Catherine of Lancaster, the Castilian Monarchy and Coexistence", en Late Medieval Spain (Festschrift Prof. Angus I. K. MacKay). Eds. R. Collins y A. Goodman. London/New York: MacMillan Press, 2002: 79–122. |- 1373 births 1418 deaths Burials in the Province of Toledo Princesses of Asturias People from Hertford House of Lancaster House of Trastámara Pretenders to the throne of the kingdom of Castile Castilian queen consorts Leonese queen consorts Galician queens consort 15th-century women rulers Queen mothers Regents of Castile Lancaster, Katherine of Lancaster, Katherine of English Roman Catholics 14th-century English people 14th-century