English navy

The English navy in the novel is a force being built as much through planning and supply as through combat. Under Katherine of Aragon’s influence, ships are surveyed for military service, coastal defenses are considered, and fleets are provisioned for campaigns abroad. Its purpose reaches beyond raiding or transport: Katherine argues that a kingdom surrounded by sea cannot be secure unless it can protect its trade and command the waters around it.

Formation and Strategic Purpose

As Katherine takes a larger role in government, she and the Privy Council begin working on coastal defenses and surveying ships that could be called into a fighting navy. This work forms part of a wider attempt to make the kingdom more powerful and peaceful, with the law extending across the country and army muster rolls prepared alongside naval planning. The navy is therefore not an isolated institution in the story; it belongs to a broader project of state capacity and defense.

Katherine’s strategic principle is that English security depends on maritime control. In a discussion with Henry VIII about Scottish threats, she argues that allowing Scotland to rule the seas would allow it to command England. Sea power matters because trade and the safety of the island are exposed wherever hostile ships can operate. Her reasoning makes naval strength a condition of national independence, not merely a source of prestige.

That principle also shapes the way Katherine interprets the threat posed by Andrew Barton. She describes him not only as a danger to commerce but as a sign of more serious danger to come. The dispute thus becomes a test of whether England will permit a hostile power to exercise control at sea. Katherine’s argument links the immediate problem of a pirate to the larger question of who can safely move, trade, and project force around the island.

Edward Howard and the Capture of Andrew Barton

Edward Howard, serving as admiral, puts the navy’s purpose into action when his ships sail to capture Barton. Katherine regards Howard as young, but his courage and tactical ability are respected; he has inherited his father’s skill while bringing it to the developing navy. The Howards’ traditional association with the lord admiral’s office gives his command a family context, while his own performance establishes him as an effective naval leader.

Howard promises to capture Barton alive, though he is prepared to sink the ship if necessary. Katherine answers his departure with a teasing rebuke about fighting a Christian enemy, but the exchange does not lessen the seriousness of the mission. Her attention is fixed on the danger to English trade and security, and Howard assures her that the Scots pose a greater threat to the kingdom’s peace and wealth than the Moors could.

The operation succeeds: Howard captures Barton and two of his ships. The victory is treated as proof that England needs skilled sailors as well as soldiers, and Katherine presses for a lasting English presence at sea and the removal of pirates from its waters. The plan is to bring Barton to the royal capital in chains, try him, and execute him at the quayside. That proposed public punishment gives the capture a political consequence beyond the immediate seizure of ships: it would assert English jurisdiction while risking a serious dispute with James IV of Scotland.

Fleets, Supply, and War Abroad

The novel repeatedly measures naval strength by the preparations that make a fleet usable. In spring 1512, Katherine supervises the provisioning of ships, the stocking of armories, and the equipping of soldiers for an expedition sent to join Ferdinand of Aragon’s campaign against France. The fleet leaves with the banners of England’s great houses, presented as the finest-equipped force to have departed the country in years. Katherine’s childhood experience of her mother’s work during campaigns has taught her that battles depend on reliable supply; her command of preparation is shown as a practical form of military knowledge.

The expedition is intended to support the Pope, defeat France, and secure English gains on the continent. Katherine and Henry VIII expect a swift victory and rich rewards, while members of the Privy Council fear that England is entering another prolonged war. The English army’s eventual failure exposes the limits of alliance and preparation: English troops return hungry and exhausted after waiting for orders and reinforcements from Ferdinand, with two thousand men lost to illness. Katherine recognizes that her father had kept the force inactive as a diversion while he advanced into Navarre. The fleet’s departure had enabled a wider military enterprise, but it could not ensure that the ally would use England’s forces as expected.

A later French campaign displays a more elaborate mobilization. Four hundred of Henry VIII’s ships wait at Dover, painted and ready, with sails rigged and the royal ship bearing a red dragon at its stern. The king’s guard, armor, and horses are also prepared for embarkation. Katherine and Thomas Wolsey have timed the arrangements so the army can depart without the familiar last-minute scramble for orders and supplies. The detail emphasizes the fleet as part of a coordinated system of transport, royal display, and military readiness.

Naval Power and Royal Authority

At Dover, Henry VIII formally gives Katherine authority before departing for France. In a public ceremony, he hands her the Great Seal of State and appoints her regent, governor of the realm, and captain general of the forces for home defense. The fleet is thus connected to the transfer of political power: its readiness makes the king’s departure possible, while the appointment leaves Katherine responsible for the kingdom and its defense.

Her response reveals the scale of the responsibility she has long sought. She understands her regency as authority to govern and defend England, and identifies the Scottish threat as the first task before her. Across the narrative, naval preparations, the capture of Barton, and the dispatch of fleets show a developing force whose effectiveness depends on administration, commanders, and political judgment. The English navy represents Katherine’s conviction that an island’s security must be established at sea as well as on land, even as the failed expedition against France demonstrates that ships and careful logistics cannot overcome every weakness in an alliance.