Catharine Of France, Or Of Valois, queen of England, born in Paris, Oct. 27, 1401, died in the abbey of Bermondsey, England, Jan. 3, 1438. She was the youngest child of Charles VI. of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. Henry V. of England, having asserted his claim to the crown of France, applied for her hand, but demanded an enormous dowry in money and the cession of Normandy and several other provinces. The court of France declining these terms, Henry V. invaded the country, and, after the victory of Agincourt and the capture of Rouen, renewed his application, which was this time favorably entertained. By the treaty of Troyes, May 21, 1420, it was agreed that Henry should receive the hand of Catharine and succeed to the throne of France after the death of Charles VI., the regency of the kingdom being placed in his hands until that time. They were married at Troyes, June 2, with great ceremony, and in the following year sailed for England, where Catharine was crowned Feb. 24, 1421. Henry, being obliged to return to France, left his young wife in England, where she gave birth on Dec. 6 to a son, afterward Henry VI. She was soon recalled to France, where she found her husband dying.

Immediately after his death (Aug. 31, 1422), his infant son was proclaimed king of France and England. A few years later, but when is not certainly known, Catharine was secretly married to Owen Tudor, a young and handsome "Welsh knight of good family, who had fought at Agincourt, and after holding the office of squire of the body to Henry V. had become clerk of the wardrobe to Catharine. By this husband she had three sons, the eldest of whom, Edmund of Hadham, so called from Hadham house, where he was born, was made earl of Richmond by Henry VI., who also procured his marriage with Margaret Beaufort, the heiress of the house of Somerset. The issue of this marriage was a son, afterward Henry V11., the first sovereign of the house of Tudor. The marriage of Queen Catharine with Owen Tudor does not seem to have been discovered till a few months before her death. She was sent to a convent and Tudor to Newgate jail, whence he escaped to Wales, and after some years was taken into favor by Henry VI., in whose service he fought against Edward IV., by whom he was taken prisoner and put to death in 1400.