Editing Catherine Parr (section)

==Early life and adolescence==
Catherine Parr was the eldest child of [[Sir Thomas Parr]], [[lord of the manor]] of [[Kendal]] in [[Westmorland]] (now in [[Westmorland and Furness]]), and [[Maud Green]], daughter and co-heiress of [[Sir Thomas Green]], lord of [[Greens Norton]], Northamptonshire, and [[Joan Fogge]]. Like [[Anne Boleyn]], Catherine had been raised as a Catholic but at some point turned to [[Protestantism]]. Sir Thomas Parr was a descendant of King [[Edward III]], and the Parrs were a substantial northern family which included many knights. Catherine had a younger brother, [[William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton|William]], who after much wrangling was later created first [[Marquess of Northampton]], and a younger sister, [[Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke|Anne]], later [[Earl of Pembroke|Countess of Pembroke]]. Sir Thomas was a close companion to King [[Henry VIII]], and was rewarded as such with responsibilities and/or incomes from his positions as [[Sheriff of Northamptonshire]], Master of the Wards, and [[Comptroller of the Household]], in addition to being the lord of Kendal. Catherine's mother was a close friend and attendant of [[Catherine of Aragon]], and Catherine Parr was probably named after Queen Catherine, who was her godmother.{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=25}}

She was born in 1512, probably in either late July or August.{{efn|Susan James notes that the record of Catherine's death, dated 5 September 1548, indicates that as she had "passed her thirty-sixth birthday", the likeliest date of her birth is between late July and the end of August 1512.{{sfn|James|2009|p=18, note p. 303}}}} It was once thought that Catherine Parr had been born at [[Kendal Castle]] in [[Westmorland]]. However, at the time of her birth, Kendal Castle was already in very poor condition.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicholson|Burn|1777|pp=45–46}}, and the archaeological findings during the excavation of Kendal Castle by Barbara Harbottle as published in {{harvnb|Quarto|loc=V(4). January 1968}}; {{harvnb|Quarto|loc= VI(4). January 1969}}; {{harvnb|Quarto|loc=VII(4). January 1970}}; {{harvnb|Quarto|loc=X(1). August 1972}}</ref> During her pregnancy, Maud Parr remained at court, attending the Queen, and by necessity the Parr family were living in their townhouse at [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]]. Historians now consider it unlikely that Sir Thomas would have taken his pregnant wife on an arduous two-week journey north over bad roads to give birth in a crumbling castle in which neither of them seemed to spend much time.{{sfn|Farrer|Curwen|1923|p=54}}{{sfn|James|2009|pp=60–63}} Catherine's father died when she was young, and she was close to her mother as she grew up.{{sfn|Robin|Larsen|Levin|2007|p=289}}

Catherine's initial education was similar to other well-born women, but she developed a passion for learning which would continue throughout her life. She was fluent in [[French language|French]], [[Latin]] (a language in which she composed),<ref>{{cite web |title=Page: A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/193 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:A_cyclopaedia_of_female_biography.djvu/193 |via=Wikisource, the free online library}}</ref> and [[Italian language|Italian]], and began learning [[Spanish language|Spanish]] after becoming queen.{{sfn|Starkey|2004|p=690}} According to biographer [[Linda Porter (historian)|Linda Porter]], the story that as a child, Catherine could not tolerate sewing and often said to her mother that "my hands are ordained to touch crowns and sceptres, not spindles and needles" is very likely [[apocrypha]]l.{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=37}}

===First marriage (1529–1533)===
In 1529, when she was seventeen, Catherine married [[Sir Edward Burgh]] (pronounced and sometimes written as ''Borough''), a grandson of [[Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh]].{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=46}} Earlier biographies had mistakenly reported that Catherine had married the older Burgh.{{sfn|Mosley 1|2003|p=587}} Following the 2nd Baron Burgh's death in December 1528, Catherine's father-in-law Sir [[Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh|Thomas Burgh]] was summoned to [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] in 1529 as [[Baron Burgh]].{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=52}}

Catherine's first husband was in his twenties and may have been in poor health. He served as a [[feoffee]] for Thomas Kiddell and as a [[justice of the peace]]. His father also secured a joint patent in survivorship with his son for the office of steward of the manor of the [[Soke (legal)|soke]] of [[Kirton in Lindsey]]. The younger Sir Edward Burgh died in the spring of 1533, not surviving to inherit the title of Baron Burgh.{{sfn|James|2009|pp=60–63}}{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=56}}