16th century royal letter for sale

A letter from the 1500s which tells part of the story of how the Church of England
began is expected to sell for a high price. It was written by Catherine of Aragon,
the 1st wife of ing !enry "III, while he and the #ope were struggling for power.
It has always been said that $ritish schoolchildren don%t &now much about $ritish
history, but one thing they all &now is that !enry "III had six wi'es ( as the saying
goes )di'orced, beheaded, died* di'orced, beheaded, sur'i'ed).
Catherine of Aragon was the +panish first wife who was di'orced when she failed
to gi'e the ing a son. ,he letter for sale is dated -ebruary the .th 15/0, in the
middle of this tumultuous and gripping period. ing !enry wanted the #ope to
annul his marriage to Catherine so that he could ha'e a child with another
woman.
,his autographed letter, signed %atharina%, is to the !oly 1oman Emperor Charles
". In it she pleads (in +panish( for Charles to press the #ope to stand up to !enry
saying that the 23uote4 )sufferings, surprises and affronts which e'ery day puts on
us, are of uni'ersal notoriety). Catherine was successful, the #ope supported her,
but of course !enry defied the #ope, di'orced Catherine, and set up the Church
of England.
,he letter is enormously rare and could fetch o'er 100,000 dollars when it%s sold
in 5ecember. ,he price reflects an intimate glimpse into a brutal and totalitarian
society. 6750 words8
Part A. Reading Comprehension.
I. Answer the following 3uestions using your own words but ta&ing into account
the information in the text. 67 points9 1 point each8
a8 According to the author, what did ing !enry want the #ope to do:
b8 According to the text, what does the price reflect:
II. Are the following statements true 6,8 or false 6-8: Identify the part of the text
that supports your answer. 61.5 point9 0.5 each8
a. Catherine of Aragon;s letter is dated in the 15th century.
b. Catherine wanted Charles " to oppose ing !enry.
c. ,he #ope did not agree with Catherine.
III. -ind a synonym for each of the four words below from these six options9 61
point9 0.75 each8
glimpse defied pleads stand up to affronts gripping period
a8 begs, ma&es a 'ery strong re3uest
b8 offensi'e words
c8 a 'ery 3uic& loo&
d8 refused to respect
I". Choose a, b, or c, in each 3uestion below. <nly one choice is correct. 61.5
points9 0.5 each8
1. $ritish school children=
a8 &now a lot about English history.
b8 ha'e studied about ing !enry "III.
c8 only &now one thing.
7. Catherine was successful because=
a8 the #ope agreed with her
b8 she was not beheaded.
c8 ing !enry "III di'orced her.
/. Catherine of Aragon was di'orced because=
a8 she had the flu
b8 she couldn;t ha'e a baby boy
c8 she was +panish
Part B. Composition (130-10 !ords appro"imately#. Choose one of the
follo!ing topics. ($ points#
1. >hat can we do to help +panish students en?oy history classes:
7. >hat are the ad'antages of studying history: