Katharine, a lady in attendance on the princess of France. Dumain, a young lord in the suite of Ferdinand, king of Navarre, asks her hand in marriage, and she replies:
A twelvemonth and a day
I’ll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say.
Come then ...
And if I have much love, I’ll give you some.
Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost (1594).
Katharine (Queen), the divorced wife of Henry VIII. Shakespeare, Henry VIII. (1601).
The following actresses are celebrated for their impersonations of this character:—Mrs. Pritchard (1711-1768); Margaret [Peg] Woffington (1718-1760); Mrs. Siddons (1755-1831); Mrs. Barley (1785-1850).
Katharine de Medici of China, Voochee, widow of King Tae-tsông. She was most imperious and cruel, but her energy was irresistible (684-705).
Katin´ka, a Georgian, “white and red, with great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm, and feet so small they scarce seemed made to tread, but rather skim the earth.” She was one of the three beauties of the harem, into which Don Juan was admitted in female disguise. The other two were Lolah and Dudù.—Byron, Don Juan, vi. 40, 41 (1824).