If Catherine Howard had said she was "pre-contracted" to Dernham, then she may have had her life spared. He claimed that she had agreed to marry him, and she denied it. There was no law saying that Catherine or any other woman who married the king had to be a virgin. All it would have met is that the King had married a woman who had been engaged to another man and hence, the marriage would have been null & void.

Of course, Catherine's biggest mistake was giving Dernham a position at court as her secretary and that opened the door for allegations that she & he re-kindled the romance. Nothing ever happened to Madox because he never contacted her after she came to court. IIRC, a law was passed specifically to execute Dernham for "having had relations with the Queen prior to her marrying the King" and he was hanged, drawn & quartered. Eeek!

Henry appeared to be one of those people who got bored very quickly with his wives. Anne was certainly a smart, interesting woman, but what attracted him to her ultimately repelled him. I always loved the fact that he was playing tennis at the time she was executed and he married Jane Seymore 24 hours later.