Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk by Hans Holbein.
Spouse(s)	Anne of York Elizabeth Stafford
Noble family	House of Howard
Father	Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Mother	Elizabeth Tilney
Born	1473
Died	25 August 1554

Sir Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, 2nd Earl of Surrey, 14th Baron Segrave, 13th Baron Mowbray KG, Earl Marshal (1473 – 25 August 1554) was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these relationships. After falling from favour, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when the king died. He was released on the accession of Queen Mary I. He aided Mary in securing her throne, setting the stage for alienation between his Catholic family and the Protestant royal line that would be continued by his great-niece, Queen Elizabeth I.

Early life

He was the son of Thomas Howard (eldest son of John Howard, 1st Baron Howard) and the former Elizabeth Tilney, and was descended from King Edward I's third son Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk. His father was knighted in 1478, and created Earl of Surrey in 1483 (at the same time as his grandfather, Lord Howard, was created Duke of Norfolk). He was himself knighted by his father in 1498. He succeeded his younger brother Sir Edward Howard as Lord High Admiral in 1513. His father was restored to his grandfather's Dukedom of Norfolk (which had been forfeit after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485), after which he was styled Earl of Surrey.

Marriages

He first married Anne of York, daughter of King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville on 4 February 1494 at Greenwich Palace. The couple had at least two children: Thomas Howard (c. 1496-1508) and a stillborn child (c. 1499). There are also suggestions of two other short-lived sons, Henry and William Howard, resulting from this marriage.

Following Anne's death in 1511, he married Lady Elizabeth Stafford, daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Lady Eleanor Percy on 8 January 1512. They had three children: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547), who was one of the founders of Renaissance poetry; Lady Mary Howard (c. 1519-1557), who married Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, illegitimate son of Henry VIII; and Lord Thomas Howard (c.1520-1582), later 1st Viscount Howard of Bindon. His marriage to Elizabeth was unhappy. When Elizabeth complained about his mistress, Bess Holland, the Duke beat her. The couple remained estranged until Norfolk's death.

Rise to power

On his father's death in 1524 he succeeded as 3rd Duke of Norfolk and 2nd Earl of Surrey and was named Lord High Treasurer and Earl Marshal, making him one of the premier nobles in the kingdom. He distinguished himself many times in battle, and was an able soldier. His power increased somewhat after his niece Anne Boleyn caught the eye of King Henry VIII, sometime around 1527. However, their relationship was fraught with difficulty since Anne found her uncle to be selfish and untrustworthy. Although they were political allies throughout the late 1520s alongside Norfolk's brother-in-law Thomas Boleyn, Anne's father, Norfolk once complained that Anne used words to him "that one would not use to a dog". She was crowned Queen in 1533, and was probably influential in securing the marriage of Norfolk's daughter Mary to the Duke of Richmond.

Queen Anne's religious and political vision was more radical than Norfolk's, and their relationship deteriorated throughout 1535 and 1536 as Henry VIII became increasingly unfaithful, including with Anne's cousin, Mary Shelton. Putting his own security before family loyalties, he presided over Queen Anne's trial in 1536, giving a death sentence despite her probable innocence. The next day, he condemned to death his nephew, Anne's brother George for the crime of incest with his own sister, the Queen.

He used Henry's subsequent marriage to Anne of Cleves as an opportunity to dispose of his long-term enemy Thomas Cromwell, who was beheaded in 1540. After King Henry's divorce from Anne of Cleves, Norfolk used another of his nieces, the teenaged Catherine Howard, to strengthen his power at court by orchestrating a courtship between her and the 48-year-old king. Queen Catherine's reign was a short one, however, since Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, discovered that she was already secretly betrothed before her marriage to Henry and had been extremely indiscreet since. Catherine was beheaded in February 1542, and numerous other Howards were imprisoned in the Tower - including Norfolk's stepmother, brother, two sisters-in-law and numerous servants.

Imprisonment and release

Catherine Howard's execution was Norfolk's downfall, despite his desperate efforts to heal the rift. He had become the leader of the premier family in England; as the uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and the great-uncle of Jane Seymour,^[1] he had also benefited from the influence of several of the King's mistresses, his nieces Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth Carew and his wife's aunt, Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon. In 1546, Norfolk allegedly hatched a plot to make his daughter, Mary Howard, the King's mistress, even though she was the widow of Henry's illegitimate son.^[2] In December 1546, he was arrested in company with his son Henry and charged with treason. Henry VIII died the day before the execution was due to take place, and Norfolk's sentence was commuted to imprisonment. The Earl of Surrey was less fortunate and had been executed a few days previously.

Norfolk remained in the Tower throughout the reign of King Edward VI and his dukedom remained forfeit. He was released by Mary I in 1553, as the Howards were an important Catholic family, and the dukedom was restored. The Duke showed his gratitude by leading the forces sent to put down the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt, who had protested against the Queen's forthcoming marriage to Philip II of Spain and had planned to put Anne Boleyn's daughter, the future Elizabeth I, on the throne in Mary's place. The result of Norfolk's suppression of the Wyatt Rebellion was Princess Elizabeth's imprisonment in the Tower (although there was not enough evidence to convict her on treason, since she clearly had not been party to the rebels' precise intentions) and the execution of the Queen's cousin Lady Jane Grey. Norfolk died not long after the Wyatt Rebellion and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas.

Norfolk's tomb is situated in Framlingham Church, Suffolk. It is among the best preserved example of ornate stonework in Europe.

Ancestry

Fictional portrayals

Norfolk has been portrayed several times in film. In the 1970 BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Norfolk was portrayed by Patrick Troughton. In 1967's A Man for All Seasons, he was played by Nigel Davenport. In 1969's Anne of the Thousand Days, Peter Jeffrey took the role, and Mark Strong portrayed Norfolk in the 2003 ITV feature Henry VIII, with Ray Winstone as Henry. In Showtime's ongoing series The Tudors (2007), he is played by Henry Czerny. During the second season in 2008 the character is written out although in fact Norfolk was present at the court during the 1530s. David Morrissey plays the Duke in The Other Boleyn Girl film. He is also a character in the Philippa Gregory novels The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance.

Further reading

• House of Treason: the Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty by Robert Hutchinson, 2009
• A Tudor Tragedy: Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk by Neville Williams, 1989
• The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: Life of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk by David M. Head, 1995
• Henry VIII's Last Victim: The Life and Times... by Jessie Childs, 2008
•   Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900​. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

See also

• Dukes of Norfolk family tree

References