On this day in history, 25th August 1554, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, died.
This magnate, soldier and uncle of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard died of natural causes at his home of Kenninghall in Norfolk. He was buried at St Michael’s Church, Framlingham, Suffolk.
Find out more about this important Tudor man and how he escaped the executioner and died at a good age in his bed…
Transcript:
On this day in history, 25th August 1554, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, magnate, soldier and uncle of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, died of natural causes at his home of Kenninghall in Norfolk. He was laid to rest in St Michael’s Church, Framlingham, Suffolk.
Here is an excerpt from my book “The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown” on this Tudor man…
Thomas Howard was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and of Elizabeth Tilney. He was the brother of Elizabeth Boleyn (née Howard) and so was uncle to Anne Boleyn. Howard’s father and grandfather had fought on Richard III’s side at the Battle of Bosworth but Howard was able to work his way back into royal favour by fighting for the Crown against both the Cornish rebels and the Scots in 1497. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1510, was created Earl of Surrey in 1514 and succeeded his father as Duke of Norfolk in 1524. In September 1514 he was prominent in leading the English army in defeating the Scots at the Battle of Flodden.
In the 1520s, he clashed with Cardinal Wolsey over foreign policy – he preferred war and Wolsey preferred diplomacy – and was involved with the Duke of Suffolk’s and the Boleyn family’s push for Wolsey to be removed from power. In the 1530s, Norfolk carried out diplomatic missions and advised the King on the situation in Ireland. As Lord Steward of England, he presided over the trials of Anne and George Boleyn, his niece and nephew in May 1536.
After acting as Lord Steward at the trials of Anne and George Boleyn, Norfolk went on to be godfather to Edward VI at his christening in October 1537 and a commissioner at Queen Jane Seymour’s funeral in November 1537. In 1539, he was chosen to go with the Duke of Suffolk to meet Anne of Cleves at her arrival at Dover. In 1540, during Cromwell’s arrest in the council chamber, it was said that Norfolk tore the St George from around Cromwell’s neck; certainly, he was very much involved in the plot against Cromwell. When the King’s anger turned on the Howard family after Catherine Howard’s adultery, Norfolk was fortunate in escaping punishment. He went on to serve the King in the war against the Scots in 1542 but his pro-French stance caused him problems when the King became keen to go to war with France. He served the King in France as lieutenant-general of the army, besieging Montreuil, but was rebuked by the King when he withdrew.
On 12th December 1546, Norfolk and his son, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, were arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London after it was alleged that Surrey had displayed the royal arms and insignia in his own heraldry. Surrey was found guilty of treason on 13th January 1547 at a common inquest at Guildhall and Norfolk was attainted on 27th January. Both were sentenced to death and Surrey was executed on 19th January 1547. Norfolk was lucky; the King died before the former’s scheduled execution date. As a consequence, in 1553, Norfolk was released and pardoned by Mary I, and died naturally at Kenninghall on 25th August 1554. He was laid to rest in St Michael’s Church, Framlingham.
Dour looking and really the matriarch of the Howard family, military man leading peer of the realm, Earl marshal of England and the uncle of two beheaded queens, Thomas Howard born into one of England noblest families had a long and eventful life, married twice, first to the young Princess Anne Plantagenet ‘Anne of York’ is how she is commonly referred to, then after her death he married the Duke Of Buckingham’s daughter and marital harmony was defiantly not for this ill suited couple, it could have been more to the fact that he had a mistress who was in service to the Duke and his wife, name of Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Holland the laundress, this lady became one of Anne Boleyn’s ladies, a post she obviously held because of her lover, Norfolk apparently did not get on with his wayward niece and once even called her a wh*re, the elder brother of her mother the discord between them must have called the family much distress, for both Elizabeth Boleyn and Anne were extremely close, at both their trial’s he had to condemn her and his nephew George and pass the awful sentence, blood is thicker than water and he was known to be visibly upset, his son was the proud and arrogant Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, talent poet though he was he was overbearing and he too lost his head because he displeased the increasingly paranoid king, his daughter Mary married the kings bastard son an event which irked the duchess and it was well known to, that she and Anne often clashed, possibly because of her husbands mistress in the queens household, in his youth his family were on the side of Richard during the Wars Of The Roses, which did not bode well for them when Henry Tudor was the victor, but Thomas found favour with the new king and was head of the army at Flodden when Henry V111 was on the throne, he clashed with Wolsley seeing him as the main opponent against his niece when Henry was trying to have his first marriage annulled, and there is the story to how he ripped Cromwells chain of office from his neck when he was arrested, it could well be true, Norfolk was known to be ruthless, he must have hated Cromwell at the downfall of the Boleyn’s as the Howard’s were inextricably linked to them, he introduced (maybe) his young fair niece to the now ageing king and his fortunes were in the up again when he decided he wished to marry this delightful young lady, Norfolk had no idea about his nieces wild past though and when it all came tumbling out, he must surely this time, feel the cold blade of the axe against his neck, like all men of his age he left his niece to the wolves and went grovelling to the king, he had no idea she was of easy virtue he implored the king, Thomas survived the tragedy that befell Catherine Howard but for a time they were all locked in the Tower, it was said they filled all the cells, he and his step mother the dowager duchess were released eventually as the other members were but it had been a fraught and terrible time, several years later he was incredibly lucky because whilst his son went to the scaffold for treason he survived, Henry V111 had both father and son arrested because the foolish young Earl had the arms of the confessor displayed on the family’s coat of arms, they were in direct descent from Edward 1st like many nobles families and the Earl explained they were only shown on the second or third quarter, not the first, but Henry V111 was enraged ever aware of his fathers usurpation of the throne he disliked those whom he called pretenders and those with Plantagenet blood in them, Thomas must have wept for his son, he now had seen three members of his family lose their lives and he must have maybe, longed for death himself, but it was not to be, in a cold day in January the old king died without signing his death warrant, and Thomas was pardoned when Mary 1st came to the throne, something which her brother whilst king had not seen fit to do, he spent the last years of his life at his home in Kenninghall Manor, dying there at eighty one years age he had done well by Tudor standards, he lies in the nearby church of St Michaels in Framlingham, close by lies the beautiful tomb of his errant son, and his line continues to this day, in film and television and literature he is depicted as a power hungry man bullying his nieces to find favour with the king, but was he really like that, in Wolf Hall he was seen swearing mostly and breaking out in a sweat when Henry Percy declared he had always been engaged to the queen, so his marriage with Mary Talbot was not a true one, in ‘Murder Most Royal’ he is shown as cold hearted and remote and caring little when both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard went to the block, his wife complained he treated her sorely and that once he even sat on her during one of their many tirades, he probably did have a temper and he certainly was ambitious as his contemporaries were, but was he as hard hearted as he is so often made out to be? his daughter Lady Mary Howard is not as colourful a personality as his son was and she never married after losing her young husband, Thomas survived his wife by four years and Bess Holland went onto marry another, his death seems to have been old age and must have been peaceful, unlike his two tragic nieces and flamboyant but foolish son.