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Thomas Howard
Duke of Norfolk
Born	(1536-03-10)10 March 1536
Died	2 June 1572(1572-06-02) (aged 36) Tower Hill , London, England
Noble family	Howard
Spouse(s)	Mary FitzAlan Margaret Audley Elizabeth Leyburne
Issue Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk Lord William Howard Elizabeth Howard Margaret Howard
Father	Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Mother	Frances de Vere

Arms of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG (10 March 1536 – 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although hailing from a family with strong Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I through her maternal grandmother, and held many high offices during her reign.

Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He commissioned Thomas Tallis, probably in 1567, to compose his renowned motet in forty voice-parts Spem in alium.

Biography

Norfolk was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage. His father predeceased his grandfather, so Norfolk inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554.

He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I through her maternal grandmother, Lady Elizabeth Howard, and he was trusted with public office despite his family's history and leanings towards Catholicism (although he was brought up a Protestant). He commissioned Thomas Tallis, probably in 1567, to compose his renowned motet in forty voice-parts Spem in alium.

Norfolk was Earl Marshal of England and Queen's Lieutenant in the North. From February to July 1560, Norfolk was commander of the English army in Scotland in support of the Lords of the Congregation opposing Mary of Guise. He negotiated the Treaty of Berwick (1560) by which the Congregation invited English assistance.^[1]

Norfolk was the Principal of the commission at York in 1568 to hear evidence against Mary, Queen of Scots presented by Regent Moray, including the casket letters.^[2]

Queen Elizabeth imprisoned Norfolk in 1569 for scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.

Following his release, he participated in the Ridolfi plot with King Philip II of Spain to put Mary on the English throne and restore Catholicism in England. He was executed for treason in 1572. He is buried at the Church of St Peter ad Vincula within the walls of the Tower of London.

Norfolk's lands and titles were forfeit, although much of the estate was later restored to his sons. The title of Duke of Norfolk was restored, four generations later, to Thomas Howard.

Marriages and issue

First wife

Mary FitzAlan

Margaret Audley

Portrait of Elizabeth Leyburne attributed to Hans Eworth, c.1560

Thomas Howard's first wife was Mary FitzAlan, who after the death of her brother Henry in 1556 became heiress to the Arundel estates of her father Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel. She died after a year of marriage, having given birth to a son:

• 
  Philip Howard (28 June 1557 – 19 October 1595), who became the 20th Earl of Arundel.

It is from this marriage that modern Dukes of Norfolk derive their surname of 'FitzAlan-Howard' and their seat in Arundel. Though her funeral effigy is found at Framlingham church, Mary FitzAlan was not buried there but first at the church of St. Clement Danes, Temple Bar and then, under the direction of her grandson's will, at Arundel.

Second wife

Norfolk next married another heiress, Margaret Audley,^[3] widow of Sir Henry Dudley and daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden. Margaret's children by her marriage to Norfolk were:

• 
  Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk;


• 
  Lord William Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle;


• Lady Elizabeth Howard;


• 
  Lady Margaret Howard, Countess of Dorset^[4]

Margaret Audley Howard's tomb effigies is found at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham.^[5]

Third wife

After Margaret's death in 1563, Norfolk married Elizabeth Leyburne (1536 – 4 September 1567), widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gillesland and daughter of Sir James Leyburne.

Norfolk's three sons by his first two wives, Philip, Thomas, and William, married, respectively, Anne, Margaret, and Elizabeth Dacre. The Dacre sisters were the daughters of Elizabeth Leyburne by her marriage to Thomas Dacre and were, thereby, stepsisters to Norfolk's sons.

Attempted fourth marriage

Following the death of his third wife, Norfolk made an effort in 1569 to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. The marriage, of course, never happened, and Norfolk was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth and executed for this.

Depictions

• Thomas Howard appears as a character in the Philippa Gregory novels The Virgin's Lover and The Other Queen, and in the novel I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles.


• A highly fictionalized version of the 4th Duke of Norfolk appears as a villain, played by Christopher Eccleston, in the 1998 film Elizabeth.


• Another version of the Duke is in the BBC mini-series The Virgin Queen, played by Kevin McKidd.


• In the Channel 4 documentary Elizabeth (2000) presented by David Starkey, the Duke is portrayed by actor John Gully.

Ancestry

See also

• Dukes of Norfolk family tree


• 
  John George Howard, a Toronto architect who claims to be related to the Duke.

References

Further reading

• 
  Edwards, Francis (1968). The marvellous chance: Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, and the Ridolphi plot, 1570-1572. ISBN 0-246-64474-5.
  


• 
  "Murdin, William : Collection of State Papers, 1571-1596". London. 1759. papers from Norfolk's treason trial 1568-1572.


• 
  Williams, Neville (1965). Thomas Howard, Fourth duke of Norfolk. ASIN B0007DRE5Y.
  


• 
  William Cooke Taylor, ed. (2005). Thomas Howard: Fourth Duke of Norfolk. The Benedictine Brethren of Glendalough. ISBN 1-4254-6159-X.
  


• 
   "Howard, Thomas (1536-1572)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.