Thomas Howard (abt. 1511 - bef. 1537)

Born about 1511 in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Died before 31 Oct 1537 before about age 26 in Tower of London, London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Biography

Thomas Howard is Notable.

1511 Birth

Lord Thomas Howard was born in 1511, a younger son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his second marriage to Agnes Tilney.[1] ^[1]

Parentage

Thomas (c.1511 - 31 Oct 1537) is the supposedly the son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and Agnes Tilney.[1]

Occupation

He was a courtier. ^[1]

1533 Princess Elizabeth Christening

Lord Thomas was at court in 1533 when his niece, Anne Boleyn married King Henry VIII as his second wife, and helped to bear the canopy at the christening of Anne's daughter, Princess Elizabeth. ^[1]

In the years after 1533 he was often at court, and it was there that he met Lady Margaret Douglas (1515–1578), the daughter of Henry VIII's sister, Margaret Tudor, and her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (c.1489–1557). By the end of 1535 Lord Howard and Lady Margaret Douglas had fallen in love and become secretly engaged.[2]^[1]

Affair with Lady Margaret Douglas

He is chiefly known for his affair with Lady Margaret Douglas (1515–1578), the daughter of Henry VIII's sister, Margaret Tudor, for which he was imprisoned in the Tower, where he died on 31 October 1537. The affair is immortalized in verses by his nephew, the poet Earl of Surrey.^[1]

He was incarcerated and died in the Tower of London ... after having an affair with Margaret Douglas. Henry VIII wouldn't let them marry.[2]

Imprisonment and death

Lord Howard's niece, Queen Anne Boleyn, fell from power in May 1536. This undoubtedly contributed to the King's fury when in early July 1536 he learned of the engagement of Lord Howard and Lady Margaret since Lady Margaret was at the time next in the line of succession as a result of the King's bastardization of his daughters Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth. Both Lord Howard and Lady Margaret were committed to the Tower, and on 18 July 1536 an Act of Attainder accusing Lord Howard of attempting to 'interrupt ympedyte and lett the seid Succession of the Crowne' was passed in both houses of Parliament. The Act sentenced Howard to death, and forbade the marriage of any member of the King's family without his permission.[3] The death sentence was not carried out, and Howard languished in the Tower despite the fact that Lady Margaret had broken off their relationship. ^[1]

While in the Tower Lady Margaret fell ill with a fever, and the King allowed her to be moved to Syon Abbey under the supervision of the abbess. She was released from imprisonment on 29 October 1537. Lord Howard remained in the Tower, where he caught a fatal illness and died on 31 October 1537. There is an unsubstantiated tradition that he was poisoned. His body was given to his mother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, with the stipulation that it be buried ‘without pomp’. Lord Howard was interred at Thetford Abbey.[4]^[1]

In 1540 Lady Margaret Douglas was disgraced in a similar affair with Thomas Howard's nephew Sir Charles Howard, the son of Lord Thomas' elder half-brother Lord Edmund Howard, and a brother of Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Katherine Howard.[5]^[1]

Death

Lord Thomas Howard died 31 October 1537 at the age of 26.^[1]

Children

There is no record of any children of Lord Howard. Public knowledge of his engagement and affair with Lady Douglas, however, has given rise to speculation about various illegitimate children he may have sired. None of these, to date, have been substantiated.

Sources

Footnotes

[1]Jump up ^ Head 2008; Davies 2008.

[2]Jump up ^ Riordan 2004; Marshall 2006.

[3]Jump up ^ Riordan 2004.

[4]Jump up ^ Riordan 2004; Marshall 2006.

[5]Jump up ^ Marshall 2006; Weir 1991, p. 437.

See also:

• Davies, Catherine (2008). Howard [née Tilney], Agnes, duchess of Norfolk (b. in or before 1477, d. 1545), noblewoman. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Head, David M. (2008). Howard, Thomas, second duke of Norfolk (1443–1524), magnate and soldier. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• McDermott, James (2008). Howard, William, first Baron Howard of Effingham (c.1510–1573), naval commander. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Marshall, Rosalind K. (2006). Douglas, Lady Margaret, countess of Lennox (1515–1578), noblewoman. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Richardson, Douglas (2004). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc.
• Riordan, Michael (2004). Howard, Lord Thomas (c.1512–1537), courtier. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Weir, Alison (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove Weidenfeld.
• Wikipedia: Lord Thomas Howard

Thomas was born in 1516. He passed away in 1582.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Lord Thomas Howard Wikipedia: Lord Thomas Howard Accessed December 6, 2015