Thomas Howard KG KB (1443 - 1524)

Born 1443 in Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Agnes (Tilney) Howard — married after 8 Nov 1497 (to 21 May 1524) in Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 21 May 1524 at about age 81 in Framlingham Castle, Framlingham, Suffolk, England

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Biography

Thomas Howard was a soldier in the service of four kings of the York and Tudor dynasties of the Kingdom of England: Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII. In the course of his career, he regained his father's titles of Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshall of England.

Thomas Howard (b.1443 Stoke Neyland, Suffolk - d. 21 May 1524 Framlingham Castle, Framlingham, Suffolk; bur. 26 June 1524 Thetford Abbey, Norfolk) was the eldest son and heir of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk and Catherine Moleyns. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

Thomas Howard effectively wrote his own autobiography, which was placed on a tablet with his tomb at Thetford Priory. ^[3] This account of his life:

As a young man, following his father into the service (as a "henchman") of King Edward IV - his first loyalty - he was sent about 1466 into the service of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to acquire military experience. After two years, he returned to England and was named Esquire of the Body to the king, whom he served during the rebellions of 1670-1, being wounded at the 1671 Battle of Barnet.

With the death of Edward IV and the succession of his brother as King Richard III, Howard's father was created Duke of Norfolk by inheritance and Howard was created Earl of Surrey. As subjects of the king, both Howards took the field at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth, where the king and the senior Howard were killed, and Thomas Howard wounded. He was sent to the Tower for three and a half years until he had demonstrated his loyalty to the crown, whereupon King Henry VII accepted his service and restored his title of Earl of Surrey, and in 1489 sent him to put down a rebellion in the north of England. Afterwards, he was made Lieutenant-General of the North to defend against the Scots King James IV, whom he defeated in 1497.

In 1503, he was chosen to escort the king's daughter Margaret to her husband King James of Scotland, according to the terms of a peace treaty. In 1514, he escorted her sister Mary to her husband Louis XII of France, after another treaty of peace. Both were soon widowed.

After the accession of King Henry VIII to the throne, Surrey was named Earl Marshall of England (in 1510). In 1513, while the king and his army were in France, King James of Scotland again invaded England, and Surrey met him at the 19 September Battle of Flodden, killing the Scots king and most of his nobility on the field. For which victory, he was restored to the title of his father as 2nd Duke of Norfolk.

Approaching age 80, he retired to his Castle of Framlingham, where he died on 21 May 1524. His memorial mentions several times that "he kept an honourable household." "And at his departing out of Framlingham Castle toward his burial, he could not be asked one groat for his debt, nor for retribution to any person."

Honours and Offices

• 14 Jan 1478: created Knight of the Bath (KB) by Edward IV at the marriage of the King's second son, the young Duke of York.^[4]
• 1483: 1st Earl of Surrey
• 1483/5: Privy Counsellor (P.C.)
• 1491: Order of the Garter (K.G.)
• 1510: Earl Marshall of England
• 1510: Lord Treasurer of England
• 1513: Captain-General of the Army
• 01 Feb 1514: 2nd Duke of Norfolk (created with precedence of any previous Dukedoms of Norfolk, effectively restoring father's attainted title). At this creation, he was also granted an augmentation to his arms, which featured a bend argent: on this bend a demi-lion gules, pierced in the mouth with an arrow and coloured according to the arms of Scotland ^[1]

Marriage

He married twice. Both wives carried the Tilney surname at birth, being first cousins, both descended from Isabel Thorpe of Ashwell Thorpe, Norfolk. Both marriages produced numerous children.

Elizabeth Tylney

Elizabeth was the daughter of Frederick Tylney and Elizabeth Cheney, and the widow of Humphry Bourchier, a Yorkist knight who was killed at the same 1671 Battle of Barnet where Howard was wounded. They married on 30 April 1472, thus making Bourchier's son, John Bourchier, his stepson. ^[1] He later became his brother-in-law, when Bourchier married his half-sister Katherine Howard. Surviving issue of the marriage were three sons and two daughters: ^[2]

1. Thomas, 3rd Duke of Norfolk - b. 1473; d. 25 Aug 1554; m. (1) Ann Plantagenet, (2) Elizabeth Stafford
2. Adm. Sir Edward Howard b. c. 1476; d. 25 Apr 1513; m. (1)Elizabeth Stapleton, (2) Alice Lovell
3. Edmund b. c. - 1498; d. 19 Mar 1539; m. (1) Joyce Culpepper, (2 ?) Dorothy Troyes, (3 ?) Margaret Mundy
4. Muriel (Marcella) b. c. 1486; m. (1) John, Viscount Lisle, (2) Sir Thomas Knyvet
5. Elizabeth b. c. 1480; d. 3 Apr 1538; m. Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire

Elizabeth, Countess of Surrey, died on 4 April 1497.

Agnes Tylney

Agnes Tylney was a cousin of Howard's first wife, a daughter of Hugh Tilney of Skirbeck and Boston. Howard married her not long after his first wife's death, license granted 8 November 1497 following a dispensation on 17 August for the marriage of his wife's cousin. ^{[1] [5]} Surviving issue of the marriage were three sons and four daughters: ^[2]

1. William, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham b. c 1510; d. 21 Jan 1572/73; m. (1)Katherine Broughton, (2) Margaret Gamage
2. Lord Thomas (2) Howard -b. 1511; d. 1537
3. Katharine b. c. 1499; d. c May 1554 m. (1) Rhys ap Griffith, (2) Henry Daubeney, Earl of Bridgewater
4. Anne (Agnes) b. c. 1501; d. 1558/9; m. John de Vere, Earl of Oxford
5. Elizabeth (2) b. c. 1506; d. 18 Sep 1537; m. Henry Radcliffe, Viscount FitzWalter
6. Dorothy b. c. 151; d. 1550; m. Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby

Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, survived her lord until 1545.

Other Children

A number of children of the Duke of Norfolk are said to have died young, although they can not all be exactly identified. On the pavement of the church of St Mary, Lambeth, where the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk were interred, were the following brass plates with inscriptions for: ^{[6] [7]}

1. John - son of the Earl of Surrey, d. 1501
2. Henry - son of the Earl of Surrey, d. 1502
3. John - son of the Earl of Surrey and Agnes his wife, d. 1503
4. Charles - son of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, d. 3 May 1512
5. Henry - son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, d. 1513
6. Richard - son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk and Agnes his wife, d. 22 March 1517/8.

These have been attached to Thomas Howard and his wife Agnes. It must be noted that Thomas Howard was sometimes known as "Duke of Norfolk" and at other times "Earl of Surrey", and his eldest son Thomas Howard was also known as "Earl of Surrey" before 1524, when he became "Duke of Norfolk".

Will and Burial

Thomas Duke of Norfolk wrote his Will on 31 May 1520, ^[8] willing to be buried in the priory church of Thetford with his (second) wife Agnes, to whom he left plate, jewels, and household goods. (She was not buried at Thetford.) He left his heir (unnamed) a bed and its hangings, and left £300 apiece for the marriage of three daughters. A conciliatory gift was left to his adversary "Lord Cardinal (Wolsey) of York". None of his numerous children were named. However, the biographical inscription on his tomb named those who survived him (This list does not correspond exactly with other lists of his known children.): ^[3]

Thomas 3rd Duke of Norfolk

Lord Edward Howard

Lord William Howard

Lord Thomas Howard

Lady Elizabeth, wife to Viscount Rocheford

Lady Agnes, Countess of Drenford

Lady Katherine, spouse to the heir of Rice app Thomas of Wales

Lady Elizabeth, spoused to the Viscount Fitzwaters son and heir

Lady Dorothy, not then married

He was buried at his death on 21 May 1524, as he had willed, in the priory church of Thetford, where for centuries the Dukes and Earls of Norfolk had been interred. However, despite the protestations of his heir, King Henry VIII dissolved the Thetford monastery on 16 February 1540. ^[9] Many sources have asserted that the 2nd Duke's remains were removed to the parish church of Framlingham, but Duchess Agnes moved them to the chapel she had founded for herself at the parish church of St Mary, Lambeth. ^{[7] [6]} Their memorials are no longer extant.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Cokayne, G E. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant,, 2nd edition, Vol. 9, pp. 610-615. St Catherine Press, 1936. FamilySearch
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Hervey, William. The visitacion [i.e., visitation] of Norfolk 1563 p. 162. p. 162
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Weever, John. Ancient Funerall Monuments within the United Monarchie of Great Britaine, Ireland, and the Islands Adjacent (Thomas Harper, London, 1767) p. 553 ff. p. 553
4. ↑ The Knights of England, p. 138.[1]
5. ↑ Richardson, D. (2011). "Howard 11," in Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd ed, Vol. II, p. 414. Google Books
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Aubrey, John. The natural history and antiquities of the county of Surrey. Begun in the year 1673 ..., vol 5, 1719. pp. 236-238. p. 236
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Lysons, Daniel. "Lambeth." The Environs of London: Volume 1, County of Surrey. London: T Cadell and W Davies, 1792. 257-331. British History Online. Web. 17 August 2024. Lysons
8. ↑ Nicholas, Nicholas Harris.Testamenta Vetusta", p. 602 London: Nicholas and Son, 1826. "Will of Thomas Duke of Norfolk" p. 602
9. ↑ A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2. Ed. William Page(London, 1906), , British History Online. Web. 17 August 2024. Page

See Also

• Lewis, M. (2014, March 11). "Sir Thomas Howard, Earl Marshal of England, 2nd Duke Norfolk, Sheriff of Norfolk & Suffolk, Lord High Treasure #15419, b. 1443, d. 21 May 1524," citing: Burke, 1938 and various works by Douglas Richardson. ORTNCA. Web.
• Richardson, D. (2011). "Howard 11," in Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd ed, II, p. 414. Google Books.
• Richardson, D. (2011). "Howard 12," in Plantagenet Ancestry, 2nd ed, II, p. 274. Google Books.
• Richardson, D. (2013). Royal Ancestry, I: 486, III: 336.
• Pine, L. G. (1971). The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971, pp. 9. London: Heraldry Today)
• 'Waltham Holy Cross: Introduction and manors,' in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 5, ed. W R Powell (London: Victoria County History, 1966), 151-162, accessed March 16, 2016, [2]
• Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1, pp. 14. J.B. Nichols and Son, for The Society of Antiquaries, Somerset House, London, 1849. Archive.org. "buried at Thetford Priory; and Blomefield states, that his remains were removed to Framlingham, but it is more probable that they were deposited at Lambeth in the chapel founded by him" Space: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London
• Space: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom.see also: Cokayne, G.E. (1910). The Complete Peerage. London: The St. Catherine Press, London; Cokayne, et. al. (n.d.). The Complete Peerage, II: 153, VIII: 61, 521; Cokane, G.E., Gibbs, V., Doubleday, H.A. White, G.H., Warrand, D. & De Walden, H. (2000). The Complete Peerage, I, pp. 253. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing;
• Wikipedia: Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk