Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (10 March 1536 or 1538 – 2 June 1572), was an English nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign.
Early life, family, and religion
Thomas was born on 10 March 1536 (although some sources cite his birth in 1538) at Kenninghall, Norfolk, being the first or second of five children of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and his wife Lady Frances de Vere. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Elizabeth Stafford. His maternal grandparents were John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and Lady Elizabeth Trussell. His siblings were Jane born in 1533 or 1537, Henry born in 1540, Katherine born in 1543, and Margaret born in 1547, shortly after their father's execution. Between his maternal and paternal families, the religious differences were notable: his maternal grandfather was a supporter of the Reformation and was the first Protestant earl of Oxford, whereas his paternal grandfather was the premier Roman Catholic nobleman of England although he had complied with the changes in the governance of the Church of England brought about by Henry VIII, and served the King in suppressing rebellion against those changes.
Thomas' father, the Earl of Surrey, a Roman Catholic but with reformist leanings, was heir to the 3rd Duke, and thereby destined to become the future 4th Duke; but that changed at the end of 1546 when Surrey quartered the royal arms of Edward the Confessor on his own coat of arms, incurring the fury of Henry VIII. Through his great-grandfather John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk (1483 creation), Surrey was a descendant of Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, the sixth son of King Edward I; and the arms of the Howard ancestor Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk (1397 creation), show that Surrey was entitled to bear Edward the Confessor's arms; but to do so was an act of pride, and provocative in the eyes of the Crown. Henry VIII was also possibly influenced by the Seymours, who were enemies of the Howard family, supporters of Protestantism and related to Henry's son Prince Edward, since the Prince was the son of Henry's third wife Jane Seymour. Henry, who was increasingly unwell, became convinced that Surrey and his father planned to usurp the crown from Edward in order to reverse the Reformation and return the English Church to papal jurisdiction. He ordered the arrest of the Duke and his son, both of them being tried for high treason and later sentenced to death; Surrey was executed on 19 January 1547. The Duke's execution was scheduled for 28 January but did not take place because Henry VIII died in the early hours of the same day, the Privy Council made a decision not to inaugurate the new reign with bloodshed, but Howard remained a prisoner in the Tower of London for the next six years, with most of his property and titles forfeit to the Crown.
Initially Surrey and his wife, Lady Frances, entrusted the education of their children to the Dutch physician and classical scholar Hadrianus Junius (the 3rd Duke and Surrey were patrons of the Dutchman), who was responsible for giving the Howard children a humanistic education, but after the fall In disgrace to his patron, Junius lost his job as the children's tutor. After Surrey's death, his sister Mary Howard, Dowager Duchess of Richmond, took over the care of his children and John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist was employed to be their tutor, at the suggestion of Lord Wentworth. During that time, they lived in Reigate Castle, one of the residences belonging to the 3rd Duke. From Foxe, the children learned Greek and Latin to a level where they "could compete with the most learned men of the age". Charles Howard, a first cousin from Surrey born the same year as Thomas, also studied and brought up with the children at Reigate. Despite losing his position as tutor six years later, Foxe remained an important recipient of Thomas' patronage for the rest of Howard's life. Although both Thomas and his siblings received a Protestant education, they were Catholics, as were most of their paternal family, who remained loyal to the Roman Church during the turbulence of the Reformation. His father fell out of favour in part because he had been a Catholic, and his grandfather remained a prisoner in the Tower throughout the reign of Edward VI, being released and pardoned in July 1553, shortly after the Catholic Queen Mary I ascended the throne. As soon as the 3rd Duke was released, he took charge of his grandchildren and dismissed Foxe, who soon went into exile in various countries in Continental Europe to escape the anti-Protestant measures taken by Queen Mary. Thomas then studied for a while at the home of the Bishop of Winchester and later Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner. A short time later, he joined his brother Henry and continued his education at the London home of the Catholic Priest John White, who in March 1554 was elected Bishop of Lincoln.
Because his father had died before his grandfather, Thomas was now in line to become 4th Duke of Norfolk. In December 1553 he received the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey, a subsidiary title of the dukes, when Queen Mary approved the Duke of Norfolk's Restitution Act 1553 (1 Mar. Sess. 2. c. 13 Pr.), which declared void the attainder of the Howards, and returned to the 3rd Duke the titles and estates forfeited more than six years earlier. In early 1554, the new Earl of Surrey accompanied his grandfather in leading the forces that suppressed the Wyatt's Rebellion, led by a group of Protestant knights who opposed Queen's projected marriage to Philip II of Spain. This was the last service to the crown for the elderly 3rd Duke. In May of that same year, the manors of Gaywood and Rising were returned to Howard. In July, Thomas became first Gentleman of the Chamber to Philip.
Following his grandfather's death on 25 August 1554, Thomas succeeded him as 4th Duke and hereditary Earl Marshal of England. Howard had been preparing over the previous months to gradually take charge of the vast family inheritance received, although because he was still a minor at the time of his grandfather's death, guardianship of the new Duke was left in the hands of Queen Mary. Despite this, Howard was able to make some decisions such as organising his grandfather's funeral and burial in St Michael the Archangel's Church, Framlingham, and making the necessary arrangements for the guardianship of his sisters. Bassingbourne Gawdy, one of the lawyers in charge of the succession to Howard's estates, rode post haste to London with letters for Lord Chancellor Gardiner and returned as speedily as he could to Norwich. The escheator of Norfolk held a formal inquisition to survey the great Howard inheritance, of fifty-six manors, and 'many other considerable estates', which passed for the present into the hands of the Crown, until Thomas came of age. His younger siblings would also receive 1,000 marks each on coming of age, or marriage, according to the terms of their grandfather's will. Once he came of age in March 1557, Howard was able to administer all his estates, becoming one of the richest landowners in England.
In September 1554, Thomas arranged for the marriage of his sister Katherine to Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley; this took place at Howard's mansion at Kenninghall.
Queen Mary died in November 1558 and was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I. Howard was a second cousin of Elizabeth through her maternal grandmother, Lady Elizabeth Howard, sister of the 3rd Duke and mother of Anne Boleyn, and he was trusted with public office despite his family history and being Catholic.
As Earl Marshal, Howard was in charge of organising Elizabeth's coronation on 15 January 1559 and the celebrations afterwards. Shortly after ascending the throne, the Queen made Norfolk a Knight of the Garter. Although favoured by Elizabeth, Norfolk was jealous of the greater measure of confidence she placed in Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Furthermore, Howard considered William Cecil, Elizabeth's Secretary of State, to be "Low Born". In November 1559, Howard was appointed Lieutenant-General of the North, a position previously held by Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, Norfolk's cousin, and which the Duke reluctantly accepted, probably seeing it as a means of distancing himself from the disputes he had with some members of the court. He was given command of the army that would intervene in Scotland to support the Lords of the Congregation, a group of Protestant nobles opposed to the pro-French government of the regent, Mary of Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was then living in France. By his side were placed a man of military experience, James Croft, and the diplomat and politician Sir Ralph Sadler, both with vast knowledge of Scottish political affairs. Howard immediately left for the north, arriving at Berwick in early January 1560. His duty was to provide forces for the defence of the town against a possible French attack, to open up communications with the leader of the Congregation, James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and cautiously aid them in their measures against the regent. Norfolk was one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Berwick, signed in February 1560 and by which the Congregation invited English assistance, and was able to return to court after Cecil and his collaborators arrived in Edinburgh in July of the same year to sign the Treaty of Edinburgh which ended English assistance.