Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

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Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Born	10 March 1536(1536-03-10)
Died	2 June 1572 (aged 36) Tower Hill , London, England
Cause of death	Executed
Resting place	St Peter ad Vincula, London, England
Nationality	English
Title	4th Duke of Norfolk
Spouse(s)	Mary FitzAlan Margaret Audley Elizabeth Leyburne
Children	5

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (10 March 1536 — 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman, also the 1st Earl of Southampton.

Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He 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.

Norfolk was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I of England through her mother's family and was trusted with public office despite his family's history and (although he claimed to be a Protestant) his prior support for Catholicism.

Contents 1 Marriages and Plots 1.1 First wife 1.2 Second wife 1.3 Third wife 1.4 Attempted fourth marriage, plots and death 2 In books and film 3 Ancestry 4 See also 5 Further reading

[edit] Marriages and Plots

[edit] First wife

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, who became 20th Earl of Arundel. It is from this marriage that the present Duke of Norfolk takes his name of 'FitzAlan-Howard' and why his seat is in Arundel. Though her funeral effigy is there, Mary FitzAlan was never buried at Framlingham, but at the church of St. Clement Without, Temple Bar and then (under the direction of her grandson's will) at Arundel.

[edit] Second wife

Norfolk next married another heiress, Margaret Audley, widow of Sir Henry Stanley and daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden.

Margaret's children by her marriage to Norfolk were two boys and two girls. Both Mary FitzAlan and Margaret Audley have their tomb effigies at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham. [1]

[edit] Third wife

After Margaret's death, Norfolk married Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gillesland.

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

[edit] Attempted fourth marriage, plots and death

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

Following his release, he perhaps (the strength of the evidence for his participation in the Ridolfi plot is doubted by some)^{[citation needed]} participated in the Ridolfi plot with King Philip II of Spain to put Mary on the English throne and restore Catholicism in England, and was executed for treason in 1572. He is buried at 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.

[edit] In books and film

• Thomas Howard appears as a character in the Philippa Gregory novels The Virgin's Lover and The Other Queen.
• A very 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.

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] See also

• Dukes of Norfolk family tree

[edit] Further reading

• The marvellous chance: Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, and the Ridolphi plot, 1570-1572 by Francis Edwards (1968) ISBN 0246644745
• Thomas Howard,: Fourth duke of Norfolk by Neville Williams (1965) AISN B0007DRE5Y
• Thomas Howard: Fourth Duke of Norfolk by The Benedictine Brethren of Glendalough, edited by William Cooke Taylor (2005) ISBN 142546159X

Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Norfolk	Earl Marshal 1554–1572	Succeeded by The Earl of Shrewsbury
Preceded by The Earl of Sussex	Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk 1559–1572	Succeeded by Unknown
Peerage of England
Preceded by Thomas Howard	Duke of Norfolk 1554–1572	Succeeded by Thomas Howard (Restored 1660)
	Baron Mowbray 1554–1572	Succeeded by Philip Howard

v • d • e Dukes of Norfolk House of Plantagenet (1397–1399) Margaret, 1st Duchess (1397–1399) House of Mowbray (1397–1481) Thomas, 1st Duke (1397–1399) • John, 2nd Duke (1425–1432) • John, 3rd Duke (1432–1461) • John, 4th Duke (1461–1476) House of Plantagenet (1481–1483) Richard, 1st Duke (1481–1483) House of Howard (1483–1572, 1660—) John, 1st Duke (1483–1485) • Thomas, 2nd Duke (1514–1524) • Thomas, 3rd Duke (1524–1547, 1553–1554) • Thomas, 4th Duke (1554–1572) • Thomas, 5th Duke (1660–1677) • Henry, 6th Duke (1677–1684) • Henry, 7th Duke (1684–1701) • Thomas, 8th Duke (1701–1732) • Edward, 9th Duke (1732–1777) • Charles, 10th Duke (1777–1786) • Charles, 11th Duke (1786–1815) • Bernard, 12th Duke (1815–1842) • Henry, 13th Duke (1842–1856) • Henry, 14th Duke (1856–1860) • Henry, 15th Duke (1860–1917) • Bernard, 16th Duke (1917–1975) • Miles, 17th Duke (1975–2002) • Edward, 18th Duke (2002—)