Catholic Dukes of Norfolk
(Since the Reformation)
Under this title are accounts only of
the prominent Catholic Dukes of Norfolk since the Reformation; a
list of the Dukes, from the time the title passed to the Howard
family, is prefixed.
- John (1430-1485), created first duke of the Howard line in 1483, died in battle in 1485.
- Thomas (1443-1524), son. Became duke in 1514.
- Thomas (1473-1554), son. Succeeded in 1524.
- Thomas (1536-1572), grandson. Succeeded in 1554. Beheaded in 1572.
- Thomas (1627-1677), great-great-grandson. Dukedom restored in 1660.
- Henry (1628-1684), brother. Succeeded in 1677.
- Henry (1655-1701), son. Succeeded in 1684.
- Thomas (1683-1732), nephew. Succeeded in 1601.
- Edward (1685-1777), brother. Succeeded in 1;732.
- Charles (1720-1786), descendant of seventh duke. Succeeded in 1777.
- Charles (1746-1815), son. Succeeded in 1;786.
- Bernard Edward (1765-1842), third cousin. Succeeded in 1815.
- Henry Charles (1791-1856), son. Succeeded in 1842.
- Henry Granville (1815-1860), son. Succeeded in 1856.
- Henry Fitzalan (1847), son. Succeeded in 1860.
Thomas, Third Duke of Norfolk
Eldest son
of Thomas Howard, the second duke, and Elizabeth, daughter of
Sir F. Tilney of Ashwellthorpe Hall, Norfolk. In 1495 he was
married to Lady Anne, daughter of Edward IV. He fought as
captain of the vanguard at Flodden Field in 1513. In 1514 he was
created Earl of Surrey, and joined his father in opposing
Wolsey's policy of depressing the old nobility. In 1520-21 he
endeavoured to keep peace in Ireland; recalled, he took command
of the English fleet against France, and successfully opposed the
French in Scotland. In 1524 he became duke, and was appointed
commissioner to treat for peace with France. With peace abroad
came the burning question of Henry's divorce. Norfolk, uncle of
Anne Boleyn, sided with the king and, as president of the privy
council, hastened the cardinal's ruin. He became Henry's tool in
dishonourable purposes and he acquiesced in his lust for the
spiritual supremacy. With Cromwell, he obtained a grant of a
portion of the possessions of the Priory of Lewes and other
monastic spoils. He was created earl-marshal in 1533. In 1535
Norfolk was a leading judge in the trial of Sir Thomas More. In
1536 he disbanded the "Pilgrimage of Grace" with false
assurances, but returned next year to do "dreadful execution".
In 1536 he hanged in chains, at York, Fathers Rochester and
Walworth, two Carthusians. Drastic measures of devastation
marked his whole career as a military leader. He shared the
King's zeal against the inroads of German Protestantism. In 1534
he had "staid purgatory" and was always in favour of the old
orthodoxy, as far as he might be allowed to support it. In 1539,
when the bishops could not agree concerning the practices of
religion, Norfolk proposed the Six Articles to the Lords,
theology thus becoming matter for the whole House. As an old man
he served against a rising in Scotland, and in the French was of
1544. In 1546 he was accused of high treason. Evidence,
however, was not conclusive against him until Hertford, and other
keen enemies, prevailed upon him, as a prisoner in the Tower, to
sign his confession and throw himself on the King's mercy. A
bill of attainder was passed in Parliament, and orders for his
immediate execution would have been carried into effect had not
Henry died on the previous evening. He remained a prisoner in
the Tower the whole of Edward VI's reign, but was released on
Mary's accession, and restored to the dukedom in 1553.
His long experience as lord high
steward and lieutenant-general made him useful to the queen, but
he lost favour by his rashness and his failure to crush Wyat's
rebellion [See Gairdner, "Lollardy and the Reformation" (London,
1908); Gairdner, "Hist. of Engl. Church in XVIth Century"
(London, 1902); "Letters and Papers, Henry VIII", various
volumes; Creighton, "Dict. of Nat. Biog.", X (London, 1908).]
Thomas, Fourth Duke of Norfolk
Son of
Henry Howard, Earl of Surry and Frances Vere, daughter of John,
Earl of Oxford. After the execution of his father, in 1547, he
was, by order of privy council, committed to the charge of his
aunt, and Foxe, "the martyrologist", was assigned as his tutor,
probably to educate him in Protestant principles. In 1553, when
Mary released his grandfather from prison, Bishop White of
Lincoln became his tutor. Thomas succeeded his grandfather, as
duke, in 1554, and became earl-marshal. He married, in 1556,
Lady Mary Fitzalan, daughter of Henry, twelfth Earl of Arundel;
in 1558, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Lord Audley of Walden; and,
in 1567, Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Dacre of Gilsland, who had
three daughters. By obtaining a grant of their wardship and
intermarrying with them his own three sons, the issue of former
marriages, he absorbed the great estates of the Dacre family. In
1568, he was again a widower, the only English duke, the
wealthiest man in England, popular and ambitious. Elizabeth was
eager to win one of Norfolk's position and he was given a part in
the expulsion of the French troops from Scotland. With other
commissioners, he was appointed to sit at York and inquire into
the causes of the variance between Mary Stuart and her subjects.
Circumstances, at the beginning of 1569, combined to awaken the
fears of English nobles, and Arundel, Pembroke, Leicester, and
others saw the advantage to be gained by the marriage, first
suggested by Maitland, between Norfolk and Mary; that when
married she might be safely restored to the Scottish throne and
be recognized as Elizabeth's successor. Protestant nobles,
however, looked on the affair with suspicion, and Catholic lords
in the north were impatient of long delay. But, even after the
council had voted her the settlement of the English succession by
Mary's marriage with an English noble, Norfolk proceeded with
great caution, withdrew from court, aroused Elizabeth's suspicion
and was committed to the Tower, in October, 1569. On his abject
submission to the queen and renunciation of all purpose of his
alliance with Mary, he was released in 1560. He did not keep his
promise; he continued to correspond with the Queen of Scots, was
found to be in negotiation with Ridolfi, and through him with
Philip and the Catholic Powers abroad, concerning an invasion of
England. He was arraigned for high treason in 1571. After
eighteen weeks' confinement in the Tower, deprived of books,
informed of the trial only on the previous evening, kept in
ignorance of the charges until he heard the indictment at the
bar, and refused the aid of counsel to suggest advice, on the
evidence of letters and extorted confessions from others, he was
condemned to death by the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Lord High
Steward, and twenty-six peers as assessors (judges, all selected
by the queen's ministers and many of them his known enemies).
After much hesitation on the part of Elizabeth and a petition
from Parliament, on 2 June, 1572, he was executed. His sympathy
seemed to be always with the Catholic party, but his policy was
two-faced, and he was a professed adherent of the Reformed
religion. Circumstances made it expedient for him always to
temporize. He seems to have been led on by the course of events
and not to have realized the result of his actions. [See State
Trials, I (London, 1776), 82; Froude,"Hist. of Eng.", IV (London,
1866), XX; Labanoff, "Lettres, etc. de Marie Stuart" (1844),
earlier ed. tr. (1842); Anderson, "Collections relating to Mary"
(Edinburgh, 1727); Creighton in "Dict. of Nat. Biog.", X (London,
1908).]
Henry, Sixth Duke of Norfolk
Second son of
Henry Frederick Howard, third Earl of Arundel and Lady Elizabeth
Stuart, was educated abroad, as a Catholic. In 1660 he went as
ambassador extraordinary to Morocco. In 1677 he succeeded his
brother as duke, having previously been made hereditary earl-marshal. During the Commonwealth and Protectorate he lived in
total seclusion. In January, 1678, he took his seat in the House
of Lords, but in August the first development of the Titus Oates
Plot was followed by an Act for disabling Catholics from sitting
in either house of Parliament. He would not comply with the oath
and, suspected of doubtful loyalty, withdrew to Bruges for three
years. There he built a house attached to a Franciscan convent
and enjoyed freedom of worship and scope for his munificence. He
was a man of benevolent disposition and gave away the greater
part of his splendid library, and grounds and rooms to the Royal
Society, and the Arundelian marbles to Oxford University.
Jealous of the family honour, he compounded a debt of
£200,000 contracted by his grandfather. [See Evelyn's
"Miscellaneous Writings" (London, 1825).]
Henry, Seventh Duke of Norfolk
Son of Henry,
sixth Duke, and Lady Anne Somerset, was at first a good Catholic
and for four months held out against subscribing to the oath as a
peer in the House of Lords. Afterwards he became a pervert.
Thomas, Eighth Duke of Norfolk
Brought up a Catholic but perverted on succeeding to the dukedom.
Edward, Ninth Duke of Norfolk
Did much to
promote a more liberal treatment of Catholics by offering a home
at Norfolk House to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his wife at
the time of the birth of their son, afterwards George III.
Charles, Eleventh Duke of Norfolk
Educated
at the English College at Douai; was a man of dissolute life and
had conformed to the State religion by 1780.
Bernard Edward, Twelfth Duke of Norfolk
Eldest son of Henry Howard of Glosson, and Juliana,
daughter of Sir William Molyneux of Willow, Nottinghamshire. In
1789 he married Elizabeth Bellasis, daughter of Henry, Earl of
Fauconberg, but was divorced, by Act of Parliament, in 1794. On
the death of his third cousin, in 1815, he succeeded to the
dukedom. Although a Catholic, he was allowed, by Act of
Parliament in 1824, to exercise the hereditary office of earl-marshal. After the Rebel Bill of 1829 he was admitted to the
full exercise of his ancestral privileges; he took his seat in
the House of Lords, where he was a steady supporter of the Reform
Bill, and in 1830 was nominated as privy councillor. [See Gent.
Mag., I (1842), 542.]
Henry Charles, Thirteenth Duke of Norfolk
Only son of Bernard Edward and Elizabeth
Bellasis. He was baptized a Catholic but did not practise his
religion. In 1814 he married Lady Charlotte Leveson-Gower,
daughter of George, Duke of Sutherland, and in 1815 he became, as
heir, Earl of Arundel and Surrey. In 1829, after the Catholic
Emancipation Act, he took the oath and his seat in the House of
Commons (the first Catholic since the Reformation). In 1841 he
sat in the House of Lords. In politics he was a stanch member of
the Whig party. In 1842 he succeeded his father as Duke of
Norfolk. He died at Arundel in 1856. Canon Tierney was chaplain
at the time fo his death. [See London Times (19 Feb., 1856);
Gent. Mag. (April, 1856), 419.]
Henry Granville Fitzalan, Fourteenth Duke of Norfolk
Eldest son of
Henry Charles Howard and Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of
Sutherland, was educated privately, and at Trinity College,
Cambridge. He entered the army but retired on attaining the rank
of captain. In 1839 he married the daughter of Admiral Sir
Edmund (afterwards Lord) Lyons, the ambassador at Athens. From
1837 to 1842 he was a member of the House of Commons, a Whig,
until he broke with his party on the introduction of the
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1850. In 1856, as Duke of Norfolk,
he took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1839 he attended the
services of Notre-Dame in Paris and made the acquaintance of
Montalembert. This resulted in his conversion to Catholicism,
and Montalembert describes him as "the most pious layman of our
times". Cardinal Wiseman, in a pastoral letter, at the time of
his death in 1860, referred to his benevolent nature: "There is
not a form of want or a peculiar application of alms which has
not received his relief or co-operation". He wrote: "Collections
relative to Catholic Poor Schools throughout England", MS. folio,
134 pp., 1843; "A few Remarks on the Social and Political
Condition of British Catholics" (London, 1847); Letter to J. P.
Plumptre on the Bull "In C;na Domini" (London, 1848);
"Observations on Diplomatic Relations with Rome" 1848. He edited
from original MSS. the "Lives of Philip Howard and Ann Dacres"
(London, 1857 and 1861). [See "Gent. Mag." (Jan., 1861); "London
Times" (27 Nov. and 4 Dec., 1860); "London Table" (1 Dec., 1860);
H. W. Freeland, "Remarks on the Letters of the Duke of Norfolk"
(1874); Montalembert, "Le Correspondant" (25 Dec., 1860), 766-776, tr. by Goddard at the end of his Montalembert, "Pius IX and
France" (Boston, Mass., 1861).]
TIERNEY, Castle and Antiquities of Arundel (London,
1834); HOWARD, Memorials of the
Howards (Corby Castle, 1834); GILLOW,
Biog. Dict. of Engl. Catholics (London, 1885-1902); LINGARD, History of England (London, 1855);
Dict. Nat. Biog. (London, 1908), s. v. Howard.
S. ANSELM PARKER
Transcribed by WGKofron
With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI
Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York