Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk1

M, b. 1443, d. 21 May 1524
FatherJohn Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk2 b. 1421, d. 22 Aug 1485
Relationship12th great-grandfather of Pamela Joyce Wood
Last Edited23 Mar 2020
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, courtesy of Wikipedia
     Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk was born in 1443 at Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England.2 He was the son of John Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk.2 Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk married Agnes Tilney, daughter of Hugh Tilney of Skirbeck and Boston and Eleanor Tailboys, on 8 November 1497.1 Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk died on 21 May 1524 at Framlingham, England; His funeral and burial on 22 June at Thetford Priory were said to have been "spectacular and enormously expensive, costing over £1300 and including a procession of 400 hooded men bearing torches and an elaborate bier surmounted with 100 wax effigies and 700 candles", befitting the richest and most powerful peer in England.2 He was buried at Thetford Priory, Thetford, England; After the dissolution of Thetford Priory, the Howard tombs were moved to the Church of St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham.2
     He was educated at Thetford Grammar School. While a young man, he entered the service of King Edward IV as a henchman.

After the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, Thomas Howard and his father John supported Richard III. Thomas bore the Sword of State at Richard's coronation and served as steward at the coronation banquet. Both Thomas and his father were granted lands by the new King, and Thomas was also granted an annuity of £1000. On 28 June 1483, John Howard was created Duke of Norfolk, while Thomas was created Earl of Surrey. Surrey was also sworn of the Privy Council and invested with the Order of the Garter. In the autumn of that year Norfolk and Surrey suppressed a rebellion against the King by the Duke of Buckingham. Both Howards remained close to King Richard throughout his two-year reign, and fought for him at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, where Surrey was wounded and taken prisoner, and his father killed. Surrey was attainted in the first Parliament of the new King, Henry VII, stripped of his lands, and committed to the Tower of London, where he spent the next three years.

Howard was offered an opportunity to escape during the rebellion of the Earl of Lincoln in 1487, but refused, perhaps thereby convincing Henry VII of his loyalty. In May 1489 Henry restored him to the earldom of Surrey, although most of his lands were withheld, and sent him to quell a rebellion in Yorkshire. Surrey remained in the north as the King's lieutenant until 1499. In 1499 he was recalled to court, and accompanied the King on a state visit to France in the following year. In 1501 he was again appointed a member of the Privy Council, and on 16 June of that year was made Lord High Treasurer. In 1501 he was involved in the negotiations for Catherine of Aragon's marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and in 1503 conducted Margaret Tudor to Scotland for her wedding to King James IV.

Surrey was an executor of the will of King Henry VII when the King died on 21 April 1509, and played a prominent role in the coronation of King Henry VIII, in which he served as Earl Marshal. He challenged Thomas Wolsey in an effort to become the new King's first minister, but eventually accepted Wolsey's supremacy. Surrey expected to lead the 1513 expedition to France, but was left behind when the King departed for Calais on 30 June 1513. Shortly thereafter James IV launched an invasion, and Surrey, with the aid of other noblemen and his sons Thomas and Edmund, crushed James's much larger force near Branxton, Northumberland, on 9 September 1513 at the Battle of Flodden. The Scots may have lost as many as 10,000 men, and King James was killed. The victory at Flodden brought Surrey great popular renown and royal rewards. On 1 February 1514 he was created Duke of Norfolk, and his son Thomas was made Earl of Surrey. Both were granted lands and annuities, and the Howard arms were augmented in honour of Flodden with an escutcheon bearing the lion of Scotland pierced through the mouth with an arrow.

In 1514 he joined Wolsey and Foxe in negotiating the marriage of Mary Tudor to King Louis XII of France, and escorted her to France for the wedding. On 1 May 1517 he led a private army of 1,300 retainers into London to suppress the Evil May Day riots. By the spring of 1522, Norfolk was almost 80 years of age and in failing health. He withdrew from court, resigned as Lord Treasurer in favour of his son in December of that year, and after attending the opening of Parliament in April 1523, retired to his ducal castle at Framlingham in Suffolk where he died.2 He Duke was the grandfather of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Catherine Howard and the great grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. He served four monarchs as a soldier and statesman.2

Family

Agnes Tilney b. c 1480, d. May 1545
Child

Citations

  1. [S726] Wikipedia, online http://en.wikipedia.org, William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham.
  2. [S726] Wikipedia, online http://en.wikipedia.org, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.