Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (March 10, 1536 — 1572) and 1st Earl of Southampton

Taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Howard's patronage, Howard was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. His father predeceased him and so Thomas inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554.

Norfolk was entrusted by Queen Elizabeth I of England with public office despite his family history and his prior support for the Catholic cause, although he claimed to be a Protestant.

Marriages and Plots

First wife

Mary FitzAlan, heiress to the Arundel Estates after her father Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel's death. She died after a year of marriage having given birth to Philip Howard, 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 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.

Second wife

Another heiress, Margaret daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden. She also died young and was buried at St. John the Baptist's church at Norwich.

Her remains may or may not have been reinterred at Framlingham. The tomb's contents is inconclusive and it seems more probable to some that Margaret's body would have been reburied at Arundel not Framlingham by this time.

Margaret's children by her marriage to Norfolk were two boys and two girls.

Both Mary and Margaret have their tomb effigies at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham. ^*

Third wife

Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gillesland.

Norfolk made remarkable marriage plans whereby Elizabeth's three daughters by Dacre became the wives of the sons of his own first two marriages. In other words:

Anne Dacre to Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
Mary Dacre to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Elizabeth Dacre to William Howard. They were ancestors of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle.

Attempted fourth marriage, plots and death

The queen imprisoned Norfolk in 1569 for scheming to marry 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) 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 at the Tower of London.

Norfolk's lands and titles were forfeited, although much of the estate was restored to his sons. The title of Duke of Norfolk was eventually restored 4 generations later, by his great-great-grandson, Thomas Howard.

In fiction

A very fictionalized version of the 4th Duke of Norfolk appears as a villain in the film Elizabeth, played by Christopher Eccleston. Another version of the Duke is in the BBC mini-series The Virgin Queen, played by Kevin McKidd.