Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Earl of Surrey
KG
Earl of Surrey KG
	Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Painting in theManneriststyle possibly attributed to the Dutch artistWilliam Scrots.c. 1546.
Personal details
Born	c. 1517; Hunsdon,Hertfordshire
Died	19 January 1547 (aged 29 or 30); Tower Hill,London, England
Resting place	First at theChurch of All Hallows,Tower Street, London and then atChurch of St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham,Suffolk
Spouse	Frances de Vere
Children	Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk; Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton; Jane Howard, Countess of Westmorland; Katherine Howard, Lady Berkeley; Margaret Howard, Lady Scrope;
Parent(s)	Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk; Lady Elizabeth Stafford
Religion	Roman Catholicism
	Writing career
Language	Early Modern English
Period	16th century
Genres	Sonnet; song; translation;
Subjects	Beautiful lady,other
Literary movement	English Renaissance,Petrarchism

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey,KG(1516/1517–19 January 1547) was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of EnglishRenaissancepoetry and was the last known person to have been executed at the insistence ofKing Henry VIII.His name is usually associated^{[clarification needed]}in literature with that of the poetSir Thomas Wyatt.Owing largely to the powerful position of his fatherThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk,Henry took a prominent part in court life, and served as a soldier both in France and in Scotland. He was a man of reckless temper, which involved him in many quarrels, and finally brought upon him the wrath of the ageing Henry VIII. He was arrested, tried for treason and beheaded onTower Hill.

Origins

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolkand LadyElizabeth Stafford,Henry's parents

Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolkand his wifeElizabeth Tilney,andEdward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham,Henry's paternal and maternal grandparents

Henry was born inHunsdon,Hertfordshire,^[1]being the eldest of five children ofThomas Howard,then Earl of Surrey, and his second wife LadyElizabeth Stafford.His paternal grandparents wereThomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolkand LadyElizabeth Tilney,and his maternal grandparents wereEdward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckinghamand LadyEleanor Percy.Her younger siblings were Katherine, born 1518,^[2]Mary,born 1519,Thomas,born 1520 and Muriel, born in 1521.^[2]On his father's side, he was a first cousin ofMary,GeorgeandAnne Boleyn,as well asCatherine Howard.Both Anne and Catherine would become wives of KingHenry VIII.At the time of his birth, his father's political career was on the rise, fuelled in large part by the powerful position of Henry's grandfather,Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.The Duke of Norfolk andEdward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham(Henry's grandfathers), along withCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk,were the three most powerful peers in the kingdom. After Buckingham's fall from grace and execution in May 1521, Norfolk and Brandon were left as the only dukes of England.

Howard received a careful education from the best tutors of the time; as a young boy he was making translations from Latin, Italian and Spanish into English. Howard has been described as a "reckless, arrogant man", being very different from the rest of the family: "Most early sixteenth century Howards were dull dogs: hard, hard-nosed and dourly efficient. Howard was quite different. There was something in him of his paternal uncle, the AdmiralEdward Howard,killed in action against the French in April 1513. There was more, however, of the darker inheritance of his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Buckingham. Howard inherited all Stafford's grand pride in blood and aristocracy, and all his determination that noblemen should once more come into their own. Perhaps it was from his mother's side too that he got his most dangerous trait: a rashness and a violence that bordered on madness. He also had a great intelligence that was both penetrating and fast and the result was one of the most remarkable men of the age ".^[2]

Career

Sketch of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, showing a striking resemblance to his father, the Duke of Norfolk, created byHans Holbein the Younger.c. 1530s. National Portrait Gallery

He was brought up atWindsor CastlewithHenry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset,the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He became a close friend, and later a brother-in-law of Fitzroy, following Fitzroy's marriage to his sisterMary.^[3]Like his father and grandfather, he was a soldier, serving in Henry VIII's French wars as Lieutenant General of the King on Sea and Land.

Howard was repeatedly imprisoned for rash behaviour: on one occasion for striking a courtier, and on another for wandering through the streets of London breaking the windows of houses whose occupants were asleep.^[3]He assumed thecourtesy titleofEarl of Surreyin May 1524 when his grandfather died and his father becameDuke of Norfolk.Being the eldest son and heir to the 3rd Duke, Surrey was destined to be the future 4th Duke.^[4]

In 1532 he accompaniedAnne Boleyn(his first cousin), King Henry VIII, and the Duke of Richmond on their visit to France, and remained there for more than a year as a member of the entourage of KingFrancis I of France.Surrey returned to England in the autumn of 1533, when Richmond's marriage toMary Howard,Surrey's sister, took place. At the same time, his parents' marriage was in difficulties due to Norfolk's extramarital relationship withBess Holland.Surrey took his father's side in the family dispute, and remained atKenninghall,where his wife joined him in 1535.^[2]On 10 March 1536, Surrey’s eldest sonThomaswas born.

In May 1536 both Surrey and his father were obliged to take leading roles in the trial of their relations Anne Boleyn and her brother, theViscount Rochford.They were tried in the great hall of theTower.Norfolk presided over the trial asLord High Steward;Surrey sat below him asEarl Marshal.In July, Surrey's brother-in-law the Duke of Richmond died at the age of 17 and was buried atThetford Priory,one of the Howard properties. In October, Surrey accompanied his father in the suppression of thePilgrimage of Grace,a Catholic rebellion which had broken out in the north of England against theDissolution of the Monasteries.^[4]

Religiously, Surrey had reformist leanings but wasRoman Catholiclike his father, who was the premier Catholic nobleman of England. The Howards remained loyal to Catholicism during theReformation.Surrey was educated and raised in the traditional religion and one of the causes of his fall from grace was his Catholicism.^[2]Years later, his eldest sonThomaswould also fall from favour and be executed for havingconspiredagainst QueenElizabeth Iwith the intention of replacing her withMary, Queen of Scotsand thus restore Catholicism to England.

Marriage and progeny

Frances de Vere, byHans Holbein the Younger,c. 1535

Thomas,Henryand Margaret, Lady Scrope, children of Surrey and Frances de Vere

In the early 1530s, Anne Boleyn promoted the marriage between her cousin Surrey andPrincess Mary,the King's only surviving child with his wifeCatherine of Aragon.The Duke of Norfolk was very enthusiastic about the match as it might give him greater political influence and put his family closer to the throne of England. Boleyn may have considered the match to be a way of neutralising the threat Mary posed to the succession of any children Anne might have by the King. But she changed her mind, fearing that the Duke could use the match to support Mary's claim to the throne and support Catherine of Aragon in the divorce proceedings which were still continuing, and prevent the English Church's break with Rome from being consummated. By October 1530, Boleyn persuaded her reluctant uncle to arrange instead for Surrey to marryFrances de Vere,one of the daughters ofJohn de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxfordwith his second wife,Elizabeth Trussell.^[2]

On 15 January 1532, Norfolk and Oxford agreed the marriage contract. Frances would receive an amount of 4,000marks,of which 200 was received upon her marriage and the rest would be received in instalments. Frances would retain this entitlement in the event of her husband's death. Norfolk gave the couple land that would produce an annual income of £300. The contract was signed a month later, on 13 February.^[2]

The wedding took place on 23 April, although due to the couple's young age, they did not begin to live together until 1535.^[2]Although the marriage was celebrated according to Catholic rites, there were religious differences between the families: Frances's father was a supporter of theReformationand was the first Protestant Earl of Oxford, whereas Surrey's father was the premier Catholic nobleman of England.^[5]Surrey's father-in-law, the Earl of Oxford, was the holder of the second oldest extant earldom in England and was theLord Great Chamberlain.

Surrey had with his wife two sons and three daughters:

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,who on his grandfather's death in 1554 inherited theDukedom of Norfolk.He was married three times: (1)Mary FitzAlan(2)Margaret Audley(3)Elizabeth Leyburne.
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton,who died unmarried.
Jane Howard,who marriedCharles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland.
Katherine Howard, who marriedHenry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley.
Margaret Howard, who marriedHenry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton.She was born shortly after her father's execution.^[6]

Downfall and death

The Howards had little regard for the "new men" who had risen to power at court, such asThomas Cromwelland theSeymour family.Surrey was less circumspect than his father in concealing this disdain. The Howards had many enemies at court.^[7]Howard himself branded Cromwell a "foul churl" andWilliam Pageta "mean creature" as well as arguing that "These new erected men would by their wills leave no nobleman on life!"^[8]Norfolk's political intriguing against Cromwell took advantage of the King's failed marriage toAnne of Cleves,of which Cromwell was the main promoter, and led to the latter's fall from grace and execution in July 1540. During the last years of Henry VIII's reign, the Seymours, and the King's last wife,Catherine Parr,supporters of Protestantism, gained greater power and influence at court while the Howards, who were conservatives, were left politically isolated. Norfolk attempted to form an alliance with the Seymours through marriage of his daughter Mary toThomas Seymour,^[2]but such efforts were in vain due to Surrey's provocative behavior.

Henry VIII, who was becoming increasingly ill, became convinced that the Howards were planning to usurp the Crown from his son,Prince Edward.Surrey suggested that his widowed sister Mary should seduce the ageing king, her father-in-law, and become his mistress, to "wield as much influence on him asMadame d'Etampesdoth about theFrench King".Mary, outraged, said she would" cut her own throat "rather than" consent to such villainy ".^[9]

She and her brother therefore fell out, and Mary later gave testimony against Henry that helped lead to his trial and execution for treason. Surrey's family, including his mother, his sister Mary, andBess Holland,his father's mistress, testified against both Surrey and the Duke.^[10]The matter came to a head when Surreyquarteredtheroyal armsofEdward the Confessoron his own coat of arms.John Barlowhad once called Howard "the most foolish proud boy that is in England". Through his great-grandfatherJohn Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk(1483 creation), Surrey was a descendant ofThomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk,the sixth son of KingEdward 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 doing so was an act of pride, and provocative in the eyes of the Crown.^[11]Religious reasons were also one of the causes of Surrey's fall from grace. Henry VIII, very possibly influenced by theSeymours,supporters of Protestantism, believed that the earl and his father were going to usurp the Crown to reverse the Reformation and thus return the English Church to Roman jurisdiction.^[12]

In consequence, the King ordered Howard's imprisonment on a charge of treasonably quartering the royal arms, and also that of his father. They were sentenced to death on 13 January 1547. Surrey wasexecutedon 19 January 1547.^[13]On 27 January, the Howards, father and son, were attainted by statute. The Duke's execution was scheduled for the following day (28 January), but it did not take place because Henry VIII died in the early hours of that day. ThePrivy Councilmade a decision not to inaugurate the new reign with bloodshed, but Howard remained a prisoner in theTower of Londonfor the next six years, with most of his titles and propertyforfeitedto the Crown, until he was released and pardoned in August 1553 upon the accession of the Catholic QueenMary I.^{[citation needed]}Surrey's son Thomas Howard, became heir to the dukedom of Norfolk in place of his father; he inherited the title upon the 3rd Duke's death in 1554.^{[citation needed]}

Burial

The arms for which Howard was attainted (Edward the Confessor's attributed arms are in the fifth quarter with a label of three points plain Argent).^[14]

Tomb of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and his wife, Frances de Vere, displaying the coats of arms of the Howard and De Vere families

Surrey was first buried inChurch of All Hallowsin Tower Street, although in 1614 his remains were moved toSt Michael the Archangel's Church, Framlingham,Suffolk, where his spectacular painted alabaster tomb survives, richly decorated with thecoats of armsand heraldic animals of the Howard and De Vere families. The tomb was erected by order of Surrey's youngest son, theEarl of Northampton.Lady Frances, Surrey's wife, although she was buried at Framlingham after her death in 1577, her remains were subsequently placed alongside those of her husband in the new tomb.

TheLatininscription on the Earl's tomb refers to Surrey as being the son of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk, technically a new creation, but treated for all practical purposes as a recreation of the forfeited title held by Surrey's great-grandfather, the 1st Duke, therefore both the 2nd and 3rd Duke would be numbered correctly.

Surrey's tomb is not a religious example, unlike his father's tomb which is richly decorated with religious iconography, but rather extolling the virtues of its subjects. Effigies of his two sons kneel at the foot and at the head his three daughters.

In the 1970s the funerary monument was in very poor state of preservation, sagging in the centre and with the ends collapsing. The restoration of the tomb was entrusted to John Green. During the restoration and cleaning, it was found that there were holes of thedowelwhere a coronet had once been placed (not worn on the head, since Surrey died in disgrace). A new coronet was made of lead casting with large fish weights for the baubles, painted, gilded, and placed in position.^[15]

Literary activity and legacy

He and his friendSir Thomas Wyattmay be considered as followers of thePetrarchismmovement within theRenaissance literature.^[16]^[17]They were the first English poets to write in thesonnetform whichShakespearelater used, and Howard was the first English poet to publishblank verse(unrhymediambic pentameter) in his translation of the second and fourth books ofVirgil'sAeneid. Together, Wyatt and Howard, due to their excellent translations ofPetrarch's sonnets, are known as "Fathers of the English Sonnet". While Wyatt introduced the sonnet form into English poetry, Howard gave it the rhyming metre and the division into quatrains which characterise the sonnets written in a way variously named English, Elizabethan, orShakespearean sonnets.^[18]^[19]

Tottel's Miscellany,printed in 1557, contains 40 poems written by Henry Howard.^[20]Among the poems ascribed to Surrey is a loose translation ofMartial 10:47,as "The means to attain happy life".^[21]A different version is preserved in MS. (Add.36259). Another version of the translation had been printed ten years earlier inWilliam Baldwin'sTreatise of Morall Phylosophie(January 1547/8).^[21]

"The Things That Cause a Quiet Life" was written by Surrey:

My friend, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find:
The riches left, not got with pain,
The fruitful ground; the quiet mind;

The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
No charge of rule nor governance;
Without disease the healthy life;
The household of continuance;

The mean diet, no dainty fare;
True wisdom joined with simpleness;
The night discharged of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress;

The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Content thyself with thine estate,
Neither wish death, nor fear his might.^[22]