Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Petrarchism | |
---|---|
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey,
Origins
Henry was born in
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 Admiral Edward 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
He was brought up at Windsor Castle with Henry 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 sister Mary.[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 the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey in May 1524 when his grandfather died and his father became Duke 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 accompanied Anne 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 King Francis I of France. Surrey returned to England in the autumn of 1533, when Richmond's marriage to Mary Howard, Surrey's sister, took place. At the same time, his parents' marriage was in difficulties due to Norfolk's extramarital relationship with Bess Holland. Surrey took his father's side in the family dispute, and remained at Kenninghall, where his wife joined him in 1535.[2] On 10 March 1536, Surrey’s eldest son Thomas was 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, the
Religiously, Surrey had reformist leanings but was
Marriage and progeny
In the early 1530s, Anne Boleyn promoted the marriage between her cousin Surrey and
On 15 January 1532, Norfolk and Oxford agreed the marriage contract. Frances would receive an amount of 4,000 marks, 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.
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 the Dukedom 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 married Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland.
- Katherine Howard, who married Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley.
- Margaret Howard, who married Henry 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 as Thomas Cromwell and the Seymour 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" and William Paget a "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 to Anne 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 his daughter Mary to Thomas 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,
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, and
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 was executed on 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. The Privy Council made a decision not to inaugurate the new reign with bloodshed, but Howard remained a prisoner in the Tower of London for the next six years, with most of his titles and property forfeited to the Crown, until he was released and pardoned in August 1553 upon the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary 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
Surrey was first buried in
The Latin inscription 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 the dowel where 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 friend
Tottel's Miscellany, printed in 1557, contains 40 poems written by Henry Howard.[20] Among the poems ascribed to Surrey is a loose translation of Martial 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 in William Baldwin's Treatise 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]
In popular culture
Howard was portrayed by the actor David O'Hara in The Tudors, a television series which ran from 2007 to 2010.[23]
Family tree
Ancestors of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
References
- ^ "Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey", Poetry Foundation
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13940. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Sixteenth/Early Seventeenth Century, Volume B, 2012, pg. 661
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-1683-3.
- ISBN 978-0-19-818625-0.
- ^ Childs 2007.
- ^ Childs 2007, p. 1.
- ISBN 978-0-7524-4835-0.
- ^ Brigden 2008, p. 105.
- ^ The Heraldic Charge Against the Earl of Surrey, Peter R. Moore, English Historical Review, Volume CXVI, pages 557 to 583, (2001).
- ^ Weir 2001b, pp. 434–435.
- ISBN 9780199550371
- OCLC 141386430.
- ^ "Historical Tombs".
- ISBN 0-719-00745-3.
- ISBN 978-0-691-15491-6.
- ^ The Shakespearean Sonnet
- ^ Sonnets
- ^ Daiches, David (1960). A critical history of English literature. Internet Archive. New York, Ronald Press Co.
- ^ a b Hudson, Hoyt Hopewell (1923). "Surrey and Martial". Modern Language Notes, 38(8). p. 481.
- ^ "The Things That Cause a Quiet Life by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey". Poetry Foundation. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ^ "Cast: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey". The Tudors. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
Further reading
- Hutchinson, Robert (2009). House of Treason: the Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty.
- Williams, Neville (1989). A Tudor Tragedy: Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
- Head, David M. (1995). The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: Life of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk.
- Lee, Sidney (1891). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 23–28. . In
- Keene, Dennis (ed.). Selected Poems by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Fyfield Books.
- Yeowell, James, ed. (1908). The Poems of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. – with a memoir by the editor
- Brigden, Susan (2008). "Howard, Henry, earl of Surrey (1516/17–1547)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13905. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 9780224060226.
External links
- Works by or about Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey at Internet Archive
- Works by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover Being upon the Sea" set to music Archived 3 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine From the 1990 concept album "Tyger and Other Tales”