Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
The Lord Ellesmere | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury |
Lord Chamberlain of the Household | |
In office c. 1603 – c. 1614 | |
Preceded by | The Lord Hunsdon |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Somerset |
Personal details | |
Born | 24 August 1561 |
Died | 28 May 1626 | (aged 64)
Resting place | Katherine Knyvet |
Children | Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk Elizabeth Howard Robert Howard Sir William Howard Catherine Howard Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire Frances Howard Sir Charles Howard Henry Howard Edward Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Escrick Margaret Howard family-name - Howard |
Parents | (mother) |
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk,
Early life and marriages
Thomas was born at
When his mother died in January 1564, Thomas inherited the manor of Saffron Walden and other Audley family properties.
Thomas's father, a Roman Catholic with a Protestant education, was arrested in 1569 for being involved in intrigues against Queen Elizabeth, mainly due to the Duke's intention to marry
His father, while imprisoned in the Tower awaiting execution, urged Thomas to marry his stepsister Mary Dacre, the daughter of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre and Elizabeth Leybourne, the duke's third wife. He did so; but Mary died, childless, in April 1578 at Walden.[2]
In or before 1582, Howard remarried, his second wife being
Family
- Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (13 August 1582 – 3 June 1640) married: Elizabeth Home, and had issue
- Elizabeth Howard (c. 1583 – 17 April 1658) married: (1) William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury, and had issue (2) Edward Vaux, 4th Baron Vaux of Harrowden (some say that Elizabeth's and William's children were illegitimate)
- Sir Robert Howard (1598–1653) (1) mistress Frances Villers and had issue Robert Danvers; (2) married: Catherine Nevill
- Sir William Howard (1586 – before 1672)
- Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire (8 October 1587 – 16 July 1669) married: Elizabeth Cecil, and had issue
- Catherine Howard (c. 1588–1673) married: William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, and had issue
- Frances Howard (31 May 1590 – 1632) married: (1) Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex (2) Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, and had issue
- Sir Charles Howard (1591 – 21 June 1626), married Mary Fitz(john). Their daughter Elizabeth was a maid of honour and performed in the masque The Shepherd's Paradise.[5]
- Henry Howard (1592–1616), married Elizabeth Bassett and had issue. In September 1613 he travelled to Veere to fight a duel with the Earl of Essex, but the courtier Henry Gibb prevented the combat.[6][7]
- Edward Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Escrick (died 24 April 1675), married Mary Boteler daughter of John Boteler and Elizabeth Villiers, on 30 November 1623,[8] and had issue.
- Margaret Howard (c. 1599–1608)
-
Theophilus Howard
-
Frances Howard
In December 1584, he was restored in blood as Lord Thomas Howard.
In 1591, he was sent with a squadron to the
In 1596, Howard served as vice-admiral of the expedition against
Political career
He was seriously ill in the autumn of 1597, and was created
A friend of
Suffolk accepted a gift from the Spanish ambassador negotiating the peace treaty of 1604, but his countess proved a more valuable informant and Catholic sympathiser. Avaricious, she accepted an annual pension of £1000 from the Spanish. While Suffolk was less pro-Spanish and pro-Catholic than his wife, she was felt to dominate her husband in matters of politics, a circumstance which would later bring him to grief.[2]
By 1605, Cecil, now Earl of Salisbury, Suffolk, the Earl of Northampton, and the Earl of Worcester were James's principal privy counsellors. Suffolk and Salisbury were both privy to the communications made by Lord Monteagle revealing the existence of the Gunpowder Plot, and Suffolk examined the cellar, spotting the brushwood concealing the gunpowder. Later that evening, the Keeper of the Palace, Sir Thomas Knyvet (Suffolk's brother-in-law) made further search, revealing the gunpowder, and the plot collapsed. Suffolk was one of those commissioned to investigate and try the plotters.[2]
Numbered by James as one of his "trinity of knaves" (with Salisbury and Northampton), he was nonetheless thought loyal and reliable to the King. By 1607, work was completed on Charlton Park, a house which is still home to his descendants. In December 1608, Salisbury's eldest son and heir, William married Suffolk's third daughter, Catharine. Salisbury, who died in 1612, praised Suffolk's friendship in his will; and upon his death, Suffolk was appointed one of the Lords of the Treasury. Though he disliked Sir Robert Carr, the royal favourite, Suffolk supported his daughter Frances' desire to divorce her husband, the Earl of Essex to marry him. She did so in December 1613, shortly after his creation as Earl of Somerset.[2]
On 8 July 1614, Suffolk was appointed
In 1615, however, Suffolk's fall began. James had become deeply infatuated with Sir George Villiers, and Suffolk's daughter Frances, now Countess of Somerset, was implicated in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury. Suffolk was accused by James of complicity with Somerset in trying to suppress the investigation of the crime, but successfully weathered the storm. However, Suffolk then made the mistake of attempting to undermine the rising power of Villiers by grooming another handsome young man to succeed him in James's favour. Completely unsuccessful, this only provoked a counterattack by Villiers, now (1618) Marquess of Buckingham, upon Suffolk's conduct as Lord High Treasurer.[2]
Suffolk's finances were always in a perilous state. His early privateering and naval ventures nearly bankrupted him, despite some financial help from Queen Elizabeth. Under James, the situation was somewhat eased by his preferment at court, which gave him board and lodging and valuable emoluments, and the regrant of some of the sequestered estates of his father. Some of this he invested in land in East Anglia, and he further benefited from a series of customs farms and bequests from relatives. He had been forced to sell his London residence, the Charterhouse, in 1611, but this was replaced in 1614 when he inherited the Earl of Northampton's house at Charing Cross. Suffolk added to his own troubles with extravagant building programmes. Audley End House, built from 1603 to 1616, was the largest private house in England. He also added an expensive new wing to Charing Cross, and his wife built Charlton Park on the Knyvett estates she had inherited. Suffolk's children were also well provided for. He spent considerable sums to keep up their profile at court, and provided generous marriage portions to improve their matches. While this strategy was successful, it generated crushing debts for him, owing £40,000 in bonds and mortgages by 1618. His appointment as Lord High Treasurer in 1614 provided the opportunity to ameliorate his financial position through selling patronage and through deals with customs farmers, although it did not completely relieve his debts. It was also to prove the instrument of his downfall.[2]
Arrest and fall
Through the agency of Buckingham, James was made aware of Suffolk's misconduct in the Treasury, particularly allegations that Lady Suffolk harassed creditors of the crown, and extorted bribes from them before they could obtain payment. Suffolk was suspended from the Treasurership in July 1618. Early in 1619, his wife suffered an attack of smallpox which destroyed her famous beauty, and Suffolk himself pleaded ill health in an attempt to avoid trial. These efforts failed: in October 1619, he, his wife, and their crony Sir John Bingley, Remembrancer of the Exchequer were prosecuted on a variety of counts of corruption in the Court of Star Chamber. Sir Francis Bacon, the prosecutor, compared Lady Suffolk to an exchange woman keeping shop while her apprentice, Bingley, cried "What d'ye lack?" outside.[12] On 13 November 1619, they were found guilty on all counts. A fine of £30,000 was imposed, and they were sentenced to imprisonment at the King's pleasure.[2]
After ten days, Suffolk and his wife were released and appealed to Buckingham to intercede for them. Although Suffolk further irritated James by legal manoeuvres to avoid seizure of his property, Buckingham was willing to be magnanimous to his rival now that his power had been destroyed. Buckingham obtained for Suffolk an audience with the King, and the fine was subsequently remitted except for £7,000. In 1623, Suffolk's youngest son Edward married Buckingham's niece, Mary Boteler. While Suffolk never again rose to high office, he was active in the Lords and served twice as a commissioner of ecclesiastical causes. He died at Charing Cross on 28 May 1626 and was buried on 4 June at Saffron Walden.[2]
References
- ^ Cokayne, G. E. & Geoffrey H. White, eds. (1953). The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, volume XII part 1: Skelmersdale to Towton. 12.1 (2nd ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press, p. 465 (where he died).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^ "Howard pedigree 2". Retrieved 30 December 2006.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 26.
- ^ Sarah Poynting, 'Henrietta Maria's Notorious Whores', Clare McManus, Women and Culture at the Courts of the Stuart Queens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp. 163–5, 169.
- ^ William Shaw & G. Dyfnallt Owen, HMC 77 Viscount De L'Isle, Penshurst, vol. 5 (London, 1961), pp. 120–3.
- ^ John Payne Collier, Egerton Papers (Camden Society: London, 1840), p. 463.
- ^ Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, 2 (London: Colburn, 1849), p. 441.
- ^ Camden, William (1625). Annales Rerum Gestarum Angliae et Hiberniae Regnante Elizabetha. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
- ^ "The Last Fight of the Revenge". Retrieved 30 December 2006.
- ^ "Howard, Thomas (HWRT605T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk". Retrieved 30 December 2006.
External links
- Media related to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk at Wikimedia Commons