Howard, Thomas, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1536 -1572)

Thomas Howard was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was tutored by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage. His father predeceased his grandfather, so Norfolk inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I of England through her mother's family, and was trusted with public office despite his family's Catholic history. His first wife was Mary FitzAlan, who, after the death of her brother Henry in 1556, became heiress to the Arundel Estates of her father Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel. She died after a year of marriage having given birth to a son, Philip Howard, who became 20th Earl of Arundel. It is from this marriage that the present Duke of Norfolk takes his name of FitzAlan-Howard and why the family seat is at Arundel. Thomas’s second wife was another heiress, Margaret Audley, widow of Sir Henry Stanley and daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden. The marriage produced two sons, Thomas, subsequently 1st Earl of Suffolk and William, ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle and two daughters. After Margaret's death, Norfolk married Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gillesland. Norfolk's three sons by his first two wives married the daughters, their stepsisters, of Elizabeth Leybourne. Norfolk was Earl Marshal of England and Queen's Lieutenant in the North. From February to July 1560, he was commander of the English army in Scotland in support of the Lords of the Congregation opposing Mary of Guise. In 1569 he was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth for scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Following his release, he participated in the Ridolfi plot with King Philip II of Spain to put Mary on the English throne and to restore Catholicism in England. He was executed for high treason in 1572, and his estates and title forfeit. Much of the estate was later restored to his sons. The title of Duke of Norfolk was restored, four generations later.