John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk
John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk , was an English nobleman, soldier, politician, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk. He was a close friend and loyal supporter of King Richard III, with whom he was slain at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Family
John Howard, born about 1425, was the son of Sir Robert Howard of Tendring and Margaret de Mowbray, eldest daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk , by Elizabeth FitzAlan. His paternal grandparents were Sir John Howard of Wiggenhall, Norfolk, and Alice Tendring, daughter of Sir William Tendring.Howard was a descendant of English royalty through both sides of his family. On his father's side, Howard was descended from Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, the second son of King John, who had an illegitimate son, named Richard, whose daughter, Joan of Cornwall, married Sir John Howard. On his mother's side, Howard was descended from Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, the elder son of Edward I of England by his second wife, Margaret of France, and from Edward I's younger brother, Edmund Crouchback.
Career
Howard succeeded his father in 1436. In his youth he was in the household of his cousin John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and was drawn into Norfolk's conflicts with William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. In 1453 he was involved in a lawsuit with Suffolk's wife, Alice Chaucer. He had been elected to Parliament in 1449 and during the 1450s he held several local offices. According to Crawford, he was at one point during this period described as "wode as a wilde bullok". He is said to have been with Lord Lisle in his expedition to Guyenne in 1452, which ended in defeat at Castillon on 17 July 1453. He received an official commission from the King on 10 December 1455 and also had been utilised by Henry to promote friendship between Lord Moleyns and one John Clopton.He was a staunch adherent of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, and was knighted by King Edward IV at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461. In the same year he was appointed Constable of Norwich and Colchester castles, and became part of the royal household as one of the King's carvers, "the start of a service to the house of York which was to last for the rest of his life."
In 1461 Howard was High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, and during the years 1462-4 he took part in military campaigns against the Lancastrians. In 1467 he served as deputy for Norfolk as Earl Marshal at 'the most splendid tournament of the age when Antoine, count of La Roche, the Bastard of Burgundy, jousted against the Queen's brother, Lord Scales. In the same year he was one of three ambassadors sent to Burgundy to arrange the marriage of the King's sister, Margaret of York, to Charles, Duke of Burgundy. At about this time he was made a member of the King's council, and in 1468 he was among those who escorted Margaret to Burgundy for her wedding. During the 1460s Howard had become involved in the internal politics of St John's Abbey in Colchester, of which he was a patron. He interfered with the abbatial elections at the Abbey following the death of Abbot Ardeley in 1464, helping the Yorkist supporter John Canon to win the election. Howard then appears to have interfered again in support of Abbot Stansted's election following Canon's death in 1464.
Howard's advancement in the King's household continued. By 1467 he was a Knight of the Body, and in September 1468 was appointed Treasurer of the Royal Household, an office which he held for only two years, until Edward lost the throne in 1470.
According to Crawford, Howard was a wealthy man by 1470, and when Edward IV's first reign ended he went into exile on the continent. In the area around Stoke by Nayland Howard held some sixteen manors, seven of which the King had granted him in 1462. After 1463, he purchased a number of other manors, including six forfeited by John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, the son of his cousin, Elizabeth Howard.
Howard was summoned to Parliament from 15 October 1470 by writs directed to Iohanni Howard de Howard Militi and Iohanni Howard Chivaler, whereby he is held to have become Lord Howard. On 24 April 1472 he was admitted to the Order of the Garter. In 1475 he accompanied Edward in his attempt on France.
In April 1483 he bore the royal banner at the funeral of King Edward IV. He supported Richard III's usurpation of the throne from King Edward V, and was appointed Lord High Steward. He bore the crown before Richard at his coronation, while his eldest son, the Earl of Surrey, carried the Sword of State. On 28 June 1483 he was created Duke of Norfolk, third creation, the first creation having become extinct on the death of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, in 1476, and the second creation having been invalidated by Richard's illegitimisation, on 25 June 1483, of Edward IV's second son Richard of York. This left John Howard as heir to the duchy, and his alliance with Richard ensured his acquisition of the title. He was also created Earl Marshal, and Lord Admiral of all England, Ireland, and Aquitaine.
The Duke's principal home was at Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk. However, after his second marriage he frequently resided at Ockwells Manor at Cox Green in Bray as it was conveniently close to the royal residence at Windsor Castle.
Marriages and issue
Before 29 September 1442 he married Catherine, the daughter of Sir William Moleyns, of Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire, and his wife Margery.With Catherine Moleyns, he had two sons and four daughters:
- Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey, who married firstly, on 30 April 1472, as her second husband, Elizabeth Tilney, by whom he had ten children including Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth Howard, wife of Sir Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire; he married secondly, in 1497, Agnes Tilney, by whom he had eleven children.
- Nicholas Howard.
- Isabel or Elizabeth Howard, who married Robert Mortimer, esquire, of Landmere in Thorpe-le-Soken, slain at Bosworth, by whom she had a daughter, Elizabeth, who married George Guildford, younger son of Sir Richard Guildford.
- Anne Howard, who married Sir Edmund Gorges of Wraxall, by whom she had issue including Sir Thomas Gorges.
- Jane Howard, who in 1481 married Sir John Timperley of Hintlesham, Suffolk, no issue.
- Margaret Howard, who married Sir John Wyndham of Crownthorpe and Felbrigg, Norfolk, by whom she had issue.
By his second wife, Margaret Chedworth, he had one daughter:
- Katherine Howard, who married John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, by whom she had issue.
Death
"Jack of Norfolk, be not too bold,
For Dickon, thy master, is bought and sold."
However, this story does not appear earlier than Edward Hall in 1548, so it may well be an apocryphal embellishment of a later era.
He was buried in Thetford Priory, but his body seems to have been moved at the Reformation, possibly to the tomb of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk at Framlingham Church. The monumental brass of his first wife Katherine Moleyns can, however, still be seen in Suffolk.
Howard was the great-grandfather of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the second and fifth Queens consort, respectively, of King Henry VIII. Thus, through Anne Boleyn, he was the great-great-grandfather of Elizabeth I. After his death his titles were declared forfeit by King Henry VII, but his son, the 1st Earl of Surrey, was later restored as 2nd Duke. His senior descendants, the Dukes of Norfolk, have been Earls Marshal and Premier Peers of England since the 17th century, and male-line descendants hold the Earldoms of Carlisle, Suffolk, Berkshire and Effingham.