Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Encyclopedia
Agnes Howard (c. 1477 – May 1545) was the second wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
. Two of King Henry VIII's
Queens were her step-granddaughters, Anne Boleyn
, and Katherine Howard. After her mother's death, Katherine Howard was in the Dowager Duchess's care during her youth, and as a result of the Duchess's lax guardianship, committed sexual indiscretions while in the Duchess's household which led to her execution as Queen. Agnes' brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), was the paternal grandfather of Edmund Tilney (1535/6–1610), Master of the Revels
to Queen Elizabeth
and King James
. Edmund Tilney's mother, Malyn, was implicated in the scandal surrounding Queen Katherine's downfall.
and Boston, Lincolnshire
by a daughter of Walter Tailboys. Her brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley
(d.1533), was in the service of Thomas Howard
, then Earl of Surrey, the husband of Agnes' cousin, Elizabeth Tilney. Surrey's first wife died on 4 April 1497, and he and Agnes were married four months later by dispensation dated 17 August 1497. Agnes brought Surrey little by way of dowry
.
The marriage coincided with a change in Surrey's fortunes. As a supporter of Richard III
, for whom he fought at Bosworth in 1485, Surrey was not in high favour during the early years of the reign of Henry VII
. However in 1499 he was recalled to court, and in the following year he accompanied the King on a state visit to France. In 1501 he was sworn of the Privy Council
, and on 16 June of that year was named Lord Treasurer
. In the same year he was involved in successful diplomatic negotiations with King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella
for a marriage between the Spanish Infanta, Catherine of Aragon
, and Henry VII's eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales
. When Prince Arthur died on 2 April 1502, Surrey supervised the funeral. In 1503 he escorted the King's sister, Margaret Tudor
, to Scotland for her wedding to King James IV
.
On 21 April 1509 Henry VII
died. Surrey was an executor of the late King's will, and served as Earl Marshal
at the coronation of Henry VIII
. When a Scottish army invaded after Henry VIII had departed for Calais
on 30 June 1513, Surrey crushed the Scottish forces at Flodden
on 9 September. The victory brought Surrey popular renown and royal rewards. On 1 February 1514 he was created Duke of Norfolk, and his son Thomas
was made Earl of Surrey. Both were granted lands and annuities, and the Howard arms were augmented in honour of Flodden.
Norfolk's leading position among the nobility was reflected in the Duchess's role at court. She was godmother to Princess Mary
, and attended the Princess during a visit to France in 1520.
By the spring of 1522 Norfolk was almost 80 years of age and in failing health. He retired to his ducal castle at Framlingham
in Suffolk
where he died on 21 May 1524. His funeral and burial on 22 June at Thetford Priory
were said to have been 'spectacular and enormously expensive', befitting the richest and most powerful peer in England.
in 1526 indicate that she was accorded first place in the Queen's household after the King's sister Mary Tudor.
On 23 May 1533 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
declared Henry VIII's marriage to his first Queen, Catherine of Aragon
, a nullity. On or about 25 January 1533 the King had already married the Dowager Duchess's step-granddaughter Anne Boleyn
in a secret ceremony. Anne was crowned Queen on 1 June 1533. The Dowager Duchess bore Anne's train in the coronation procession, and was godmother at the christening of Anne's daughter, Princess Elizabeth
. Anne's two subsequent miscarriages caused the King misgivings about the marriage, but Anne's downfall ultimately came about as a result of her conflict with the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, over the distribution of the spoils from the dissolution of the monasteries
. Anne was charged with adultery and high treason
, and on 19 May 1536 was beheaded at Tower Green
.
The King then took Jane Seymour
as his third wife. Two years after her death, at Cromwell's instigation the King wed Anne of Cleves
on 6 January 1540. However the King's physical revulsion for his new bride led to a speedy annulment of the marriage by Act of Parliament on 12 July 1540. By then the 15-year-old Katherine Howard, another of the Dowager Duchess's step-granddaughters, had already caught the King's eye. Henry and Katherine were married at a private ceremony at Oatlands
on 28 July 1540. Despite the fact that Henry was much in love with her, referring to her as his "rose without a thorn", the marriage quickly came to a disastrous end. While the King and Queen were on progress during the fall of 1541, the religious reformer John Lassells
and his sister Mary Hall
brought to the attention of Thomas Cranmer
, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Queen's sexual indiscretions with her music master, Henry Manox, and a Howard kinsman, Francis Dereham
, while she had been a young girl living in the Dowager Duchess's household at Lambeth. On 1 November 1541 Cranmer revealed these matters in a letter to the King. The King immediately ordered that the Queen be confined to her apartments, and never saw her again. The Dowager Duchess, hearing reports of what had happened while Katherine had been under her lax guardianship, reasoned that 'If there be none offence sithence the marriage, she cannot die for that was done before'. Unfortunately for the Queen and the Dowager Duchess, further investigations by Cranmer and the Council revealed that with the connivance of one of her attendants, Lady Rochford
, Katherine had allegedly had an affair with Thomas Culpeper
, one of the King's favourite gentlemen of the privy chamber, after her marriage to the King.
Dereham, Manox and other members of the Dowager Duchess's household were arrested and interrogated by the Council. Norfolk was sent to search the Dowager Duchess's house at Lambeth and question members of the household, who revealed that the Duchess had attempted to destroy evidence by burning the papers of Dereham and his friend William Damport. The Duchess was sent to the Tower. Towards the end of November she was questioned by the Council, but could add little to what was already known by her interrogators. On 1 December Dereham and Culpeper were arraigned on charges of treason. Both were convicted at trial, and sentenced to death. Dereham and his friend William Damport were tortured in an attempt to wring confessions from them concerning Queen Katherine's alleged adultery, and on 10 December 1541 Dereham and Culpeper were executed at Tyburn
. On the same day the Dowager Duchess was again questioned, and admitted to having promoted her niece as a prospective bride for the King while having knowledge of her prior misconduct, to having persuaded the Queen to take Dereham into her service, and to having burned Dereham's letters. By mid-December the Dowager Duchess's eldest son, William Howard
, his wife, and the Duchess's daughter Anne Howard
were committed to the Tower. About the same time another of the Duchess's daughters, Katherine Daubeney, Lady Bridgewater was also arrested. On 14 December 1541 the Duchess' stepson, the Duke of Norfolk
, fearful for his own safety, denounced his stepmother and kin in a letter to the King. On 22 December William Howard and his wife and a number of servants who had been witnesses to the Queen's misconduct, including Malyn Tilney, the mother of Edmund Tilney, Queen Elizabeth's future Master of the Revels
, were arraigned for misprision of treason
'for concealing the evil demeanour of the Queen, to the slander of the King and his succession'. All were sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods, although most were pardoned after Queen Katherine's execution. The Dowager Duchess, although included in the indictment, was not brought to trial as she was 'old and testy', and 'may die out of perversity to defraud the King's Highness of the confiscation of her goods', but like the others she was sentenced to imprisonment and forfeiture of lands and goods. On 6 February 1542 a bill of attainder
against Queen Katherine and Lady Rochford
received final reading, and on 13 February 1542 the Queen and Lady Rochford were beheaded on Tower Green
. The King was of the view that there was as much reason to convict the Dowager Duchess of treason as there had been to convict Dereham. However the Council urged leniency, and she was eventually released from the Tower on 5 May 1542. Her stepson, the Duke of Norfolk, escaped punishment, but was never fully trusted again by the King.
on the 31st of that month. On 31 October, as directed in her will, she was re-interred at Lambeth Church in Surrey.
The Dowager Duchess's brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), was the paternal grandfather of Edmund Tilney (1535/6–1610), Master of the Revels
to Queen Elizabeth
and King James
.
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
. Two of King Henry VIII's
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
Queens were her step-granddaughters, Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
, and Katherine Howard. After her mother's death, Katherine Howard was in the Dowager Duchess's care during her youth, and as a result of the Duchess's lax guardianship, committed sexual indiscretions while in the Duchess's household which led to her execution as Queen. Agnes' brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), was the paternal grandfather of Edmund Tilney (1535/6–1610), Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
to Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. Edmund Tilney's mother, Malyn, was implicated in the scandal surrounding Queen Katherine's downfall.
Marriage
Agnes Tilney (c. 1477 – May 1545) was the daughter of Hugh Tilney of SkirbeckSkirbeck
Skirbeck is a suburb and former civil parish in the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Skirbeck is a long v-shaped formation wrapped around the south and east side of Boston parish. It has been incorporated into the Borough of Boston since 1932...
and Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
by a daughter of Walter Tailboys. Her brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley
Shelley
-Meaning:In many baby name books, Shelley is listed as meaning "From the meadow on the ledge" or "clearing on a bank". It is Old English in origin. As with many other names , Shelley is today a name given almost exclusively to girls after historically being male...
(d.1533), was in the service of Thomas Howard
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
, then Earl of Surrey, the husband of Agnes' cousin, Elizabeth Tilney. Surrey's first wife died on 4 April 1497, and he and Agnes were married four months later by dispensation dated 17 August 1497. Agnes brought Surrey little by way of dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
.
The marriage coincided with a change in Surrey's fortunes. As a supporter of Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
, for whom he fought at Bosworth in 1485, Surrey was not in high favour during the early years of the reign of Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
. However in 1499 he was recalled to court, and in the following year he accompanied the King on a state visit to France. In 1501 he was sworn of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
, and on 16 June of that year was named Lord Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
. In the same year he was involved in successful diplomatic negotiations with King Ferdinand
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...
and Queen Isabella
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...
for a marriage between the Spanish Infanta, Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
, and Henry VII's eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
. When Prince Arthur died on 2 April 1502, Surrey supervised the funeral. In 1503 he escorted the King's sister, Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
, to Scotland for her wedding to King James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
.
On 21 April 1509 Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
died. Surrey was an executor of the late King's will, and served as Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England...
at the coronation of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. When a Scottish army invaded after Henry VIII had departed for Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
on 30 June 1513, Surrey crushed the Scottish forces at Flodden
Battle of Flodden Field
The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field or occasionally Battle of Branxton was fought in the county of Northumberland in northern England on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey...
on 9 September. The victory brought Surrey popular renown and royal rewards. On 1 February 1514 he was created Duke of Norfolk, and his son Thomas
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
was made Earl of Surrey. Both were granted lands and annuities, and the Howard arms were augmented in honour of Flodden.
Norfolk's leading position among the nobility was reflected in the Duchess's role at court. She was godmother to Princess Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, and attended the Princess during a visit to France in 1520.
By the spring of 1522 Norfolk was almost 80 years of age and in failing health. He retired to his ducal castle at Framlingham
Framlingham
Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District of Suffolk, England. Commonly referred to as "Fram" by the locals, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a population of 3,114 at the 2001 census...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
where he died on 21 May 1524. His funeral and burial on 22 June at Thetford Priory
Thetford Priory
Thetford Priory is a Cluniac Priory located at Thetford, Norfolk, England.One of the most important East Anglian monasteries, it was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk and dedicated to Our Lady....
were said to have been 'spectacular and enormously expensive', befitting the richest and most powerful peer in England.
Dowager Duchess
The Dowager Duchess remained in favour after her husband's death. Ordinances issued at ElthamEltham Palace
Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham, within the London Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is an unoccupied royal residence and owned by the Crown Estate. In 1995 its management was handed over to English Heritage which restored the building in 1999 and opened it to the public...
in 1526 indicate that she was accorded first place in the Queen's household after the King's sister Mary Tudor.
On 23 May 1533 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
declared Henry VIII's marriage to his first Queen, Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
, a nullity. On or about 25 January 1533 the King had already married the Dowager Duchess's step-granddaughter Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
in a secret ceremony. Anne was crowned Queen on 1 June 1533. The Dowager Duchess bore Anne's train in the coronation procession, and was godmother at the christening of Anne's daughter, Princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. Anne's two subsequent miscarriages caused the King misgivings about the marriage, but Anne's downfall ultimately came about as a result of her conflict with the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, over the distribution of the spoils from the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
. Anne was charged with adultery and high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, and on 19 May 1536 was beheaded at Tower Green
Tower Green
Tower Green is a space within the Tower of London where two English Queens consort and five other British nobles were executed by beheading. The Tower Green is located on a space south of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula...
.
The King then took Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
as his third wife. Two years after her death, at Cromwell's instigation the King wed Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
on 6 January 1540. However the King's physical revulsion for his new bride led to a speedy annulment of the marriage by Act of Parliament on 12 July 1540. By then the 15-year-old Katherine Howard, another of the Dowager Duchess's step-granddaughters, had already caught the King's eye. Henry and Katherine were married at a private ceremony at Oatlands
Oatlands Palace
Oatlands Palace is a former Tudor and Stuart royal palace located between Weybridge and Walton on Thames in Surrey, England. The surrounding modern district of Oatlands takes its name from the palace...
on 28 July 1540. Despite the fact that Henry was much in love with her, referring to her as his "rose without a thorn", the marriage quickly came to a disastrous end. While the King and Queen were on progress during the fall of 1541, the religious reformer John Lassells
John Lascelles
John Lassells was a sixteenth century courtier and Protestant martyr. His report to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer initiated the investigation which led to the execution of Queen Katherine Howard.-Life:...
and his sister Mary Hall
Mary Lascelles
Mary Hall was an English gentlewoman whose report of the 'light' behaviour in her youth of Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Katherine Howard initiated the process which ended with Queen Katherine's execution.-Life:...
brought to the attention of Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Queen's sexual indiscretions with her music master, Henry Manox, and a Howard kinsman, Francis Dereham
Francis Dereham
Francis Dereham was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Catherine Howard, in her youth was a principal cause of the Queen's execution.-Life:...
, while she had been a young girl living in the Dowager Duchess's household at Lambeth. On 1 November 1541 Cranmer revealed these matters in a letter to the King. The King immediately ordered that the Queen be confined to her apartments, and never saw her again. The Dowager Duchess, hearing reports of what had happened while Katherine had been under her lax guardianship, reasoned that 'If there be none offence sithence the marriage, she cannot die for that was done before'. Unfortunately for the Queen and the Dowager Duchess, further investigations by Cranmer and the Council revealed that with the connivance of one of her attendants, Lady Rochford
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford was an English noblewoman who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. She was a sister-in-law of Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to his fifth wife Catherine Howard, with whom she was executed.-Early life:Born Jane Parker, she was the daughter of...
, Katherine had allegedly had an affair with Thomas Culpeper
Thomas Culpeper
Sir Thomas Culpeper was a courtier of Henry VIII and the lover of Henry's fifth queen, Catherine Howard. He was born to Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury, to the south of Maidstone in Kent, and his second wife, Constance Harper. He was the middle child and his older brother, also named Thomas, was a...
, one of the King's favourite gentlemen of the privy chamber, after her marriage to the King.
Dereham, Manox and other members of the Dowager Duchess's household were arrested and interrogated by the Council. Norfolk was sent to search the Dowager Duchess's house at Lambeth and question members of the household, who revealed that the Duchess had attempted to destroy evidence by burning the papers of Dereham and his friend William Damport. The Duchess was sent to the Tower. Towards the end of November she was questioned by the Council, but could add little to what was already known by her interrogators. On 1 December Dereham and Culpeper were arraigned on charges of treason. Both were convicted at trial, and sentenced to death. Dereham and his friend William Damport were tortured in an attempt to wring confessions from them concerning Queen Katherine's alleged adultery, and on 10 December 1541 Dereham and Culpeper were executed at Tyburn
Tyburn
Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...
. On the same day the Dowager Duchess was again questioned, and admitted to having promoted her niece as a prospective bride for the King while having knowledge of her prior misconduct, to having persuaded the Queen to take Dereham into her service, and to having burned Dereham's letters. By mid-December the Dowager Duchess's eldest son, William Howard
William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham
William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham , was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tilney...
, his wife, and the Duchess's daughter Anne Howard
Anne Howard
Anne Howard may refer to:*Anne Howard *Ann Howard , Australian author and journalist*Anne Marie Howard , b...
were committed to the Tower. About the same time another of the Duchess's daughters, Katherine Daubeney, Lady Bridgewater was also arrested. On 14 December 1541 the Duchess' stepson, the Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
, fearful for his own safety, denounced his stepmother and kin in a letter to the King. On 22 December William Howard and his wife and a number of servants who had been witnesses to the Queen's misconduct, including Malyn Tilney, the mother of Edmund Tilney, Queen Elizabeth's future Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, were arraigned for misprision of treason
Misprision of treason
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority...
'for concealing the evil demeanour of the Queen, to the slander of the King and his succession'. All were sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods, although most were pardoned after Queen Katherine's execution. The Dowager Duchess, although included in the indictment, was not brought to trial as she was 'old and testy', and 'may die out of perversity to defraud the King's Highness of the confiscation of her goods', but like the others she was sentenced to imprisonment and forfeiture of lands and goods. On 6 February 1542 a bill of attainder
Bill of attainder
A bill of attainder is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a judicial trial.-English law:...
against Queen Katherine and Lady Rochford
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford was an English noblewoman who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. She was a sister-in-law of Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to his fifth wife Catherine Howard, with whom she was executed.-Early life:Born Jane Parker, she was the daughter of...
received final reading, and on 13 February 1542 the Queen and Lady Rochford were beheaded on Tower Green
Tower Green
Tower Green is a space within the Tower of London where two English Queens consort and five other British nobles were executed by beheading. The Tower Green is located on a space south of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula...
. The King was of the view that there was as much reason to convict the Dowager Duchess of treason as there had been to convict Dereham. However the Council urged leniency, and she was eventually released from the Tower on 5 May 1542. Her stepson, the Duke of Norfolk, escaped punishment, but was never fully trusted again by the King.
Death
The Dowager Duchess died in May 1545, and was buried at Thetford PrioryThetford Priory
Thetford Priory is a Cluniac Priory located at Thetford, Norfolk, England.One of the most important East Anglian monasteries, it was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk and dedicated to Our Lady....
on the 31st of that month. On 31 October, as directed in her will, she was re-interred at Lambeth Church in Surrey.
The Dowager Duchess's brother, Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), was the paternal grandfather of Edmund Tilney (1535/6–1610), Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
to Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
.
Issue
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- William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of EffinghamWilliam Howard, 1st Baron Howard of EffinghamWilliam Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham , was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tilney...
- Lord Thomas HowardLord Thomas HowardLord Thomas Howard , courtier, was a younger son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his second marriage to Agnes Tilney. He is chiefly known for his affair with Lady Margaret Douglas , the daughter of Henry VIII's sister, Margaret Tudor, for which he was imprisoned in the Tower, where he died...
(1511–1537) - Richard Howard (d.1517)
- Dorothy Howard, married Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of DerbyEdward Stanley, 3rd Earl of DerbyEdward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby was an English nobleman.At the age of thirteen, Edward received the titles and estates of his father, the 2nd Earl of Derby, and King Henry VIII took responsibility for bringing him up until he was of age...
- Anne Howard, married John de Vere, 14th Earl of OxfordJohn de Vere, 14th Earl of OxfordJohn de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford was the second but only surviving son of Sir George Vere and Margaret, the daughter and heir of Sir William Stafford of Bishop's Frome in Hereford. Custody of his person was granted on 29 May 1514 to Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk...
- Katherine Howard (d.1554), married firstly Rhys ap Griffith, and secondly Henry Daubeney, 1st Earl of BridgewaterHenry Daubney, 1st Earl of BridgewaterHenry Daubeney, 1st Earl of Bridgewater was an English peer and member of the House of Lords.He was the son of Sir Giles Daubeney and Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne...
(d.1548). - Elizabeth Howard (d. 1536), married Henry Radcliffe, 2nd Earl of SussexHenry Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of SussexHenry Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Sussex was a son of Robert Radclyffe, 1st Earl of Sussex and his wife Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex....
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- William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham