Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Encyclopedia
Henry Howard, KG
, (1516/1517 – 19 January 1547), known as The Earl of Surrey although he never was a peer, was an English
aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance
poetry.
, and his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Stafford
(daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham
), so he was descended from kings on both sides of his family tree. He was reared at Windsor
with Henry VIII
's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy
Duke of Richmond, and they became close friends and, later, brothers-in-law. He became Earl of Surrey
in 1524 when his grandfather died and his father became Duke of Norfolk
.
In 1532 he accompanied his first cousin Anne Boleyn
, the King, and the Duke of Richmond to France, staying there for more than a year as a member of the entourage of Francis I of France
. In 1536 his first son, Thomas
(later 4th Duke of Norfolk), was born, Anne Boleyn
was executed on charges of adultery
and treason, and Henry Fitzroy
died at the age of 17 and was buried at one of the Howard homes, Thetford Abbey. That was also the year Henry — who took after his father and grandfather in military prowess — served with his father against the Pilgrimage of Grace
rebellion protesting the dissolution of the monasteries
.
were the first English poets to write in the sonnet
form that Shakespeare
later used, and Henry was the first English poet to publish blank verse
in his translation of the second and fourth books of Virgil
's Aeneid
. Together, Wyatt and Surrey, due to their excellent translations of Petrarch
's sonnets, are known as "Fathers of the English Sonnet." While Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Surrey who gave them the rhyming meter and the division into quatrains that now characterizes the sonnets variously named English, Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnets.
, who, consumed by paranoia
, was convinced that Henry Howard had planned to usurp the crown from his son Edward
. He was sentenced to death on 13 January 1547, and beheaded for treason
on 19 January 1547 (his father was saved from execution only by it being set for the day after the king happened to die). His son Thomas
became heir to the Dukedom of Norfolk instead, inheriting it on the 3rd Duke's death in 1554.
He is buried in a spectacular painted alabaster tomb at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham
.
He married Lady Frances de Vere, the daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
and Elizabeth Trussell, Countess of Oxford. They had five children:
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
, (1516/1517 – 19 January 1547), known as The Earl of Surrey although he never was a peer, was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
poetry.
Life
He was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas 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...
, and his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Stafford
Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Elizabeth Howard was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and the wife of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk...
(daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham
Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham
Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, KG was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and the former Lady Catherine Woodville, daughter of the 1st Earl Rivers and sister-in-law of King Edward IV.-Early life:Stafford was born at Brecknock Castle in Wales...
), so he was descended from kings on both sides of his family tree. He was reared at Windsor
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
with 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...
's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...
Duke of Richmond, and they became close friends and, later, brothers-in-law. He became Earl of Surrey
Earl of Surrey
The Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England, and has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror...
in 1524 when his grandfather died and his father became Duke of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
.
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...
, the King, and the Duke of Richmond to France, staying there for more than a year as a member of the entourage of Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. In 1536 his first son, Thomas
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
(later 4th Duke of Norfolk), was born, 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...
was executed on charges of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
and treason, and Henry Fitzroy
Henry Fitzroy
Henry Fitzroy may refer to:*Henry FitzRoy , illegitimate son of Henry I of England*Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the only illegitimate child acknowledged by Henry VIII...
died at the age of 17 and was buried at one of the Howard homes, Thetford Abbey. That was also the year Henry — who took after his father and grandfather in military prowess — served with his father against the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
rebellion protesting 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...
.
Literary activity and legacy
He and his friend Sir Thomas WyattThomas Wyatt (poet)
Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
were the first English poets to write in the sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
form that Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
later used, and Henry was the first English poet to publish blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
in his translation of the second and fourth books of Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
's Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
. Together, Wyatt and Surrey, due to their excellent translations of Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
's sonnets, are known as "Fathers of the English Sonnet." While Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Surrey who gave them the rhyming meter and the division into quatrains that now characterizes the sonnets variously named English, Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnets.
Death and burial
He was imprisoned with his father by Henry VIIIHenry 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...
, who, consumed by paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, was convinced that Henry Howard had planned to usurp the crown from his son Edward
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
. He was sentenced to death on 13 January 1547, and beheaded for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
on 19 January 1547 (his father was saved from execution only by it being set for the day after the king happened to die). His son Thomas
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
became heir to the Dukedom of Norfolk instead, inheriting it on the 3rd Duke's death in 1554.
He is buried in a spectacular painted alabaster tomb at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham
St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham
St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk, known affectionately as St Mike's, is a Church of England church dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel. It was the burial site of the House of Howard. The church was declared a Grade I listed building in 1966.-History:The Church of Saint Michael...
.
Marriage and issue
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford was an English peer and courtier.-Biography:John de Vere was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington , and the great-grandson of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, succeeding his second cousin, John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford.Oxford was Esquire of the...
and Elizabeth Trussell, Countess of Oxford. They had five children:
- Jane HowardJane HowardJane Neville , Countess of Westmorland , daughter of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Frances de Vere....
- Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 4th Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
(10 March 1536 – 2 June 1572) married (1) Mary FitzAlan (2) Margaret Audley (3) Elizabeth Leyburne - Margaret Howard, married Henry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of BoltonHenry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of BoltonSir Henry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton, KG was the son and heir of John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton and Catherine Clifford, daughter of Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland....
- Henry Howard, 1st Earl of NorthamptonHenry Howard, 1st Earl of NorthamptonHenry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton was a significant English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspect as a crypto-Catholic throughout his life, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputation suffered greatly. He was distinguished for learning, artistic culture and his...
- Catherine Howard, married Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, by whom she had issue.
Further reading
- House of Treason: the Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty by Robert HutchinsonRobert Hutchinson (historian)Robert Hutchinson OBE is a British historian from Arundel. He specializes in the history of the Reformation, especially church archeology, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries...
, 2009 - A Tudor Tragedy: Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk by Neville Williams, 1989
- The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: Life of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk by David M. Head, 1995
- Henry VIII's Last Victim: The Life and Times... by Jessie Childs, 2008
- Selected Poems (Fyfield Books) by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Dennis Keene
- The Poems of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: Edited with a Memoir by James YeowellJames Yeowell-Life:Yeowell was born about 1803 in London. He is said to have been employed in early life under the vestry of Shoreditch, and to have worked at indexing and related work for booksellers. Soon after the establishment by William John Thoms of Notes and Queries, Yeowell became sub-editor, and he...
External links
- biography, and poems
- "Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover Being upon the Sea" set to music From the 1990 concept album “Tyger and Other Tales”