Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

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Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (10 March, 1536 — 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman, also the 1st Earl of Southampton.

Howard 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 Howard's patronage. His father predeceased him and so Thomas inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554.

Norfolk was related to Queen Elizabeth I of England through her mother's family and was trusted with public office despite his family's history and, although he claimed to be a Protestant, his prior support for the Catholic cause.

Marriages and Plots

First wife

Thomas Howard's 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 later became 20th Earl of Arundel. It is from this marriage that the present Duke of Norfolk takes his name of 'FitzAlan-Howard' and why his seat is in Arundel. Though her funeral effigy is there, Mary FitzAlan was never buried at Framlingham, but at the church of St. Clement Without, Temple Bar and then (under the direction of her grandson's will) at Arundel.

Second wife

Thomas next married another heiress, Margaret daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden. She also died young.

Margaret's children by her marriage to Norfolk were two boys and two girls. Both Mary and Margaret have their tomb effigies at St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham.

Third wife

After Margaret's death, Thomas married Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gillesland.

Norfolk made remarkable marriage plans whereby Elizabeth's three daughters by Dacre became the wives of the sons of his own first two marriages. In other words:

Anne Dacre married Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
Mary Dacre married Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Elizabeth Dacre married William Howard. They were ancestors of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle.

Attempted fourth marriage, plots and death

Elizabeth I imprisoned Norfolk in 1569 for scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.

Following his release, he perhaps (the strength of the evidence for his participation in the Ridolfi plot is doubted by some) participated in the Ridolfi plot with King Philip II of Spain to put Mary on the English throne and restore Catholicism in England and was executed for treason in 1572. He is buried at St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

Norfolk's lands and titles were forfeited, although much of the estate was restored to his sons. The title of Duke of Norfolk was restored, four generations later, to Thomas Howard.

In film

A very fictionalized version of the 4th Duke of Norfolk appears as a villain, played by Christopher Eccleston, in the film Elizabeth. Another version of the Duke is in the BBC mini-series The Virgin Queen, played by Kevin McKidd.

In fiction

Thomas Howard appears as a character in the Philippa Gregory novel The Virgin's Lover. He was also portrayed by Christopher Eccleston in the 1998 film Elizabeth