The Howard Family: Power, Queens & Treason in Tudor England

The Howard family was one of the most powerful and enduring dynasties in English history, rising from Norfolk gentry to become dukes, queens, poets, and statesmen at the heart of Tudor politics. Their story mirrors the rise and fall of the Tudor dynasty itself—from loyal service at Bosworth in 1485 to dominance under Henry VIII and survival through Elizabeth I’s reign. The Howards produced two queens of England, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, and some of the most influential figures of their age. Yet their proximity to the throne brought both glory and ruin, as generations of Howards faced imprisonment, execution, and political exile before reclaiming their place among England’s highest nobility.

Transcript of The Howard Family: Power, Queens & Treason in Tudor England:

If you had to pick one family that perfectly illustrates both the rewards and the dangers of being close to the Tudor throne, the Howards would be at the top of that list. They were dukes, generals, poets, queens, and they were also prisoners, traitors, and victims of the executioner’s axe. They reached dazzling heights of influence only to fall into disgrace again and again.

Yet somehow, generation after generation, they clawed their way back into royal favor. The Howard story runs straight alongside the Tudor dynasty itself. When the Tudors rose at Bosworth in 1485, the Howards were there, and when the dynasty ended in 1603, the Howards were still at court. Their family produced two queens of England, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, nieces of the formidable Duke of Norfolk.

Another Howard, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was one of the most brilliant poets of the age. Yet nearly all of them faced imprisonment in the Tower of London, and several were executed on charges of treason. In this episode, we are going to trace the Howard family through the Tudor period, their early rehabilitation under Henry VII, their military glory under Henry VIII, the dangerous marriages and alliances that led them to the scaffold, and their survival against all odds into the reign of Elizabeth.

I do not know whether you have noticed a pattern going on here the last couple of weeks, but I have been doing this thing where I go through and trace one family through the period, and I realized that I had not yet done the Howards, which seems like a really big omission. I have done the Greys, and I think we did the Percys, and we have done some of the other families, the Nevilles, but we never actually did the Howards, so it is time to remedy that. Let us get into it now.

The Howards rose from an established Norfolk gentry family into the high nobility in the 15th century. The key link was a marriage: Sir Robert Howard wed Margaret Mowbray, the daughter of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk of the earlier Mowbray line. Their son, John Howard, served the Yorkist kings and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard in 1470. He became one of Richard III’s chief supporters.

When the Mowbray male line failed and the child heirs of Mowbray died in 1481, Richard III revived and granted the Dukedom of Norfolk to John Howard in 1483. He was recognizing both his service and his descent through Margaret Mowbray. When he died at Bosworth in 1485, he was holding that recreated title. For his loyalty to the fallen king, John Howard paid the ultimate price and his title was forfeited, but the Howards were nothing if not survivors.

John’s son, Thomas Howard, had also fought for Richard at Bosworth and was captured. He spent several years as a prisoner, but unlike other Yorkist loyalists, he managed to make his peace with the new Tudor king. Henry VII was cautious but pragmatic. He recognized that Thomas Howard came from a powerful noble family with long service to the crown. In 1489, Henry released him from the Tower and gradually restored him to favor. By 1489, Thomas had proved his loyalty enough that Henry made him the Earl of Surrey. He was trusted to help put down the Yorkshire Rebellion that same year, showing his military value to the new regime. Over the next two decades, he steadily rebuilt the Howard family’s position at court.

The full Dukedom of Norfolk was not immediately restored, but the Howards’ careful loyalty under Henry VII laid the foundation for their resurgence. When Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509, Thomas Howard was an experienced statesman and soldier, ready to take advantage of the new king’s thirst for war and glory. The Howard name, tainted by its loyalty to Richard in 1485, was now rehabilitated. From that point forward, the Howards were back in the thick of English politics, and their story under the Tudors truly begins.

When Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, was already in his sixties. He had spent decades proving his loyalty to the Tudors after Bosworth, and Henry rewarded that loyalty. In 1514, Howard was restored to the full Dukedom of Norfolk, regaining the title that his father had lost when he fell with Richard.

But the real moment that secured his family’s prestige came the year before, in 1513, at the Battle of Flodden. Flodden was one of the greatest military victories of Henry VIII’s reign, even though the king himself was not there. While Henry was campaigning in France, James IV of Scotland invaded Northern England with a large army. The defense of the realm fell to Thomas Howard, who was still technically only the Earl of Surrey at this point. He had been appointed Lieutenant General of the North.

On the 9th of September, 1513, the English and Scottish armies met near Branxton, Northumberland. The terrain was muddy and difficult, but Howard used his experience to draw the Scots into a disadvantageous position. The English billmen and archers eventually overwhelmed the Scottish pikemen, and the battle ended in a catastrophic defeat for Scotland. King James IV himself was killed on the battlefield, the last reigning monarch of the British Isles to die in combat.

For the Howards, the victory was transformative. Henry VIII could boast of triumphs in France, but the real glory at home belonged to Thomas Howard. He was hailed as the savior of the realm. His family’s honor was fully restored, and in recognition, Henry made him the Duke of Norfolk in 1514. His son, also named Thomas, was created the Earl of Surrey, beginning a long pattern of Howards recycling the same names over and over again.

The Howards had gone from traitors in 1485 to national heroes in less than 30 years. From this moment, they were among the most powerful families in England, and the next generation, led by the third Duke of Norfolk, would dominate Henry VIII’s court. When the second Duke of Norfolk died in 1524, his son became the third Duke of Norfolk.

The Third Duke of Norfolk’s Ambitions

Thomas Howard, the 3^rd duke was very different from his father. Where the old Duke had been a seasoned soldier and a steady loyalist, the younger Norfolk was an ambitious court politician and one of the most formidable figures of Henry’s reign. The third Duke quickly established himself as a leading counselor. He was shrewd, pragmatic, and not above ruthlessness when it suited him. His position was strengthened by his family connections.

His sister, Elizabeth Howard, had married Thomas Boleyn, and their daughter, Anne Boleyn, would become the king’s second wife. Norfolk’s other niece, Katherine Howard, would later become Henry’s fifth queen. Few families could claim so many direct links to the royal bedchamber.

During the 1520s and 1530s, Norfolk became one of Henry’s chief military commanders and statesmen. He led campaigns in France. He negotiated with European powers. And he opposed Cardinal Wolsey, whose fall in 1529 created the space for Norfolk to expand his own influence. With Wolsey gone, Norfolk rose higher still, eventually becoming Lord Treasurer and consolidating both his wealth and political clout.

But he was not simply the king’s yes-man. Norfolk often represented the conservative Catholic faction at court, resisting the evangelical reforms promoted by men like Thomas Cromwell and Edward Seymour. He opposed some of Cromwell’s religious policies and resented the rise of new men of low birth who threatened the old nobility’s dominance.

Norfolk’s influence reached its peak during the years of Anne Boleyn’s queenship. As her uncle, he was positioned at the very heart of Henry’s household. Yet when Anne fell in 1536, Norfolk presided over her trial, a reminder that his loyalty was always first to his family’s survival and his own status, not to any individual.

Even after Anne’s execution, Norfolk remained indispensable. He helped to orchestrate Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves and then played a role in the downfall of Cromwell in 1540. The execution of Cromwell was one of Norfolk’s greatest victories, although it also marked the beginning of the family’s undoing.

His niece Katherine Howard briefly replaced Anne of Cleves as queen, but her scandalous downfall in 1542 nearly dragged the entire Howard family with her. By the 1540s, the Howards were at the height of their power but also dangerously close to destruction.

Howard Women and Their Influence

If the third Duke of Norfolk was the architect of Howard power, it was the Howard women who became the family’s most visible symbols at Henry’s court. Through them, the Howards tied themselves directly to the king’s bed and, for brief moments, to the throne itself. But those connections, of course, proved as deadly as they were dazzling.

The most famous Howard woman was Anne Boleyn. Through her mother, Elizabeth Howard, Anne was a niece to the third Duke of Norfolk. When Anne attracted Henry VIII’s attention in the late 1520s, Norfolk backed her rise. The family stood to gain enormously from a Howard queen, and for a time they did. But Anne’s failure to produce a male heir, combined with Henry’s shifting affections, led to her downfall.

Norfolk himself presided over her trial in 1536, which I can imagine strained his relationship with Anne’s mother. Christmas dinners would have been very awkward after that. Only a few years later, another Howard niece entered the king’s bed, Katherine Howard, the daughter of Norfolk’s younger brother Edmund, who was placed at court in her teens. In 1540, she caught Henry’s eye and, despite her youth, became his fifth wife. For the Howards, this was another triumph, and another disaster.

When Katherine’s past relationships came to light and she was accused of adultery during her marriage, the scandal brought the family to the edge of ruin. Katherine was executed in 1542, and the Howards once again faced the royal anger.

Not all Howard women met such grim fates. Mary Howard, the daughter of the third duke, married Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond. Widowed at just fifteen, she refused later offers of remarriage, a decision partly influenced by politics and partly by her own will. Mary carved out a role as a literary patron associated with her brother, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the greatest poets of the Tudor period. Unlike her cousins Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, Mary avoided the king’s suspicion and outlived Henry VIII himself.

The Fall of the Howards

By the mid-1540s, the Howards had been through two queens, political triumphs, and countless near misses. But their luck finally ran out. In the last years of Henry VIII’s reign, the storm broke around Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the eldest son of the third duke. Surrey was one of the most dazzling figures at court. He was brave in battle, cultured, and a gifted poet whose works would influence English literature for centuries. But he was also reckless, proud, and dangerously outspoken.

Surrey mocked the new men like Edward Seymour and Thomas Cranmer, whose evangelical leanings clashed with his own conservative outlook. His arrogance, combined with the Howard name, made him a target for rivals eager to cut the family down to size.

In late 1546, Surrey was accused of treason. The charges were thin. He had incorporated the royal arms of Edward the Confessor into his own coat of arms, which was twisted into a claim that he aspired to the throne. More damning was his Howard blood, which made him a potential figurehead for conservative opposition if Henry VIII died and a boy king succeeded. Surrey was tried and executed in January 1547. He was only thirty years old.

Now his father, the third duke, was arrested soon after. Norfolk had spent decades maneuvering, surviving, and playing factions against one another. But this time he could not escape. He was condemned to death and scheduled for execution on the 29th of January 1547. Only Henry VIII’s own death the night before saved him. Literally, this man was one of the luckiest people in Tudor England.

He remained in the Tower through the reign of Edward VI. His life was spared, but his power was stripped away. The fall of the Howards at this point was total. From the heights of controlling queens, the household, military command, and the royal council, they had collapsed into disgrace and imprisonment in the Tower. Their enemies, the Seymours above all, stepped into the vacuum, ready to dominate the new King Edward VI.

During Edward’s reign, the Seymours, as uncles to the king, dominated government. Norfolk was imprisoned, and the Howard family kept a low profile. With Protestant reformers steering policy, the conservative Catholic Howard line had little room to maneuver. The duke’s grandchildren, including Surrey’s children, were effectively sidelined. The once-mighty Howards had gone from kingmakers to political outcasts.

Everything changed in 1553 with the accession of Mary. A Catholic queen determined to reverse the religious reforms of her brother’s reign, she needed loyal allies from the old nobility. Norfolk, now in his eighties, was released from the Tower after nearly six years of confinement. He regained his dukedom and his place on the Privy Council, restored as one of Mary’s trusted grandees.

Norfolk supported Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain in 1554, a deeply controversial union that sparked Wyatt’s Rebellion. Though age prevented him from playing an active military role, his presence as a senior noble gave legitimacy to Mary’s policies. His survival was extraordinary. The same man who had presided over Anne’s trial, orchestrated Cromwell’s downfall, and nearly lost his head himself was now back at the heart of power under a Catholic queen.

The Howards Under Elizabeth I

Norfolk died in 1554, but his descendants remained active at court. The Howard name was rehabilitated once more. For a dynasty that had seemed broken beyond repair in 1547, the Howards had once again demonstrated their uncanny ability to survive. When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, the Howards once again found themselves in a powerful but dangerous position. The family had been pillars of Catholic conservatism under Henry VIII and Mary I. But Elizabeth’s settlement established Protestantism as the official religion. For the Howards, survival now meant figuring out how to deal with a queen who was suspicious of their loyalties but unable to ignore their rank and influence.

The central figure was Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, grandson of the third duke. Young, wealthy, and ambitious, Norfolk quickly became the premier nobleman of Elizabeth’s court. But his position was fraught. As the only duke in the realm, he was both indispensable and very dangerous in the queen’s eyes.

In the 1560s, Norfolk became entangled in the great dynastic question of Elizabeth’s reign: the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots. Norfolk flirted with the idea of marrying Mary, a union that could have united two great houses and potentially placed him at the center of English politics. But Elizabeth regarded the match as treasonous.

Norfolk was arrested in 1569 and released, then rearrested when evidence surfaced of his involvement in the Ridolfi Plot, a Catholic conspiracy to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. In 1572, Norfolk was executed for treason, the highest-ranking nobleman to lose his head since the Duke of Buckingham more than fifty years earlier. His death once again decimated the Howard family’s standing, though cadet branches survived through the Earls of Arundel and Suffolk.

Despite Norfolk’s fall, other Howards remained active in Elizabeth’s world. There was Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, who converted to Catholicism and was imprisoned in the Tower, where he eventually died in 1595. He was later canonized as a Catholic martyr. Meanwhile, other relatives distanced themselves from Catholic intrigue, ensuring that the Howard name would live on into the Stuart age.

Elizabeth never fully trusted the Howards, but she never eliminated them entirely. Their combination of ancient lineage, vast estates, and connections across Europe meant that even under suspicion, the Howards could not be erased. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, the family had once again endured.

The family was bruised, reduced, and divided, but not destroyed. As mentioned earlier, the other branch, the Earls of Arundel, inherited the dukedom. Under James I and into the Stuarts, we talked about Philip Howard, who was the Earl of Arundel and Norfolk’s son, and he had already died in the Tower in 1595 for his Catholic faith.

His son, Thomas Howard, who became the 14th Earl of Arundel, was known as the Collector Earl. He was a towering figure in the early Stuart court, building one of the greatest art and antiques collections of the 17th century and helping to shape English taste and scholarship.

During the English Civil War, the Howard family split. Some supported Parliament, while others remained loyal to the Crown. Henry Howard, the sixth duke, carefully shifted allegiances as the conflict wore on, making sure that the family survived the violent upheavals that destroyed so many noble houses. The estates suffered, but their titles lived on, and with the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the Dukedom of Norfolk was formally reinstated to the Howards.

The Howard family remains at the pinnacle of the English peerage. The Dukes of Norfolk are the premier dukes of the realm. They hold the hereditary office of Earl Marshal, responsible for organizing coronations and state funerals. The family seat, Arundel Castle in Sussex, is still one of the great noble houses of England.

More than five centuries after Bosworth, the Howards are still here, a living link to the tumultuous Tudor world. They lived through treason charges, executions, civil war, and religious strife, but they survived, they adapted and held onto their place at the highest ranks of English society.

From Anne and Katherine Howard to the present duke, the family’s history is a thread that runs unbroken from the Wars of the Roses through the Tudors, the Stuarts, and right down to the 21st century. So there we go, my friend, a little bit about the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk, starting as Norfolk gentry and now the premier dukes in England.