Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk

Agnes Howard (née Tilney; c. 1477 – 1545) was the second wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and the step-grandmother of Anne Boleyn, second wife and queen consort, and step-grandmother of Catherine Howard, fifth wife and queen consort, of Henry VIII of England. Agnes was thus also step-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Early life and husband's rise to power

Agnes was born into the lower gentry. Her father was Hugh Tilney of Lincolnshire. Her mother came from an important Lincolnshire family through her father, Walter Tailboys. Her brother, Philip, was in the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who was married to Agnes' cousin Elizabeth Tilney.

Elizabeth and her husband had arranged marriages of her children into the most important families in England, creating family ties that may have helped the family in a times of need. However, Elizabeth died in 1497, leaving Surrey free to marry. He and Agnes were married four months later. Such a marriage was unusual; Surrey had undertaken a marriage that brought very little dowry. However, it was successful, bringing several children, including the future Lord High Admiral William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham.

The marriage also came at the time of Surrey's political fortune. In 1499, Henry VII summoned him to court, and then to accompany him to France in 1500. In 1501, he was sworn in to the Privy Council and named Lord Treasurer. In 1502, he entered diplomatic negotiations with Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile for a marriage between the Spanish infanta, Catherine of Aragon, with Henry's eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales. These proved successful; Arthur and Catherine were married, but came to an early end upon Arthur's death six months later, and Surrey played a prominent role in the funeral. In 1503, he escorted the King's daughter Margaret Tudor to Scotland, to be married to James IV, and forged good relations with the monarch, despite their earlier differences. In 1506, Surrey's mother, the dowager duchess of Norfolk, died, leaving him with large areas of land in East Anglia.

Life as Duchess of Norfolk

In 1509, Henry VII died and was succeeded by his son, Henry VIII. Agnes' greatest fortune was the defeat of the Scots by her husband at Flodden Field in 1513. Henry had left for Calais, and was invaded by James IV. Surrey and his two eldest sons led an army of smaller size to the north, where James was killed on the field. Henry VIII rewarded Surrey by resurrecting the title of Duke of Norfolk in 1514; Surrey's father, John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, had fought for Richard III during the Wars of the Roses and therefore had forfeited the right for his title to pass to the next generation when he died in 1485.

Agnes enjoyed the role as leading hostess in high society, and her role at court reflected her husband's success. She was godmother to Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Princess Mary, and was trusted enough for Wolsey to accept her recipes for medicines after he had succumbed to sweating sickness. She was soon first lady of the Queen's household after the King's sister, Mary.

In 1527, the King began to look for ways to get an annulment of his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, on the grounds of his failure to produce a male heir. Although initially disapproving of the plan, Agnes, now three years widowed, found strength in the fact that the new queen was a family relative -- Anne Boleyn. Anne was the daughter of Agnes' stepdaughter, [Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire|Elizabeth Boleyn ["née" Howard] , Countess of Wiltshire] , daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk by his first marriage. Agnes bore the train at Anne's coronation, and held Anne's infant daughter with the king -- the future Queen Elizabeth I -- at her baptism. Anne's own downfall due to her own failure to produce a male heir tarnished the reputation of the Howard family; Agnes' stepson, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, retired temporarily to his country estates.

Rise and fall of a queen

In 1540, Henry undertook a fourth marriage to a daughter of a poor, German protestant duke, Anne of Cleves. Among the ladies in waiting appointed to attend the new queen was Catherine Howard, the daughter of one of Agnes' younger stepsons. Henry was already disappointed with the appearance of his new wife, calling her a "Flanders Mare", and had taken an early shine to Catherine. Henry soon began to seek an annulment from Anne on the grounds of non-consummation. However, Anne's lawyers had made it difficult to achieve this easily, and the annulment was only realised by Anne's willingness to accept an annulment and become the King's honorary sister, retiring to her estates at Hever Castle, the former Boleyn family home, and Richmond Palace. This left Henry free to marry, and after a short courtship, Catherine accepted Henry's proposal under the advice of Agnes and her stepson the Duke of Norfolk. Henry affectionately referred to her as a "rose without a thorn".

The marriage was not entirely non-political on Norfolk's part. The court, still mostly Catholic, wanted to put an end to the Protestant heresy that plagued Henry's court in the form of Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Earl of Hertford. They had succeeded in bringing down Thomas Cromwell after he was blamed for Henry's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, but the Catholics wanted an end to all the Protestant advisers. On the other hand, the Protestants Cranmer and Hertford were looking for ways to end such a dangerous marriage, as it was clear that Catherine would be influenced by Norfolk, the dowager Duchess and the other Catholics, such as Stephen Gardiner. Cranmer feared that Henry would have allowed himself to be politically influenced by Catherine, as it was clear that he was infatuated with her. The Catholics had scored the highest point so far in the war of court religion.

Soon after Catherine's marriage, however, her past life came to the dowager Duchess' attention. Agnes ran lavish households at Lambeth and Horsham, and although she never neglected her relations who lived with her, she was much preoccupied with the running of the household, and had little time to notice the sexual indiscretions that went on behind her back. One of the men who had sexual relations with Catherine was Francis Dereham. It is possible that Agnes herself had him promoted to the position of secretary, as a way to keep him quiet about the past. Agnes raided his coffers and destroyed any incriminating evidence. However, a the sister of a former attendant on the dowager duchess, Mary Lascelles, brought the new queen's past to the attention of Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Catherine was not helped by the fact that she had a lover while married to the King -- Thomas Culpepper, one of the King's most trusted servants. When this came to light, and the queen confessed, her queenship was over. Henry ordered that she be sentenced to death by Act of Attainder, allowing his seal to be fixed "in absentia", and she was executed in February, 1542, at the Tower of London.

Later life

Another Howard marriage to the King had ended in disaster and scandal. Agnes herself was arrested and taken to the Tower of London, along with other Howard family members, as well as the queen's household. The Tower of London was said to be full with prisoners, and that some had to be lodged in the royal apartments. Eventually, the dowager duchess was released in 1543, but her stepson, the Duke, was never returned to favour. He was imprisoned in 1546, after his son, the Earl of Surrey, displayed the royal crest on his coat of arms, hinting royal ambitions. Surrey was executed, but Norfolk was saved by Henry's death before his death warrant could be signed.

Agnes Tilney, dowager duchess of Norfolk, died in May 1545, and on the 31st was buried at Thetford Priory. In November, in accordance with her own wishes, her remains were re-interred at Lambeth.

Issue

Children by her husband, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.
*William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham
*Lord Thomas Howard (1511-1537).
*Elizabeth Howard (d. 1536). Married Henry Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Sussex and was mother of Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex.
*Catherine Howard (d. 1554). Married Henry Daubney, 1st Earl of Bridgewater.
*Dorothy Howard. Married Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby.
*George Howard.
*Agnes Howard.
*Anne Howard. Married John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford.

ee also

*Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
*Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
*Catherine Howard
*Francis Dereham
*Thomas Culpepper