John Howard died at the Battle of Bosworth Field on the 22nd of August 1485, fighting to the death for the House of York while the Tudor dynasty rose from the ashes of his defeat. This was the moment the Howard family name was forged in blood and tragedy, as the eldest grandson of the first Duke of Norfolk was created Duke of Norfolk by King Richard III just two years prior. The Howards would go on to become the Premier Dukes of England, yet their history is defined by a relentless cycle of execution, imprisonment, and restoration that spanned four centuries. They were not merely nobles who served kings; they were the family that stood between the English throne and the Catholic Church during the Reformation, paying the ultimate price for their beliefs. Two members of the family, Philip Howard and William Howard, are now recognized as martyrs, one a saint and the other a blessed, cementing their legacy in the annals of religious persecution. The family's survival through the Tudor and Stuart eras required a unique blend of political cunning and unyielding religious conviction that set them apart from all other English aristocracy.
Origins In The North
The family's true roots lie not in the grand castles of the south but in the rugged landscapes of Lancashire, where a man named Peter de Howard held lands that would eventually become the foundation of their power. Sir William Howard, born in 1237, was the progenitor of the noble line, a man who left his home in Great Howarth Hall to settle in East Winch and Wiggenhall in Norfolk. He became a Justice of the Common Pleas and was summoned to the Model Parliament of 1295, establishing the family's presence in the highest councils of the realm. His son, Sir John Howard I, married Joan de Cornwall, an illegitimate granddaughter of King John, which linked the Howards to the royal bloodline of the Plantagenets. This connection to the royal family was not merely symbolic; it provided the political capital necessary for John Howard to rise from a local landowner to the Duke of Norfolk. The family's claim to descent from Hereward the Wake, the legendary resister of the Norman Conquest, was a later fabrication designed to bolster their prestige, but their actual lineage from the Howarth family of Rochdale was documented in a pedigree signed by Sir William Dugdale in 1665. This document traced their ancestry back through Osbert Howard de Howard, who had been granted lands in return for his service as Master of King Henry I's Buckhounds, proving that the family's power was built on centuries of loyal service to the crown.The Queen's Cousins
The Howard family produced two wives for Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, making them the only family to have two queens consort from the same lineage. Anne Boleyn was the granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, while Catherine Howard was his great-niece, creating a dynastic web that tied the family to the most volatile period of English history. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, played a pivotal role in Henrician politics, yet his own son, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was executed for treason in 1547, accused of plotting to usurp the crown from Henry VIII's son. The family's connection to the throne was both a blessing and a curse, as their proximity to power made them targets for the king's paranoia. Catherine Howard's execution in 1542 was a personal tragedy for the family, but it was the beginning of a long period of recusancy that would define their identity for generations. The Howards were not just relatives of the monarch; they were the family that the monarch could not afford to ignore, yet could not fully trust. Their ability to navigate the treacherous waters of Tudor politics while maintaining their Catholic faith was a testament to their resilience and strategic acumen.