movie " Elizabeth " is a historical film directed by Shega Kepoor , written by Michael · Hearst, and starring Cate · Blanchett, Joseph · Fiennes and others. It tells the legendary experience of Elizabeth I from an innocent and innocent girl to an iron-fisted queen with both wisdom and courage. Among them, Christopher · The character played by Eccleston first asked England's Queen Mary to sign a document to deprive Elizabeth of inheritance, and then he wanted to marry England's Queen Mary to seek the throne of England. He was not the positive character in the film. So, what is the real history of this Duke of Norfolk? Actually, it’s what we’re going to tell you below.
The character in the film is Thomas Howard III, the 4th Duke of Norfolk (THOMAS HOWARD III, 1536-1572). As the chief duke of England, Thomas Howard was born on March 10, 1536. His father was Earl of Surrey, and his mother was Frances Will, the daughter of John Ville, Earl of Oxford. After his father was executed in 1547, the Privy Council ordered him to sever his ties with his mother and raised by his aunt, Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, with the possible purpose of giving him a Protestant education. His mentor was John Fox , later known as the Martyr, who lived with his siblings in Castle of Reigate. Fox may have left a deep theological thought in his mind, but he does have a sense of reverence that he never lost and has long regretted being separated from his mentor. In 1553, Queen Mary ascended the throne and released his grandfather from prison, the Duke of Norfolk, who removed Fox from his post and handed his grandson over to Bishop White of Lincoln. On August 3, 1553, his grandfather restored the title of Duke of Norfolk, and Thomas Howard also obtained the ritual title of Count of Surrey and the status of the Duke's legal heir. In September, he was named Knight of the Order of the Order of Bath. He attended Mary's coronation, and when Prince Philip arrived in England he was appointed the first member of the House. After his grandfather's death on August 25, 1554, he succeeded as Duke of Norfolk and served as Earl Marshal.
1556, the Duke of Norfolk married the daughter and heir of the 12th Earl Arundel Henry Ficcharen. On August 25, 1557, she died shortly after giving birth at the age of 16, leaving behind a son, Phillip 2, and inherited her mother's title and became Earl Arundel. The Duke of Norfolk got married for the second time soon, and in 1558 he married Margaret, the daughter of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden County.
Norfolk was too young to participate in any government affairs during Mary's reign, but he was very popular in the court, Prince Philip was the godfather of his son. After Elizabeth I ascended the throne, people with status like the Duke of Norfolk must stand on her side so that her rule can be stable. In April 1559, the Duke of Norfolk was named a member of the Order of the Knights of the Order of the Garter. Elizabeth I called him "her cousin" based on the relationship between the Howards and the Boling family and sent him to expel French troops from Scotland . At first, Norfolk rejected the offer to serve as lieutenant general in the north and expressed his opinion that the Queen would better fight against France by marrying Austria’s Grand Duke Charles rather than interfering in Scottish affairs. But he finally set out for Newcastle in November 1559.
His duty is to strengthen the defense of Berwick County, open up contact with the lords of the church, and help them with the Regent Queen with caution. He was surrounded by experienced ministers, Sir Ralph Sadler and Sir James Croft, and his frequent communication with the Privy Council showed that not much was at his discretion. On February 27, 1560, shortly after the siege of Leth began, he signed an agreement in Berwick with the representatives of the "second man of the Kingdom of Scotland" Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatelherault James Hamilton.The Duke of Norfolk did not participate in any military operations, but remained the captain of the reserve and was responsible for organizing the supply. Later, Cecil was sent to resolve the problem through diplomatic means, and the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed in August, and the Duke of Norfolk was freed from this unwilling task.
The Duke of Norfolk strives to become a powerful courtier in other ways. He lived in London and shortly after he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council, he became a member of the Grey Court Bar Association in December 1561. In August 1564, he participated in the Queen's visit to Cambridge University and obtained a Master of Arts degree. His father-in-law, Lord Audley, donated a large sum of money to the completion of the University of Cambridge Magdalen College, and he was also moved by the unfinished college. Norfolk was not satisfied with dancing only in front of the queen, and his self-esteem was also hurt due to the favoredness of Leicester, who considered Leicester a arrogant nouveau riche who hated Leicester's deception of Elizabeth I. In March 1565, two nobles had an indecent quarrel in front of the queen. The queen ordered them to reconcile, and the two sides reached a reconciliation. In January 1566, these two opponents were selected by the French king as the best among the British aristocrats, and both received the Order of Saint-Michel.
In December 1563, the Duke of Norfolk became a widower again. In early 1567, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Lebourne of Canswick Hall, Cumberland, widow of Thomas, Lord Dacredley of Gillesland. In September 1567, Elizabeth died, leaving behind one son and three daughters of her first husband. Norfolk obtained custody of these minor children and decided to incorporate the huge property of the Dacre family into his family through intermarriage between his biological children and stepchildren. In May 1569, the young Lord Dacre fell to his death while practicing vaulting horse . After his death, the Duke of Norfolk planned to let Lord Dacre's three daughters marry his own three sons, thereby distributing Dacre's land to his own sons. However, Lord Dacre's brother, Leonard Dacre, raised questions about their title, claiming to be Lord Dacre's male heir. Such cases will naturally be heard in the Earl Marshal's Court, but since the Duke of Norfolk himself held the post, he appointed a commissioner to make the trial. On July 19, less than a month after the death of the young Lord, the Earl Marshal's Court ruled that "as long as the above-mentioned female heir or any descendant is alive, the Baron cannot and should not be inherited by Leonard Dacre."
It can be said that the Duke of Norfolk has gained too many benefits through marriage, which in some way may prompt him to the idea of marrying Queen Mary of Scotland, which made him show blind confidence in this ambitious plan. In 1568, when Queen Mary fled to England, the Duke of Norfolk became a widower again and became the richest man in England, very popular and sought after. He fought in a futile battle with Cecil, who watched cautiously, but was bewildered by his vanity. Elizabeth was hesitant about how to deal with Mary, first appointing a committee representing all parties, meeting in York in October to investigate the reasons for the disagreement between Mary and her subjects, including the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex and Sir Ralph Sadler. The Duke of Norfolk was undoubtedly appointed for his lofty status. He was the only Duke of England and the representative of the nobles. He believed that if Elizabeth did not marry, Mary's inheritance would inevitably be recognized, and Mary himself would probably accept him. On October 11, Murray privately sent a secret letter to British commissioners that Norfolk initially believed Mary was guilty, but Maitland of Ledington suggested to him in a private conversation that as a solution to all the problems that plague both countries, he should marry Mary, and then Mary could safely return to the Scottish throne and be recognized as Elizabeth's heir.
No one knows whether the Duke of Norfolk had already thought of this plan, but he left York with a firm determination to implement it.For some time he acted with caution and when the investigation was handed over to Westminster before being submitted to the Great Noble Council, he still seemed to believe Mary was guilty. But he had a secret meeting with Murray, who agreed with the plan and gave him some encouragement, and after he returned to Scotland, he sent Maitland as the Scottish property envoy to meet Elizabeth, who proposed Mary's marriage to the Duke of Norfolk. Based on this understanding, Norfolk sent a message to the Northern Nobles asking them to suspend the implementation of plans to arrest Murray when he returned from London. The months beginning in 1569 were disastrous for Elizabeth in foreign affairs, and Cecil's policy of progress caused increasing panic among the English nobles. Earl Leicester attempted to expel Cecil from the Queen's favored ministers, and after his failure he worked with Arundel and Pembroke to facilitate the marriage of Mary to the Duke of Norfolk. In June, they communicated with Mary in Tutterbury and got her consent.
The Duke of Norfolk reconciled with Cecil, hoping to get his help to urge Elizabeth to agree to such an arrangement. He was waiting for the message from Murray from Scotland, writing to him on July 1, saying, "He went so far in his marriage, and by his conscience, he could neither revoke everything he did nor continue to move forward by honor until he moved all the stumbling blocks into the more obvious proceedings". Norfolk's plan was still based on loyalty to Elizabeth I and persistence to Protestantism, but Protestant nobles expressed doubts, fearing that Norfolk would become a tool in Spain's hands, and the Catholic lords of the north were impatient; many of them were related to Leonard Dacre, angry at the Duke of Norfolk's lawsuit, and they developed a plan to rob Mary from prison.
Norfolk Duke still believes that Elizabeth I will be affected by the pressure, but he does not have the courage to put pressure on it. On August 27, Parliament voted to resolve the issue of succession to the throne by marrying Mary to a certain English nobleman. The Duke of Norfolk dared not speak, even though one day the Queen "pinched him and told him to pay attention to his pillow." Finally, the Duke of Norfolk became panicked and hurriedly left the court on September 15. But he still decided to persuade rather than force Elizabeth I, and he wrote to the Earl of Northumberland, telling him that Mary's guards were too strict to be rescued, and ordered him to postpone the rebellion. On September 24, he wrote to Elizabeth I from Kenning Hall, saying that he "never intended to trade unless he could get her favor." He was ordered to return to the court, but he shirked his illness and finally returned humbly on October 10, when he was told that he had to be imprisoned on his own at the home of Paul Wentworth, Burnham.
Elizabeth I initially wanted to try him for treason, but the punishment was too tough when public opinion was uncertain. The Duke of Norfolk was also confident in his personal reputation and was surprised when he was taken to Tower of London on October 8. His friends in parliament were under scrutiny and his straits gradually decreased. Although no decisive evidence was found against him, Elizabeth saw how dangerous the rebellion in the north in November was for her. The Duke of Norfolk wrote to Elizabeth at the Tower of London, assuring her that he had never dealt with any rebels, but he continued to keep in touch with Mary, who, after the fall of the rebels, was more eagerly looking forward to escaping her imprisonment career with the help of the Duke of Norfolk. She wrote to the Duke of that she would live and die with him, and signed "yours faithful to death". But the Duke of Norfolk was already a prisoner and was not released until August 3, 1570, because he was ordered to live in his own home in Charterhouse because he was afraid that he would be infected with the plague. He had already surrendered to the Queen, abandoned all the purpose of marrying Mary, and promised full allegiance.
If the Duke of Norfolk keeps his promise and admits his failure, it will be the best for him. He restored his original status and was still respected as the leader of the English nobles.Although many still think that it is possible for him to marry Mary, the Duke of Norfolk already knew that Elizabeth would never agree. This failure united Mary's gangs more closely, and now they began to seek help from the Spanish King . Although this was not the marriage plan originally conceived by the Duke of Norfolk, he could no longer extricate himself and slowly became a complicitor. He consulted with Ridolfi, listened to his plan for Spain's invasion of Britain, agreed with Ridolfi's proposal, and entrusted him to serve as the representative of Philip II . He later denied that he had done this in any formal way, but the evidence was very unfavorable to him.
Due to too many incidents, Ridolph's conspiracy was exposed, and the rash behavior of the Duke of Norfolk's secretary Shifford exposed the Duke of Norfolk's accomplice. Shiford entrusted a bag of gold containing ciphertexts to a Shrewsbury merchant. Cecil learned of the news on September 1 and obtained enough information from Sheford to prove that the Duke of Norfolk communicated with Mary and his Scottish gangsters. Norfolk's servant was imprisoned, tortured, and said many things to Cecil against the Duke.
Norfolk Duke was then interrogated, he stammered and performed poorly. On September 5, the Duke was thrown into the Tower of London for further review. The evidence of his conspiracy with Ridolph became increasingly conclusive, and the entire context of the Duke of Norfolk case was also sorted out. Elizabeth I saw that she could not trust the English nobles too much, they were all eager to solve the inheritance problem and supported Mary to some extent. The Duke of Norfolk was tried on January 16, 1572 for treason, and the court decided to prosecute Norfolk to teach the English nobles a lesson. According to the practice at the time, this trial was unlikely to give the defendant a great opportunity to defend. He did not allow lawyers, and could not even see copies of the indictment, but the court did not allow witnesses who were against him to appear. The senior lawyer read out the evidence and opinions, and the defendant could do his best to respond, but he was convicted and sentenced to death as expected. He wrote several submissive letters to the Queen at the Tower of London, admitting that he had seriously offended the Queen, but expressed his consistent loyalty. Elizabeth has always hated blood, so she refused to enforce the verdict for for a long time, but her negotiations with Aronson on the French treaty and marriage required her to take positive action, and the parliament also petitioned for the execution of Mary and the Duke of Norfolk.
On June 2, 1572, the Duke of Norfolk was beheaded in the tower hill. He told people at the execution ground that he was innocent, claiming that he was "never a pope because he knew what religion means." These words from the Duke of Norfolk may be true. In 1559, John Fox told him the first edition of Martyrdom (Latin version), and before his death he wrote to John Fox to comfort him and left him a legacy of £20 a year. But the Duke of Norfolk was not a clear-headed man, nor did he know how to act, he followed the crowd, believing in his good fortune and good intentions, so he accepted the plan to marry Mary, because he believed that with his position in England, he was sufficient to guarantee that no danger would occur. The Duke of Norfolk believed in his popularity and the efforts of others, and the first failure did not make him smart, he might think he had not given Ridolph or the Spanish ambassador any promises to him, only allowing them to rely on him for the time being. After the trial, the letters written by the Duke to the children can prove his personal qualities.
Norfolk's children lost the throne after his death, including Philip Howard, the 20th Earl of Arundel (1557-1595), Thomas Howard, the 1st Earl of Suffolk (1561-1626), and Lord William Howard (1583-1640). He and his two sons of the second wife have received special attention. His second wife also gave birth to three daughters, the second daughter Margaret (1562-1591) married Robert Sackville, Earl of Dorset.
Charthouse, purchased by the Duke of Norfolk in 1565 and his decorative style of the London residence (then known as Howard Villa) both represent his taste, the Royal Collection and Arundel Manor have portraits of his youth, created by artists such as Sir Antonio More and Hubrecon.He was buried in the chapel of the Tower of London.
