Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk
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His Grace The Duke of Norfolk |
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|---|---|
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| Earl Marshal | |
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In office 1672–1684 |
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| Monarch | |
| Preceded by | In Commission |
| Succeeded by | The 7th Duke of Norfolk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 July 1628 |
| Died | 13 January 1684 (aged 55) |
Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (12 July 1628 – 13 January 1684) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the second son of Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, and Lady Elizabeth Stuart. He succeeded his brother Thomas Howard, 5th Duke of Norfolk after his death in 1677.
He had previously been created 1st Baron Howard of Castle Rising in 1669 and 1st Earl of Norwich in 1672, on the latter occasion obtaining the restoration of the office of Earl Marshal of England to him and to his family. There had been near unanimity in the House of Lords in persuading King Charles II to revive the Dukedom of Norfolk in 1660; but since the 5th Duke was incurably insane, and confined to an asylum in Padua, it was felt desirable to summon his brother to the Lords in his own right.
His career as Duke began inauspiciously when he announced that he had married Jane Bickerton, his mistress of many years: this caused a violent family quarrel, as a result of which he went abroad for a time.
In January 1678, he took his seat in the House of Lords, but in August the first development of the Popish Plot was followed by an Act for disabling Catholics from sitting in either house of Parliament. As a sincere Roman Catholic, he would not comply with the oath recognizing the King as Head of the Church; at the same time he urged his fellow peers to do so if their consciences permitted, to ensure the survival of the House of Lords as an institution, whereupon the Lords thanked him for his "good service". He withdrew to Bruges for three years. There he built a house attached to a Franciscan convent and enjoyed freedom of worship. He later gave away the greater part of his library, grounds, and rooms to the Royal Society, and the Arundelian marbles to Oxford University.
He was presented as a recusant at Thetford assizes in 1680, and felt obliged to return to England to answer the charge, which was not pursued; a previous accusation by the notorious informer William Bedloe in 1678 that he had been party to, or at least aware of, a plot to kill the King had simply been ignored.
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