Biography of Thomas Howard 5th Duke of Norfolk 1627-1677

On 7th March 1626 [his father] Henry Howard 15th or 22nd Earl of Arundel 5th Earl of Surrey 2nd Earl Norfolk [aged 17] and [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk [aged 16] were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Esmé Stewart 3rd Duke Lennox and [his grandmother] Katherine Clifton Duchess Lennox [aged 34]. He the son of Thomas Howard 14th or 21st Earl of Arundel 4th Earl of Surrey 1st Earl Norfolk [aged 40] and Alethea Talbot Countess Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk [aged 41]. They were half fifth cousins.

On 9th March 1627 Thomas Howard 5th Duke of Norfolk was born to [his father] Henry Howard 15th or 22nd Earl of Arundel 5th Earl of Surrey 2nd Earl Norfolk [aged 18] and [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk [aged 17].

John Evelyn's Diary. 10th September 1641. I took waggon for Dort, to be present at the reception of the Queen-mother, Marie de Medicis [aged 66], Dowager of France, widow of Henry the Great, and mother to the French King, Louis XIII [aged 39], and the Queen of England [aged 31], whence she newly arrived, tossed to and fro by the various fortune of her life. From this city, she designed for Cologne, conducted by the Earl of Arundel [aged 14] and the Herr Van Bredrod. At this interview, I saw the Princess of Orange [aged 39], and the lady her daughter [aged 13], afterwards married to the House of Brandenburgh. There was little remarkable in this reception befitting the greatness of her person; but an universal discontent, which accompanied that unlucky woman wherever she went.

On 4th October 1646 [his grandfather] Thomas Howard 14th or 21st Earl of Arundel 4th Earl of Surrey 1st Earl Norfolk [aged 61] died. His son [his father] Henry [aged 38] succeeded 14th or 22nd Earl Arundel, 5th Earl Surrey, 2nd Earl Norfolk, 12th Baron Maltravers, 12th Baron Arundel, 15th Baron Mowbray, 16th Baron Segrave. [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk [aged 36] by marriage Countess Arundel, Countess Norfolk, Countess Norfolk.

Around 1652 [his brother] Henry Howard 6th Duke of Norfolk [aged 23] and [his sister-in-law] Anne Somerset Countess Norfolk [aged 21] were married. She the daughter of Henry Somerset 1st Marquess Worcester and Anne Russell Countess Worcester. He the son of [his father] Henry Howard 15th or 22nd Earl of Arundel 5th Earl of Surrey 2nd Earl Norfolk [aged 43] and [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk [aged 42]. They were fifth cousin once removed.

On 17th April 1652 [his father] Henry Howard 15th or 22nd Earl of Arundel 5th Earl of Surrey 2nd Earl Norfolk [aged 43] died. His son Thomas [aged 25] succeeded 16th or 23rd Earl Arundel, 6th Earl Surrey, 3rd Earl Norfolk, 13th Baron Maltravers, 13th Baron Arundel, 16th Baron Mowbray, 17th Baron Segrave.

On 3rd June 1654 [his grandmother] Alethea Talbot Countess Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk [aged 69] died. Her grandson Thomas [aged 27] succeeded 14th Baron Furnivall, 18th Baron Strange Blackmere, 15th Baron Talbot.

John Evelyn's Diary. 15th August 1654. We passed next through Sherwood Forest, accounted the most extensive in England. Then, Paplewick, an incomparable vista with the pretty castle near it. Thence, we saw Newstead Abbey [Map], belonging to the Lord Byron [aged 48], situated much like Fontainebleau in France, capable of being made a noble seat, accommodated as it is with brave woods and streams; it has yet remaining the front of a glorious abbey church. Next, by Mansfield town; then Welbeck [Map], the house of the Marquis of Newcastle [aged 61], seated in a bottom in a park, and environed with woods, a noble yet melancholy seat. The palace is a handsome and stately building. Next to Worksop Abbey [Map], almost demolished; the church has a double flat tower entire, and a pretty gate. The manor belongs to the Earl of Arundel [aged 27], and has to it a fair house at the foot of a hill in a park that affords a delicate prospect. Tickel, a town and castle, has a very noble prospect. All these in Nottinghamshire.

In 1660 Thomas Howard 5th Duke of Norfolk [aged 32] was restored 5th Duke Norfolk by King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland in response to a petition by Parliament it having previously been forfeited in 1572 by his great-great-grandfather Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk who had been executed for his involvement in the Ridolphi Plot.

John Evelyn's Diary. 7th December 1661. I dined at Arundel House [Map], the day when the great contest in Parliament was concerning the restoring the Duke of Norfolk [aged 34]; however, it was carried for him. I also presented my little trifle of Sumptuary Laws, entitled "Tyrannus" [or "The Mode"].

In 1674 [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk [aged 64] died.

In 1675 [his brother] Cardinal Philip Howard [aged 46] was appointed Cardinal by Pope Clement X [aged 84].

Around 1675 [his brother] Henry Howard 6th Duke of Norfolk [aged 46] and [his sister-in-law] Jane Bickerton Duchess Norfolk [aged 32] were married. He the son of [his father] Henry Howard 15th or 22nd Earl of Arundel 5th Earl of Surrey 2nd Earl Norfolk and [his mother] Elizabeth Stewart Countess Arundel and Norfolk.

John Evelyn's Diary. 28th April 1676. The University of Oxford presented me with the "Marmora Oxoniensia Arundeliana"; the Bishop of Oxford writing to desire that I would introduce Mr. Prideaux, the editor (a young man most learned in antiquities) to the Duke of Norfolk [aged 49], to present another dedicated to his Grace, which I did, and we dined with the Duke at Arundel House [Map], and supped at the Bishop of Rochester's [aged 51] with Isaac Vossius [aged 58].

On 13th December 1677 Thomas Howard 5th Duke of Norfolk [aged 50] died in Padua unmarried. He had suffered mental disabilities all his life. His brother Henry [aged 49] succeeded 6th Duke Norfolk, 17th or 24th Earl Arundel, 7th Earl Surrey, 4th Earl Norfolk, 18th Baron Segrave, 19th Baron Strange Blackmere, 17th Baron Mowbray, 16th Baron Talbot, 15th Baron Furnivall, 14th Baron Maltravers, 14th Baron Arundel. Jane Bickerton Duchess Norfolk [aged 34] by marriage Duchess Norfolk. The marriage being so unpopular with his family they went abroad for some time.

John Evelyn's Diary. 23rd January 1678. Dined with the Duke of Norfolk [aged 49], being the first time I had seen him since the death of his elder brother, who died at Padua in Italy, where he had resided above thirty years. The Duke had now newly declared his marriage to his concubine [aged 35], whom he promised me he never would marry. I went with him to see the Duke of Buckingham [aged 49], thence to my Lord Sunderland [aged 36], now Secretary of State, to show him that rare piece of Vosterman's (son of old Vosterman), which was a view, or landscape of my Lord's palace, etc., at Althorpe [Map] in Northamptonshire.