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Historical person
1473–1554
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was one of the most powerful nobles at Henry VIII’s court. A veteran commander who played a leading role at Flodden, he was also uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard and repeatedly navigated the dangerous politics surrounding the king’s marriages. Arrested for treason in 1546, he escaped execution only because Henry died before the sentence could be carried out.
Norfolk is a recurring presence in Tudor historical fiction, often represented as a conservative magnate and ruthless head of the Howard family. He appears prominently in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy and in several Philippa Gregory novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance.
In David Field’s Justice for the Cardinal, following the unjust death of Cardinal Wolsey, his protégé Thomas Cromwell is determined to take his revenge on those he holds responsible, most of all Queen Anne Boleyn and her uncle Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. In David Field’s The King’s Commoner, Chief among these is the bullying Duke of Norfolk, scion of a noble family who bitterly resents the preferment of a butcher’s son to positions of power and influence that he regards as his by birth. Other novels featuring Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk include Alison Weir’s Katheryn Howard.
Series
The Tudor Saga recounts the dynasty from Henry VII’s exile and victory in the Wars of the Roses to the final years of Elizabeth I. Historical rulers, ministers and royal relatives occupy the centre of the sequence, while fictional attendants and agents reveal how decisions at court affect…
All books in this series
All books in this series
