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15k Gold & Carved Agate Duke of Norfolk Seal, England, 19th Century
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- In Stock
- Product Code:
- No 166
15k Gold & Carved Agate Duke of Norfolk Seal, England, 19th Century H: 1-3/8" L: 1" D: 15/16" The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes have historically been Catholic, a state of affairs known as recusancy in England. All past and present dukes have been descended from Edward I (see Dukes of Norfolk family tree). The son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; the earl was descended from Edward III. As all subsequent dukes after Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk are descendants of the Earl of Surrey, this means they are also descended from Edward III. Before the Dukes of Norfolk, there were the Bigod Earls of Norfolk, starting with Roger Bigod from Normandy (died 1107). Their male line ended with Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, who died without an heir in 1306, so their titles and estates reverted to the crown. Edward II then granted his brother, Thomas of Brotherton, the title of Earl of Norfolk in 1312. It passed to Thomas's daughter (and granddaughter of Edward I), Margaret, and then to her grandson, Thomas Mowbray. When Richard II made Thomas Mowbray the Duke of Norfolk in 1397, he conferred upon him the estates and titles (including Earl Marshal) that had belonged to the Earls of Norfolk. His elderly grandmother, Margaret, was still alive, and so at the same time she was created Duchess of Norfolk for life. Mowbray died in exile in 1399, months after his grandmother, and his dukedom was repealed. His widow took the title of Countess of Norfolk.[1] Between 1401 and 1476, the Mowbray family held the title and estates of the Duke of Norfolk. John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, died without male issue in 1476, his only surviving child being the 3-year-old Anne Mowbray. A marriage was arranged between Anne and Richard, Duke of York, the 4-year-old son of Edward IV. She remained Richard's child bride until she died at the age of 8. In accordance with the marriage arrangements, Richard inherited the lands and wealth of the Mowbray family. He was also made Duke of Norfolk. However, upon the death of Edward IV, the throne was offered to Edward's brother, Richard III. After Prince Richard was lodged in June 1483 to the Tower of London, where his elder brother (briefly Edward V) was too, both Richard and Edward were declared illegitimate. They subsequently disappeared, and the titles of both York and Norfolk were forfeited to the crown. This left John Howard, the son of Thomas Mowbray's elder daughter Margaret, as heir to the dukedom, and his support for Richard III's usurpation secured his creation as 1st Duke of Norfolk in 1483, in the title's third creation. From this point to the present, the title has remained in the hands of the descendants of John Howard. The Catholic faith of the Howard dynasty often resulted in conflict with the reigning monarch, particularly during and after the reign of Henry VIII. In 1546, Thomas Howard, the third Duke, fell out of favour with the dying Henry and was attainted on 27 January 1547; he was stripped of his titles and his lands reverted to the Crown. Imprisoned in the Tower of London, he narrowly escaped execution through Henry's death the following day, but remained imprisoned until the death of Edward VI and the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary to the English throne in 1553, upon which his lands and titles were restored to him. However, the Duke died the following year aged around 81, and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas as the fourth Duke of Norfolk. Following Mary's death in 1558 and the accession of her sister Elizabeth I, the Duke was imprisoned for scheming to marry Elizabeth's cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. After his release under house arrest in 1570 and subsequent participation in the Ridolfi plot to enthrone Mary and Catholicism in England, he was executed in 1572 for treason and his lands and titles again became forfeit. In 1660, the fourth Duke's great-great-grandson, the 23rd Earl of Arundel, was restored to the family lands and dukedom. Mentally infirm, the fifth Duke never married and died in 1677. He was succeeded by his younger brother Henry as the 6th Duke, through whom the 7th Duke, 8th Duke and 9th Duke of Norfolk were descended in the male-line. At the death of the 9th Duke, the title was inherited in 1777 by his heir male, Charles Howard, a grandson of Charles Howard of Greystoke, a younger brother of the 5th and 6th Dukes. He was succeeded by his son, Charles, whose lack of a legitimate male heir resulted in the title passing to Bernard Howard, a great-grandson of Bernard Howard of Glossop, the youngest brother of the 5th and 6th Dukes. The title then passed to his son in 1842, Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, who was the father of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, and Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop. The title passed through the line of the elder brother from 1856 until the death in 1975 of Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk without male issue. Consequently, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, Miles Stapleton-Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, who was a great-grandson of the aforementioned 1st Baron Howard of Glossop. The current Duke of Norfolk is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, who succeeded his father, Miles Stapleton-Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, in 2002. |