The Marriage of Margaret Audley and Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk - Winter 1558
- thedudleywomen
- 12 minutes ago
- 11 min read
At the end of November 1558, or early December 1558, shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I, recently-widowed Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, remarried; his new bride was eighteen-year-old Margaret Audley, herself having been widowed the previous year.
Margaret Audley was the eldest daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden; Audley had been Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, and on his death in 1544, his young daughters Margaret and Mary, aged 4 and 2 respectively, became wealthy heiresses. Their guardianship was initially granted to Privy Councillor Sir Anthony Denny; however, following Denny's death in 1549, the sisters became wards of Edward VI. As a likely reward for his loyalty to the crown, Margaret's wardship later appears to have been granted to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. She later became one of the young people in the summer of 1553 who entered into a series of marriages and betrothals, orchestrated by the Duke in response to the young king's failing health and in preparation for the upcoming regime change. Margaret was only thirteen-years-old when she was married to Northumberland's teenage son, Henry 'Harry' Dudley, thereby keeping the Audley money and estates under the Dudleyn's control, Margaret now being the sole heir, her younger sister having died in the early 1550s (de Lisle, 2008; Paul, 2022).
Along with his father and older brothers, Harry was imprisoned in the Tower of London from July 1553, for their roles in the attempted coup to place Margaret's maternal cousin, Lady Jane Grey, on the English throne. Harry was convicted of high treason at a trial held at the City of London's Guildhall in November 1553, and along with Jane, and brothers Guildford and Ambrose, sentenced to death (Paul, 2022). Confirmation that Margaret was married to Harry prior to his imprisonment comes in her mother-in-law Jane Guildford, Duchess of Northumberland's will, written in 1554, in which she is a beneficiary: "to her Son Henry Dudley's wife, a Gown of black pinkt Velvet" (Collins, 1746, p.34). Harry remained imprisoned in the Tower until his release in October 1554, Along with his surviving brothers, Ambrose and Robert, Harry made attempts to ingratiate himself into the royal court following their release; it was Mary's notoriously-paranoid husband Philip II of Spain who was responsible for welcoming the brothers back to court, and as such, they owed him a debt of gratitude. In the summer of 1557, in exchange for access to lands and money granted to them in their mother's will, the brothers joined Philip and Spain's fight against the French. Harry was killed in the aftermath of the Siege of Saint-Quentin in August 1557, hit by a musket-ball when climbing the city wall, in front of his older brother Robert (Paul, 2022).
Margaret was now left a young widow; she was not yet eighteen, still not of age, and so had not yet come into her rightful inheritance. By early 1558, discussions had started to take place regarding a second marriage for her to enter into. Her intended groom was one fo the largest landowners in the country: the newly-widowed Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Norfolk was the eldest grandson and heir of the formidable and fervently-Catholic Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk; his father, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, had been the last man executed in the reign of Henry VIII in January 1547, with the elderly Duke also imprisoned in the Tower of London for the following reign of Edward VI. The education and upbringing of Thomas and his younger siblings had subsequently fallen to their paternal aunt, Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset. Mary herself had embraced the Protestant Reformation which had spread throughout Europe and into England. She appointed tutors to the children with Reformist beliefs and sympathies, including historian and future martyrologist John Foxe. On his release from the Tower of London on Mary I's accession to the throne in July 1553, the Duke of Norfolk took over the care and education of his grandchildren, including ordering the dismissal of their Protestant tutors. Specific focus was placed on Thomas as his heir; in addition to his traditional education, time was given regarding the management of the Norfolk estates in the preparation of his death (Williams, 1964; Hutchinson, 2009). Whilst only a teenager, Thomas saw his fortunes rise with during Mary's reign; shortly after his grandfather's release and pardon, Thomas found himself being able to claim his father's title of Earl of Surrey, and was himself created a Knight of the Bath. And in July 1554, he was honoured with the appointment to the new household of Philip II of Spain, as a gentleman of the chamber, and was subsequently present at the wedding to Mary at Winchester Cathedral, that same month (Williams, 1964). On 25 August 1554, after months of failing health, the eighty-year-old Duke of Norfolk died at his primary seat of Kenninghall; as intended, his sixteen-year-old grandson Thomas inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk, in addition to the hereditary position of Earl Marshal of England. As still underage, the new Duke became the ward of Mary I, with additional arrangements being made for the care of his younger siblings. Within six months, final arrangements were being made for Norfolk to be married to Mary FitzAlan, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Henry FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel, Lord Steward of the Royal Household, although initial discussions for a match between the pair appear to have first been proposed by the late Duke of Norfolk at the end of 1553 (Williams, 1964; Hutchinson, 2009).
Permission needed to be sought from the monarch for the marriage to proceed given Norfolk's age and legal status; once obtained, the young couple were married on 30 March 1555, with the ceremony likely taking place at the parish church of St Clement Danes, located on The Strand, the historic highway and main thoroughfare leading from the hamlet of Charing, Westminster through to Temple Bar, the ceremonial entrance to the City of London. The medieval church was located directly opposite Arundel House, the Westminster townhouse belonging to his new father-in-law, previously known as Seymour Place, and purchased after the fall and execution of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley in 1549 (Williams, 1964; British History Online [1], 2025; British History Online [2], 2025).
Despite the couple being over the age of consent at the time of the marriage, this being 12-years-old for girls and 14-years-old for boys, the marriage does not appear to have been consummated immediately, with the couple living separately for the first year of the marriage. Mary stayed with her family at Arundel House, where she continued with her education, including languages, being fluent in Greek and Latin. Norfolk, initially spent time with his younger siblings at the family seat Kenninghall, Norfolk, as well as spending increasing time at court, as part of his 'apprenticeship'. However, by 1556, Norfolk and Mary were living together as man and wife, as by the end of the year, it would have become apparent that Mary was expecting the couple's first child (Williams, 1964; de Lisle, 2008; Hutchinson, 2009). In the summer of 1557, the heavily-pregnant Mary chose to return to the familiar surroundings of Arundel House for her confinement. On 28 June 1557, Mary gave birth to a healthy son and more importantly, a Norfolk heir. He was baptised in an elaborate ceremony at the Chapel Royal at Whitehall Palace, four days later, on 02 July 1557, and named after one of his godfathers who was present: Philip II of Spain. His mother, however, lay desperately unwell at her former home, becoming increasingly unwell (Williams, 1964; Hutchinson, 2009). Mary appears to have suffered from puerperal complications following Philip's birth, from which she never recovered. Puerperal fever, if caused by an infection, either as a result of poor hygiene techniques during childbirth, or as the result of a prolonged or difficult labour, could be fatal if left untreated. Causes including tears of the perineum during delivery or retention of the placenta, leading to septicaemia, led to the death of many women in the postnatal periods, regardless of their social status. Eight weeks after giving birth, on either 23 or 25 August 1557, the Duchess of Norfolk died, having never left her bedchamber (Weir, 1991; Whitelock, 2009).
Mary's funeral was held on 01 September 1557, where she was buried with pomp and circumstance at the nearby church of St Clement Danes, Tudor diarist Henry Machyn documenting the details of the ceremony.. WIlliams (1964, p.35) describes Mary as "by all accounts a sweet-natures and pious girl...all who knew her could not love her". He described her death as "the second great tragedy in Norfolk's life", after that of his father's, and her elaborate funeral celebrated his love and devotion to her. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the duchess's coffin, which had remained at Arundel House, was taken to the nearby church in a grand possession, the way decorated with hangings of black and banners of arms, and lit by twelve dozen torches, her hearse covered by a canopy. Her chief mourner was her older sister, Jane FitzAlan, Lady Lumley, with many other members of the nobility being in attendance of the funeral service and committal, which was performed by Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London (Nichols, 1848; Williams, 1964).
![Tomb Effigies of Mary FitzAlan and Margaret Audley, St Michael the Archangel Church, Framlingham © amthomson [Flickr]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ed9b82_c37f607ca1bc4a5899de24ca40a124e3~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ed9b82_c37f607ca1bc4a5899de24ca40a124e3~mv2.jpg)
Whilst initially laid to rest at St Clement Danes, Mary was later reinterred at Arundel Castle, Sussex. However, there was later evidence that Norfolk was planning a further move of her remains to the Norfolk family vault at St Michael the Archangel Church, Framlingham. A tomb, commissioned by Norfolk, depicts his first two wives, Mary FitzAlan and Margaret Audley, lying side-by-side, with a space left between them, likely intended for his own effigy. Mary's effigy rests her head "on a horse couchant, with a hart at layer at her feet", reflecting her FitzAlan heritage (Braybrooke, 1836, p.29).
Coincidently, Mary's funeral was held only two days before orders were issued that every church in London, and beyond were to "syng and make bonfeyrs" for the victory over the French at Saint Quentin, with Machyn recording "her was slayn my lord Hare Dudley the yonger sone of the duke of Northumberland...with mony mo, at the wynnyng of yt" (Nichols, 1848, p.150).
By the beginning of the new year, 1558, a match had been proposed between Margaret and Norfolk, both having been widowed only a few months. Whilst a son and heir had been born to him before his wife's demise the previous summer, Norfolk was interested ifurther expanding his family, whilst Margaret was searching for security which would come with remarrying. However, the couple were unable to wed immediately, due to issues related to consanguinity - their mothers were first cousins, as well as Margaret being the maternal first cousin of the late Duchess. Five years into England's Catholic Marian regime, papal dispensation was therefore required for the marriage to proceed. Therefore, in spring 1558, Norfolk sent East Anglicanlawyer Nicholas Mynne to Rome to act as his agent in negotiations with Cardinals and Cannon lawyers. There were significant delays, however, as negotiations were unable to begin until 07 May 1558, and once started, 'dragged on' with no clear end in sight (Williams, 1964; Hutchinson, 2009).
Following Mary I's death on 17 November 1558, and her half-sister Elizabeth I's subsequent accession to the throne, significant religious changes had an almost immediate impact on the betrothed couple. Despite the dismissal of papal authority in England, Elizabeth immediately found under pressure from her newly-appointed Privy Councillors, “whose political sense was perpetually blunted by their religious bias” to reintroduce the Reformist policies which had been eradicated by the Marian Catholic policies (Wooding, 2022, p.503). The new pragmatic queen, however, made gradual rather than radical changes, in incorporating the newer Protestant doctrines back into the traditional Catholic services, as she did with her coronation at Westminster Abbey, held in January 1559, at which both the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk played central royals. However, at the time of the Norfolks' marriage in late 1558, no changes would have yet been made to the wedding ceremony, and so they would have followed the traditional Latin service previously performed during Mary's reign (Weir, 1999; Wooding, 2022).
No confirmed details are known regarding the exact date or location of the couple's wedding, although it is likely that is was a low-key event with minimal guests and witnesses.. However, it is known that it proceeded without the papal dispensation and consent which had been sought for the majority of the year; it was said that the pope refused to give the consent for the marriage, as this would be a relaxation of the church's law, thereby supporting the heretical Elizabeth. Despite this, the new Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, as the highest peers of the realm, quickly entered into society and the royal household; in January 1559, Margaret was appointed as a Lady of the Privy Chamber (without wages), and was the train-bearer at the queen's coronation later that month. The couple's marriage was subsequently legalised and ratified in Parliament the following year, Duke of Norfolk's marriage ratification and assurance of the Duchess's jointure, thereby enabling Margaret to claim her Audley inheritance, as well as goods or property bestowed on her as a result of her marriage to Harry Dudley (Williams, 1964; Folgerpedia, 2025).
As the sole surviving heir of Thomas Audley, a significantly rich man at the time of his death, Margaret brought lands and properties into her marriage as part of her dowry, including her father's former London home of 'Christchurch Place', The property, which was also contemporarily documented as 'Cree Church Place', was a grand mansion that had been built on the site of the former Holy Trinity Priory in Aldgate; Holy Trinity was the first priory that had been dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII in 1532, and was subsequently gifted to Audley after he had been appointed Lord High Chancellor. On Audley's death in 1544, ownership of his "chief mansion and dwelling-house called Christchurch in London, with all the houses, buildings and gardens thereto belonging" was bequeathed to his 'heirs' (Williams, 1964; Map of Early Modern London, 2024; Oxford Authorship Site, 2025).
Comments