Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel
Encyclopedia
Court career
He was the only son of William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of ArundelWilliam FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel
William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel, 8th Baron Maltravers was an English peer, styled as Lord Maltravers from 1487 to 1524....
, and his second wife Anne Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, KG son of Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland and his wife Eleanor Poynings, daughter of Richard Poynings, Lord Poynings....
, and was named for Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, who personally stood as his godfather at his baptism.
At 15, Henry FitzAlan became a page at the court of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. When he came of age, in 1533, he was summoned to Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
as Lord Maltravers, a subsidiary title
Subsidiary title
A subsidiary title is an hereditary title held by a royal or a noble but which is not regularly used to identify that person.For example, the Duke of Norfolk is also the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Surrey, the Earl of Norfolk, the Baron Beaumont, the Baron Maltravers, the Baron FitzAlan, the Baron...
of his father, who was still alive. He attended the trials of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
and her alleged lover Lord Rochford in May 1536.
In 1540 he was appointed deputy of Calais
Pale of Calais
The Pale of Calais is a historical region of France that was controlled by the Kingdom of England until 1558.- History :After the Battle of Crécy in 1346, Edward III of England, having renounced the throne of France, kept some territory within France, namely Aquitaine and the area around Calais,...
. He remained there, improving the fortifications at his own expense, until his father's death in early 1544. He returned to England to assume the earldom, and was made a Knight of the Garter. War with France soon brought him back to the continent, where he spent much of 1544. He then returned to England, where the king appointed him Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
.
After King Henry's death in 1547, the Earl was Lord High Constable
Lord High Constable of England
The Lord High Constable of England is the seventh of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Great Chamberlain and above the Earl Marshal. His office is now called out of abeyance only for coronations. The Lord High Constable was originally the commander of the royal armies and the...
at Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
's coronation. He continued as Lord Chamberlain, and in addition, by the terms of Henry's will, was designated one of the council of 12 assistant executors. Under the new King's uncle, Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....
, Arundel's influence diminshed, and he soon became an advocate of Somerset's removal.
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Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
in October 1549, with Arundel, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG , known as The Lord Wriothesley between 1544 and 1547, was a politician of the Tudor period born in London to William Wrythe and Agnes Drayton....
, and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland) among the leaders of the new governing group. In early 1550 Warwick removed Arundel and Southampton, who were religious conservatives, from office. Arundel was placed under house arrest under dubious charges of peculation. Within a few months he was cleared of the charges, but the experience pushed him into the camp of the Duke of Somerset, who had been released from the Tower and readmitted to the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. When Somerset was again arrested in 1551, Arundel was implicated in some of his plots, and was himself arrested and imprisoned for a year. He was eventually pardoned and returned to his place on the Council in May 1553.
King Edward's health was seriously declining, and on 21 June 1553 Arundel was among those who signed Edward's letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
which conferred the succession on Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
. After the King's death, and after Northumberland had left London, however, together with the Earl of Pembroke, he worked for the proclamation of Mary Tudor
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
on 19 July 1553. Taking the great seal and a letter of submission by the Council, he then rode off to Framlingham
Framlingham
Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District of Suffolk, England. Commonly referred to as "Fram" by the locals, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a population of 3,114 at the 2001 census...
, where Mary was staying.
At Mary's coronation, Arundel was for the second time High Constable, and was then appointed Lord Steward
Lord Steward
The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, is an important official of the Royal Household. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government...
of the royal household. He served in various roles in her court, being, for example, one of the nobles who received her husband Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
when he landed at Southampton.
Although Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
did not trust him, he was too powerful to be slighted or ignored, and so he was retained in his various offices when she ascended the throne. For the third time, he had a high place at a royal coronation.
Arundel took part in some of the many conspiracies of Elizabeth's reign, and, while he was at times placed under house arrest, he retained his properties and titles.
Marriage and children
Henry was first married to Katherine Grey, daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of DorsetThomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset
Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, KG, KB was an English peer, courtier, soldier and landowner, the grandfather of Lady Jane Grey, briefly Queen of England.-Early life:...
and Margaret Wotton. By her he had three children:
- Henry FitzAlan, styled Lord MaltraversBaron MaltraversThe title Baron Mautravers or Baron Maltravers was created in the Peerage of England on 25 January 1330, by writ of summons, for John Mautravers or Maltravers. It went into abeyance on his death in 1364; this was terminated by the death of his granddaughter Joan Mautravers without issue c. 1383,...
(1538–56) - Jane FitzAlanJane LumleyJane , Lady Lumley was the first person to translate Euripides into English. She was the eldest child of Henry Fitzalan, 19th Earl of Arundel , patron of the arts, and his first wife, Katherine Grey Fitzalan...
(d. 1576/7), who married John Lumley, 1st Baron LumleyJohn Lumley, 1st Baron LumleyJohn Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley was an English aristocrat.- Early life :John Lumley was born about 1533, was grandson and heir of John, Lord Lumley, being son and heir of his only son and heir apparent George Lumley by Jane second daughter and coheir of Sir Richard Knightly of Upton,... - Mary FitzAlanMary FitzAlanLady Mary FitzAlan, Duchess of Norfolk was the youngest daughter and child of Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel and his first wife Lady Catherine Grey. Because her only brother had predeceased her, she and her elder sister, Jane FitzAlan were co-heiresses to the earldom of her father...
(d. 1557), who married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 4th Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
, and whose son Philip, eventually inherited the Earldom of Arundel.
His second wife was Mary
Mary Arundell (courtier)
Mary Arundell , was a courtier and was previously reputed to be a translator.Arundell was the daughter of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, knight-banneret of Therouenne, and his second wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville of Stow...
, daughter of Sir John Arundell of a prominent Cornish family, and widow of Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex
Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex
Robert Radcliffe , 1st Earl of Sussex, KG was a prominent English courtier and soldier of the time of Henry VIII...
. They had no children.
Portraiture
Arundel's portrait was painted several times, including once by Hans HolbeinHans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
and by Hans Eworth.