Thomas Howard died at 11 am on 21 May 1524 at Framlingham Castle. It cannot have come as a surprise to his family or friends. He was eighty-one years old, had outlived five kings of England and had narrowly escaped death on numerous occasions, both on the battlefield and as a result of illness. There was to be no quick funeral or burial for his family to arrange. As the late Earl Marshal and holder of one of only two English dukedoms at the time of his death, his final passing was to be one of the most elaborate noble funerals that the country had seen, with heralds on hand to help with the organisation. His body was moved to the choir of his chapel, and four large candle holders, covered in multiple candles, were placed around it to burn day and night. His servants hung 140 yards of black cloth around the walls of the Great Chamber, Hall, chapel and choir. Sewn on to the fabric were escutcheons, or badges, of his coat of arms. For the next month, his body remained in the chapel with an almost constant vigil around it, and no expense was spared on religious obsequies. During the day, three Masses were sung in the chapel each day with nine mourners in attendance. The chief of these ought to have been his heir, Thomas the younger, but he was engaged on royal business so he deputised to his younger half-brother, William. As Lord William was only fourteen years old, he would not have had any official political or administrative duties to excuse himself from, and may well have been living at Framlingham when his father died. At each of the Masses the mourners made an individual financial offering, with Lord William giving 3s 4d. Alongside these ceremonial Masses in the castle, in the region of 200 Masses were sung in the chapel and churches around the town of Framlingham over the course of the month. Every priest responsible for saying a Mass for the late duke’s soul was rewarded with dinner and a payment of 8d. Each night, when the mourners had retired to bed, a watch of twelve yeomen, seven gentlemen, two yeoman ushers and two gentleman ushers remained with the body.
The length of time between Thomas’ passing and his funeral was due to the need to ensure that his son, now the 3rd Duke of Norfolk, would be free to attend the funeral, and to the amount of preparation work that was required. When his body finally left the chapel at Framlingham Castle on 22 June, it was placed into a chariot painted black and covered in black fabric, then the whole structure was draped in a covering of black velvet decorated with a cross of cloth of silver and escutcheons of his coat of arms. Eight bannerolls, square banners depicting his ancestry and marriages in heraldry, were mounted onto the chariot, and even the six horses that drew the chariot were dressed with small escutcheons of his coat of arms. Riding alongside the chariot were four gentlemen bearing banners representing the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St George and St Thomas. Additional gentlemen rode on the chariot to take the body on and off as required, and when the funeral procession passed through towns, six gentlemen walked alongside the chariot.
Eight additional mourners were appointed to support Thomas the younger in his ceremonial functions. In a testament to the extent of Thomas’ family, the majority of the men were his children or in-laws. Lord Edmund Howard, the other surviving son from his first marriage, and Lord William Howard were both in attendance, as was Thomas Boleyn, Thomas’ son-in-law via his first marriage. Related to him via his second marriage were his son-in-law and former ward, John de Vere, Earl of Oxford; Lord Fitzwalter’s son, Henry Radcliffe, another son-in-law; and, allegedly, the ‘son and heir of Sir Rhys ap Thomas’. This last identification is a small error on the part of the herald who wrote down an account of the funeral, as Rhys ap Thomas’ son had died three years earlier. The mourner was ap Thomas’ grandson, Rhys ap Gruffydd, who was married to Katherine Howard, another of Thomas and Agnes’ daughters. The two remaining mourners were Robert Radcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter, and William Willoughby, Lord Willoughby de Eresby. Both men were fellow East Anglian landowners, and Radcliffe was tangentially connected to Thomas through their children’s marriage. Willoughby was not part of Thomas’ wider family, but he was a useful connection as his wife was Maria de Salinas, one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies-in-waiting. Whilst the mourners were all closely connected to Thomas and must have been affected by his death, they were there to perform a ceremonial function, not to express their personal grief. The following days were intended to demonstrate that, although Thomas had died, his power had been seamlessly transferred to his heir. Agnes and Thomas’ daughters had no formal role to play in the funeral; they may have attended some of the services and the funeral feast, but the funeral was not expressly designed to meet their emotional needs.
On the first day, the funeral procession travelled just twelve miles to the nearby town of Diss, where they rested overnight. It must have been a formidable sight as it passed through the countryside, similar in impact to a royal progress or an army. At the head of the procession were the representatives of the Church in the form of the three Orders of Friars and the personnel of Thomas’ chapel. Behind them came the military strength of his household: his heraldic standard borne by a squire, the knights, squires and gentlemen of his household, and his household steward, treasurer and comptroller. Thomas’ funeral hatchments were carried immediately in front of the chariot. The word hatchment has come to mean the large boards painted with the deceased’s coat of arms, complete with its supporters, helm and crest, and ‘words’ or motto; examples of these can still be seen hanging in some churches today. However, in the context of Thomas’ funeral, the word was used more broadly to include the other items that represented his status as a knight and nobleman. These comprised his banner, his coat of arms, his helm and crest, his ‘target’ – a small shield decorated with his coat of arms – and a second coat of arms which was to be offered during the funeral. The two ‘coats of arms’ were most likely actual coats, or tabards, embroidered or painted with his arms. The banner was borne by Sir Edward Bray and the rest of the items were carried by heralds from the College of Arms, with the Garter King of Arms, the most senior of all the English heralds, carrying the second coat of arms.
Riding behind the chariot was Thomas the younger in his role as chief mourner and, a respectful distance behind him, the other mourners were ordered according to their rank. The journey was long enough that the nine mourners rode most of the way in light gowns and with light trappings for their horses, and only changed into their long, black mourning gowns just before they entered each town on their route. Behind the mourners came Thomas’ chamberlain leading a horse trapped in cloth of gold decorated all over with escutchons of his coat of arms. At key points in the ceremonies, this horse would be ridden by a knight dressed in Thomas’ armour and carrying a war axe. The final section of the procession was formed of all those lords and gentlemen that did not have a ceremonial role to play, each of them dressed in black and ordered according to their rank. Accompanying the procession were 400 men in black gowns and hoods, carrying burning torches. It cost the Howard family over 900 marks to provide livery of a black gown or coat to 900 people. Keeping a procession of this size moving smoothly was a challenge in itself, and junior officers from the College of Arms were appointed to ride with the procession and keep it in order.
Along the way they were met by the local priests, who were each given escutcheons of Thomas’ coat of arms to hang in their church and asked to pray for his soul. When they were a mile from Diss, the procession was greeted by representatives of the town who accompanied them to the church. The building had been hung with black cloth in readiness for the arrival of Thomas’ coffin, and a service was held in the church with the mourners in attendance. They were then able to retire to their lodgings, leaving the watch of yeomen and gentlemen to keep a vigil around the coffin overnight. Between 6 am and 7 am the following morning, the mourners and all the assembled nobility and gentlemen attended a Mass of Requiem, after which they were ordered by the heralds to form up in the same processional order as the previous day. From Diss to Thetford Priory was a further twelve miles, and they needed to leave promptly if they were to cover the distance that day. Once again, they were met en route by priests from the local churches and, about half a mile short of Thetford, by a procession of friars and priests who conveyed them to the church at Thetford Priory. They were met at the church door by Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely, the abbots of Wyndham and Thetford and the Prior of Botley.
Thetford Priory was chosen as the funeral and burial location by Thomas, who had made the decision at least as early as his period of illness in the summer of 1516, if not earlier. It was common at the time to request burial in a religious institution with which the deceased had a particular connection. On a personal level, Thomas and his family had a close relationship with the Prior of Thetford and his monks. The accounts for the priory record a regular flow of gifts from Thomas Howard, and he is often found staying with them as a guest. He would have been confident that he could rely on the prayers of the monks, not just in return for the financial gifts that they had received from him but also as a mark of personal affection and respect. The priory had also been the traditional burial location for Thomas’ cousins, the dukes of de Mowbray, and it was the final resting place of his father’s body. The church was filled with the heraldry of the de Mowbray family and of their royal ancestor, Thomas Brotherton. In a society with low levels of literacy, images carried great power and it was important for Thomas to be buried in a place where he was surrounded by the emblems of his predecessors. His family’s claim to the dukedom was relatively new and came via the youngest of three co-heiresses; his choice of burial location was intended to make his link to the title seem stronger than it was in reality.
The coffin was taken into the choir and laid in the hearse that had been erected there. A sixteenth-century hearse was not a vehicle for transportation but a metal or timber structure that served as a focal point for the funeral services and a temporary memorial. Thomas’ hearse was a giant construction that dominated the interior of the choir. It was covered with 700 candles, turning into a blaze of lights, 100 wax bedesmen – small figures depicted in prayer with rosary beads – eight banners depicting his marriages in heraldic form and 100 pensells, small pointed flags, of sarcenet decorated with his heraldic badge. The upper edge of the hearse was trimmed with a valence of black sarcenet fringed with black silk. Inside the hearse and over the coffin was a cloth of majesty, a type of canopy similar to that set over royal thrones, inscribed with his motto. Once again, an overnight vigil was held around the hearse whilst the majority of the mourners, and the mass of people who had descended on Thetford, snatched some rest before the funeral, which was to be a lengthy and, no doubt, arduous combination of religious services and celebrations of Thomas’ noble lineage and military achievements.
The day of Thomas’ funeral began in the priory church at 6 am with the first of three Masses. The focus of the first and second Masses was primarily religious, and the only ceremonial element was a financial offering on behalf of the chief mourner. The third service was the Mass of Requiem, sung by Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely. During this Mass, Thomas the younger was led from his place to take part in the ceremonial offerings of his father’s heraldic achievements. This was a particularly convoluted ceremony that involved the supporting mourners approaching in pairs carrying one of the hatchments – the coat of arms, the target, the sword and the helm with crest – between them. They handed each item to the bishop, who presented it to Thomas the younger, who passed it to one of the heralds, who stood alongside the bishop for the remaining of the offering ceremony. Then, in a ritual reserved to those of the rank of earl or above, the Carlisle Herald walked to the door of the church to fetch a knight riding a courser. Henry Radcliffe and Rhys ap Gruffydd led the horse the length of the church and the knight presented Thomas’ battle axe in the same manner as the heraldic achievements. Carlisle was dressed in Thomas’ ‘coat’, most likely his tabard decorated with his coat of arms, and the knight was wearing Thomas’ armour. Once this was complete, the hatchments were set aside until they could be mounted in the church at a later date. Four of the mourners were given palls of cloth of gold by the heralds, which were ‘offered to the hearse’ and laid on the coffin. The full significance and symbolism of these rituals are largely incomprehensible to the modern eye, but it would have been an affront to Thomas’ honour if they had been neglected.
Once the offerings had been concluded, a sermon was delivered by Dr Mackarel, a canon and abbot of the Whitefriars in Alnwick. Mackarel was the only clergyman to play a leading role in the funeral who was not based in East Anglia. His participation was recognition of the time that Thomas had spent living and working in the north of England and represented the networks that he had built up in the area. Mackarel did not hold a senior position within the hierarchy of northern clergymen, so his inclusion suggests that he and his abbey had a personal connection to Thomas. The theme for Mackarel’s sermon was ‘Behold the lion of the Tribe of Judah triumphs’. Symbolically this was a clever choice, as Thomas’ heraldic badge was a lion and there is a certain military overtone to the topic which married nicely with his career. However, it also lasted for nearly an hour and was reputed to have been so effective that the ‘multitude’ who had been listening attentively fled from the church in terror. Once the sermon ended, Thomas the younger and his supporting mourners were conducted back to their lodgings prior to the actual burial.
Thomas’ coffin was interred in a vault in front of the high altar at the very heart of the religious life of the priory. It was a location reserved for the burial of only the wealthiest and most important of patrons. Not only would it be visibly prominent once his tomb was built, but it was deemed to be the holiest area of the church. His final resting place would be almost directly under the feet of the officiating monk or clergyman on a direct line between Heaven and Earth. It was believed that the power of the miracle of transubstantiation would pass directly to his soul and aid its journey through purgatory. He was also surrounded by the tombs of previous dukes of Norfolk. In a small side chapel in the corner between the side of the nave and the north transept was the tomb of his father, John Howard. Between the arcade columns of the choir were the tombs of two members of their predecessors, probably the 3rd and 4th de Mowbray Dukes of Norfolk.
The lowering of Thomas’ coffin into the vault was a relatively understated event compared with his funeral and had little wider social or political significance. A short service was said and the titles of the late duke announced. Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely, shovelled a small amount of soil onto the coffin and said a few further words. Then the head officers of Thomas’ household broke their staves of office and cast them into the grave, indicating that their service to him was now at an end. This is the only time that there is a recorded reference to Thomas’ passing being publicly grieved, as the officers and gentlemen ushers present for this discret service ‘made great mourning’. The bishop threw holy water on the grave and the last of the funeral attendees departed from the church. The vault was sealed ready for his tomb to be erected over it, and, at a later date, the hatchments were fixed to the ceiling and walls of the church.
Following the funeral, the younger Thomas presided over a great funeral feast to signify that he had taken up the mantle of his father’s good lordship. Little is known of the feast thrown in Thomas’ honour except that 400 messes of meat were provided. A mess was a communal dish that was usually shared between two to four persons, depending on their social rank. We can deduce, therefore, that the feast catered for somewhere between 800 and 1,600 people. With that number of people in attendance, it would have been necessary to feed them over a number of sittings or across a number of rooms. At a funeral feast, it was usual for the new lord to reappoint their predecessor’s household officers and give them new staves of office to replace those cast into the grave. When Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, passed new badges of office out to his household servants, the message was clear – their authority now came from him, not from his father. Leftover food would have been handed out to the poor and, on the day of the funeral, £100 was distributed in alms. As each person receiving alms was given 2d, that means that 12,000 people received money. This beneficence was intended to ensure that the recipients prayed for Thomas’ soul – the prayers of the poor were believed to carry the greatest weight with God – but also to act as a sign of their new lord’s generosity and magnanimity. The feast brought the funeral ceremonies to an end and marked the passing of an era.
Thomas had been an educated and pious family man. He may have had a temper and a jealous streak, traits that he shared with his father, but he did not let them dominate his character. He was a conscientious administrator and diplomat, who took his loyalty to the crown very seriously. His pragmatism in the face of political change allowed him to prosper and become one of the leading figures in English government. His approach to warfare avoided individual heroics in favour of consensus and strategy, with great success. He brought his family back from the depths of defeat and imprisonment to the pinnacle of the English nobility and succeeded in establishing an influential and long-lasting legacy.