Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

HENRY HOWARD

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 766 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

HENRY See also:HOWARD , See also:earl of See also:Northampton (1540-1614), was the second son of Henry Howard, earl of See also:Surrey, the poet, and of See also:Lady Frances See also:Vere, daughter of the 15th earl of See also:Oxford, and younger See also:brother of See also:Thomas Howard, 4th See also:duke of See also:Norfolk. He was educated first by See also:Foxe the martyrologist, afterwards by See also:John See also:White, See also:bishop of See also:Lincoln, with whom he acquired Romanist opinions, and finally at the See also:charge of See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth at See also:King's See also:College and Trinity See also:Hall, See also:Cambridge, where he obtained his M.A. degree in 1564, subsequently in 1568 being incorporated M.A. at Oxford. The See also:discovery of his brother's See also:plot to marry See also:Mary, Queen of Scots, and of his own See also:correspondence with her, deprived him of Elizabeth's favour, and he was arrested more than once on suspicion of harbouring treasonable designs. In 1583 he published a See also:work entitled A Dcfensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies, an ostensible attack upon See also:astrology, which, being declared to contain heresies and See also:treason, led to his imprisonment. On regaining his See also:liberty he is said to have travelled in See also:Italy. His flattery of the queen in lengthy epistles met with no response, and his offer to take See also:part in the See also:national See also:defence against the See also:Spanish invasion was refused. He attached himself, however, both to See also:Essex and to See also:Robert See also:Cecil, and through the See also:influence of the latter was in 1600 "again received by Elizabeth. At the See also:close of the queen's reign he joined with Cecil in courting the See also:heir to the See also:throne in See also:Scotland, the See also:main See also:object of his See also:long letters of See also:advice, which See also:James termed " See also:Asiatic and endless volumes," being to See also:poison the royal mind against See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Raleigh and other rivals, whom he at the same See also:time hoped to ensnare into compromising relations and correspondence with See also:Spain. These methods, which could not influence Elizabeth, were completely successful with James, and on the latter's See also:accession Howard received a multitude of favours. In 1603 he was made a privy councillor, on the 1st of See also:January 1604 See also:lord See also:warden of the Cinque Ports, and on the 13th of See also:March earl of Northampton and See also:Baron Howard of Marnhull in See also:Dorset; on the 24th of See also:February 16o5 he was given the Garter and on the 29th of See also:April was appointed Lord Privy See also:Seal. In 1609 he was elected high steward of the university of Oxford, and in 1612 See also:chancellor of Cambridge university. The same See also:year he was appointed one of the commissioners of the See also:treasury.

He was one of the See also:

judges at the trials of Raleigh and Lord See also:Cobham in 1603, of See also:Guy See also:Fawkes in 16o5, and of See also:Garnet in 16o6, in each See also:case pressing for a conviction. In 1604 he was one of the commissioners who composed the treaty of See also:peace with Spain, and from that date he received from the Spanish See also:Court a See also:pension of £See also:i000. The See also:climax of his career was reached when he assisted nis See also:great-niece, Lady Essex, in obtaining her See also:divorce from her See also:husband in See also:order to marry the favourite See also:Somerset, whose See also:mistress she already was, and whose See also:alliance Northampton was eager to secure for himself. He obtained the divorce by the See also:decree of a See also:special See also:commission, and when Sir Thomas See also:Overbury's influence seemed likely to prevent Somerset completing the See also:marriage project, he caused the former to be imprisoned in the See also:Tower. Shortly afterwards Overbury died from the effects ofpoison administered by the direction of Lady Essex; and the close intimacy which existed between the latter and Northampton, together with his See also:appointment of Sir Gervase Elwes or Helwys, a friend of his own, as the keeper of the victim, leaves his name tarnished with the blackest suspicions. The discovery of the See also:crime was not made till some little time after Overbury had succumbed, and meanwhile Northampton's own See also:death anticipated his fall, together with that of Somerset, from See also:power. He advised against the summoning of See also:parliament in 1614, and then fomented disputes to compel James to dissolve it. He died unmarried on the 15th of See also:June 1614, when his See also:title became See also:extinct, and was buried in the See also:chapel of See also:Dover See also:Castle, the See also:monument erected above his See also:grave being subsequently removed to the chapel at See also:Greenwich College. His will shows that he died a See also:Roman See also:Catholic. Northampton, who was one of the most unscrupulous and treacherous characters of the See also:age, was nevertheless distinguished for his learning, See also:artistic culture and his public charities. He built See also:Northumberland. See also:House in See also:London and superintended the construction of the See also:fine house of See also:Audley End.

He founded and planned several hospitals. See also:

Bacon included three of his sayings in his " Apophthegms," and See also:chose him as " the learnedest councillor " in the See also:kingdom to See also:present to the king his See also:Advancement of Learning. He was the author of a See also:Treatise of Natural and Moral See also:Philosophy (1569; MS, in the Bodleian Library) ; of a pamphlet supporting the See also:union between Elizabeth and the duke of See also:Anjou (158o; Harleian See also:MSS. 18o); A Defensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies (1583); a reply to a pamphlet denouncing See also:female See also:government (1589; Harleian MS. 7021) ; Duello Foiled, printed in T. See also:Hearne's Collection of Curious Discourses (1775), ii. 225, and ascribed there to Sir See also:Edward See also:Coke; See also:Translation of See also:Charles V.'s Last Advice to See also:Philip II., dedicated with a long See also:epistle to the queen (Hari. 836, 1506 and elsewhere in See also:Stowe 95, King's MSS. 106) ; devotional writings (See also:Arundel MSS. 300) ; speeches at the trials of Guy Fawkes and Garnet in See also:State Trials, vol. i. In See also:Somers Tracts (ed. 1809), ii.

136, his opinions on the union between See also:

England and Scotland are recorded. See the See also:life in Surrey's and See also:Wyatt's Poems, ed. by G. F. See also:Nott (1815), and See also:Sidney See also:Lee's See also:article in the Dict. Nat. Biog.

End of Article: HENRY HOWARD

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
HENRY FITZALAN
[next]
HENRY I