Merrie Ole Englande series: #6

This week’s theme is ‘females’. I woke up cranky today, much like my maternal 14th great-grandmother, Agnes TILNEY HOWARD about whom I’ll be writing today. Agnes is my ancestor through my BATES line and her second husband, Thomas HOWARD, is my 14th great-grandfather. I descend through their son, William HOWARD, 1st Baron of Effingham and his wife Margaret GAMAGE (my 13th great-grandparents).

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I write these stories for my daughter and grandchildren so that when I’m gone, they won’t lose their history. I’m banking on the fact that the internet really is “forever”. In regard to this story, if there’s a lesson here for my grandsons I think it would be that what you do when you’re young really does matter. The decisions you make tell others who you really are and whether you’re trustworthy. The actions you take (and the decisions you make) can have life altering consequences. As my grandpa said, do what’s right – always. That way you have nothing to worry about.

Agnes Tilney

I want to set the stage by listing various descriptions of Agnes that I’ve found online. She was described as ‘old and testy’, ‘stiff-necked’, ‘old-fashioned’, had an ‘acid tongue’ and a ‘fiery temper’, a stubborn streak regarding certain issues, disregard for the refinements of high society, total disdain for courtly etiquette, rigidly religious, ‘old and unwell’, near death (she was very ill when she was arrested and she did die just two years after she was released and pardoned). Under this façade though, lay a shrewdness and knowledge of the ways of the world – street smarts, if you will. Not to mention, all of her testiness and her ‘acid tongue’ kept her from going to trial until the king’s anger had subsided – which saved her life. The king & the Council felt Agnes “may die out of perversity to defraud the King’s Highness of the confiscation of her goods” so they didn’t want to put her on trial. Instead, they chose not to deal with her. They indicted her and confiscated her property for the Crown without a trial. (Wikipedia)

Agnes TILNEY’s family was a powerful and wealthy family in England in her day. She also married into money and power. She was one of the wealthiest and highest ranking women in the country outside of the Royal family. Agnes was first appointed a position at Court when she was 15 years old.

Her name, her husband’s name, and her son’s name (all my direct ancestors) are mentioned in the book, A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans Government Unto the Death of King James. (JSTOR) See image below.

The paragraph reads in part:

…William Lord HOWARD of Effingham, son of that warlike Thomas HOWARD Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Agnes TILNEY. This William was made a Baron by Queen Mary and Lord High Admiral of England, and by Queen Elizabeth Lord Chamberlain, till such time that being take with age, he yielded up that place to the Earl of Sussex, and was then made keeper of the Privy Seal, which is the fourth degree of honour in England.

JSTOR, A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans Government Unto the Death of King James.

When not serving in Court or at devotions, she ran a lax home with ineffectual discipline for the many single women and children who lived with her. She often neglected her familial duties to attend court or devotions. This decision would come back to haunt her in the end.

Agnes’ second marriage was to Thomas HOWARD. In marrying him, she became the step-grandmother to two queens – Anne BOLEYN and Katherine HOWARD- and a step-great-grandmother to Princess Elizabeth TUDOR. Agnes’ great fortune happened when her husband Thomas gained victory over the Scots at Flodden Field (thus the description of ‘warlike’ in the Chronicles of the Kings of England). Thomas was rewarded with the title of Duke of Norfolk the following year which made Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk. There are conflicting reports as to whether Agnes enjoyed being the high society “hostess with the mostest”. The same year she was given the title of Duchess, she was chosen to accompany Princess Mary Rose TUDOR to France for Mary’s wedding to King Louis XII. She was chosen as godmother to King Henry VIII’s oldest daughter Mary. She was explicitly trusted by King Henry’s top advisors and was something of an apothecary. She was also one of Queen Catalina de Aragon’s top ladies-in-waiting, second only to the King’s sister, Mary. King Henry’s next wife, Anne BOLEYN, was a relative of Agnes TILNEY HOWARD. Agnes bore the train of Anne’s wedding dress at Anne’s coronation in 1533 so it seems as if Agnes weathered the transition between queens and was able to keep her position in the Court. Later, Agnes held King Henry’s and Queen Anne’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth, at her baptism. Apparently, due to the customs of the day, Anne BOLEYN’s failure to produce a male heir was a large stain on the family’s reputation.

As a widow, Agnes presided over the manors at Horsham and Chesworth.

At Chesworth Manor, Agnes had a school to instruct the the young relatives and single women of nobility in her home. She had been given guardianship of some of her step-grandchildren (including the future queen, Katherine). She also had many single women of noble birth living in her home and acting as her ladies-in-waiting while they attended school; she also employed and housed some relatives who were in need.

Agnes was said to be “rigidly religious” yet had no time (or took no time?) to watch over the children and ensure they learned (and maintained) moral standards. To be fair, she was trying to manage 24+ properties, attend Queens as a lady-in-waiting, fulfill the social duties of a woman in her social class, give back to the community, do her religious duties, and raise many children who weren’t her own. Some say that despite her outward expression of religion, inwardly she tolerated and was amused by the antics of youth. That included the antics of the Duchess’ step-granddaughter (and future Queen), 13-year-old Katherine HOWARD, along with some of Katherine’s siblings who had been in Agnes’ care from a very young age due to their mother’s death. Agnes likely knew what was going on behind closed doors and kept her mouth shut about it.

When Katherine came to the Duchess’ home, Mary LASCELLES came with her and was made the chamberer to the Duchess. Mary LASCELLES was in an even better position to observe what the youth of the home were doing and she became alarmed when the music teacher, Henry MANOX, began paying a lot of extra attention to 13-year-old Katherine. Mary warned MANOX that Katherine’s family would ruin him if they found out and he basically told Mary to mind her own business. Katherine grew tired of Henry MANOX and soon moved on to Francis DEREHAM. Agnes was not prone to meddle in others’ lives and ladies as young as 14 years old were often married off in her society so it’s possible that Agnes viewed Katherine as an adult who could make her own decisions. Agnes only required that her household guests outwardly display the appearance of conforming to moral standards. What went on behind closed doors was not her concern. She kept herself busy maintaining multiple large (and disorganized) properties, fending off the continual requests from poorer relatives for money, not to mention her son Williams’ constant demands for more money and advances on his inheritance. Don’t think that she was not giving of her money and time. As one of the richest women in the realm, she did much to support people in the surrounding countryside who needed help. She cared for sick neighbors using her honed apothecary skills as well.

Henry MANOX soon became tired of being neglected and rebuffed by Katherine. He wrote an anonymous letter to Agnes advising her that there were things going on in her home of which she would not approve and suggesting she look into the situation. However, he named no names and doesn’t seem to have been very specific because Agnes didn’t associate the letter with Katherine and instead castigated her servants for their negligence in maintaining an appropriate outward appearance. However, Katherine saw the letter and knew exactly to whom and to what it referred. Katherine stole the letter from Agnes and showed it to Francis who flew into a rage at Henry. Henry found another woman soon afterward, married her, and disappeared. Lord William and his wife were not so blind, though. They knew what was going on – possibly because it’s said William was having an affair with one of Katherine’s roommates. Both William and his wife Margaret warned Katherine to stop.

Meanwhile King Henry VIII took a fourth wife and Katherine was appointed as one of the new Queen’s ladies-in-waiting. King Henry immediately took a liking to Katherine and not long after, he sought an annulment from Anne of Cleves. Queen Anne’s lawyers made that difficult for King Henry and the King finally gave her some of the things she was asking for (including property) in order to get the annulment. King Henry soon married Katherine. In the background, Agnes and her stepson Thomas were encouraging and advising the King to marry Katherine. In fact, Thomas was the one who had made arrangements for Katherine to become a lady-in-waiting in the hopes of improving his chances of political ascendancy. He was soon backpedaling on his knowledge of Queen Katherine and her private life, though.

Around this time Agnes’ nephew, Philip TILNEY, died. He was in debt when he died. He left behind a wife, Malyn CHAMBRE TILNEY, and a son, Edmund TILNEY. Agnes promised to help Malyn and Edmund. (For reference, Philip was my 1st cousin 15 times removed and Edmund was my 2nd cousin 14 times removed.) Malyn became a chambermaid to Queen Katherine so I’m assuming this was one avenue of assistance that Agnes (and Thomas) provided for her. Sadly, it would not work out well for Malyn. She was convicted of Misprision of Treason, and imprisoned. Initially I believed the part she played in all this was to help set up the trysts between Thomas CULPEPER and Queen Katherine. However, it is certain that Lady Joan BOLEYN of Rochford was in that role and she was beheaded whereas Malyn was released from prison and pardoned. So perhaps Malyn’s crime was that she knew it was happening and didn’t tell. Once she was convicted, everything she had left was confiscated for the Crown. After Queen Katherine was executed, Malyn was released from prison and pardoned by the King.

Not long after their marriage, the King was advised of Katherine’s previous trysts. He began investigating. Agnes, in an effort to protect herself and her family, destroyed many of the letters kept in the house by Francis DEREHAM. She actually went to his quarters and stole the letters so she could destroy them! Mary LASCELLES (now married and going by Mary HALL) advised the King’s high-ranking enemies of Katherine’s previous affairs. Mary’s and her brother John’s testimony was taken. Katherine didn’t help herself at all because, having grown tired of her old husband, she was in the middle of an affair with Thomas CULPEPER, one of the King’s most trusted servants. Trouble was coming.

When her current affair came to light and she confessed, it was the end for Katherine. But it wasn’t just the end for Katherine, she took many of her inner circle with her, although not intentionally. The King began arresting her family members and close friends. More than 10 members of the HOWARD family ended up in prison over this. They were arrested on charges of Misprision of Treason – that is, treason (very loosely interpreted on many occasions under King Henry VIII) by concealing the affairs from the King and hurting his reputation in the kingdom. The people taken into custody included Agnes, Agnes’ son (and my 13th great-grandfather) William and his wife Margaret, Agnes’ daughter Catherine (one of Queen Katherine’s chambermaids), and many more. The Tower was so full of prisoners, it’s said that the remainder of the prisoners had to be housed on other Crown property. This was not the first time the HOWARD family had been treated like this under King Henry VIII. Agnes was so certain she would be executed that she had her will updated quickly before going to prison. (JSTOR, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 3-16 (14 pages))

The major order of business for Parliament in 1542 was Katherine and her affairs as well as the treason said to have been committed by her family. The majority of HOWARD and TILNEY family members were sentenced as such: “their bodies to perpetual prison” (i.e., life in prison) and “loss of goods” (forfeiture of all property to the Crown). Bills of Attainder were filed and the family’s lands were confiscated by the Crown. Agnes TILNEY HOWARD and her daughter Catherine were among the last to be tried. By then, some of the turmoil had died down. Agnes and her daughter Catherine were indicted for Misprision of Treason. There are conflicting accounts as to whether they were convicted or not. Their property was seized by the Crown but they weren’t executed. Advisors to the king presented Agnes as a an old lady who was very afraid and had a heavy conscience due to her guilt of hiding Katherine’s indiscretions from the King and encouraging him to marry her. They pleaded with the king to release Agnes and let her live out her life. They told him she was near death anyway and he should allow her to live out her remaining time in her home. They were persuasive.

Eventually, Agnes’ daughter Catherine was released from prison and pardoned. Agnes’ daughter-in-law Margaret (one of Queen Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting and also the wife of William HOWARD & my 13th great-grandmother), was released from prison within two months and pardoned. William (my 13th great-grandfather and husband of Margaret) was released and pardoned in August of the same year. Queen Katherine and two other women were convicted and then executed by guillotine. The following year, Agnes was finally released from prison and pardoned. Her stepson Thomas, who had immediately distanced himself from the family was never returned to his position in Court. Two years later Agnes died. She was buried at Thetford Priory. In November of that year (1545) in accordance with her wishes, her remains were re-interred at Lambeth. When Agnes went into prison she had at least 24 manors plus other properties. When she died, these properties returned to the dukedom. I’m not sure what happened with the seizure of property by the Crown. However the following year her stepson Thomas, who had previously distanced himself from the entire family, was in possession of the properties and the title of Duke. Given how he treated Agnes, I doubt he allowed Agnes to return to any of the properties after she was released from the Tower.

Further Reading

I wanted to post a few interesting links for you. The blogger Janet Wertman states that Agnes begged for mercy. You can read Janet’s blog post about it here (it includes the text of what Agnes said). She also wrote a post with the text of the letter that Thomas HOWARD wrote to the King throwing Queen Katherine, some of his half-siblings, and his stepmother Agnes under the bus (right before he got out of town to avoid being arrested). In the letter he calls his family ‘ungracious’, ‘unhappy’, ‘lewd’, and ‘traitorous’ and shoves all the blame for the marriage of Henry and Katherine onto his stepmother Agnes. To be fair, Thomas had had a previous run-in with the King and I’m sure he feared for his life when he threw his step-mother under the bus in his letter. Still, it feels somewhat restorative to know he never regained his cushy position in the Court after doing that to his family in an effort to save himself. I can think of a few terms for Thomas but I’ll let you read the letter and come to your own conclusions about him. You can find more of the letters and papers of King Henry VIII at the British History Online website. The final two links are especially for my daughter. Blogger Arnie Perlstein wrote two blog posts connecting Agnes TILNEY HOWARD’s story to the novelist Jane Austen. You can find part one here and part two here.

Thomas CULPEPER (distantly related to the HOWARD family – beheaded) and Francis DEREHAM (of TILNEY family descent – hung, drawn & quartered) were put to death. Their heads were hung on London Bridge. Queen Katherine (a HOWARD family member) and Lady Jane BOLEYN of Rochford (a HOWARD family member) were beheaded as well. You can access all the resources I studied by clicking the links in the ‘Resources Used’ section below.

Thanks for sticking with me through the Merry Old England series. I’ve enjoyed it but I’m looking forward to bringing the blog back to U.S. subjects. Since the majority of the people I’ve written about in this series were Catholic, I’ll leave you with a portion of a Catholic blessing:

To us who are alive may He grant forgiveness, and to all who have died a place of light and peace. Amen.

Liturgical Blessing for the Commemoration for the Dead

Until next week,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Resources Used

• Tudor Place
• The Tudors Wiki
• Tudors Dynasty blog
• The Tudor Enthusiast blog
• The History Jar blog
• Tudors Dynasty blog
• Wikipedia – Agnes Tilney Howard
• The Sixteenth Century Journal on JSTOR
• A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans Government Unto the Death of King James on JSTOR
• CountryLife
• The Gentleman’s Journal
• DailyMail
• The Tudor Travel Guide
• Janet Wertman blog – Agnes Tilney Howard
• Janet Wertman blog – Thomas Howard
• British History Online
• Catholic Doors site
• Historic Royal Palaces
• Sharp Elves Society blog