POLITICAL HISTORY 



In 1 515 took place the romantic marriage between the king's sister 

 Mary, widow of the king of France, and the handsome Brandon earl of 

 Suffolk. After their marriage they made a semi-royal progress to Norwich, 

 where they were sumptuously entertained.' 



After centuries of trouble the end of the difficulties between the monks 

 and citizens of Norwich, so often referred to in these pages, was at hand, for 

 Cardinal Wolsey came down in 15 17 and began the negotiations which came 

 to a successful ending in 1524." But no sooner was the city dispute happily 

 settled than there were risings in and near the county, one especially of the 

 workers in cloth, who had lost their living owing to the rich clothiers, 

 mostly in Suffolk, having temporarily ceased manufacturing owing to the 

 heavy subsidies placed upon them. The dukes ' of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 acting together seem to have pacified them, and the exaction of the 

 subsidy either ceasing or being eased, things resumed their normal course, but 

 in 1527 and 1529 there were minor riots at Norwich and Yarmouth owing to 

 the scarcity of corn, which were, however, suppressed, and several men 

 executed for their share in them.* 



As an account in detail of the progress of the Reformation in Norfolk is 

 given elsewhere it is not necessary to do more than mention it here. That 

 Walsingham, a village which was one of the best known places of pilgrimage 

 in England, should in 1537^ be the scene of an insurrection on the lines of 

 the Pilgrimage of Grace of the year before is not to be wondered at, but it 

 appears to have been easily suppressed. Nor was it unnatural that the 

 Catholics should see in the fall of Anne Boleyn a signal proof of divine 

 vengeance. Anne, who was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a small 

 Norfolk squire, and the niece of Thomas third duke of Norfolk, had entered 

 Queen Katherine's service about 1552. That she was brought to the 

 king's notice with the idea of furthering the fortunes of her father's family 

 is unquestionable, and probably no scheme of the sort ever recoiled with more 

 deadly result on its promoters. 



Queen Jane Seymour having died, and Queen Anne of Cleves having 

 been disclaimed, the king in i 540 formed an ill-omened match with another 

 Norfolk woman when he married Katherine Howard, the niece of the duke 

 of Norfolk, and first cousin to Anne Boleyn, who paid the penalty of ante- 

 nuptial sins in 1542. There is some reason to believe that the ill-result of 

 this marriage contributed to the disgrace of the duke of Norfolk and the death 

 of his son Henry Howard, the poet-earl of Surrey, in 1547. The latter, as 

 one of the most striking figures in the history of our county, deserves more 

 than a passing notice. 



Henry Howard, the poet-earl, heir of Thomas duke of Norfolk, by Lady 

 Anne Stafford, his second wife, and born about 1 5 17, was brought up at 

 Windsor as the boy companion of Henry VIII's natural son the duke of 

 Richmond, and was once thought a fitting match for Mary, afterwards 

 queen. He saw service in Scotland, was wounded at Montreuil, became 

 governor of Boulogne, and earned fame as a soldier of ability and a tilter 



' Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 193. 



* L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, 655. See also for further details Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 195, 197. 

 ' Holinshed, Chron. (Hooker), iii, 891. * Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 197-8. 



' Holinshed, Chron. (Hooker), iii, 945 ; L. and P. Hen. Fill, xii, pt. ii, 56. 



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