Person Page - 1274

     1st Duke of Norfolk.

     2nd Duke of Norfolk.

     Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey (before 1445 – 4 April 1497) was an English heiress and the first wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. She was the mother of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Through her daughter Elizabeth, she was the maternal grandmother of Anne Boleyn, and through her son Edmund, she was the paternal grandmother of Catherine Howard; both queens consort of King Henry VIII. Elizabeth's great-granddaughter was Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Elizabeth was commemorated as the "Countess of Surrey" in John Skelton's poem, Garlande of Laurrell, following his visit to the Howard residence of Sheriff Hutton Castle.

Elizabeth was born at Ashwellthorpe Manor, Norfolk, England, sometime before 1445. She was the daughter and heiress of Sir Frederick Tilney, of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, and Boston, Lincolnshire, by his wife Elizabeth Cheney, of Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire.[1]

Her father died when she was a young child. Shortly before 1 December 1446, Elizabeth's mother married her second husband, [2] Sir John Say of Broxbourne, Speaker of the House of Commons by whom she had three sons, Sir William Say, who married Elizabeth Fray, Thomas Say, and Leonard Say, who would later become a priest; and four surviving daughters, Anne Say, who married Henry Wentworth, Mary Say, the wife of Sir Philip Calthorpe, Elizabeth Say, wife of Thomas Sampson, and Katherine Say, wife of Thomas Bassingbourne.[3]A fifth daughter, whose name is not known, died as a young child. Queen consort Jane Seymour was a granddaughter of Henry Wentworth and Anne Saye, and thus a second cousin to both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Elizabeth's paternal grandparents were Sir Philip Tilney and Isabel Thorpe. Her maternal grandparents were Sir Laurence Cheney of Fen Ditton and Elizabeth Cockayne, widow of Sir Philip Butler. Elizabeth Cockayne was the daughter of Sir John Cockayne, Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Ida de Grey. Ida was a daughter of Welsh Marcher Lord Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Eleanor Le Strange of Blackmere.[4] Through her mother, Ida was a direct descendant of Welsh Prince Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran and his wife Emma de Audley.

Elizabeth was co-heiress to the manors of Fisherwick and Shelfield in Walsall, Staffordshire by virtue of her descent from Roger Hilary, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas who had died in 1356.[5]

The Battle of Barnet where Elizabeth's first husband Sir Humphrey Bourchier was slain[edit] Marriages
In about 1466, Elizabeth married her first husband Sir Humphrey Bourchier, the son and heir of John Bourchier, 1st Lord Berners and Margery Berners. The marriage produced a son John Bourchier, 2nd Lord Berners and two daughters. Sir Humphrey, who was heir to the title of Baron Berners, was killed at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471 fighting on the Yorkist side.[6]

Elizabeth married her second husband, Thomas Howard on 30 April 1472.[7] On 22 August 1485 his father John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk was killed at the Battle of Bosworth while fighting for his king Richard III who was also his close friend and companion.[8] Thomas, who had been created Earl of Surrey on 28 June 1483, was wounded in the battle and imprisoned for several years, his right to ascend to the dukedom of Norfolk being forfeit. He would not gain the title until 1514. After his Earldom and estates were restored to him, he continued in the service of the Tudor king Henry VII.

The marriage produced nine children including Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth Howard, mother of Anne Boleyn, and Lord Edmund Howard, father of Catherine Howard.¹

     Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII, and mother to Queen Elizabeth I.

     Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

     Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen regnant of England and Queen regnant of 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. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her brother, Edward VI, bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting his sisters out of the succession. His will was set aside, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.

Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel,[1] and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, Baron Burghley. One of her first moves as queen was to support the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement held firm throughout her reign and later evolved into today's Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry, but despite several petitions from parliament and numerous courtships, she never did. The reasons for this outcome have been much debated. As she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity, and a cult grew up around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings.[2] One of her mottoes was "video et taceo" ("I see, and say nothing").[3] This strategy, viewed with impatience by her counsellors, often saved her from political and marital misalliances. Though Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs and only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France and Ireland, the defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588 associated her name forever with what is popularly viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history. Within 20 years of her death, she was being celebrated as the ruler of a golden age, an image that retains its hold on the English people.

Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians are more reserved in their assessment. They depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered,[4] sometimes indecisive ruler,[5] who enjoyed more than her share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity to the point where many of her subjects were relieved at her death. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor, in an age when government was ramshackle and limited and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. Such was the case with Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned in 1568 and eventually had executed in 1587. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.[2]¹

     Fifth wife of Henry VIII of England.