On the 13th January 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, stood trial on the charge of high treason for conspiracy and having
“displayed in his own heraldry the royal arms and insignia, with three labels silver, thereby threatening the king’s title to
the throne and the prince’s inheritance”
“displayed in his own heraldry the royal arms and insignia, with three labels silver, thereby threatening the king’s title to
the throne and the prince’s inheritance”
Henry Howard was first cousin to both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both Henry VIII's queens. He was a talented poet, most of his work is said to have been written while he was imprisoned and published ten year following his execution. His poem Fair Geraldine, is thought to have been about Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the wife of Sir Anthony Browne.
Elizabeth Fitzgerald was famous for her beauty, the name Fair Geraldine, is said to have derived from Howard's poem.
"Fair all the pageant but how passing fair
The slender form, that lay on couch of Ind!
O'er her white bosom strayed her hazel hair,
Pale her dear cheek, as if for love she pined;
All in her night-robe loose, she lay reclined,
And, pensive, read from tablet eburnine
Some strain that seemed her inmost soul to find:
That favoured strain was Surrey's raptured line,
That fair and lovely form, the Lady Geraldine."
At the beginning of December 1546, the king was informed that there was evidence of a conspiracy against him, and Henry had Howard arrested. Despite being questioned at length by Thomas Wriothesley, he denied his guilt. Within days he was taken from Ely Place to the Tower of London to await trial.
At least four of his so called friends gave evidence against him and his judges were men known to dislike him. He entered a plea of not guilty and stood in his own defense. By the end of the day his passionate defence got him nowhere, he was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, but this was later commuted to beheading which took place six days later on the 19th January.
Henry Howard would be the last person to be executed by the paranoid and dying King Henry VIII.
Elizabeth Fitzgerald was famous for her beauty, the name Fair Geraldine, is said to have derived from Howard's poem.
"Fair all the pageant but how passing fair
The slender form, that lay on couch of Ind!
O'er her white bosom strayed her hazel hair,
Pale her dear cheek, as if for love she pined;
All in her night-robe loose, she lay reclined,
And, pensive, read from tablet eburnine
Some strain that seemed her inmost soul to find:
That favoured strain was Surrey's raptured line,
That fair and lovely form, the Lady Geraldine."
At the beginning of December 1546, the king was informed that there was evidence of a conspiracy against him, and Henry had Howard arrested. Despite being questioned at length by Thomas Wriothesley, he denied his guilt. Within days he was taken from Ely Place to the Tower of London to await trial.
At least four of his so called friends gave evidence against him and his judges were men known to dislike him. He entered a plea of not guilty and stood in his own defense. By the end of the day his passionate defence got him nowhere, he was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, but this was later commuted to beheading which took place six days later on the 19th January.
Henry Howard would be the last person to be executed by the paranoid and dying King Henry VIII.
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