Thomas Howard

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, is a powerful court figure whose influence helps secure Thomas Cromwell’s place in Parliament, even as their competing loyalties and political aims make their relationship uneasy. He wants the fallen Thomas Wolsey’s resources and place beside Henry VIII, supports war with France, and later stands among the nobles resistant to the government’s religious and legal changes.

Identity and Political Position

Norfolk is presented as the realm’s leading nobleman after the king’s bastard son. His position gives him leverage over parliamentary seats: when Cromwell seeks election to the Commons in the winter of 1529–spring 1530, Rafe Sadler reports that Norfolk and Henry VIII have both consented to Cromwell’s return for Taunton. Norfolk expects Cromwell to take instructions from him as well as from the king, exposing the limits of a parliamentary appointment that depends on aristocratic patronage.

Norfolk’s ambitions are directed at Wolsey’s fallen power. He believes the cardinal has concealed treasure and suspects Cromwell knows its whereabouts; he is also interested in taking Wolsey’s place near the king. Yet his religious attachments complicate his pursuit of advantage. He condemns Wolsey’s influence and wants his wealth, while handling relics and invoking saints, and recoils from comparing a churchman to a serpent for fear of spiritual consequences.

Cromwell, Wolsey, and the Court

Norfolk tests Cromwell’s allegiance by offering him a place in his service. Cromwell has just reassured Wolsey that he will not abandon him, and answers Norfolk with a question about whether the duke’s instructions will match the king’s. Norfolk’s response makes plain that he expects obedience, but Cromwell’s independence is already visible: he is difficult to reduce to a subordinate role, even when his entry into Parliament has depended on Norfolk’s assent.

Their exchange also turns on social origins and military experience. Norfolk assumes a blacksmith’s son cannot understand the attraction of battle, then learns that Cromwell served with the French at the Battle of Garigliano and later traded in cloth. The discovery briefly changes the tone between them: Norfolk recognizes something in Cromwell that explains his earlier dislike, yet responds without lasting animosity. Their difference over war remains sharper. Norfolk argues that England must fight for France despite the cost, while Cromwell questions the purpose of continued conflict.

Norfolk’s pressure on Wolsey’s household becomes more direct as the cardinal’s position deteriorates. He demands that Wolsey go north and threatens to come himself if the cardinal does not leave. Cromwell carries the message but refuses to repeat its most extreme wording, asking to substitute a less inflammatory term. Norfolk rejects the moderation and insults him; Cromwell remains composed, and the confrontation shows how his firmness frustrates the duke’s command of the encounter.

Power, Policy, and Religious Conflict

Norfolk’s political influence is not limited to personal dealings. In the struggle over Wolsey, he helps promote a petition for Henry VIII to send to Pope Clement VII, asking for freedom to end his marriage; the proposal is accompanied by vague threats. In the wider court, Norfolk and Thomas Boleyn are also occupied with receiving ambassadors from France, Venice, and the Emperor, while Cromwell suspects their diplomacy is directed against Wolsey.

The government’s measures against the church sharpen the divide. When Katherine of Aragon objects to the demand that the clergy pay a substantial sum under the laws of praemunire, she refers to nobles such as Norfolk and Charles Brandon as men willing to diminish the church’s power so that no future churchman can become as powerful as Wolsey. The accusation distinguishes opposition to Wolsey personally from hostility to the church as an institution: Katherine accepts the former, but not the latter.

Norfolk is among the traditionalist nobles who support the Pope and Katherine during the debate over the king’s authority. The old aristocracy, including the Exeter family with its own claim to the throne, is prepared to make its position known. Against that resistance, Cromwell advances a theory of secular jurisdiction drawn from Marsiglio of Padua: the prince governs temporal affairs, while kingship derives through Parliament rather than from the Pope. The dispute is thus not simply between rival courtiers; it concerns which institution has authority to define marriage, legitimacy, and the government of the church.

Character and Narrative Significance

Norfolk’s forceful public manner is set beside a persistent concern with religious observance. He invokes saints and carries relics, yet seeks Wolsey’s wealth and political position. His conduct embodies the unstable conjunction of personal ambition, inherited rank, military pride, and traditional faith that the novel places under pressure as royal power expands.

He also serves as a test of Cromwell’s changing standing. At first Norfolk can help determine whether Cromwell enters Parliament and expects him to serve under ducal direction. Later, Cromwell operates as a political actor in his own right, negotiating with queens and shaping legislation; in turn, Norfolk’s resistance becomes one part of a broader contest over the boundaries of aristocratic, parliamentary, royal, and ecclesiastical authority.