John Howard

Sir John Howard (died 1437) with his second wife Alice Tendring. 1637 drawing by Henry Lilly, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, of stained glass depiction in Stoke-by-Nayland Church in Suffolk. Displaying arms of Howard impaling Tendring Arms of Sir John Howard (died 1437): Gules, a bend between six cross-crosslets fitchy argent. After the Battle of Flodden in 1513 his descendant the 2nd Duke of Norfolk was granted an augmentation of honour to these arms by King Henry VIII Sir John Howard (c. 1366–1437), of Wiggenhall and East Winch, in Norfolk, England, was a landowner, soldier, courtier, administrator and politician. His grandson was John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, the great-grandfather of two queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the six wives of King Henry VIII.

Origins Born in about 1366, Howard was the son and heir of Robert Howard and Margaret Scales, daughter of Robert de Scales, Baron Scales and Katherine d'Ufford, a daughter and eventual heiress of Robert d'Ufford, Earl of Suffolk. His grandfather, John Howard (died 1364), had served as Admiral of the Northern Fleet from 1335 to 1337. By his first wife he had one son and heir: John Howard, who predeceased his father Secondly, before June 1397, he married Alice Tendring (d. 18 October 1426, buried Stoke-by-Nayland By his second wife he had two sons: Robert Howard (died 1436), who also predeceased his father. Henry Howard (died 1446), who married Mary Hussy, the daughter of Henry Hussey. Henry inherited the manors of Sprottisland, Burhous and Terrington from his mother. He was murdered in 1446.

Landholdings and succession Through both of Howard's parents and through his two wives, he acquired estates in several adjoining counties, among them: In Norfolk: Wiggenhall, Fersfield, East Winch, five manors near King's Lynn, Garboldisham, Toft, Weeting and Knapton. In Suffolk: Stoke-by-Nayland, Chelsworth, and Brook Hall near Dunwich. In Essex: Stansted Mountfichet, Oakley and Moze. In Cambridgeshire: Fowlmere.

After the death of Howard's eldest son in 1409, who left an only daughter, he settled many of these properties on this granddaughter, and when she married around 1425, he assured her husband John de Vere that many more would follow. His second son then died in 1436, leaving a grandson, John Howard, as the heir to be provided for. After Howard's death in 1437, bitter feuds over the inheritance broke out between the de Veres and the Howards, which continued into the Wars of the Roses, during which both John de Vere and John Howard lost their lives.