Thomas Howard's parents, having met in London, were married at the age of fifteen. He would come to have three sisters, and older, Jane, and two younger, Katherine and Margaret. A brother, Henry, was born into the family in 1540. The Howards had an extensive family line and many ties to the Crown. His aunt, Catherine Howard, was married to King Henry VIII, until her beheading for adultery at the Howard home in Lambeth when Thomas was only four years old. Another of his aunts, Mary, Duchess of Richmond, was widowed by King Henry VIII's son, Henr

After his father's death, Thomas' mother became very ill and could no longer take care of her children. The young Howards were sent to live with their extreme Calvinist aunt, Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, at Reigate Castle. The tutor Mary acquired for them was John Foxe, a troubled martyrologist and a Protestant. Foxe would instill his beliefs in the Howard children for the next five years and become Thomas' friend for life.

Thomas lived the first nine years of his life at the place of his birth, Kenninghall Palace. There he was tutored by the scholar Hadrianus Junius, and learned many athletic, as well as, diplomatic skills. As the heir to the dukedom of Norfolk, he was required to learn many more skills than his siblings, and the genius of his sister Jane and brother Henry did not show itself in Thomas. Thomas did, however, become an expert at coursing rabbits during his first years at Kenninghall and wrote a treatise concerning the subject which was still being reprinted a century ago.

It was at the time that Thomas was returning to court that Mary Queen of Scots fled to England, following the death of her husband. It was purported that she had a lover by the name of Bothwell. Norfolk became good friends with the Scottish secretary Maitland and was shown the "Casket Letters", supposed correspondence between Mary and Bothwell. Maitland suggested that the solution to restoring Mary to her kingdom was for Norfolk to marry her. Norfolk became enchanted with the idea. When Queen Elizabeth confronted him about his partiality to Mary, he said "No reason could move him to liketh her that hath been a competitor of the Crown; and if her Majesty would move him thereto he will rather be committed to the Tower, for he meant never to marry with such a person, where he could not be sure of his pillow"(J. S. Symonds, Blank Verse(1895), p. 16). It was conversations such as these that led him to formulate a plan in his mind to obtain Mary's hand. Mary and Norfolk had met and exchanged tokens, nearly the equivalent of a betrothal, but Norfolk could not find the courage to inform his Queen of his planned marriage. Chief Secretary Burghley, one of Norfolk's adversaries, although Thomas never knew, jumped at this chance to accuse Thomas of attempted treason against the Queen. Burghley influenced the Queen into believing that Norfolk was secretly plotting to overthrow Elizabeth and insert his would-be bride on the throne. Belatedly, Norfolk went to the Queen and attempted to explain matters to her, but her mind was already set. On September 26th he went to Kenninghall after having been shunned by the court, missing a request of the Queen's that he meet with her at Windsor. This missed invitation would be taken as a proclamation of his guilt. After receiving the message too late, he set off for Windsor. Arriving on October first, he was immediately placed under arrest. He was sent to the Tower under suspicion of treason, placed in the same quarters as his grandfather had been. Thomas was betrayed by his servants who changed his correspondence to have a tr

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2085
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)