The English soldier and councilor Thomas Howard, 3d Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554), was a prominent figure in the government under Henry VIII. He led the conservative faction and opposed both Wolsey and Cromwell.

Thomas Howard was born at a time when the Howard family was rising to prominence through his grandfather's attachment to the Yorkist kings. Sir John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, was a favorite of Richard III; he was killed in the battle of Bosworth in 1485. On the accession of Henry VII, John Howard's son Thomas was attainted and imprisoned, but in 1489 he was released and restored to the nobility as Earl of Surrey. After he led the English forces in a crushing defeat of the Scots at Flodden in 1513, he was created 2d Duke of Norfolk, and his eldest son, Thomas, became Earl of Surrey.

This younger Thomas Howard had been betrothed in 1484 to Anne...