(3rd creation) , for his services at the
Battle of Flodden Blazon: The Royal Shield of Scotland, having a demi-lion only, which is pierced through the mouth with an arrow. (1st Creation) Before the Dukes of Norfolk, there were the Bigod
Earls of Norfolk, starting with
Roger Bigod from
Normandy (died 1107). Their male line ended with
Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, who died without an heir in 1306, so their titles and estates reverted to the crown.
Edward II then granted his brother,
Thomas of Brotherton, the title of
Earl of Norfolk in 1312. It passed to Thomas's daughter (and granddaughter of Edward I),
Margaret, and then to her grandson,
Thomas Mowbray. When
Richard II made Thomas Mowbray the Duke of Norfolk in 1397, he conferred upon him the estates and titles (including
Earl Marshal) that had belonged to the Earls of Norfolk. His elderly grandmother, Margaret, was still alive, and so at the same time she was created Duchess of Norfolk for life. Mowbray died in exile in 1399, months after his grandmother, and his dukedom was repealed. His widow took the title of
Countess of Norfolk. Between 1401 and 1476, the
Mowbray family held the title and estates of the Duke of Norfolk.
John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, died without male issue in 1476, his only surviving child being the 3-year-old
Anne Mowbray. A
marriage was arranged between Anne and
Richard, Duke of York, the 4-year-old son of
Edward IV. She remained Richard's
child bride until she died at the age of 8. In accordance with the marriage arrangements, Richard inherited the lands and wealth of the Mowbray family. He was also made Duke of Norfolk. However, upon the death of Edward IV, the throne was offered to Edward's brother,
Richard III. After Prince Richard was lodged in June 1483 in the Tower of London, where his elder brother (briefly
Edward V) was too, both Richard and Edward were declared illegitimate. They subsequently
disappeared, and the titles of both York and Norfolk were forfeited to the crown. This left
John Howard, the son of Thomas Mowbray's elder daughter Margaret, as heir to the dukedom, and his support for Richard III's accession secured his creation as 1st Duke of Norfolk in 1483, in the title's third creation. From this point to the present, the title has remained in the hands of the descendants of John Howard, except for periods when it was temporarily forfeited. The Catholic faith of the Howard dynasty often resulted in conflict with the reigning monarch, particularly during and after the reign of Henry VIII. In 1546,
Thomas Howard, the third Duke, fell out of favour with the dying Henry and was attainted on 27 January 1547; he was stripped of his titles and his lands reverted to the Crown. Imprisoned in the Tower of London, he narrowly escaped execution through Henry's death the following day, but remained imprisoned until the death of Edward VI and the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary to the English throne in 1553, upon which his lands and titles were restored to him. However, the Duke died the following year aged around 81, and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas as the fourth Duke of Norfolk. Following Mary's death in 1558 and the accession of her sister Elizabeth I, the Duke was imprisoned for scheming to marry Elizabeth's cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. After his release under house arrest in 1570 and subsequent participation in the
Ridolfi plot to enthrone Mary and Catholicism in England, he was executed in 1572 for treason and his lands and titles again became forfeit. In 1660, the fourth Duke's great-great-grandson, the 23rd Earl of Arundel, was restored to the family lands and dukedom. Mentally infirm, the fifth Duke never married and died in 1677. He was succeeded by his younger brother
Henry as the 6th Duke, through whom the
7th Duke,
8th Duke and
9th Duke of Norfolk were descended in the male-line. At the death of the 9th Duke, the title was inherited in 1777 by his heir male,
Charles Howard, a grandson of Charles Howard of Greystoke, a younger brother of the 5th and 6th Dukes. He was succeeded by his son,
Charles, whose lack of a legitimate male heir resulted in the title passing to
Bernard Howard, a great-grandson of Bernard Howard of Glossop, the youngest brother of the 5th and 6th Dukes. The title then passed to his son in 1842,
Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, who was the father of
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, and
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop. By
royal licence dated 26 April 1842, the 13th Duke added "Fitzalan" before his children's surnames (but not his own), so they all became Fitzalan-Howard, which surname their male-line descendants have borne ever since. Their ancestor,
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, married
Mary FitzAlan (daughter and heiress of
Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel) in 1555. The title passed through the line of the elder brother from 1856 until the death in 1975 of
Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk without male issue. Consequently, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed,
Miles Stapleton-Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, who was a great-grandson of the aforementioned
1st Baron Howard of Glossop. The current Duke of Norfolk is
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, who succeeded his father,
Miles Stapleton-Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, in 2002. He succeeded as 18th Duke of Norfolk (Premier Duke of England), 36th
Earl of Arundel (Premier Earl of England), 19th
Earl of Surrey, 16th
Earl of Norfolk, 13th
Baron Beaumont, 26th
Baron Maltravers, 16th
Baron FitzAlan, 16th Baron Clun, 16th
Baron Oswaldestre, and 5th
Baron Howard of Glossop. The 15th Duke of Norfolk owned almost 50,000 acres with 19,400 acres in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 21,000 acres in Sussex and 4,400 acres in Norfolk. == Duties and other titles ==