Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel (née Dacre; 21 March 1557 – 19 April 1630), was an English poet, noblewoman, and religious conspirator.

She lived a life devoted to her son, Thomas Howard, and religion, as she converted to the illegal and underground Catholic Church in England in 1582, in defiance of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I's policy of Caesaropapism.

She was known to be a "woman of strong character, and of religious desposition... whose influence soon made itself felt upon her husband... the increasing seriousness of his thoughts led him in the direction of Romanism...".

Following Anne, her mother gave birth to three more children: a son George (but sometimes called Francis), and two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary.

[4] After the death of their mother, Anne and her siblings were essentially brought up and educated by their maternal grandmother, Lady Mounteagle, who had formerly been married to Sir James Leyburn.

Growing up, Anne and her siblings were instructed on religion by a Catholic priest, despite Elizabeth I's accession in 1558 and her reversal of Mary I's counter-Reformation.

[5] In 1569, it was arranged for Anne to marry Thomas's eldest son, her stepbrother, Philip Howard, the Earl of Surrey, the Duke's heir.

Once word got out about her conversion from Protestantism to Catholicism, Queen Elizabeth I showed strong disapproval and Anne was put under house arrest in the home of Sir Thomas Shirley.

[13] She died of natural causes on 19 April 1630 at Shifnal Manor, Shropshire, aged 73, and was buried next to her husband inside the Fitzalan Chapel at their former home, Arundel Castle in Sussex.

In a 1995 homily at Arundel Cathedral, Cardinal Basil Hume said, "I believe that Anne herself achieved the highest degree of sanctity.

"[14] Anne Howard wrote many letters, poems, and journal entries throughout her life, including accounts of her and her husband's lives.