Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk

Her abusive marriage to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, whom she married at age 15, created a public scandal.

According to Harris, Lady Elizabeth's father saw that all his children received some education and her literacy is attested to by the fact that she was described by the poet John Skelton as an admirer, friend of the muses and his particular patron.

[3] Lady Elizabeth had earlier been promised in marriage to her father's ward, Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland.

[7] In her later letters, she asserted that she had been a dutiful wife, continuing to serve at court daily 'sixteen years together' while her husband was absent in King Henry VIII's wars, and accompanying him to Ireland when he was posted there in 1520–22.

[11] It appears the Duchess' anger caused her to exaggerate Bess Holland's inferior social status, as her family were probably minor gentry, and she eventually became a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.

[19] The Duchess wrote of her husband's abuse of her during this period, claiming that when she was recovering after the birth of her daughter, Mary, he had pulled her out of bed by the hair, dragged her through the house, and wounded her with a dagger.

[20] Norfolk responded to the allegations by writing that 'I think the apparent false lies were never contrived by a wife of her husband that she doth daily increase of me'.

According to the Duchess, the Duke had ridden all night, and arriving home in a furious temper had locked her in a chamber and taken away all her jewels and apparel.

[23] She was sent to a house in Redbourn, Hertfordshire, from which she wrote a number of letters to Cromwell complaining that she was kept in a state of virtual imprisonment with a meagre annual allowance of only £200.

The Duke attempted to form an alliance with the Seymours through a marriage between his widowed daughter, Mary Howard, and Hertford's brother, Thomas Seymour, but the effort was forestalled by the provocative conduct of the Duke's eldest son and heir, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who had displayed in his own heraldry the royal arms and insignia.

The dying King gave his assent to Norfolk's death by royal commissioners, and it was rumoured that he would be executed on the following day.

Her brother wrote a brief but apparently heartfelt epitaph:[36] Thou wast to me, both far and near, A mother, sister, a friend most dear.