The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: The Life of Thomas Howard, Third Duke of Norfolk

very challenging reading this! also very interesting & the content takes you back to a time of deep politics(unlike wishy washy politics of today)! It will take me a time to get through this book, but so far it is excellent.

This book is very informative, packed with details but not at all dull and boring. I am sure that anyone interested in this era has read "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Wier and if you liked that book, you will thoroughly enjoy this one. You get an inside look at one of the engineers of the destruction of King Henry VIII's greatest ministers: Wolsey and Cromwell and thus his greatest enemies. It starts with his family origins, talking about his father and grandfather. The action picks up at Bosworth where in 1485, Henry VII seized the crown from Richard III on the battlefield. The Howards chose the wrong side to ally with and were deemed as traitors and his father (then Earl of Surrey) was imprisoned.Their power picks back up with the death of Henry VII and ascension of Henry VIII. From 1514 to 1524 he proved himself on the battlefield, for being a soldier was by far his greatest talent. Although he coveted the power and influence of Wolsey and Cromwell, "Norfolk lacked the sharpness and focus on mind that distinguished rare men like Wolsey, More and Cromwell, and the willingness to apply himself to administrative duties work which made them such valuable servants." The king realized this. He, like so many old lords resented these "new men" who were given honors, his immense family pride was often a barrier to his politcal success. Althought the author points out that his nobility rankings "were as much Tudor gifts as Thomas Cromwell's earldom of Essex." As you can see the author is far from biased.The author takes you through the time when the name Howard was good as gold, such as during military campaigns such as the war with the French and the Pilgramage of Grace; and when the Howard name was synonomous with mud, mainly due to Ann Boleyn and Katherine Howard, both his nieces whose fall from favor with their mutual husband and the king spelled disaster for the Howards. Though it all however, Norfolk managed to keep his head unlike More and Cromwell, and did not die in disgrace like Wolsey.This book focuses mainly on his politcal and military career, but his personal life was very interesting as well, and is discussed to some length in one of the last chapters "An English Duke". Even though this book is about him, there is not shortage of information on his two rivals, Cromwell and Wolsey, especially the former, whom I am especially fascinated with.All in all, another must have for the Tudor History Buff. All quotations refer to direct lines in the book.EW

Found Howard interesting due to portrayal of him by Patrick Troughton in Six Wives of Henry VIII in the early seventies.