Tea at Trianon: The Howard Tombs at Framlingham

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, February 3, 2020

The Howard Tombs at Framlingham

My ancestors. From The Tudor Travel Guide:

Well, the Howards, also known as the Dukes of Norfolk, originally came from North Norfolk near to King’s Lynn. John Howard was a lawyer. It’s been said that the way to the top in Tudor times was by law, marriage and warfare and the Howards excelled in all those departments, particularly in marriage!

John Howard became associated with the Mowbrays, who lived at Framlingham Castle. The grandfather of the first Howard Duke of Norfolk married one of the Mowbrays. That was how they became associated with the Dukedom. John Howard, the first Duke of Norfolk that we’re interested in, was granted the Dukedom of Norfolk by Richard III. He fought alongside Richard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Unfortunately, the first Duke was slain during the ensuing skirmish. Subsequently, he was buried at Thetford Priory, the then Howard mausoleum. This was, of course, eventually moved here, to Framlingham, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. That’s how the Howard tombs of the Dukes of Norfolk came to Framlingham. (Read more.)