| Pre-Nominals: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Suffolk | |
| Occupation: | English Earl |
| Birth Date: | 13 August 1584 |
| Birth Place: | Saffron Waldon, Essex, England |
| Death Place: | Charing Cross, London, England |
| Burial Place: | St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden, Essex, England |
| Father: | Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk |
| Mother: | Catherine Knyvet |
Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, (13 August 15843 June 1640) was an English nobleman and politician.
Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife, Catherine Knyvet of Charlton, and succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Suffolk and 2nd Baron Howard de Walden in 1626, along with some other of his father's offices, including the lord-lieutenancy of the counties of Suffolk, Cambridge and Dorset.[1]
Howard danced in Lord Hay's Masque to celebrate the marriage of James Hay and Honora Denny on 6 January 1607. On 9 February 1608 he performed in the masque The Hue and Cry After Cupid at Whitehall Palace as a sign of the zodiac, to celebrate the wedding of John Ramsay, Viscount Haddington to Elizabeth Radclyffe.[2] During the progress of Anne of Denmark in April 1613, he danced in the masque at Caversham Park.[3]
Sir Theophilus Howard was named in the Second Charter of Virginia made by King James I on 23 May 1609. The members of this extensive list were "incorporated by the name of The Tresorer and Companie of Adventurers and Planters of the Citty of London for the Firste Collonie in Virginia".
He was elected MP for Maldon in a by-election in 1605 caused by the death of Sir Edward Lewknor and sat until he was ennobled in 1610 as Baron Howard de Walden by a Writ of Acceleration.[4]
He was the dedicatee of Shelton's translation of Don Quixote, the first translation of the work in any language. The translation of the first part of Don Quixote was published in London in 1612, while Cervantes was still alive. It is not known why Shelton chose Howard as a dedicatee, although he was possibly a distant relative.[5] He was also the dedicatee of John Dowland's last book of songs "A Pilgrimes Solace", also published in 1612.[6]
Howard visited Scotland in 1613. He dined with his brother-in-law James Home of Cowdenknowes at Broxmouth House, and then stayed in John Killoch's house in Edinburgh's Canongate, where the Duke of Lennox had stayed in 1608. He visited Dunfermline Palace and saw the coal works of George Bruce at Culross. After a visit to Stirling Castle, he stayed a night at the Nether Palace or Castlestead of Falkland with Lord Scone, and returned by boat to Leith and the King's Wark, the home of Bernard Lindsay. He went to Seton Palace to see Anna Hay, Countess of Winton, and then returned to England.[7]
Howard's parents received a pension from Spanish diplomats. In 1617, they were offered a Dutch pension. Howard discussed the deal with the Spanish ambassador Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar. He persuaded his parents not to take the Dutch offer, and Gondomar gave him a valuable diamond jewel.[8]
Howard owned Framlingham Castle in Suffolk which he sold to Sir Robert Hitcham in 1635 for the sum of £14,000.[9] He owned Audley End House in Essex as well, built by his father Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
He died in 1640 at Suffolk House, Charing Cross, London,[10] and was buried on 10 June that year in Saffron Walden.[11]
In March 1612, he married Elizabeth Home (died 19 August 1633), daughter of George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar. According to a memoir of the early life of Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James and Anne of Denmark, she had been one of the Princess's companions at Coombe Abbey from 1604.[12] They had nine children:
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