Anne DACRE
(C. Arundel)
Born: 21 Mar 1557, Carlisle
Died: 19 Apr 1630, Shiffnall, Shropshire, England
Buried: Arundel
Father: Thomas DACRE (4° B. Gillesland/3° B. Greystoke)
Mother: Elizabeth LEYBURNE (B. Dacre/D. Norfolk)
Married: Phillip HOWARD (1° E. Arundel) 1571
Children:
2. Thomas HOWARD (14º E. Arundel)
One of the heiresses of Thomas Dacre, Lord of Gillesland, by his second wife, Elizabeth Leyburne. Following the death of his husband, Lady Dacre remarried Thomas Howard, 4º Duke of Norfolk, a matrimonial alliance aimed at securing the property of the great Dacre family for the Howards. The Duke and Lady Dacre were married and their little children married too. Anne was married to Phillip Howard, baron Greystoke and Earl of Arundel. Phillip soon left his quiet, young wife for the glamour of Elizabeth's court, where he wasted their money and property to flatter the Queen. Anne was driven from her home and rumours came to her of infidelities of doubts cast on the validity of her marriage and always there was the indifference of Phillip and the contempt of the Court for her simple goodness.
This part of her pilgrimage lasted about eleven years. She became after her conversion the patroness of Father Southwell and of many priests, and eventually founded the novitiate of the Jesuits at Ghent. Then there was a brief togetherness with Phillip which had its own pain and dangers. Anne Dacre and Phillip's favorite sister, Margaret Sackville, were reconciled to the Catholic Church. Anne returned to the full practice of her faith, and Phillip was moved by the influence of Fr. Edmund Campion to seek reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church. The Queen was furious with rage. Anne had to bear her first child away from home, and, as part of a last, desperate appeasement by Phillip, the child was christened a Protestant and named Elizabeth.
Phillip however went boldly and rashly into his new convictions, and minds subtler than his duped him into treasonous plots. For Anne there was to be a new twist on her way of the cross. Phillip was thrown into the Tower, to stay for eleven years. She could not visit him and the Queen ordered the gaoler to lie to Phillip that his second child was a girl, not the longed-for son and heir. All these years Anne could never see Phillip and, as he drew near to death, only by renouncing their faith would they be allowed to meet.
On various occasions it was reported to his wife that the Earl was drinking in prison, that he had affairs with all kinds of loose women, and was entirely indifferent to religious concerns. Even where he was at the point of death in 1596, it was made a condition that he must renounce his faith if he wanted to see Anne and the children before he died.
Anne lived to 73 years of age, revered for good works. Her last cross was the apostasy (during her lifetime) of her son Thomas, again for advancement at Court.
to Bios Page |
|
to Peerage Page |
to Home Page |
