Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485–1558 by Nicola Clark

Abstract

Reviewed by: Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485–1558 by Nicola Clark Sally Fisher Clark, Nicola, Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485–1558, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018; hardback; pp. 224; R.R.P. £60.00; ISBN 9780198784814. Studies of 'dynasty' and 'dynastic identity' in early modern Europe, especially those concerning royal dynasties, have flourished over recent years. Despite a [End Page 232] few exceptions, this interest has yet to extend to include the early modern English aristocratic family. In the Tudor Howards, Nicola Clark has found a very fine case study. Her focus on three generations of Howard women within the context of gender, family, and politics also provides a welcome reassessment of the long-held male-focused narrative of this elite family. Developed from Clark's doctoral project, this work not only adds an English experience to existing studies of dynasty, but also challenges assumptions about the motivations of individuals within a dynasty. Foundational to Clark's approach is Barbara Harris's English Aristocratic Women, 1450–1550 (Oxford University Press, 2002), which facilitated the integration of women into the late-medieval and Tudor political narrative. Involvement in the political sphere is a key theme in the lives of these women, as Clark places kinship relations at the fore to argue that dynastic ambitions were not always pursued in a similar fashion, nor were they necessarily shared. While the Howard family's status was the result of a fortuitous inheritance through the female line at the close of the fifteenth century, Clark demonstrates how the agency of later Howard women played a significant role in shaping, for better or worse, this family's trajectory. She argues that although these women's experiences were integral to broader understandings of the family, they could not be adequately explained by reference to family identity. Indeed, the complexity of the identities of the Tudor Howard women and the varied ways they exhibited agency across a range of situations is critical to Clark's assertion that there was no one 'Howard woman', a seemingly simple statement that underpins what is a significant contribution to existing understandings of ideas of dynasty, family, and identity in this period. The introduction begins with a deposition taken in the 1541 treason case against Queen Catherine Howard, indicating from the outset the significance of how Catherine and her family were seen by contemporaries and setting up treason as an important undercurrent. Having established the relevance of kinship and how a Howard woman was identified as such, Chapter 1 concerns the experience of kinship relations in daily life, with Clark arguing that kinship connections were critical and necessarily fluid. Using letters, wills, and household accounts (sources that feature throughout) the idea of paterfamilias is explored. Chapter 2 considers the dynastic role of material culture and patronage, including the striking example of a Howard woman using a material object to make a statement about her marriage and identity at a time of crisis. Clark shows how material goods not only provided Howard women a means to express their agency, but could also be used against them to deny or control their position. The third chapter is a highlight. Using case studies of three Howard women, the focus is on marital strife and dynastic identity. The example of Mary Howard/Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, who features in a portrait drawing on the jacket image and has been a central figure thus far, stands out as these women are explored against the wider backdrop of Henry VIII's own marital strife. Chapter 4 continues this broader contextualizing with a close analysis of the Howards as courtiers; Clark's treatment of the [End Page 233] shifting relationships between Anne Boleyn and other Howard family members is insightful and nuanced. However, an error: Elizabeth of York, not Lady Margaret Beaufort, was the mother of Henry VIII (p. 97). Chapter 5 considers the transition of the Howard women from political and social success to the descent into treason and rebellion. This engaging chapter also includes an enticing question: Was there something particularly treasonous about the Tudor Howard women? In Chapter 6, Clark explores these women's religious activities to show engagement at...