Mary, daughter and heiress of Henry Fitzalan, twelfth earl of Arundel [q. v.] He was born at Arundel House, London, on 28 June 1557, and his mother died two months after his birth. King Philip was one of his godfathers, and the child was regarded as heir to two of the greatest families in England. In youth he was known by the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey. His education was committed to Gregory Martin, fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, who was inclined to the old religion, and ultimately left England for Douay. In 1569, at the age of twelve, he was formally betrothed to his father's ward, Anne Dacre, one of the three coheiresses of Thomas, lord Dacre of Gilsland, a child of the same age with himself, and the marriage was solemnised in 1571. Next year his father was executed for high treason, and before his death committed to his eldest son the care of his younger brothers and their betrothed wives (see Howard, Lord William, 1563-1640; Wright, Queen Elizabeth and her Times, i. 402, &c.) In accordance with his father's wishes he went to Cambridge, where he passed his time in dissipation, which, however, did not prevent the university from honouring a young man of such high position with the degree of M.A. without requiring the usual exercises in November 1576 (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 188). On his return to London, Surrey plunged into all the gaieties of life at court. He left his young wife unheeded in the country, because the queen did not like her favourites to be married. His reckless manner of life gave great concern to his maternal grandfather, the Earl of Arundel, and he ran into debt by his extravagance and by the entertainment which he gave to the queen at Kenninghall in 1578 (Nichols, Progresses of Elizabeth, ii. 130, 198). He was, however, disappointed in his attempts to become a royal favourite, and was probably weary of his profligate life, when the death of the Earl of Arundel, in February 1580, brought him face to face with his responsibilities. He succeeded to the earldom of Arundel by right of his mother, and Lord Lumley made over to him his life interest in the castle and honour of Arundel. His claim, however, was questioned, and the matter was before the council, who decided in his favour. But he was not restored in blood till 18 March 1581 (Lords' Journals, ii. 54).
Arundel felt that his prospects of success at court were small, and turned to domestic life. His wife was a woman of strong character, and of a religious disposition, and her influence soon made itself felt upon her husband. It is said that Arundel was much moved by the arguments used by Campion in dispute with the Anglican divines in September 1581. At all events, the increasing seriousness of his thoughts led him in the direction of Romanism, which his wife openly professed in 1582. She was consequently committed by Elizabeth's orders to the care of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex, by whom she was guarded for a year, during which time her first child Elizabeth was born. Arundel was now regarded with suspicion. Parsons speaks of an attempt in 1582 'to draw the Earls of Arundel and Northumberland to join with the Duke of Guise for the delivery of the Queen of Scots' (Knox, Letters of Cardinal Allen, 392n.) In consequence of these suspicions, the queen paid Arundel a visit at his London house in 1583, and soon afterwards sent him a message that he was to consider himself a prisoner there. An attempt was made to implicate him in Throgmorton's plot, and he was subject to many interrogatories. This harsh treatment only had the result of driving Arundel to seek the consolations of religion, and in September 1584 he was received into the Roman church by Father William Weston, and henceforth dedicated all his energies to the service of his new religious belief. At first he tried to dissemble, and accompanied the queen to church, but invented excuses for absenting himself from the service. But he soon found the strain upon his conscience to be too great, and in April 1585 attempted to flee from England. He embarked on a ship at Littlehampton in Sussex, leaving behind him a letter to the queen explaining the motives of his departure. His movements, however, were carefully watched, and no sooner was his ship in the Channel than it was boarded and he was brought back. He was committed to the Tower on 25 April 1585, and was arraigned before the Star-chamber on the charges of being a Romanist, fleeing from England without the queen's leave, intriguing with Allen and Parsons, and claiming the title of Duke of Norfolk. On these grounds he was condemned, in May 1586, to pay a fine of 10,000l. and be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure. He remained in the Tower for the rest of his life, while his wife lived in comparative poverty. His only son Thomas was born, but he was not allowed to see his wife or child. Arundel and his wife were reckoned on by the foreign plotters as helpers (Burghley Papers, ii. 489, 493), and Arundel, had he left England, would have been a dangerous centre for the queen's enemies. But the exceptional severity with which he was treated can only be accounted for by strong personal dislike on the queen's part, carefully
