Content note: This video discusses historical allegations of domestic abuse.

Imagine being one of the highest-ranking women in England, then writing that you were locked away, stripped of your jewels, pinned until you spat blood, and dragged from bed by your hair.
Those are the claims of Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, set down in letters to Thomas Cromwell, and answered by her husband, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.

I’m Claire Ridgway. Today we examine Elizabeth’s marriage, her letters, Norfolk’s rebuttal, and what this case shows about coercive control and power at the Tudor court.

In this episode:

• Elizabeth Howard’s background & marriage to Thomas Howard
• Bess Holland, household tensions, and banishment from court
• The letters to Cromwell: isolation at Redbour ...