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[The engraver of this likeness of Frances Howard was Willem van de Passe, son of Crispin, of
Zeeland, and a younger brother of Simon. (See the Biographical Directory.)
The print of this engraving in the Cordwainers' copy of the Generall Historie, now in the
Huntington Library, is apparently the only surviving example of the portrait bound in the original
sewing and printed on paper the full size of the book (Sabin, Dictionary, 236-237). It is perhaps worth
hazarding a surmise, on the basis of this single example, that Smith donated hand-inscribed copies
to the other livery companies, and that these copies also contained van de Passe's portrait of the
duchess bound in.
As noted in the lower margin, Frances was the daughter of Thomas, Lord Howard of Bindon,
who in turn was the son of Thomas Howard, third duke of Norfolk, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter
of Edward Stafford, third duke of Buckingham. The repeated royal connections along with Henry
VIII's matrimonial adventures, shown in the genealogical table below, explain in some measure
the odd mental makeup of John Smith's benefactress. And to these must be superposed Frances's
three marriages. First married to a wealthy, though far from royal, vintner named Henry Pranell.
she was soon a young, beautiful, and wealthy widow. Within a year she married Edward Seymour,
earl of Hertford, whose aunt, Jane Seymour, was the mother of King Edward VI. The earl had
befriended John Smith in 1612 (see the dedication prefixed to the Map of Virginia), and it is
possible that Smith was presented to Frances then. In any case, the earl died April 6, 1621, aged
eighty-one, and Frances, by then possessed of an income worthy of an oriental potentate, tarried
not in remarrying. Still only in her early forties, Frances married Ludovick Stuart, nearest male
relative of King James himself. Ludovick was already duke of Lennox, in Scotland, and when the
king determined to raise his favorite, George Villiers, to the dignity of duke of Buckingham, an
English title, it seemed improper for him to take precedence over a Stuart. Consequently, Ludovick
was created duke of Richmond a matter of minutes before the ducal title was conferred on Buckingham.
In this way, and due to her vanity mixed with frivolity, Frances came to be known as the
"Double Duchess." It need only be added that when Ludovick died on February 16, 1624, Frances
wasted little time in seeking the crown through marriage to King James. Failing this, she lived on,
childless, in solitary royal splendor until she was placed in the tomb next to her third husband in
Westminster Abbey late in 1639.
The editor is grateful to the New York Public Library for permission to reproduce this
engraving.]
GENEALOGY OF FRANCES HOWARD
* Elizabeth Stafford was the daughter of Edward, duke of Buckingham, descended from
Edward III through both John of Gaunt and Thomas, duke of Gloucester.
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