Bill of attainder Earl of Gloucester. They were both attainted for supporting King Edward II during his struggle with the queen and barons. In England, those executed subject to attainders include George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1478); Thomas Cromwell (1540); Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1540); Catherine Howard (1542); Baron Thomas Seymour (1549); Duke Thomas Howard of Norfolk (1572); Earl Thomas Wentworth of Strafford (1641); Archbishop William Laud of Canterbury (1645); and the Duke James Scott of Monmouth. In the case of Catherine Howard, in 1541 King Henry VIII was the first monarch to delegate Royal Assent, to avoid having to assent personally
Catherine Howard who had sufficiently distanced himself from the scandal by retreating to Kenninghall to write a grovelling letter of apology. The Duke of Norfolk's son Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, a poet, remained a favourite of the King. The Duke, knowing his family had fallen from grace, wrote an apology on 14 December to the King, excusing himself and laying all the blame on his niece and stepmother. All of the Howard prisoners were tried, found guilty of concealing treason, and sentenced to life imprisonment and forfeiture of goods. In time, they were released with their goods restored. The King sank