robert dudley, earl of essex

Your comment will be posted after it is approved. [90], Though an absentee landlord, Leicester, who was also Lord of Denbigh, regarded the lordship as an integral part of a territorial base for a revived House of Dudley. [164] Leicester's relations with James of Scotland grew closer when he gained the confidence of the King's favourite, Patrick, Master of Gray, in 15841585. [6] Young Robert grew up in Dudley's and his friends' houses, but had "leave to see" his mother until she left England in 1583. Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of, Baron Denbigh, This article was most recently revised and updated by, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Dudley-earl-of-Leicester-Baron-Denbigh, World History Encyclopedia - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Robert Dudley, The History of Praliament - Biography of Sir Robert Dudley, Historic UK - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Public Broadcasting Service - Biography of Robert Dudley, The Earl of Leicester. With the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, Dudleys fortunes soared rapidly. They were certainly emotionally dependent on each other throughout their lives, but were they ever really lovers? 143144, 152, 158, 168; Wilson 1981 p. 141; Jenkins 2002 p. 119, Chamberlin 1939 p. 152; Wilson 1981 p. 142, Adams 2008b; Chamberlin 1939 pp. III p. 477; Jenkins 2002 p. 279, Wilson 1981 p. 215; Collinson 1960 pp. 6769; Jenkins 2002 pp. To do so might have cost her the throne. Later that year he died suddenly at his home. [178] Leicester was also instrumental in founding the official Oxford University Press,[179] and installed the pioneer of international law, Alberico Gentili, and the exotic theologian, Antonio del Corro, at Oxford. "[77], On ceremonial occasions, Dudley often acted as an unofficial consort, sometimes in the Queen's stead. [168] The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor. I may fall many ways and have more witnesses thereof than many others who perhaps be no saints neither for my faults they lie before Him who I have no doubt but will cancel them as I have been and shall be most heartily sorry for them. January 2013 Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. [196] He immediately became a major patron to former Edwardian clerics and returning exiles. by Jessica Brain If there was ever a man who could win the heart of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, it was Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. Two days after their private wedding at Wanstead House, Elizabeth arrived there on a progress, but nobody breathed a word. However, Robert Devereux was also Robert Dudley's heir in the realm of artistic patronage. I'm the Tudor Enthusiast Offering information and opinions, answering your questions and asking some of my own! Edward Frederick Ward (1907-1987), third son of the second Earl, was a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. [64] Elizabeth herself wavered as to declaring Mary her heir, until in March 1565 she decided she could not bring herself to it. Handsome and immensely ambitious, he failed to win the Queens hand in marriage but remained her close friend to the end of his life. [15] His court career went on in parallel. She immediately appointed him her Master of Horse, responsible for the travels of the court and its entertainment. Despite his many accomplishments, Robert Dudley will always be best remembered as being a close friend and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. The following year, he failed in an expedition to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet off the Azores. [177] He enforced the Thirty-nine Articles and the oath of royal supremacy at Oxford, and obtained from the Queen an incorporation by Act of Parliament for the university. [249] Elizabeth kept the letter he had sent her six days before his death in her bedside treasure box, endorsing it with "his last letter" on the outside. But with Dudleyafter a period of coolnessher relationship continued, amazingly, much as before. [117] In July 1576 Essex returned to Ireland, where he died of dysentery in September. [170] English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester. Born on 24th June 1532, he was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and his wife, Jane. Politically and financially ruined, Essex attempted to raise the people of London in revolt against the government. 5758; Wilson 1981 p. 95, Chamberlin 1939 pp. For 18 years he did not remarry for Queen Elizabeth's sake and when he finally did, his new wife, Lettice Knollys, was permanently banished from court. [172] Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the Galleon Leicester, which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton, but also under Drake. [244] When the Privy Council was already considering disbanding the camp to save money, Leicester held against it, setting about to plan with the Queen a visit to her troops. 4. His policies, in violation of Elizabeths instructions, and his arrogant manner alienated the Dutch and resulted in his recall to England in 1587. A Puritan, Leicester became the leader of those Protestants who favoured vigorous action against Spain abroad and against the Roman Catholics at home. This debate stretched over a decade until 1585, with the Earl of Leicester as the foremost interventionist. IV pp. [4] Shortly after the child's death in 1584, a virulent libel known as Leicester's Commonwealth was circulated in England. Definition. Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, circa 1560s, by Steven van der Meulen. [52] To account for such oddities and evidence that she was ill, it was suggested in 1956 by Ian Aird, a professor of surgery, that Amy Dudley might have suffered from breast cancer, which through metastatic cancerous deposits in the spine, could have caused her neck to break under only limited strain, such as a short fall or even just coming down the stairs. 205211, Freedman 1983 pp. 94, 95, 138, 197; Doran 1996 p. 124, Gristwood 2007 p. 151; Girouard 1979 p. 111, Adams 2002 p. 120; Wilson 1981 pp. But Amy never appeared at court. February 2021 Died : 24 May 1612 - St Margaret's Priory, Marlborough. [14] Lord Robert, as he was styled as a duke's son, became an important local gentleman and served as a Member of Parliament for Norfolk in 155152, March 1553 and 1559. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [208] In 1584 the Prince of Orange was murdered, political chaos ensued, and in August 1585 Antwerp fell to the Duke of Parma. Whilst their meetings remained constant, the viable prospect of a marriage was now much mired by Roberts past. 9094, 99, 101104; Jenkins 2002 p. 130, Hume 1904 pp. February 2012 [55] He was already deeply involved in foreign politics, including Scotland.[56]. Joanne Paul | Published in History Today Volume 68 Issue 5 May 2018 Portrait of Lettice Knollys c.1541-1634) by Sarah Essex, c.1825. That being said, Elizabeth continued to want to have him close and in 1562, after falling terribly ill with smallpox, the Queen arranged for Robert Dudley to be made Protector of the Realm. [41] Her husband visited her for four days at Easter 1559 and she spent a month around London in the early summer of the same year. Although he refused to be married to Mary, Queen of Scots, Leicester was for a long time relatively sympathetic to her until, from the mid-1580s, he urged her execution. In 1578, he married the Queen's cousin, Lettice Devereux, Countess of Essex. [157] He was also, from the early 1560s, on the best terms with the Protestant lords in Scotland, thereby supporting the English or, as he saw it, the Protestant interest. January 2021 Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (l. c. 1532-1588 CE), was a high-ranking courtier who rose to become a favourite of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603 CE). To make matters worse, everyone knew that Dudley was already married. 282284, Adams 2002 p. 147; Gristwood 2007 p. 307; Hammer 2003 pp. [26] Henry Dudley was killed in the following siege by a cannonballaccording to Robert, before his own eyes. ), favourite and possible lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England. I assure you it will fret me to death ere long to see my soldiers in this case and cannot help them", Leicester wrote home. 5621230. [118] The rumours continued. Dudley didnt give up hope of wedding her. Who are our longest-reigning monarchs, how did their reigns change England and Britain, and what can we see of their reigns today? In this function, he invited Queen Elizabeth to visit her troops at Tilbury. 155, 156157, 159161, Hume 1904 pp. It's no secret that Elizabeth had many favorites at court - though Leicester is undoubtedly the most famous - but this one in particular met quite a different end than was normal. In 1586 Walsingham uncovered the Babington Plot. June 2014 In 1571 Leicester began an affair with the dowager Lady Sheffield. Whilst Elizabeth enjoyed the festivities immensely, the reality of the prospective marriage posed too many problems. Source: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. 115, 120123; Doran 1996 p. 44, Chamberlin 1939 pp. [88], At the time Robert Dudley entered his new Welsh possessions there had existed a tenurial chaos for more than half a century. November 2014 [201], Leicester was especially interested in the furtherance of preaching, which was the main concern of moderate Puritanism. July 2011. 311, 313; Chamberlin 1939 p. 263, Bruce 1844 p. 309; Wilson 1981 pp. November 2016 7576; Jenkins 2002 p. 178, Rosenberg 1958 pp. His arrogance, however, undermined his effectiveness as a political and military leader. [66], By 1564, Dudley had realised that his chances of becoming Elizabeth's consort were small. [21] On 18 November 1558, the morning after Elizabeth's accession, Dudley witnessed the surrender of the Great Seal to her at Hatfield. 225226; Wilson 1981 pp. 326327, Doran 1996 pp. As a teenager, hed made a carnal marriage, begun for pleasure to Amy Robsart, daughter of a Norfolk squire. Whilst his military career landed him in the Netherlands for the next two years, he would return to England without much to show for his efforts. When his first wife, Amy Robsart, fell down a flight of stairs and died in 1560, he was free to marry the queen. I pp. [161] By the early 1580s Mary had come to fear Leicester's influence with James VI, her son, in whose privy chamber the English Earl had placed a spy. To remedy this situation, and to increase his own income, Dudley affected compositions with the tenants in what Simon Adams has called an "ambitious resolution of a long-standing problem without parallel in Elizabeth's reign". Upon his death, Elizabeth's affections turn to Dudley's step-son Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. It may not display all the features of this and other websites. [230] This not only forced Dudley to raise further funds on his own account, but much aggravated the soldiers' lot. In 1575, Dudley pulled out all the stops in one last lavish attempt to win the Queens heart and get her agree to marry him. May 2013 September 2011 Robert Dudley had appointed her executrix of his will, and her income from both her husbands' jointures amounted to 3,000 annually, to which came plate and movables worth 6,000. Historian, author and broadcaster Kate Williams looks at the different portrayals of Elizabeth I on screen to separate fact from fiction. August 2013 [266] Geoffrey Elton, in his widely read England under the Tudors (1955), saw Dudley as "a handsome, vigorous man with very little sense. In 1573 he may even have secretly married a beautiful widow, Lady Sheffield (the validity of this marriage has never been confirmed), with whom he certainly had a son. This masterpiece of character assassination gleefully recounts every morsel of scurrilous gossip about Dudley, portraying him as a serial killer, extortioner and criminal. He was now technically free to marry Elizabeth, but the cloud of suspicion that now hung over him meant that she could never accept him. [250], Leicester was buried, as he had requested, in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick on 10 October 1588in the same chapel as Richard Beauchamp, his ancestor, and the "noble Impe", his little son. [262] Some of the most often-quoted characterisations of Leicester, such as that he "was wont to put up all his passions in his pocket", his nickname of "the Gypsy", and Elizabeth's "I will have here but one mistress and no master"-reprimand to him, were contributed by Sir Henry Wotton and Sir Robert Naunton almost half a century after the Earl's death. After some ten days in the county and securing several towns for Jane, he took King's Lynn and proclaimed her in the marketplace. [57] Elizabeth's preferred solution was that they should all live together at the English court, so that she would not have to forgo her favourite's company. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada was on its way, Dudley was appointed Lieutenant and Captain General of the Queens Armies and Companies, showing the trust and faith she had in him. Jessica Brain is a freelance writer specialising in history. His company was essential for her well-being and for many years he was hardly allowed to leave. [217] The English queen, however, in her instructions to Leicester, had expressly declined to accept offers of sovereignty from the United Provinces while still demanding of the States to follow the "advice" of her lieutenant-general in matters of government. [130] Leicester found comfort in God since, as he wrote, "princes seldom do pity according to the rules of charity. [133] Leicester was a concerned parent to his four stepchildren,[134] and in every respect worked for the advancement of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, whom he regarded as his political heir. [123] His mother supported him, but maintained that she had been strongly against raising the issue and was possibly pressured by her son. [70] On the other hand, they were on friendly terms and had an efficient working relationship which never broke down. My maiden name is Devereaux. In 1563, Elizabeth suggested Dudley as a consort to the widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, the idea being to achieve firm amity between England and Scotland and diminish the influence of foreign powers. [84] Robert Dudley financed the lifestyle expected of a royal favourite by large loans from City of London merchants until in April 1560 Elizabeth granted him his first export licence, worth 6,000 p.a. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. 290294. In private letters, Queen Elizabeth and Dudley used secret symbols and nicknames to communicate. Most historians have considered murder to be unlikely. [227], Leicester's forces, small and seriously underfinanced from the outset, faced the most formidable army in Europe. This and the death of his only legitimate son and heir were heavy blows. However, her jointure was to suffer greatly from paying off Leicester's debts, which at some 50,000 were overwhelming. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was born on this day in history, 10th November 1565, at Netherwood, Herefordshire. In October 1562, he became a privy councillor and, in 1587, was appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household. [246] On his way to Buxton in Derbyshire to take the baths, he died at Cornbury Park near Oxford, on 4 September 1588. [129] The child died aged three in 1584, leaving his parents disconsolate. Elizabeth in response, was forced to distance herself from Dudley until the scandal had been put to rest. [6] Sir Christopher Hatton reported a growing emergency when the Earl was away for a few weeks in 1578: "This court wanteth your presence. Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage. [169] On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis. He was charming, dashing, impetuous . Though she promptly married again, she lived to be 91, and had herself buried beside Dudley, beneath an epitaph calling him the best and dearest of husbands. [182] Dudley took a special interest in translations, which were seen as a means to popularise learning among "all who could read. Whilst he was not the ideal candidate on paper, mired by scandal from the mysterious death of his first wife, Dudley however remained a firm favourite in the royal court. Roberts upbringing and education had served him well for life as a courtier in the courts of both Henry VIII and his son Edward VI. Lettice, Viscountess Hereford, one of the best-looking ladies of the court", was 21 and pregnant with her third child, when she attracted the attentions of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's great favourite and long-term suitor (and lover, it Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex The step-son of Elizabeth's first love, Robert Dudley, Essex quickly became one of Elizabeth's favourites despite being 34 years her junior. He acted as an official host on state occasions and was himself a frequent guest at ambassadorial dinners. Probably to further this design, Elizabeth made him earl of Leicester and Baron Denbigh in September 1564. [166], Robert Dudley was a pioneer of new industries; interested in many things from tapestries to mining, he was engaged in the first joint stock companies in English history. [70] To remove this threat to Habsburg and Valois suitors, between 1565 and 1578, four German and French princesses were mooted as brides for Leicester, as a consolation for giving up Elizabeth and his resistance to her foreign marriage projects. Not until much later did someone reveal to the queen both Roberts affair with Lady Sheffield and his marriage to Lettice. Dudley was almost certainly innocent of anything beyond neglecting her. 116117; Doran 1996 p. 42, Adams 1995 p. 78; Wilson 1981 p. 100; Chamberlin 1939 p. 117, Gristwood 2007 pp. Within this almost three week extravaganza, Dudley wooed her with an ostentatious display of his wealth with great fireworks, an orchestra, organised hunts and popular entertainment of the day. Appointed Chancellor of the University in 1564, Dudley spearheaded moves by Oxford to revive and formalise its printing. On 8th September, at their residence in Cumnor Place near Oxford, Amys body was found at the bottom of the stairs with her neck broken. She rejected him, even proposing that he wed Mary, Queen of Scots. April 2013 He was Lettices son. [6] Yet, the Dudley brothers were only welcome at court as long as King Philip was there,[22] otherwise they were even suspected of associating with people who conspired against Mary's regime. 231, 143, 229232; Collinson 1960 p. xxx, Strong and van Dorsten 1964 pp. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex [165], Leicester having returned to England, in February 1587 Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant, with the proviso that it be not carried out until she gave her approval. [83], After the Duke of Northumberland's attainder the entire Dudley inheritance had disappeared. In 1599, at his own request, Essex was appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland and sent to put down a rebellion by the earl of Tyrone. [76] Another side of such privileges was Elizabeth's possessiveness and jealousy. Whilst he was not the ideal candidate on paper, mired by scandal from the mysterious death of his first wife, Dudley however remained a firm favourite in the royal court. In his absence, William Stanley and Rowland York, two Catholic officers whom Leicester had placed in command of Deventer and the fort of Zutphen, respectively, went over to Parma, along with their key fortressesa disaster for the Anglo-Dutch coalition in every respect. From ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEICESTER:. [255] Its underlying political agenda is the succession of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the English throne,[256] but its most outstanding feature is an all-round attack on the Earl of Leicester. [268] Leicester's importance in literary patronage was established by Eleanor Rosenberg in 1955. April 2014 'Deciphering Mary Stuarts lost letters from 1578-1584', "At Home and Away. [97] Through their paternal grandmother they descended from the Hundred Years War heroes, John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. On the 20th February, the Queen signed his death warrant. [211] The Earl prepared himself for "God's cause and her Majesty's" by recruiting the expedition's cavalry from his retainers and friends, and by mortgaging his estate to the sum of 25,000. [82] Leicester was a lifelong sportsman, hunting and jousting in the tiltyard, and an indefatigable tennis-player. Find out more about Elizabeth I and discover what her makeup can tell us about her reign. Corrections? February 2016 Following her conviction, Leicester, then in the Netherlands, vehemently urged her execution in his letters; he despaired of Elizabeth's security after so many plots. [248] Her nickname for Dudley had been "Eyes", which was symbolised by the sign of in their letters to each other. [235] He also affected a fiscal reform. He had accomplished something which few others could claim; he had won the Queens affections, whilst never a husband, he was a suitor, a confidante, a companion and a lifelong friend despite all the odds. [245], After the Armada the Earl was seen riding in splendour through London "as if he were a king",[246] and for the last few weeks of his life he usually dined with the Queen, a unique favour. It suited him, as he was an excellent horseman and showed great professional interest in royal transport and accommodation, horse breeding, and the supply of horses for all occasions. [158] After Mary Stuart's flight into England (1568) Leicester was, unlike Cecil,[159] in favour of restoring her as Scottish queen under English control, preferably with a Protestant English husband, such as the Duke of Norfolk. 160161, Haynes 1987 pp. 141144; Wilson 1981 pp. However, the resulting scandal very much reduced his chances in this respect. It was in this most dire of circumstances that Robert came across his childhood friend, Elizabeth, who had also been confined to the Tower after her half-sister Queen Mary suspected her of involvement in Wyatts rebellion. He was buried in the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Warwick. A fabulous play and production, it gives a highly dramatic look at the inside story, as Anderson imagined it. [10] Robert learned the craft of the courtier at the courts of Henry VIII, and especially Edward VI, among whose companions he served.

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