Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
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Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English nobleman
and the favourite
and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death. She giving him reason to hope, he was a suitor for the Queen's hand for many years.
Dudley's youth was overshadowed by the downfall of his family in 1553 after his father, the Duke of Northumberland
, had unsuccessfully tried to establish Lady Jane Grey
on the English throne. Robert Dudley was condemned to death but was rehabilitated with the help of Philip II of Spain
, then England's king consort
. On Queen Elizabeth's accession in November 1558, Dudley was appointed Master of the Horse
. In October 1562 he became a privy councillor and in 1587 was appointed Lord Steward
of the Royal Household
. In 1564 Dudley became Earl of Leicester and from 1563 one of the greatest landowners in North Wales
and the English West Midlands
by royal grants.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was one of Elizabeth's leading statesmen, involved in domestic as well as foreign politics alongside William Cecil
and Francis Walsingham
. Although he adamantly refused to be married to Mary, Queen of Scots, Dudley was for a long time relatively sympathetic to her until from the mid-1580s he strongly advocated her execution. As patron
of the Puritan movement
he supported non-conforming
preachers, but tried to mediate between them and the bishops within the Church of England
. A champion also of the international Protestant cause, he led the English campaign in support of the Dutch Revolt
from 1585–1587. His acceptance of the post of Governor-General
of the United Provinces
infuriated Queen Elizabeth. The expedition was a military and political failure and ruined the Earl financially. Leicester was engaged in many large-scale business ventures and a main backer of Francis Drake
and other explorers and privateer
s. During the Spanish Armada
the Earl was in overall command of the English land forces. In this function he invited Queen Elizabeth to visit her troops at Tilbury
. This was the last of many events he organised over the years, the most spectacular being the festival at his seat Kenilworth Castle
in 1575 on occasion of a three-week visit by the Queen. Dudley was a principal patron of the arts, literature, and the Elizabethan theatre.
Robert Dudley's private life interfered with his court career and vice versa. When his first wife, Amy Robsart
, fell down a flight of stairs and died in 1560, he was free to marry the Queen. However, the resulting scandal very much reduced his chances in this respect. Popular rumours that he had arranged for his wife's death continued throughout his life, despite the coroner's jury's verdict of accident. 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. This and the death of his only legitimate son and heir were heavy blows. Shortly after the child's death in 1584, a virulent libel known as Leicester's Commonwealth
was best-selling in England. It laid the foundation of a literary and historiographical tradition that often depicted the Earl as the Machiavelli
an "master courtier" and as a deplorable figure around Elizabeth I. More recent research has led to a reassessment of his place in Elizabethan government and society.
and his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Guildford
. The Dudleys were a happy family with 13 children born, among whose tutors figured John Dee
, Thomas Wilson
, and Roger Ascham
. Roger Ascham thought that his pupil Robert had an uncommon talent for languages and writing, "exceed[ing] almost all other by nature", and regretted that he had done himself harm by preferring "Euclid's pricks and lines" (mathematics). The craft of the courtier Robert learnt at the courts of Henry VIII
and Edward VI. "My bringing-up has been too long about Princes to misuse anything towards them", he would summarise his lessons.
In 1549 Robert Dudley participated in crushing Kett's Rebellion
and probably first met Amy Robsart
, whom he was to wed on 4 June 1550 in the presence of the young King Edward. She was of the same age as the bridegroom and the daughter and heiress of Sir John Robsart, a gentleman-farmer
of Norfolk
. It was a love-match, the young couple depending heavily on both their fathers' gifts, especially Robert's. John Dudley, who since early 1550 effectively ruled England, was pleased to strengthen his influence in Norfolk by his son's marriage. Lord Robert, as he was styled as a duke
's son, became an important local gentleman and a Member of Parliament. His court career went on in parallel.
, his daughter-in-law who was married to his second youngest son, Guildford Dudley. Robert Dudley led a force of 300 into Norfolk where Mary Tudor
was assembling her followers. After some ten days in the county and securing several towns for Queen Jane, he took King's Lynn
and proclaimed her on the market-place. The next day, 19 July, the reign of Queen Jane was over in London. Soon, the townsmen of King's Lynn seized Robert Dudley and the small rest of his troop and sent him to Framlingham Castle
before Queen Mary.
He was imprisoned in the Tower of London
, attainted, and condemned to death, as were his father and four brothers. His father went to the scaffold. In the Tower, Dudley's stay coincided with the imprisonment of his childhood friend, Princess Elizabeth
, who was sent there on suspicion to be involved in Wyatt's Rebellion
. It cannot be ruled out that they met in the Tower, even if not on the leads of the Bell Tower, as popular legend would have it. Guildford Dudley was executed in February 1554. The surviving brothers were released in the autumn; working for their release, their mother (who died in January 1555) and their brother-in-law, Henry Sidney
, had befriended the Spanish nobles around the new king consort, Philip of Spain
. Robert Dudley later frequently acknowledged that it was King Philip "to whom he owed his life".
In December 1554, Ambrose and Robert Dudley took part in a tournament
held to celebrate Anglo-Spanish friendship. Yet, the Dudley brothers were only welcome at court as long as King Philip was there, otherwise they were even suspected of associating with people who conspired against Mary's regime. In January 1557 Robert and Amy Dudley were allowed to repossess some of their former lands, and in March of the same year Dudley was at Calais
where he was chosen to deliver personally to Queen Mary the happy news of her husband's return to England. Ambrose
, Robert, and Henry Dudley, the youngest brother, fought for Philip II at the Battle of St. Quentin
in August 1557. Henry Dudley was killed in the battle by a cannonball
—according to Robert, before his own eyes. All surviving Dudley children—Ambrose and Robert with their sisters Mary
and Katherine
—were restored in blood by Mary's next parliament
in 1558.
to her at Hatfield
. He became Master of the Horse
on the same day. This was an important court position entailing close attendance on the sovereign. 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. Dudley was also entrusted with organising and overseeing a large part of the Queen's coronation festivities.
In April 1559 Dudley was elected a Knight of the Garter in the good company of England's only duke and an earl, causing great wonder. The ambassador of the neutral
Republic of Venice
, by his office the most detached of the foreign envoys, soon wrote home: "My Lord Robert Dudley is ... very intimate with Her Majesty. On this subject I ought to report the opinion of many but I doubt whether my letters may not miscarry or be read, wherefore it is better to keep silence than to speak ill." Philip II had already been informed shortly before Dudley's decoration:
Within a month the Spanish ambassador, Count de Feria, counted Robert Dudley among those three persons who "rule everything". Visiting foreigners of princely rank were bidding for his goodwill. He acted as official host on state occasions and was himself a frequent guest at ambassadorial dinners. By the autumn of 1559 several foreign princes were vying for the Queen's hand; their impatient envoys came under the impression that Elizabeth was fooling them, "keeping Lord Robert's enemies and the country engaged with words until this wicked deed of killing his wife is consummated." "Lord Robert", the new Spanish ambassador de Quadra was convinced, was the man "in whom it is easy to recognise the king that is to be ... she will marry none but the favoured Robert." Many of the nobility would not brook Dudley's new prominence, as they could not "put up with his being King." The Duke of Norfolk
threatened that Dudley "would not die in his bed", while the Imperial
envoy wondered why he had "not been slain long ere this" and hoped he would soon "meet with the reward he so richly merits." Plans to kill the favourite
abounded; one plot that remained a secret at the time was hatched by the Swedish ambassador. Dudley took to wearing a light coat of mail
under his clothes. Among all classes, in England and abroad, gossip got under way that the Queen had children by Dudley—such rumours never quite ended for the rest of her life.
was uninhabitable. 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. They never saw each other again; Dudley was with the Queen at Windsor Castle
and possibly planning a visit to her, when his wife was found dead at her residence Cumnor Place
near Oxford
on 8 September 1560:
Retiring to his house at Kew
, away from court as from the putative crime scene
, he pressed for an impartial inquiry which had already begun in the form of an inquest
. The jury found that it was an accident: Lady Dudley, staying alone "in a certain chamber", had fallen down the adjoining stairs, sustaining two head injuries
and breaking her neck. It was widely suspected that Dudley had arranged his wife's death to be able to marry the Queen. The scandal played into the hands of nobles and politicians who desperately tried to prevent Elizabeth from marrying him. Some of these, like William Cecil
and Nicholas Throckmorton
, made use of it, but did not themselves believe Dudley to be involved in the tragedy which affected the rest of his life.
Most historians have considered murder to be unlikely. The coroner's report came to light in The National Archives in the late 2000s and is compatible with a fall as well as other violence. In the absence of the forensic findings of 1560, it was often assumed that a simple accident could not be the explanation—on the basis of near-contemporary tales that Amy Dudley was found at the bottom of a short flight of stairs with a broken neck, her headdress still standing undisturbed "upon her head", a detail that first appeared as a satirical remark in the libel Leicester's Commonwealth
of 1584 and has ever since been repeated for a fact. To account for such oddities and evidence that she was ill, it was suggested in 1956 by Ian Aird, a professor of medicine, 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. This explanation has been widely accepted. Suicide has also often been considered an option, motives being Amy Dudley's depression or mortal illness.
Elizabeth countered such notions, saying that Lord Robert "was of a very good disposition and nature, not given by any means to seek revenge of former matters past". His efforts leading nowhere, in the spring of 1561 Dudley offered to leave England to seek military adventures abroad; Elizabeth would have none of that and everything remained as it was.
In October 1562 the Queen fell ill with smallpox
and, believing her life to be in danger, she asked the Privy Council to make Robert Dudley Protector
of the Realm and to give him a suitable title together with twenty thousand pounds a year. There was universal relief when she recovered her health; Dudley was made a privy councillor. He was already deeply involved in foreign politics, including Scotland. 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. The proposal was also to be a compensation for not marrying Dudley herself, "whom, if it might lie in our power, we would make owner or heir of our own kingdom." 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. Mary of Scotland at first enquired if Elizabeth was serious, wanting above all to know her chances of inheriting the English crown. The English queen let it be known, repeatedly, that she was only prepared to declare Mary her acknowledged heir on condition that she marry Robert Dudley, "and with none else". Mary's Protestant advisors warmed to the prospect of having Dudley as their prince, and in September 1564 he was created Earl of Leicester
, a move, in planning for years, which made him more acceptable to Mary. Cecil hinted to the Scots that more was to follow. In January 1565 Thomas Randolph
, the English ambassador to Scotland, was told by the Scottish queen that she would accept the proposal. To his amazement, Dudley was not to be moved to comply:
, Mary's eventual choice of husband. Elizabeth herself wavered as to declaring Mary her heir, until in March 1565 she decided she could not bring herself to it. Still, she finally told the Spanish ambassador that the proposal fell through because the Earl of Leicester refused to cooperate.
By 1564 Dudley had realised that his chances of becoming Elizabeth's consort were small. At the same time he could not "consider ... without great repugnance", as he said, that she chose another husband. Confronted with other marriage projects, Elizabeth continued to say that she still would very much like to marry him. Dudley was seen as a serious candidate until the mid-1560s and later. 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. These he had and would continue to sabotage. In 1566 Dudley formed the opinion that Elizabeth would never marry, recalling that she had always said so since she was eight years old; but he still was hopeful—she had also assured him he would be her choice in case she changed her mind (and married an Englishman). He was not alone in this assessment; the previous year, Philip II had written: "and after all, she will either not marry or else marry Robert, to whom she has always been so much attached ... the Queen is in love with Robert".
On ceremonial occasions Dudley often acted as an unofficial consort, sometimes in the Queen's stead. In a personal letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury
, an old friend of Leicester's, Elizabeth said she considered Leicester as "another ourself". He largely assumed charge of court ceremonial and organised hundreds of small and large festivities. Though Dudley did not "delight in banquets", he had a peculiar taste for exotic fruits and salads—and French cooks. From 1587 he was Lord Steward
, being responsible for the royal household
's supply with food and other commodities. He displayed a strong sense for economising and reform in this function, which he had de facto occupied long before his official appointment. The sanitary situation in the palaces was a perennial problem, and a talk with Leicester about these issues inspired John Harington to construct a water closet. Leicester was a lifelong sportsman, hunting and jousting in the tiltyard
, and an indefatigable tennis-player
. He was also the Queen's regular dancing partner.
merchants until in April 1560 Elizabeth granted him his first export licence, worth £
6,000 p.a. He also received some of his father's lands, but since he was not the family heir it was a matter of some difficulty to find a suitable estate for his intended peerage. In June 1563 the Queen granted him Kenilworth
Manor, Castle, and Park, together with the lordships of Denbigh
and Chirk
in North Wales
. Other grants were to follow. All in all, Leicester and his elder brother Ambrose, Earl of Warwick
came to preside over the greatest aristocratic interest in the West Midlands
and North Wales.
chaos for more than half a century. Some leading local families benefited from this to the detriment of the Crown's revenue
. To remedy this situation, and to increase his own income, Dudley effected compositions with the tenants
in what Simon Adams has called an "ambitious resolution of a long-standing problem ... without parallel in Elizabeth's reign". All tenants that had so far only been copyhold
ers were raised to the status of freeholders
in exchange for newly agreed rents. Likewise, all tenants' rights of common were secured as were the boundaries of the commons, thus striking a balance between property rights and protection against enclosure
.
Though an absentee landlord, Leicester, who was also Baron of Denbigh, regarded the lordship as an integral part of a territorial base for a revived House of Dudley. He set about developing the town of Denbigh with large building projects; the church he planned, though, was never finished, being too ambitious. It would not only have been the largest, but also the first post-Reformation
church in England and Wales built according to a plan where the preacher was to take the centre instead of the altar, thus stressing the importance of preaching in the Protestant Church. In vain Leicester tried to have the nearby episcopal see
of St. Asaph transferred to Denbigh. He also encouraged and supported the translation of the Bible and the Common Prayer Book into Welsh
.
, and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Robert Dudley was especially fascinated by the Beauchamp descent and, with his brother, adopted the ancient heraldic device of the earls of Warwick, the bear and ragged staff. Due to such genealogical aspects the West Midlands held a special significance for him. The town of Warwick
felt this during a magnificent visit by the Earl in 1571 to celebrate the feast of the Order of Saint Michael
, with which Leicester had been invested by the French king in 1566. "Aparelled all in white ... the proportions and lineaments of his body" made such an impression that he was accounted "the goodliest [best looking] male personage in England" by the onlookers. He shortly afterwards founded Lord Leycester's Hospital, a charity for aged and injured soldiers still functioning today.
Kenilworth Castle
was the centre of Leicester's ambitions to "plant" himself in the region, and he substantially transformed the site's appearance through comprehensive alterations. He added a 15th century style gatehouse to the castle's medieval structures, as well as a formal garden and a residential wing which featured the "brittle, thin walls and grids of windows" that were to become the hallmark of Elizabethan architecture
in later decades. His works completed, the Earl staged a spectacular 19-day-festival in July 1575 as a final, allegorical bid for the Queen's hand; it was as much a request to give him leave to marry someone else. There were a Lady of the Lake, a swimming papier-mâché dolphin with a little orchestra in its belly, fireworks, masques, hunts, and popular entertainments like bear baiting. The whole scenery of landscape, artificial lake, castle, and Renaissance garden was ingeniously used for the entertainment. When Elizabeth arrived, time stood literally still, as the great tower clock of the castle was stopped for the time of her visit.
friend with rumours about his "ungodly life", Dudley defended himself in 1576:
, a young widow of the Howard
family, he had a serious relationship from about 1569. He explained to her that he could not marry, not even in order to beget a Dudley heir, without his "utter overthrow":
.
Lettice Knollys
was the wife of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
and first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth on her mother's side. Leicester had flirted with her in the summer of 1565, causing an outbreak of jealousy in the Queen. After Lord Essex went to Ireland in 1573, they possibly became lovers. There was much talk, and on Essex' homecoming in December 1575, "great enmity between the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex" was expected. In July 1576 Essex returned to Ireland, where he died of dysentery
in September. Rumours of poison, administered by the Earl of Leicester's means, were soon abroad. An official investigation conducted by Henry Sidney
, Lord Deputy of Ireland
and Leicester's brother-in-law, did not find any indications of foul play but "a disease appropriate to this country ... whereof ... died many". The rumours continued.
The prospect of marriage to the Countess of Essex on the horizon, Leicester finally drew a line under his relationship with Lady Douglas Sheffield. Contrary to what she later claimed, they came to an amicable agreement over their son's custody. 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 was very fond of his son and gave him an excellent education. In his will he left him the bulk of his estate (after his brother Ambrose's death), including Kenilworth Castle. Douglas Sheffield remarried in 1579. After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the younger Robert Dudley tried unsuccessfully to prove that his parents had married 30 years earlier in a secret ceremony. In that case he would have been able to claim the earldoms of Leicester and Warwick. His mother supported him, but maintained that she had been strongly against raising the issue and was possibly pressured by her son. Leicester himself had throughout considered the boy as illegitimate.
On 21 September 1578 Leicester secretly married Lady Essex at his country house at Wanstead
, with only a handful of relatives and friends present. He did not dare to tell the Queen of his marriage; nine months later Leicester's enemies at court acquainted her with the situation, causing a furious outburst. She already had been aware of his marriage plans a year earlier, though. Leicester's hope of an heir was fulfilled in 1581 when another Robert Dudley, styled Lord Denbigh, was born. The child died aged three in 1584, leaving behind disconsolate parents. Leicester found comfort in God since, as he wrote, "princes ... seldom do pity according to the rules of charity." The Earl turned out to be a devoted husband: In 1583 the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau
, wrote of "the Earl of Leicester and his lady to whom he is much attached", and "who has much influence over him". Leicester was a concerned parent to his four stepchildren, and in every respect worked for the advancement of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
, whom he regarded as his political heir.
The marriage of her favourite hurt the Queen deeply. She never accepted it, humiliating Leicester in public: "my open and great disgraces delivered from her Majesty's mouth". Then again, she would be as fond of him as ever. In 1583 she informed ambassadors that Lettice Dudley was "a she-wolf" and her husband a "traitor" and "a cuckold". Lady Leicester's social life was much curtailed. Even her movements could pose a political problem, as Francis Walsingham
explained: "I see not her Majesty disposed to use the services of my Lord of Leicester. There is great offence taken at the conveying down of his lady." The Earl stood by his wife, asking his colleagues to intercede for her; there was no hope: "She [the Queen] doth take every occasion by my marriage to withdraw any good from me", Leicester wrote still after seven years of marriage.
For the first 30 years of Elizabeth's reign, until Leicester's death, he and Lord Burghley
were the most powerful and important political figures, working intimately with the Queen. Robert Dudley was a conscientious privy councillor, and one of the most frequently attending.
In 1560 the diplomat Nicholas Throckmorton
advocated vehemently against Dudley marrying the Queen, but Dudley won him over in 1562. Throckmorton henceforth became his political advisor and intimate. After Throckmorton's death in 1571 there quickly evolved a political alliance between the Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Walsingham, soon to be Secretary of State
. Together they worked for a militant Protestant foreign policy. There also existed a family relationship between them after Walsingham's daughter
had married Philip Sidney
, Leicester's favourite nephew. Leicester, after some initial jealousy, also became a good friend of Sir Christopher Hatton, himself one of Elizabeth's favourites.
Robert Dudley's relationship with William Cecil, Lord Burghley was complicated. Traditionally they have been seen as enemies, and Cecil behind the scenes sabotaged Dudley's endeavours to obtain the Queen's hand. On the other hand they were on friendly terms and had an efficient working relationship which never broke down. On the whole, Cecil and Dudley were in concord about policies while disagreeing fundamentally about some issues, such as the Queen's marriage and some areas of foreign policy. Cecil favoured the suit of Francois, Duke of Anjou
in 1578–1581 for Elizabeth's hand, while Leicester was among its strongest opponents, even contemplating exile in letters to Burghley. The Anjou courtship, at the end of which Leicester and several dozen noblemen and gentlemen escorted the French prince in triumph to Antwerp, also touched the question of English intervention in the Netherlands to help the rebellious provinces. This debate stretched over a decade until 1585, with the Earl of Leicester as the foremost interventionist
. Burghley was more cautious of military engagement while in a dilemma over his Protestant predilections. In 1572 the vacant post of Lord High Treasurer
was offered to Leicester; he declined and proposed Burghley, stating that the latter was the much more suitable candidate. In later years, being at odds, Dudley felt like reminding Cecil of their "thirty years friendship".
in 1572, Cecil, Leicester, and Elizabeth engaged in a top-secret plan to extradite Mary to the Scottish regency
government, who would then immediately execute her. The scheme failed due to the unexpected death of the Scottish regent. In 1577 Leicester had a courteous meeting with Mary, lending a sympathetic ear to her complaints of captivity. As Mary might be their future sovereign, Elizabeth's ministers had cause to show their goodwill towards the captive Queen now and then. By the early 1580s Mary feared Leicester's influence with James VI, her son, in whose privy chamber the English Earl had placed a spy. She spread stories about his supposed lust for the English throne, and when the Catholic anti-Leicester libel, Leicester's Commonwealth, was published in 1584 Dudley believed that Mary was involved in its conception. "Leicester has lately told a friend that he will persecute you to the uttermost", she was informed.
The Bond of Association
, which the Privy Council gave out in October 1584, probably originated in Dudley's ideas. Circulated in the country, the document's subscribers swore that, should Elizabeth be assassinated (as William the Silent
had been a few months earlier), not only the killer but also the royal person who would benefit from this should be executed. Leicester's relations with James of Scotland grew closer when he gained the confidence of the King's favourite, Patrick, Master of Gray
, in 1584–1585. His negotiations with the Master were the basis for the Treaty of Berwick
, a defensive alliance between the two British states against European powers. In 1586 Walsingham uncovered the Babington Plot
; after the Ridolfi Plot
(1571) and the Throckmorton Plot
(1583), this was a further scheme to assassinate Elizabeth in which Mary Stuart was involved. 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. Back in England, he met James VI's delegate in his coach. The Scot had been sent to demand that Mary's life be spared. After having bluntly emphasised how desirable Mary's death would be to James, Leicester was left with the impression that the King would not try to avenge his mother's execution, his succession to the English Crown provided. King James' own tacit, but important, approval followed between the lines in a sophisticated letter to the Earl.
In February 1587 Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant with the proviso that it be not carried out until she gave green light. As there was no sign of her doing so, Burghley, Leicester, and a handful of other privy councillors decided to proceed with Mary's execution in the interest of the state
. The Queen's wrath at the news of Mary's death was terrifying. Leicester went to Bath and Bristol
for his health, yet unlike the other culprits he escaped Elizabeth's personal wrath entirely.
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. The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor. On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis. Due to his interests in trade and exploration, as well as his debts, his contacts with the London city fathers
were intense. He was an enthusiastic investor in the Muscovy Company
and the Merchant Adventurers
. English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester. This he did in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were a losing business). He took much interest in the careers of John Hawkins
and Francis Drake
from early on, and was a principal backer of Drake's circumnavigation
of the world. Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher
's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage
. Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the Galleon Leicester, which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton
, but also under Drake. As much as profit, English seapower was on his mind, and accordingly Leicester became a friend and leading supporter of Dom António
, the exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne after 1580.
were the Tudor equivalents of gentlemen's club
s. In 1561, grateful for favours he had done them, the Inner Temple
admitted Dudley as their most privileged member, their "Lord and Governor". He was allowed to build his own apartments on the premises and organised grand festivities and performances in the Temple. As Chancellor
of Oxford University Dudley was highly committed, if somewhat authoritarian; he frowned upon the dangerous play of football
and the extravagant clothing of students. Leicester 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. He was also instrumental in founding the official Oxford University Press
, and installed the pioneer of international law, Alberico Gentili
, and the exotic theologian, Antonio del Corro
, at Oxford. Over del Corro's controversial case he even sacked the university's Vice-Chancellor.
Around 100 books were dedicated to Robert Dudley during Elizabeth's reign. In 1564/1567 Arthur Golding
dedicated his popular translation of Ovid
's Metamorphoses to the Earl. Dudley took a special interest in translations, which were seen as a means to popularise learning among "all who could read." He was also a history enthusiast, and in 1559 suggested to the tailor John Stow
to become a chronicler (as Stow recalled in 1604). Robert Dudley's interest in the theatre was manifold, from academic plays at Oxford to the protection of the children's companies
and their respective masters against hostile bishops and landlords. From at least 1559 he had his own company of players
, and in 1574 he obtained for them the first royal patent
that was ever issued to actors so that they could tour the country unmolested by local authorities. The Earl also kept a separate company of musicians who in 1586 played before the King of Denmark
; with them travelled William Kempe
, "the Lord Leicester's jesting player".
Leicester possessed one of the largest collections of paintings in Elizabethan England, being the first great private collector. He was a principal patron of Nicholas Hilliard
, as well as interested in all aspects of Italian culture. The Earl's circle of scholars and men of letters included, among others, his nephew Philip Sidney, the astrologer and Hermeticist John Dee, his secretaries Edward Dyer
and Jean Hotman
, as well as John Florio and Gabriel Harvey
. Through Harvey, Edmund Spenser
found employment at Leicester House
on the Strand
, the Earl's palatial town house, where he wrote his first works of poetry. Many years after Leicester's death Spenser wistfully recalled this time in his Prothalamion
, and in 1591 he remembered the late Earl with his poem The Ruins of Time.
. Meanwhile, he also helped some of Mary's former servants and maintained Catholic contacts. From 1561 he advocated and supported the Huguenot
cause, and the French ambassador described him as "totally of the Calvinist religion" in 1568. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 this trait in him became the more pronounced, and he continued as the chief patron of English Puritans and a champion of international Calvinism
. On the other hand, in his household, Leicester employed Catholics like Sir Christopher Blount
, who held a position of trust and of whom he was personally fond. The Earl's patronage of and reliance on individuals was as much a matter of old family loyalties or personal relationships as of religious allegiances.
Leicester was especially interested in the furtherance of preaching, which was the main concern of moderate Puritanism. He went to great lengths to support non-conforming
preachers, while warning them against too radical positions which, he argued, would only endanger what reforms had been hitherto achieved. He would not condone the overthrow of the existing church model because of "trifles", he said. "I am not, I thank God, fantastically persuaded in religion but ... do find it soundly and godly set forth in this universal Church of England." Accordingly, he tried to smooth things out and, among other moves, initiated several disputation
s between the more radical elements of the Church and the episcopal side so that they "might make reconcilement". His influence in ecclesiastical matters was considerable until it declined in the 1580s under Archbishop
John Whitgift
. Dudley was instrumental in preferring at least six of the earliest Elizabethan bishops to their see
s; among them Edmund Grindal
, Edwin Sandys
, and Thomas Young
. All these bishops felt themselves obliged to him, and many of the highest clergy had been and considered themselves as his servants. The Earl expected them to follow his orders and in 1578 he scolded Bishop Edmund Scambler
and his colleagues for forgetting formerly held ideals: "The care of this world truly hath choked you all, yea almost all".
, who held him in high esteem. The Earl became generally popular in the Netherlands. Since 1577 he pressed for an English military expedition, led by himself (as the Dutch strongly wished) to succour the rebels. In 1584 the Prince of Orange was murdered, political chaos ensued, and in July 1585 Antwerp fell to the Duke of Parma
. An English intervention became inevitable; it was decided that Leicester would go to the Netherlands and "be their chief as heretofore was treated of", as he phrased it in August 1585. He was alluding to the recently signed Treaty of Nonsuch
in which his position and authority as "governor-general" of the Netherlands had only been vaguely defined. 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.
At the end of December 1585 Leicester was received in the Netherlands, according to one correspondent, in the manner of a second Charles V
; a Dutch town official already noted in his minute-book that the Earl was going to have "absolute power and authority". After a progress through several cities and so many festivals he arrived in The Hague
, where on 1 January 1586 he was urged to accept the title governor-general by the States General
of the United Provinces. Leicester wrote to Burghley and Walsingham, explaining why he believed the Dutch importunities should be answered favourably. He accepted his elevation on 25 January, having not yet received any communications from England due to constant adverse winds.
The Earl had now "the rule and government general" with a Council of State
to support him (the members of which he nominated himself). He remained a subject of Elizabeth, making it possible to contend that she was now sovereign
over the Netherlands. According to Leicester, this was what the Dutch desired. From the start such a position for him had been implied in the Dutch propositions to the English, and in their instructions to Leicester; and it was consistent with the Dutch understanding of the Treaty of Nonsuch. 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. Her ministers on both sides of the Channel
hoped she would accept the situation as a fait accompli and could even be persuaded to add the rebellious provinces to her possessions. Instead her fury knew no bounds and Elizabeth sent Sir Thomas Heneage to read out her letters of disapproval before the States General, Leicester having to stand nearby. Elizabeth's "commandment" was that the Governor-General immediately resign his post in a formal ceremony in the same place where he had taken it. After much pleading with her and protestations by the Dutch, it was postulated that the governor-generalship had been bestowed not by any sovereign, but by the States General and thereby by the people. The damage was done, however: "My credit hath been cracked ever since her Majesty sent Sir Thomas Heneage hither", Leicester recapitulated in October 1586.
Elizabeth demanded of her Lieutenant-General to refrain at all cost from any decisive action with Parma, which was the opposite of what Leicester wished and what the Dutch expected of him. After some initial successes, the unexpected surrender of the strategically important town of Grave
was a serious blow to English morale. Leicester's fury turned on the town's governor, Baron Hemart, whom he had executed despite all pleadings. The Dutch nobility were astonished: even the Prince of Orange would not have dared such an outrage, Leicester was warned; but, he wrote, he would not be intimidated by the fact that Hemart "was of a good house".
Leicester's forces, small and seriously underfinanced from the outset, faced the most formidable army in Europe. Unity among their ranks was at risk by Leicester's and the other officers' quarrels with Sir John Norris
, who had commanded previous English contingents in the Netherlands and was now the Earl's deputy. Elizabeth was angry that the war cost more than anticipated and for many months delayed sending money and troops. This not only forced Dudley to raise further funds on his own account, but much aggravated the soldiers' lot. "They cannot get a penny; their credit is spent; they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers ... 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. Four months later, mass desertions occurring, he commented: "I do but wonder to see they do not rather kill us all than run away, God help us!"
Many Dutch statesmen were essentially politique
s; they soon became disenchanted with the Earl's enthusiastic fostering of what he called "the religion". His most loyal friends were the Calvinists at Utrecht
and Friesland
, provinces in constant opposition to Holland and Zeeland
. Those rich provinces engaged in a lucrative trade with Spain which was very helpful to either side's war effort. On Elizabeth's orders Leicester enforced a ban on this trade with the enemy, thus alienating the wealthy Dutch merchants. He also effected a fiscal reform. In order to centralise finances and to replace the highly corrupt tax farming
with direct taxation, a new Council of Finances was established which was not under supervision of the Council of State. The Dutch members of the Council of State were outraged at these bold steps. English peace talks with Spain behind Leicester's back, which had started within days after he had left England, undermined his position further.
In September 1586 there was a skirmish at Zutphen
, in which Philip Sidney was wounded. He died a few weeks later. His uncle's grief was great. In December Leicester returned to England. 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 fortresses—a disaster for the Anglo-Dutch coalition in every respect. His Dutch friends, as his English critics, pressed for Leicester's return to the Netherlands. Shortly after his arrival in June 1587 the English-held port of Sluis
was lost to Parma, Leicester being unable to assert his authority over the Dutch allies, who refused to cooperate in relieving the town. After this blow Elizabeth, who ascribed it to "the malice or other foul error of the States", was happy to enter into peace negotiations with the Duke of Parma. By December 1587 the differences between Elizabeth and the Dutch politicians, with Leicester in between, had become insurmountable; he asked to be recalled by the Queen and gave up his post. He was irredeemably in debt because of his personal financing of the war.
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came nearer, the Earl of Leicester was appointed "Lieutenant and Captain-General of the Queen's Armies and Companies". At Tilbury
on the Thames he erected a camp for the defence of London, should the Spaniards indeed land. Leicester vigorously counteracted the disorganisation he found everywhere, having few illusions about "all sudden hurley-burleys", as he wrote to Walsingham. When the Privy Council was already considering to disband the camp to save money, Leicester held against it, setting about to plan with the Queen a visit to her troops. On the day she gave her famous speech
he walked beside her horse bare-headed.
After the Armada the Earl was seen riding in splendour through London "as if he were a king", and for the past few weeks he had usually dined with the Queen, a unique favour. On his way to Buxton
in Derbyshire to take the baths
, he died at Cornbury Park near Oxford
on 4 September 1588. A man named Smith claimed to have bewitched the Earl into eternity; the Privy Council decided on malaria and let Smith go free. Leicester's health had not been good for some time and historians have considered both malaria and stomach cancer as death causes. His death came entirely unexpected, though, and only a week earlier he had said farewell to his Queen. Elizabeth was deeply affected and locked herself in her apartment for a few days until Lord Burghley had the door broken. Her nickname for Dudley was "Eyes", which was symbolised by the sign of ôô in their letters to each other. 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. It was still there when she died 15 years later.
Leicester was buried, as he had requested, in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
—in the same chapel as Richard Beauchamp, his ancestor, and the "noble Impe", his little son. Countess Lettice was also buried there when she died in 1634, alongside the "best and dearest of husbands", as the epitaph, which she commissioned, says.
was written by Catholic exiles in Paris and printed anonymously in 1584. It was published shortly after the death of Leicester's son, which is alluded to in a stop-press
marginal note: "The children of adulterers shall be consumed, and the seed of a wicked bed shall be rooted out." Smuggled into England, the libel became a best-seller with underground booksellers and the next year was translated into French. Its underlying political agenda is the succession of Mary Queen of Scots to the English throne, but its most outstanding feature is an allround attack on the Earl of Leicester. He is presented as an atheistic, hypocritical coward, a "perpetuall Dictator", terrorising the Queen and ruining the whole country. He is engaged in a long-term conspiracy to snatch the Crown from Elizabeth in order to settle it first on his brother-in-law, the Earl of Huntingdon
, and ultimately on himself. Spicy details of his monstrous private life are revealed, and he appears as an expert poisoner of many high-profile personalities. This influential classic is the origin of many aspects of Leicester's historical reputation.
In the 1590s Leicester was the "honour of England" and "Earl of Excellence" to the lexicographer John Florio. At the same time he was about to become the most accomplished intriguer at court, and a model for manipulating the Queen. William Camden
saw "some secret constellation" of the stars at work between Elizabeth and her favourite, and firmly established the legend of the perfect courtier with the sinister influence. 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. James Anthony Froude
, the Victorian
, saw Robert Dudley as Elizabeth's soft plaything, combining "in himself the worst qualities of both sexes. Without courage, without talent, without virtue". The habit of comparing him unfavourably to William Cecil was continued by Conyers Read in 1925: "Leicester was a selfish, unscrupulous courtier and Burghley a wise and patriotic statesman". Geoffrey Elton, in his widely-read England under the Tudors (1955), saw Dudley as "a handsome, vigorous man with very little sense."
Since the 1950s academic assessment of the Earl of Leicester has undergone considerable changes. Leicester's importance in literary patronage was established by Eleanor Rosenberg in 1955. Since the 1960s Elizabethan Puritanism
has been thoroughly reassessed and Patrick Collinson
has outlined the Earl's place in it. Dudley's religion could thus be better understood, rather than simply to brand him as a hypocrite. Leicester's importance as a privy councillor and statesman has often been overlooked; one reason being that many of his letters are scattered among private collections and not easily accessible in print, as are those of his colleagues Walsingham and Cecil. Alan Haynes describes him as "one of the most strangely underrated of Elizabeth's circle of close advisers", while Simon Adams, who since the early 1970s has researched many aspects of Leicester's life and career, concludes: "Leicester was as central a figure to the 'first reign' [of Elizabeth] as Burghley."
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and the favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death. She giving him reason to hope, he was a suitor for the Queen's hand for many years.
Dudley's youth was overshadowed by the downfall of his family in 1553 after his father, the Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death...
, had unsuccessfully tried to establish Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
on the English throne. Robert Dudley was condemned to death but was rehabilitated with the help of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, then England's king consort
King consort
King consort is an alternative title to the more usual "prince consort" - which is a position given in some monarchies to the husband of a reigning queen. It is a symbolic title only, the sole constitutional function of the holder being similar to a prince consort, which is the male equivalent of a...
. On Queen Elizabeth's accession in November 1558, Dudley was appointed Master of the Horse
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
. In October 1562 he became a privy councillor and in 1587 was appointed Lord Steward
Lord Steward
The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, is an important official of the Royal Household. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government...
of the Royal Household
Royal Household
A Royal Household in ancient and medieval monarchies formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations....
. In 1564 Dudley became Earl of Leicester and from 1563 one of the greatest landowners in North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
and the English West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
by royal grants.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was one of Elizabeth's leading statesmen, involved in domestic as well as foreign politics alongside William Cecil
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
and Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
. Although he adamantly refused to be married to Mary, Queen of Scots, Dudley was for a long time relatively sympathetic to her until from the mid-1580s he strongly advocated her execution. As patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of the Puritan movement
History of the Puritans under Elizabeth I
The reign of Elizabeth I of England, from 1558 to 1603, saw the rise of the Puritan movement in England, its clash with the authorities of the Church of England, and its temporarily effective suppression in the 1590s by severe judicial means.-Background, to 1559:...
he supported non-conforming
Elizabethan Religious Settlement
The Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response, described as "The Revolution of 1559", was set out in two Acts of the Parliament of England...
preachers, but tried to mediate between them and the bishops within the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. A champion also of the international Protestant cause, he led the English campaign in support of the Dutch Revolt
Dutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
from 1585–1587. His acceptance of the post of Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
of the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
infuriated Queen Elizabeth. The expedition was a military and political failure and ruined the Earl financially. Leicester was engaged in many large-scale business ventures and a main backer of Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
and other explorers and privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s. During the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
the Earl was in overall command of the English land forces. In this function he invited Queen Elizabeth to visit her troops at Tilbury
Tilbury
Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...
. This was the last of many events he organised over the years, the most spectacular being the festival at his seat Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...
in 1575 on occasion of a three-week visit by the Queen. Dudley was a principal patron of the arts, literature, and the Elizabethan theatre.
Robert Dudley's private life interfered with his court career and vice versa. When his first wife, Amy Robsart
Amy Robsart
Amy Dudley was the first wife of Lord Robert Dudley, favourite of Elizabeth I of England. She is primarily known for her death by falling down a flight of stairs, the circumstances of which have often been regarded as suspicious...
, fell down a flight of stairs and died in 1560, he was free to marry the Queen. However, the resulting scandal very much reduced his chances in this respect. Popular rumours that he had arranged for his wife's death continued throughout his life, despite the coroner's jury's verdict of accident. For 18 years he did not remarry for Queen Elizabeth's sake and when he finally did, his new wife, Lettice Knollys
Lettice Knollys
Lettice Knollys , Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester , was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Lady Penelope Rich; through her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's undying...
, was permanently banished from court. This and the death of his only legitimate son and heir were heavy blows. Shortly after the child's death in 1584, a virulent libel known as Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth is a scurrilous tract that circulated in Elizabethan England and which attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
was best-selling in England. It laid the foundation of a literary and historiographical tradition that often depicted the Earl as the Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
an "master courtier" and as a deplorable figure around Elizabeth I. More recent research has led to a reassessment of his place in Elizabethan government and society.
Youth
Education and marriage
Robert Dudley was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of NorthumberlandJohn Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death...
and his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Guildford
Edward Guilford
Sir Edward Guildford was an English courtier and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Marshal of Calais in 1519.-Family:...
. The Dudleys were a happy family with 13 children born, among whose tutors figured John Dee
John Dee
John Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
, Thomas Wilson
Thomas Wilson (rhetorician)
Thomas Wilson was an English diplomat, judge, and privy councillor in the government of Elizabeth I. He is now remembered for his Logique and The Arte of Rhetorique , an influential text...
, and Roger Ascham
Roger Ascham
Roger Ascham was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his promotion of the vernacular, and his theories of education...
. Roger Ascham thought that his pupil Robert had an uncommon talent for languages and writing, "exceed[ing] almost all other by nature", and regretted that he had done himself harm by preferring "Euclid's pricks and lines" (mathematics). The craft of the courtier Robert learnt at the courts of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and Edward VI. "My bringing-up has been too long about Princes to misuse anything towards them", he would summarise his lessons.
In 1549 Robert Dudley participated in crushing Kett's Rebellion
Kett's Rebellion
Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in Norfolk, England during the reign of Edward VI. The rebellion was in response to the enclosure of land. It began in July 1549 but was eventually crushed by forces loyal to the English crown....
and probably first met Amy Robsart
Amy Robsart
Amy Dudley was the first wife of Lord Robert Dudley, favourite of Elizabeth I of England. She is primarily known for her death by falling down a flight of stairs, the circumstances of which have often been regarded as suspicious...
, whom he was to wed on 4 June 1550 in the presence of the young King Edward. She was of the same age as the bridegroom and the daughter and heiress of Sir John Robsart, a gentleman-farmer
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. It was a love-match, the young couple depending heavily on both their fathers' gifts, especially Robert's. John Dudley, who since early 1550 effectively ruled England, was pleased to strengthen his influence in Norfolk by his son's marriage. Lord Robert, as he was styled as a duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
's son, became an important local gentleman and a Member of Parliament. His court career went on in parallel.
Condemned and pardoned
On 6 July 1553 King Edward VI died and the Duke of Northumberland attempted to transfer the English Crown to Lady Jane GreyLady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
, his daughter-in-law who was married to his second youngest son, Guildford Dudley. Robert Dudley led a force of 300 into Norfolk where Mary Tudor
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
was assembling her followers. After some ten days in the county and securing several towns for Queen Jane, he took King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
and proclaimed her on the market-place. The next day, 19 July, the reign of Queen Jane was over in London. Soon, the townsmen of King's Lynn seized Robert Dudley and the small rest of his troop and sent him to Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed by Henry II of England in the aftermath of the revolt of 1173-4...
before Queen Mary.
He was imprisoned in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, attainted, and condemned to death, as were his father and four brothers. His father went to the scaffold. In the Tower, Dudley's stay coincided with the imprisonment of his childhood friend, Princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, who was sent there on suspicion to be involved in Wyatt's Rebellion
Wyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's Rebellion was a popular uprising in England in 1554, named after Thomas Wyatt the younger, one of its leaders. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English...
. It cannot be ruled out that they met in the Tower, even if not on the leads of the Bell Tower, as popular legend would have it. Guildford Dudley was executed in February 1554. The surviving brothers were released in the autumn; working for their release, their mother (who died in January 1555) and their brother-in-law, Henry Sidney
Henry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney , Lord Deputy of Ireland was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the...
, had befriended the Spanish nobles around the new king consort, Philip of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
. Robert Dudley later frequently acknowledged that it was King Philip "to whom he owed his life".
In December 1554, Ambrose and Robert Dudley took part in a tournament
Tournament (medieval)
A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....
held to celebrate Anglo-Spanish friendship. Yet, the Dudley brothers were only welcome at court as long as King Philip was there, otherwise they were even suspected of associating with people who conspired against Mary's regime. In January 1557 Robert and Amy Dudley were allowed to repossess some of their former lands, and in March of the same year Dudley was at Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
where he was chosen to deliver personally to Queen Mary the happy news of her husband's return to England. Ambrose
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
, Robert, and Henry Dudley, the youngest brother, fought for Philip II at the Battle of St. Quentin
Battle of St. Quentin (1557)
The Battle of Saint-Quentin of 1557 was fought during the Franco-Habsburg War . The Spanish, who had regained the support of the English, won a significant victory over the French at Saint-Quentin, in northern France.- Battle :...
in August 1557. Henry Dudley was killed in the battle by a cannonball
Round shot
Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
—according to Robert, before his own eyes. All surviving Dudley children—Ambrose and Robert with their sisters Mary
Mary Dudley, Lady Sidney
Mary Sidney , Lady Sidney was an English lady-in-waiting at the court of Elizabeth I, and the mother of the courtier and poet Sir Philip Sidney...
and Katherine
Katherine Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon
Katherine Hastings , Countess of Huntingdon was an English noblewoman. She was the youngest surviving daughter of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guildford, and a sister of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth I's favourite...
—were restored in blood by Mary's next parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
in 1558.
Royal favourite
Robert Dudley was counted among Princess Elizabeth's special friends by Philip II's envoy to the English court a week before Queen Mary's death. On 18 November 1558, the morning after Elizabeth's accession, he witnessed the surrender of the Great SealGreat Seal of the Realm
The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of important state documents...
to her at Hatfield
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
. He became Master of the Horse
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
on the same day. This was an important court position entailing close attendance on the sovereign. 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. Dudley was also entrusted with organising and overseeing a large part of the Queen's coronation festivities.
In April 1559 Dudley was elected a Knight of the Garter in the good company of England's only duke and an earl, causing great wonder. The ambassador of the neutral
Neutrality (international relations)
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, by his office the most detached of the foreign envoys, soon wrote home: "My Lord Robert Dudley is ... very intimate with Her Majesty. On this subject I ought to report the opinion of many but I doubt whether my letters may not miscarry or be read, wherefore it is better to keep silence than to speak ill." Philip II had already been informed shortly before Dudley's decoration:
Lord Robert has come so much into favour that he does whatever he likes with affairs and it is even said that her majesty visits him in his chamber day and night. People talk of this so freely that they go so far as to say that his wife has a malady in one of her breasts and the Queen is only waiting for her to die to marry Lord Robert ... Matters have reached such a pass ... that ... it would ... be well to approach Lord Robert on your Majesty's behalf ... Your Majesty would do well to attract and confirm him in his friendship.
Within a month the Spanish ambassador, Count de Feria, counted Robert Dudley among those three persons who "rule everything". Visiting foreigners of princely rank were bidding for his goodwill. He acted as official host on state occasions and was himself a frequent guest at ambassadorial dinners. By the autumn of 1559 several foreign princes were vying for the Queen's hand; their impatient envoys came under the impression that Elizabeth was fooling them, "keeping Lord Robert's enemies and the country engaged with words until this wicked deed of killing his wife is consummated." "Lord Robert", the new Spanish ambassador de Quadra was convinced, was the man "in whom it is easy to recognise the king that is to be ... she will marry none but the favoured Robert." Many of the nobility would not brook Dudley's new prominence, as they could not "put up with his being King." The Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
threatened that Dudley "would not die in his bed", while the Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
envoy wondered why he had "not been slain long ere this" and hoped he would soon "meet with the reward he so richly merits." Plans to kill the favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
abounded; one plot that remained a secret at the time was hatched by the Swedish ambassador. Dudley took to wearing a light coat of mail
Mail (armour)
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
under his clothes. Among all classes, in England and abroad, gossip got under way that the Queen had children by Dudley—such rumours never quite ended for the rest of her life.
Amy Dudley's death
Already in April 1559 court observers noted that Elizabeth never let Dudley from her side; but her favour did not extend to his wife. Lady Amy Dudley lived in different parts of the country since her ancestral manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
was uninhabitable. 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. They never saw each other again; Dudley was with the Queen at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
and possibly planning a visit to her, when his wife was found dead at her residence Cumnor Place
Cumnor
Cumnor is a village and civil parish west of the centre of Oxford, England. The parish of Cumnor includes Cumnor Hill, , Chawley , the Dean Court area on the edge of Botley and the outlying settlements of Chilswell, Farmoor and Swinford...
near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
on 8 September 1560:
there came to me Bowes, by whom I do understand that my wife is dead and as he sayeth by a fall from a pair of stairs. Little other understanding can I have of him. The greatness and the suddenness of the misfortune doth so perplex me, until I do hear from you how the matter standeth, or how this evil should light upon me, considering what the malicious world will bruit, as I can take no rest.
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
, away from court as from the putative crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
, he pressed for an impartial inquiry which had already begun in the form of an inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
. The jury found that it was an accident: Lady Dudley, staying alone "in a certain chamber", had fallen down the adjoining stairs, sustaining two head injuries
Head Injuries
Head Injuries is an album by Midnight Oil that was released in 1979 under the Columbia Records label. It was the last Midnight Oil album to feature Andrew James on bass who quit the band due to illness....
and breaking her neck. It was widely suspected that Dudley had arranged his wife's death to be able to marry the Queen. The scandal played into the hands of nobles and politicians who desperately tried to prevent Elizabeth from marrying him. Some of these, like William Cecil
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
and Nicholas Throckmorton
Nicholas Throckmorton
Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.-Early years:...
, made use of it, but did not themselves believe Dudley to be involved in the tragedy which affected the rest of his life.
Most historians have considered murder to be unlikely. The coroner's report came to light in The National Archives in the late 2000s and is compatible with a fall as well as other violence. In the absence of the forensic findings of 1560, it was often assumed that a simple accident could not be the explanation—on the basis of near-contemporary tales that Amy Dudley was found at the bottom of a short flight of stairs with a broken neck, her headdress still standing undisturbed "upon her head", a detail that first appeared as a satirical remark in the libel Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth is a scurrilous tract that circulated in Elizabethan England and which attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
of 1584 and has ever since been repeated for a fact. To account for such oddities and evidence that she was ill, it was suggested in 1956 by Ian Aird, a professor of medicine, 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. This explanation has been widely accepted. Suicide has also often been considered an option, motives being Amy Dudley's depression or mortal illness.
Marriage hopes and proposals
Elizabeth remained close with Dudley and he, with her blessing and on her prompting, pursued his suit for her hand in an atmosphere of diplomatic intrigue. His wife's and his father's shadows haunted his prospects. Pope Pius IV explained to one of his cardinals:the greater part of the nobility of that island take ill the marriage which the said queen designs to enter with the Lord Robert Dudley ... they fear that if he becomes king, he will want to avenge the death of his father, and extirpate the nobility of that kingdom.
Elizabeth countered such notions, saying that Lord Robert "was of a very good disposition and nature, not given by any means to seek revenge of former matters past". His efforts leading nowhere, in the spring of 1561 Dudley offered to leave England to seek military adventures abroad; Elizabeth would have none of that and everything remained as it was.
In October 1562 the Queen fell ill with smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and, believing her life to be in danger, she asked the Privy Council to make Robert Dudley Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
of the Realm and to give him a suitable title together with twenty thousand pounds a year. There was universal relief when she recovered her health; Dudley was made a privy councillor. He was already deeply involved in foreign politics, including Scotland. 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. The proposal was also to be a compensation for not marrying Dudley herself, "whom, if it might lie in our power, we would make owner or heir of our own kingdom." 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. Mary of Scotland at first enquired if Elizabeth was serious, wanting above all to know her chances of inheriting the English crown. The English queen let it be known, repeatedly, that she was only prepared to declare Mary her acknowledged heir on condition that she marry Robert Dudley, "and with none else". Mary's Protestant advisors warmed to the prospect of having Dudley as their prince, and in September 1564 he was created Earl of Leicester
Earl of Leicester
The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...
, a move, in planning for years, which made him more acceptable to Mary. Cecil hinted to the Scots that more was to follow. In January 1565 Thomas Randolph
Thomas Randolph (diplomat)
Thomas Randolph was an English ambassador serving Elizabeth I of England. Most of his professional life he spent in Scotland at the courts of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son James VI. While in Scotland, he was embroiled in marriage projects and several upheavals...
, the English ambassador to Scotland, was told by the Scottish queen that she would accept the proposal. To his amazement, Dudley was not to be moved to comply:
But a man of that nature I never found any ... he whom I go about to make as happy as ever was any, to put him in possession of a kingdom, to lay in his naked arms a most fair ... lady ... nothing regardeth the good that shall ensue unto him thereby ... but so uncertainly dealeth that I know not where to find him.Dudley indeed had made it clear to the Scots at the beginning that he was not a candidate for Mary's hand and forthwith had behaved with passive resistance. He also worked in the interest of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...
, Mary's eventual choice of husband. Elizabeth herself wavered as to declaring Mary her heir, until in March 1565 she decided she could not bring herself to it. Still, she finally told the Spanish ambassador that the proposal fell through because the Earl of Leicester refused to cooperate.
By 1564 Dudley had realised that his chances of becoming Elizabeth's consort were small. At the same time he could not "consider ... without great repugnance", as he said, that she chose another husband. Confronted with other marriage projects, Elizabeth continued to say that she still would very much like to marry him. Dudley was seen as a serious candidate until the mid-1560s and later. To remove this threat to Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
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. These he had and would continue to sabotage. In 1566 Dudley formed the opinion that Elizabeth would never marry, recalling that she had always said so since she was eight years old; but he still was hopeful—she had also assured him he would be her choice in case she changed her mind (and married an Englishman). He was not alone in this assessment; the previous year, Philip II had written: "and after all, she will either not marry or else marry Robert, to whom she has always been so much attached ... the Queen is in love with Robert".
Life at court
As "a male favourite to a virgin queen", Robert Dudley found himself in an unprecedented situation. His apartments at court were next to hers, and—perceived as knowing "the Queen and her nature best of any man"—his influence was matched by few. Another side of such privileges was Elizabeth's possessiveness and jealousy. His company was essential for her well-being and for many years he was hardly allowed to leave. Sir Christopher Hatton reported a growing emergency when the Earl was away for a few weeks in 1578: "This court wanteth your presence. Her majesty is unaccompanied and, I assure you, the chambers are almost empty."On ceremonial occasions Dudley often acted as an unofficial consort, sometimes in the Queen's stead. In a personal letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 6th Earl of Waterford, 12th Baron Talbot, KG, Earl Marshal was a 16th century English statesman.-Life:...
, an old friend of Leicester's, Elizabeth said she considered Leicester as "another ourself". He largely assumed charge of court ceremonial and organised hundreds of small and large festivities. Though Dudley did not "delight in banquets", he had a peculiar taste for exotic fruits and salads—and French cooks. From 1587 he was Lord Steward
Lord Steward
The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, is an important official of the Royal Household. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government...
, being responsible for the royal household
Royal Household
A Royal Household in ancient and medieval monarchies formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations....
's supply with food and other commodities. He displayed a strong sense for economising and reform in this function, which he had de facto occupied long before his official appointment. The sanitary situation in the palaces was a perennial problem, and a talk with Leicester about these issues inspired John Harington to construct a water closet. Leicester was a lifelong sportsman, hunting and jousting in the tiltyard
Tiltyard
A tiltyard was an enclosed courtyard for jousting . Tiltyards were a common feature of late medieval castles and palaces...
, and an indefatigable tennis-player
History of tennis
Most historians believe that tennis originated in France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, although the game was...
. He was also the Queen's regular dancing partner.
Ancestral and territorial ambition
After the Duke of Northumberland's attainder the entire Dudley inheritance had disappeared. His sons had to start from scratch in rebuilding the family fortunes, as they had renounced any rights to their father's former possessions or titles when their own attainders had been lifted in January 1558. Robert Dudley financed the lifestyle expected of a royal favourite by large loans from City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
merchants until in April 1560 Elizabeth granted him his first export licence, worth £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
6,000 p.a. He also received some of his father's lands, but since he was not the family heir it was a matter of some difficulty to find a suitable estate for his intended peerage. In June 1563 the Queen granted him Kenilworth
Kenilworth
Kenilworth is a town in central Warwickshire, England. In 2001 the town had a population of 22,582 . It is situated south of Coventry, north of Warwick and northwest of London....
Manor, Castle, and Park, together with the lordships of Denbigh
Denbigh
Denbigh is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Before 1888, it was the county town of Denbighshire. Denbigh lies 8 miles to the north west of Ruthin and to the south of St Asaph. It is about 13 miles from the seaside resort of Rhyl. The town grew around the glove-making industry...
and Chirk
Chirk
Chirk is a small town and local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It has a population of over 4,000....
in North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. Other grants were to follow. All in all, Leicester and his elder brother Ambrose, Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
came to preside over the greatest aristocratic interest in the West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
and North Wales.
Denbighshire
At the time Robert Dudley entered his new Welsh possessions there had existed a tenurialLand tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
chaos for more than half a century. Some leading local families benefited from this to the detriment of the Crown's revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
. To remedy this situation, and to increase his own income, Dudley effected compositions with the tenants
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
in what Simon Adams has called an "ambitious resolution of a long-standing problem ... without parallel in Elizabeth's reign". All tenants that had so far only been copyhold
Copyhold
At its origin in medieval England, copyhold tenure was tenure of land according to the custom of the manor, the "title deeds" being a copy of the record of the manorial court....
ers were raised to the status of freeholders
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
in exchange for newly agreed rents. Likewise, all tenants' rights of common were secured as were the boundaries of the commons, thus striking a balance between property rights and protection against enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
.
Though an absentee landlord, Leicester, who was also Baron of Denbigh, regarded the lordship as an integral part of a territorial base for a revived House of Dudley. He set about developing the town of Denbigh with large building projects; the church he planned, though, was never finished, being too ambitious. It would not only have been the largest, but also the first post-Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
church in England and Wales built according to a plan where the preacher was to take the centre instead of the altar, thus stressing the importance of preaching in the Protestant Church. In vain Leicester tried to have the nearby episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of St. Asaph transferred to Denbigh. He also encouraged and supported the translation of the Bible and the Common Prayer Book into Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
.
Warwick and Kenilworth
Ambrose and Robert Dudley were very close, in matters of business and personally. Through their paternal grandmother they descended from the Hundred Years War heroes, John Talbot, 1st Earl of ShrewsburyJohn Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and 1st Earl of Waterford KG , known as "Old Talbot" was an important English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, as well as the only Lancastrian Constable of France.-Origins:He was descended from Richard Talbot, a tenant in 1086 of Walter Giffard...
, and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Robert Dudley was especially fascinated by the Beauchamp descent and, with his brother, adopted the ancient heraldic device of the earls of Warwick, the bear and ragged staff. Due to such genealogical aspects the West Midlands held a special significance for him. The town of Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
felt this during a magnificent visit by the Earl in 1571 to celebrate the feast of the Order of Saint Michael
Order of Saint Michael
The Order of Saint Michael was a French chivalric order, founded by Louis XI of France in 1469, in competitive response to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece founded by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, Louis' chief competitor for the allegiance of the great houses of France, the Dukes of...
, with which Leicester had been invested by the French king in 1566. "Aparelled all in white ... the proportions and lineaments of his body" made such an impression that he was accounted "the goodliest [best looking] male personage in England" by the onlookers. He shortly afterwards founded Lord Leycester's Hospital, a charity for aged and injured soldiers still functioning today.
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...
was the centre of Leicester's ambitions to "plant" himself in the region, and he substantially transformed the site's appearance through comprehensive alterations. He added a 15th century style gatehouse to the castle's medieval structures, as well as a formal garden and a residential wing which featured the "brittle, thin walls and grids of windows" that were to become the hallmark of Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture is the term given to early Renaissance architecture in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historically, the period corresponds to the Cinquecento in Italy, the Early Renaissance in France, and the Plateresque style in Spain...
in later decades. His works completed, the Earl staged a spectacular 19-day-festival in July 1575 as a final, allegorical bid for the Queen's hand; it was as much a request to give him leave to marry someone else. There were a Lady of the Lake, a swimming papier-mâché dolphin with a little orchestra in its belly, fireworks, masques, hunts, and popular entertainments like bear baiting. The whole scenery of landscape, artificial lake, castle, and Renaissance garden was ingeniously used for the entertainment. When Elizabeth arrived, time stood literally still, as the great tower clock of the castle was stopped for the time of her visit.
Love affairs and remarriage
Confronted by a PuritanHistory of the Puritans under Elizabeth I
The reign of Elizabeth I of England, from 1558 to 1603, saw the rise of the Puritan movement in England, its clash with the authorities of the Church of England, and its temporarily effective suppression in the 1590s by severe judicial means.-Background, to 1559:...
friend with rumours about his "ungodly life", Dudley defended himself in 1576:
I stand on the top of the hill, where ... the smallest slip seemeth a fall ... 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.With Lady Douglas Sheffield
Lady Douglas Sheffield
Douglas Sheffield , Baroness Sheffield, née Howard, was an English noblewoman and the mother of the explorer and cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester...
, a young widow of the Howard
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
family, he had a serious relationship from about 1569. He explained to her that he could not marry, not even in order to beget a Dudley heir, without his "utter overthrow":
You must think it is some marvellous cause ... that forceth me thus to be cause almost of the ruin of mine own house ... my brother you see long married and not like to have children, it resteth so now in myself; and yet such occasions is there ... as if I should marry I am sure never to have [the Queen's] favour".Although in this letter Leicester said he still loved her as he did at the beginning, he offered her his help to find another husband for reasons of respectability if she so wished. The affair continued and in 1574 Lady Douglas gave birth to a son, also called Robert Dudley
Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick
Sir Robert Dudley was an English explorer and cartographer. In 1594, he led an expedition to the West Indies, of which he wrote an account. The illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, he inherited the bulk of the Earl's estate in accordance with his father's will, including...
.
Lettice Knollys
Lettice Knollys , Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester , was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Lady Penelope Rich; through her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's undying...
was the wife of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG , an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantation of Ulster, where he ordered the massacre of Rathlin Island...
and first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth on her mother's side. Leicester had flirted with her in the summer of 1565, causing an outbreak of jealousy in the Queen. After Lord Essex went to Ireland in 1573, they possibly became lovers. There was much talk, and on Essex' homecoming in December 1575, "great enmity between the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex" was expected. In July 1576 Essex returned to Ireland, where he died of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
in September. Rumours of poison, administered by the Earl of Leicester's means, were soon abroad. An official investigation conducted by Henry Sidney
Henry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney , Lord Deputy of Ireland was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the...
, Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and later the Kingdom of Ireland...
and Leicester's brother-in-law, did not find any indications of foul play but "a disease appropriate to this country ... whereof ... died many". The rumours continued.
The prospect of marriage to the Countess of Essex on the horizon, Leicester finally drew a line under his relationship with Lady Douglas Sheffield. Contrary to what she later claimed, they came to an amicable agreement over their son's custody. 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 was very fond of his son and gave him an excellent education. In his will he left him the bulk of his estate (after his brother Ambrose's death), including Kenilworth Castle. Douglas Sheffield remarried in 1579. After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the younger Robert Dudley tried unsuccessfully to prove that his parents had married 30 years earlier in a secret ceremony. In that case he would have been able to claim the earldoms of Leicester and Warwick. His mother supported him, but maintained that she had been strongly against raising the issue and was possibly pressured by her son. Leicester himself had throughout considered the boy as illegitimate.
On 21 September 1578 Leicester secretly married Lady Essex at his country house at Wanstead
Wanstead Park
Wanstead Park is the name of a grade II listed municipal park covering an area of about 140 acres , located in Wanstead, in the London Borough of Redbridge, historically within the county of Essex...
, with only a handful of relatives and friends present. He did not dare to tell the Queen of his marriage; nine months later Leicester's enemies at court acquainted her with the situation, causing a furious outburst. She already had been aware of his marriage plans a year earlier, though. Leicester's hope of an heir was fulfilled in 1581 when another Robert Dudley, styled Lord Denbigh, was born. The child died aged three in 1584, leaving behind disconsolate parents. Leicester found comfort in God since, as he wrote, "princes ... seldom do pity according to the rules of charity." The Earl turned out to be a devoted husband: In 1583 the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière , French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, was born in Mauvissière, , Touraine about 1520...
, wrote of "the Earl of Leicester and his lady to whom he is much attached", and "who has much influence over him". Leicester was a concerned parent to his four stepchildren, and in every respect worked for the advancement of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, whom he regarded as his political heir.
The marriage of her favourite hurt the Queen deeply. She never accepted it, humiliating Leicester in public: "my open and great disgraces delivered from her Majesty's mouth". Then again, she would be as fond of him as ever. In 1583 she informed ambassadors that Lettice Dudley was "a she-wolf" and her husband a "traitor" and "a cuckold". Lady Leicester's social life was much curtailed. Even her movements could pose a political problem, as Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
explained: "I see not her Majesty disposed to use the services of my Lord of Leicester. There is great offence taken at the conveying down of his lady." The Earl stood by his wife, asking his colleagues to intercede for her; there was no hope: "She [the Queen] doth take every occasion by my marriage to withdraw any good from me", Leicester wrote still after seven years of marriage.
Colleagues and politics
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
were the most powerful and important political figures, working intimately with the Queen. Robert Dudley was a conscientious privy councillor, and one of the most frequently attending.
In 1560 the diplomat Nicholas Throckmorton
Nicholas Throckmorton
Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.-Early years:...
advocated vehemently against Dudley marrying the Queen, but Dudley won him over in 1562. Throckmorton henceforth became his political advisor and intimate. After Throckmorton's death in 1571 there quickly evolved a political alliance between the Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Walsingham, soon to be Secretary of State
Secretary of State (England)
In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary....
. Together they worked for a militant Protestant foreign policy. There also existed a family relationship between them after Walsingham's daughter
Frances Walsingham
Frances Walsingham, Countess of Essex and Countess of Clanricarde was an English noblewoman. The daughter of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's Secretary of State, she became the wife of Sir Philip Sidney at age 14. Her second husband was Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's...
had married Philip Sidney
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
, Leicester's favourite nephew. Leicester, after some initial jealousy, also became a good friend of Sir Christopher Hatton, himself one of Elizabeth's favourites.
Robert Dudley's relationship with William Cecil, Lord Burghley was complicated. Traditionally they have been seen as enemies, and Cecil behind the scenes sabotaged Dudley's endeavours to obtain the Queen's hand. On the other hand they were on friendly terms and had an efficient working relationship which never broke down. On the whole, Cecil and Dudley were in concord about policies while disagreeing fundamentally about some issues, such as the Queen's marriage and some areas of foreign policy. Cecil favoured the suit of Francois, Duke of Anjou
François, Duke of Anjou
Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon was the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.-Early years:...
in 1578–1581 for Elizabeth's hand, while Leicester was among its strongest opponents, even contemplating exile in letters to Burghley. The Anjou courtship, at the end of which Leicester and several dozen noblemen and gentlemen escorted the French prince in triumph to Antwerp, also touched the question of English intervention in the Netherlands to help the rebellious provinces. This debate stretched over a decade until 1585, with the Earl of Leicester as the foremost interventionist
Interventionism (politics)
Interventionism is a term for a policy of non-defensive activity undertaken by a nation-state, or other geo-political jurisdiction of a lesser or greater nature, to manipulate an economy or society...
. Burghley was more cautious of military engagement while in a dilemma over his Protestant predilections. In 1572 the vacant post of Lord High Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
was offered to Leicester; he declined and proposed Burghley, stating that the latter was the much more suitable candidate. In later years, being at odds, Dudley felt like reminding Cecil of their "thirty years friendship".
Turning against Mary Stuart
Until about 1571/1572 Dudley supported Mary Stuart's succession rights to the English throne. 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. After Mary Stuart's flight into England (1568) Leicester was, unlike Cecil, in favour of restoring her as Scottish queen under English control, preferably with a Protestant English husband—as long as he himself would not be the intended bridegroom (which had been suggested). "For there is danger from delivering of her to her Government, so is there danger in retaining her in prison", he wrote in 1571. Shortly after the St. Bartholomew's Day MassacreSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
in 1572, Cecil, Leicester, and Elizabeth engaged in a top-secret plan to extradite Mary to the Scottish regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
government, who would then immediately execute her. The scheme failed due to the unexpected death of the Scottish regent. In 1577 Leicester had a courteous meeting with Mary, lending a sympathetic ear to her complaints of captivity. As Mary might be their future sovereign, Elizabeth's ministers had cause to show their goodwill towards the captive Queen now and then. By the early 1580s Mary feared Leicester's influence with James VI, her son, in whose privy chamber the English Earl had placed a spy. She spread stories about his supposed lust for the English throne, and when the Catholic anti-Leicester libel, Leicester's Commonwealth, was published in 1584 Dudley believed that Mary was involved in its conception. "Leicester has lately told a friend that he will persecute you to the uttermost", she was informed.
The Bond of Association
Bond of Association
The Bond of Association was a document created in 1584 by Francis Walsingham and William Cecil, Lord Burghley after the failure of the Throckmorton Plot in 1583.-Contents:The document obliged all signatories to execute any person that:...
, which the Privy Council gave out in October 1584, probably originated in Dudley's ideas. Circulated in the country, the document's subscribers swore that, should Elizabeth be assassinated (as William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
had been a few months earlier), not only the killer but also the royal person who would benefit from this should be executed. Leicester's relations with James of Scotland grew closer when he gained the confidence of the King's favourite, Patrick, Master of Gray
Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray
Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray , known most of his life as Patrick, Master of Gray, was a Scottish nobleman and politician during the reigns of James VI of Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots.-Early life:...
, in 1584–1585. His negotiations with the Master were the basis for the Treaty of Berwick
Treaty of Berwick (1586)
The Treaty of Berwick was a 'league of amity' or peace agreement made on July 6, 1586 between Queen Elizabeth I of England and King James VI of Scotland....
, a defensive alliance between the two British states against European powers. In 1586 Walsingham uncovered the Babington Plot
Babington Plot
The Babington Plot was a Catholic plot in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, on the English throne. It led to the execution of Mary. The long-term goal was an invasion by the Spanish forces of King Philip II and the Catholic league in...
; after the Ridolfi Plot
Ridolfi plot
The Ridolfi plot was a plot in 1570 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot was hatched and planned by Roberto di Ridolfi, an international banker who was able to travel between Brussels, Rome and Madrid to gather support without attracting...
(1571) and the Throckmorton Plot
Throckmorton Plot
The Throckmorton Plot was an attempt by English Roman Catholics in 1583 to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with her second cousin Mary, Queen of Scots...
(1583), this was a further scheme to assassinate Elizabeth in which Mary Stuart was involved. 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. Back in England, he met James VI's delegate in his coach. The Scot had been sent to demand that Mary's life be spared. After having bluntly emphasised how desirable Mary's death would be to James, Leicester was left with the impression that the King would not try to avenge his mother's execution, his succession to the English Crown provided. King James' own tacit, but important, approval followed between the lines in a sophisticated letter to the Earl.
In February 1587 Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant with the proviso that it be not carried out until she gave green light. As there was no sign of her doing so, Burghley, Leicester, and a handful of other privy councillors decided to proceed with Mary's execution in the interest of the state
National interest
The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
. The Queen's wrath at the news of Mary's death was terrifying. Leicester went to Bath and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
for his health, yet unlike the other culprits he escaped Elizabeth's personal wrath entirely.
Exploration and business
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
in English history. The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor. On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis. Due to his interests in trade and exploration, as well as his debts, his contacts with the London city fathers
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
were intense. He was an enthusiastic investor in the Muscovy Company
Muscovy Company
The Muscovy Company , was a trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon flourish in England, and became closely associated with such famous names as Henry Hudson and William Baffin...
and the Merchant Adventurers
Company of Merchant Adventurers of London
The Company of Merchant Adventurers of London brought together London's leading overseas merchants in a regulated company, in the nature of a guild. Its members' main business was the export of cloth, especially white broadcloth...
. English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester. This he did in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were a losing business). He took much interest in the careers of John Hawkins
John Hawkins
Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588...
and Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
from early on, and was a principal backer of Drake's circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
of the world. Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher
Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage...
's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the Galleon Leicester, which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton
Edward Fenton
Edward Fenton was an English navigator, son of Henry Fenton and brother of Sir Geoffrey Fenton.He was a native of Nottinghamshire...
, but also under Drake. As much as profit, English seapower was on his mind, and accordingly Leicester became a friend and leading supporter of Dom António
António, Prior of Crato
António, Prior of Crato , was a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal, claimant of the Portuguese throne during the 1580 dynastic crisis, who was King of Portugal as António I of Portugal during 33 days in the continent in 1580, and, after the crowning of Philip II of Spain as King of Portugal,...
, the exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne after 1580.
Learning, theatre, the arts, and literature
Apart from their legal function the Inns of CourtInns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. All such barristers must belong to one such association. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional...
were the Tudor equivalents of gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
s. In 1561, grateful for favours he had done them, the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
admitted Dudley as their most privileged member, their "Lord and Governor". He was allowed to build his own apartments on the premises and organised grand festivities and performances in the Temple. As Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of Oxford University Dudley was highly committed, if somewhat authoritarian; he frowned upon the dangerous play of football
Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
and the extravagant clothing of students. Leicester enforced the Thirty-nine Articles
Thirty-Nine Articles
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...
and the oath of royal supremacy at Oxford, and obtained from the Queen an incorporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
by Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
for the university. He was also instrumental in founding the official Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, and installed the pioneer of international law, Alberico Gentili
Alberico Gentili
Alberico Gentili was an Italian jurist. He left Italy due to his Protestant faith, travelled in Central Europe, and emigrated to England. In 1580 he became regius professor of civil law at the University of Oxford...
, and the exotic theologian, Antonio del Corro
Antonio del Corro
Antonio del Corro was a Spanish monk who became a Protestant convert. A noted Calvinist preacher and theologian, he taught at the University of Oxford and wrote the first Spanish grammar in English....
, at Oxford. Over del Corro's controversial case he even sacked the university's Vice-Chancellor.
Around 100 books were dedicated to Robert Dudley during Elizabeth's reign. In 1564/1567 Arthur Golding
Arthur Golding
Arthur Golding was an English translator of more than 30 works from Latin into English. While primarily remembered today for his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses because of its influence on Shakespeare's works, in his own time he was most famous for his translation of Caesar's Commentaries, and...
dedicated his popular translation of Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
's Metamorphoses to the Earl. Dudley took a special interest in translations, which were seen as a means to popularise learning among "all who could read." He was also a history enthusiast, and in 1559 suggested to the tailor John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
to become a chronicler (as Stow recalled in 1604). Robert Dudley's interest in the theatre was manifold, from academic plays at Oxford to the protection of the children's companies
Boy player
Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the mainstream companies and performed the female roles, as women did not perform on the English stage in this period...
and their respective masters against hostile bishops and landlords. From at least 1559 he had his own company of players
Leicester's Men
The Earl of Leicester's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre, active mainly in the 1570s and 1580s in the reign of Elizabeth I...
, and in 1574 he obtained for them the first royal patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
that was ever issued to actors so that they could tour the country unmolested by local authorities. The Earl also kept a separate company of musicians who in 1586 played before the King of Denmark
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
; with them travelled William Kempe
William Kempe
William Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare...
, "the Lord Leicester's jesting player".
Nicholas Hilliard
Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous...
, as well as interested in all aspects of Italian culture. The Earl's circle of scholars and men of letters included, among others, his nephew Philip Sidney, the astrologer and Hermeticist John Dee, his secretaries Edward Dyer
Edward Dyer
Sir Edward Dyer was an English courtier and poet.-Life:The son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., he was born at Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset. He was educated, according to Anthony Wood, either at Balliol College, Oxford or at Broadgates Hall , and left after taking a degree...
and Jean Hotman
Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul
Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul was a French diplomat. Although he came from a Calvinist family, who had been exiled during the Wars of Religion, Jean, through cultivating connections with Henry IV eventually was restored to a portion of his patrimony.-Early life:Hotman was the eldest son...
, as well as John Florio and Gabriel Harvey
Gabriel Harvey
Gabriel Harvey was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, though his reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe...
. Through Harvey, Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
found employment at Leicester House
Essex House (London)
Essex House was a house in London, built around 1575 for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and originally called Leicester House.The property occupied the site where the Outer Temple, part of the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, had previously stood , and was immediately adjacent to the...
on the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
, the Earl's palatial town house, where he wrote his first works of poetry. Many years after Leicester's death Spenser wistfully recalled this time in his Prothalamion
Prothalamion
Prothalamion, the commonly used name of , is a poem by Edmund Spenser , one of the important poets of the Tudor Period in England. Published in 1596 , it is a nuptial song that he composed that year on the occasion of the twin marriage of the daughters of the Earl of Worcester; Elizabeth Somerset...
, and in 1591 he remembered the late Earl with his poem The Ruins of Time.
Religion
From infancy Robert Dudley grew up as a Protestant. Presumably conforming in public under Mary Tudor, he was counted among the "heretics" by Philip II's agent before Elizabeth's accession. He immediately became a major patron to former Edwardian clerics and returning exilesMarian exiles
The Marian Exiles were English Calvinist Protestants who fled to the continent during the reign of Queen Mary I.-Exile communities:According to English historian John Strype, more than 800 Protestants fled to the continent, mainly to the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, and France, and joined...
. Meanwhile, he also helped some of Mary's former servants and maintained Catholic contacts. From 1561 he advocated and supported the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
cause, and the French ambassador described him as "totally of the Calvinist religion" in 1568. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 this trait in him became the more pronounced, and he continued as the chief patron of English Puritans and a champion of international Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. On the other hand, in his household, Leicester employed Catholics like Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount was an English soldier, secret agent, and rebel. He served as a leading household officer of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. A Catholic, Blount corresponded with Mary, Queen of Scots's Paris agent, Thomas Morgan, probably as a double agent...
, who held a position of trust and of whom he was personally fond. The Earl's patronage of and reliance on individuals was as much a matter of old family loyalties or personal relationships as of religious allegiances.
Leicester was especially interested in the furtherance of preaching, which was the main concern of moderate Puritanism. He went to great lengths to support non-conforming
Elizabethan Religious Settlement
The Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response, described as "The Revolution of 1559", was set out in two Acts of the Parliament of England...
preachers, while warning them against too radical positions which, he argued, would only endanger what reforms had been hitherto achieved. He would not condone the overthrow of the existing church model because of "trifles", he said. "I am not, I thank God, fantastically persuaded in religion but ... do find it soundly and godly set forth in this universal Church of England." Accordingly, he tried to smooth things out and, among other moves, initiated several disputation
Disputation
In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences...
s between the more radical elements of the Church and the episcopal side so that they "might make reconcilement". His influence in ecclesiastical matters was considerable until it declined in the 1580s under Archbishop
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
John Whitgift
John Whitgift
John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
. Dudley was instrumental in preferring at least six of the earliest Elizabethan bishops to their see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
s; among them Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
, Edwin Sandys
Edwin Sandys (archbishop)
Archbishop Edwin Sandys was an English prelate.He was Anglican Bishop of Worcester , London and Archbishop of York during the reign of Elizabeth I of England...
, and Thomas Young
Thomas Young (archbishop)
Thomas Young was a Bishop of St David's and Archbishop of York .-Life:He was the son of John Young and Eleanor his wife, and was born at Hodgeston, Pembrokeshire, in 1507. He became a student at Broadgates Hall, Oxford, and graduated B. A. 14 June 1529, M. A. 19 March 1533, as secular chaplain,...
. All these bishops felt themselves obliged to him, and many of the highest clergy had been and considered themselves as his servants. The Earl expected them to follow his orders and in 1578 he scolded Bishop Edmund Scambler
Edmund Scambler
-Life:He was born at Gressingham, and was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, Queens' College, Cambridge and Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1542....
and his colleagues for forgetting formerly held ideals: "The care of this world truly hath choked you all, yea almost all".
Governor-General of the United Provinces
During the 1570s Leicester built a special relationship with Prince William of OrangeWilliam the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, who held him in high esteem. The Earl became generally popular in the Netherlands. Since 1577 he pressed for an English military expedition, led by himself (as the Dutch strongly wished) to succour the rebels. In 1584 the Prince of Orange was murdered, political chaos ensued, and in July 1585 Antwerp fell to the Duke of Parma
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
Alexander Farnese was Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1586 to 1592, and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592.-Biography:...
. An English intervention became inevitable; it was decided that Leicester would go to the Netherlands and "be their chief as heretofore was treated of", as he phrased it in August 1585. He was alluding to the recently signed Treaty of Nonsuch
Treaty of Nonsuch
The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Netherlands on 10 August 1585 at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey.-Background:The treaty was provoked by the signing of the Treaty of Joinville in 1584 between Philip II of Spain and the Catholic League in France in which Philip II promised...
in which his position and authority as "governor-general" of the Netherlands had only been vaguely defined. The Earl prepared himself for "God's cause and her Majesty's" by recruiting the expedition's cavalry from his retainers
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
and friends, and by mortgaging his estate to the sum of £25,000.
At the end of December 1585 Leicester was received in the Netherlands, according to one correspondent, in the manner of a second Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
; a Dutch town official already noted in his minute-book that the Earl was going to have "absolute power and authority". After a progress through several cities and so many festivals he arrived in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, where on 1 January 1586 he was urged to accept the title governor-general by the States General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
of the United Provinces. Leicester wrote to Burghley and Walsingham, explaining why he believed the Dutch importunities should be answered favourably. He accepted his elevation on 25 January, having not yet received any communications from England due to constant adverse winds.
The Earl had now "the rule and government general" with a Council of State
Council of State
The Council of State is a unique governmental body in a country or subdivision thereoff, though its nature may range from the formal name for the cabinet to a non-executive advisory body surrounding a head of state. It is sometimes regarded as the equivalent of a privy council.-Modern:*Belgian...
to support him (the members of which he nominated himself). He remained a subject of Elizabeth, making it possible to contend that she was now sovereign
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
over the Netherlands. According to Leicester, this was what the Dutch desired. From the start such a position for him had been implied in the Dutch propositions to the English, and in their instructions to Leicester; and it was consistent with the Dutch understanding of the Treaty of Nonsuch. 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. Her ministers on both sides of the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
hoped she would accept the situation as a fait accompli and could even be persuaded to add the rebellious provinces to her possessions. Instead her fury knew no bounds and Elizabeth sent Sir Thomas Heneage to read out her letters of disapproval before the States General, Leicester having to stand nearby. Elizabeth's "commandment" was that the Governor-General immediately resign his post in a formal ceremony in the same place where he had taken it. After much pleading with her and protestations by the Dutch, it was postulated that the governor-generalship had been bestowed not by any sovereign, but by the States General and thereby by the people. The damage was done, however: "My credit hath been cracked ever since her Majesty sent Sir Thomas Heneage hither", Leicester recapitulated in October 1586.
Elizabeth demanded of her Lieutenant-General to refrain at all cost from any decisive action with Parma, which was the opposite of what Leicester wished and what the Dutch expected of him. After some initial successes, the unexpected surrender of the strategically important town of Grave
Grave (Netherlands)
Grave is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. Grave is a fortified city, in the province North Brabant.-Popular attractions:Near to Grave lies a bridge, built in 1929. It is the northern connection to Gelderland, spanning the river Maas...
was a serious blow to English morale. Leicester's fury turned on the town's governor, Baron Hemart, whom he had executed despite all pleadings. The Dutch nobility were astonished: even the Prince of Orange would not have dared such an outrage, Leicester was warned; but, he wrote, he would not be intimidated by the fact that Hemart "was of a good house".
Leicester's forces, small and seriously underfinanced from the outset, faced the most formidable army in Europe. Unity among their ranks was at risk by Leicester's and the other officers' quarrels with Sir John Norris
John Norreys
Sir John Norreys , also frequently spelt John Norris, was an English soldier of a Berkshire family of court gentry, the son of Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys a lifelong friend of Queen Elizabeth....
, who had commanded previous English contingents in the Netherlands and was now the Earl's deputy. Elizabeth was angry that the war cost more than anticipated and for many months delayed sending money and troops. This not only forced Dudley to raise further funds on his own account, but much aggravated the soldiers' lot. "They cannot get a penny; their credit is spent; they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers ... 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. Four months later, mass desertions occurring, he commented: "I do but wonder to see they do not rather kill us all than run away, God help us!"
Many Dutch statesmen were essentially politique
Politique
Politique is a term that was used during the sixteenth and seventeenth century Wars of Religion, to describe moderates of both religious faiths who held that only the restoration of a strong monarchy could save France from total collapse. It frequently included a pejorative connotation of moral...
s; they soon became disenchanted with the Earl's enthusiastic fostering of what he called "the religion". His most loyal friends were the Calvinists at Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
and Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
, provinces in constant opposition to Holland and Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
. Those rich provinces engaged in a lucrative trade with Spain which was very helpful to either side's war effort. On Elizabeth's orders Leicester enforced a ban on this trade with the enemy, thus alienating the wealthy Dutch merchants. He also effected a fiscal reform. In order to centralise finances and to replace the highly corrupt tax farming
Tax farming
Farming is a technique of financial management, namely the process of commuting , by its assignment by legal contract to a third party, a future uncertain revenue stream into fixed and certain periodic rents, in consideration for which commutation a discount in value received is suffered...
with direct taxation, a new Council of Finances was established which was not under supervision of the Council of State. The Dutch members of the Council of State were outraged at these bold steps. English peace talks with Spain behind Leicester's back, which had started within days after he had left England, undermined his position further.
In September 1586 there was a skirmish at Zutphen
Battle of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was a confrontation of the Eighty Years' War on 22 September 1586, near Zutphen , the Netherlands. It was fought between forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish, who sought to regain the northern Netherlands.Important...
, in which Philip Sidney was wounded. He died a few weeks later. His uncle's grief was great. In December Leicester returned to England. In his absence, William Stanley
William Stanley (Elizabethan)
Sir William Stanley , son of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton , was a member of the Stanley family. He was an officer and a recusant, who served under Elizabeth I of England and is most noted for his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587.-Early career:Stanley was educated with Dr. Standish at...
and Rowland York, two Catholic officers whom Leicester had placed in command of Deventer
Deventer
Deventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
and the fort of Zutphen, respectively, went over to Parma, along with their key fortresses—a disaster for the Anglo-Dutch coalition in every respect. His Dutch friends, as his English critics, pressed for Leicester's return to the Netherlands. Shortly after his arrival in June 1587 the English-held port of Sluis
Sluis
Sluis is the name of both a municipality and a town located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western part of the Netherlands....
was lost to Parma, Leicester being unable to assert his authority over the Dutch allies, who refused to cooperate in relieving the town. After this blow Elizabeth, who ascribed it to "the malice or other foul error of the States", was happy to enter into peace negotiations with the Duke of Parma. By December 1587 the differences between Elizabeth and the Dutch politicians, with Leicester in between, had become insurmountable; he asked to be recalled by the Queen and gave up his post. He was irredeemably in debt because of his personal financing of the war.
Armada and death
In July 1588, as the Spanish ArmadaSpanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
came nearer, the Earl of Leicester was appointed "Lieutenant and Captain-General of the Queen's Armies and Companies". At Tilbury
Tilbury
Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...
on the Thames he erected a camp for the defence of London, should the Spaniards indeed land. Leicester vigorously counteracted the disorganisation he found everywhere, having few illusions about "all sudden hurley-burleys", as he wrote to Walsingham. When the Privy Council was already considering to disband the camp to save money, Leicester held against it, setting about to plan with the Queen a visit to her troops. On the day she gave her famous speech
Speech to the Troops at Tilbury
The Speech to the Troops at Tilbury was delivered on 9 August Old Style, 19 August New Style 1588 by Queen Elizabeth I of England to the land forces earlier assembled at Tilbury in Essex in preparation of repelling the expected invasion by the Spanish Armada....
he walked beside her horse bare-headed.
After the Armada the Earl was seen riding in splendour through London "as if he were a king", and for the past few weeks he had usually dined with the Queen, a unique favour. On his way to Buxton
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
in Derbyshire to take the baths
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
, he died at Cornbury Park near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
on 4 September 1588. A man named Smith claimed to have bewitched the Earl into eternity; the Privy Council decided on malaria and let Smith go free. Leicester's health had not been good for some time and historians have considered both malaria and stomach cancer as death causes. His death came entirely unexpected, though, and only a week earlier he had said farewell to his Queen. Elizabeth was deeply affected and locked herself in her apartment for a few days until Lord Burghley had the door broken. Her nickname for Dudley was "Eyes", which was symbolised by the sign of ôô in their letters to each other. 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. It was still there when she died 15 years later.
Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in the town of Warwick, England. It lies in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is a member of the Greater Churches Group....
—in the same chapel as Richard Beauchamp, his ancestor, and the "noble Impe", his little son. Countess Lettice was also buried there when she died in 1634, alongside the "best and dearest of husbands", as the epitaph, which she commissioned, says.
Historiographical treatment
The book which later became known as Leicester's CommonwealthLeicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth is a scurrilous tract that circulated in Elizabethan England and which attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
was written by Catholic exiles in Paris and printed anonymously in 1584. It was published shortly after the death of Leicester's son, which is alluded to in a stop-press
Stop press
"Stop Press" is a phrase stemming from the printed news media as an exclamation signifying the discovery of the need to change the content of an issue just before, or during its printing...
marginal note: "The children of adulterers shall be consumed, and the seed of a wicked bed shall be rooted out." Smuggled into England, the libel became a best-seller with underground booksellers and the next year was translated into French. Its underlying political agenda is the succession of Mary Queen of Scots to the English throne, but its most outstanding feature is an allround attack on the Earl of Leicester. He is presented as an atheistic, hypocritical coward, a "perpetuall Dictator", terrorising the Queen and ruining the whole country. He is engaged in a long-term conspiracy to snatch the Crown from Elizabeth in order to settle it first on his brother-in-law, the Earl of Huntingdon
Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
Sir Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, KG KB was the eldest son of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon and Catherine Pole.-Ancestry:...
, and ultimately on himself. Spicy details of his monstrous private life are revealed, and he appears as an expert poisoner of many high-profile personalities. This influential classic is the origin of many aspects of Leicester's historical reputation.
In the 1590s Leicester was the "honour of England" and "Earl of Excellence" to the lexicographer John Florio. At the same time he was about to become the most accomplished intriguer at court, and a model for manipulating the Queen. William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
saw "some secret constellation" of the stars at work between Elizabeth and her favourite, and firmly established the legend of the perfect courtier with the sinister influence. 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. James Anthony Froude
James Anthony Froude
James Anthony Froude , 23 April 1818–20 October 1894, was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine. From his upbringing amidst the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Froude intended to become a clergyman, but doubts about the doctrines of the Anglican church,...
, the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, saw Robert Dudley as Elizabeth's soft plaything, combining "in himself the worst qualities of both sexes. Without courage, without talent, without virtue". The habit of comparing him unfavourably to William Cecil was continued by Conyers Read in 1925: "Leicester was a selfish, unscrupulous courtier and Burghley a wise and patriotic statesman". Geoffrey Elton, in his widely-read England under the Tudors (1955), saw Dudley as "a handsome, vigorous man with very little sense."
Since the 1950s academic assessment of the Earl of Leicester has undergone considerable changes. Leicester's importance in literary patronage was established by Eleanor Rosenberg in 1955. Since the 1960s Elizabethan Puritanism
History of the Puritans under Elizabeth I
The reign of Elizabeth I of England, from 1558 to 1603, saw the rise of the Puritan movement in England, its clash with the authorities of the Church of England, and its temporarily effective suppression in the 1590s by severe judicial means.-Background, to 1559:...
has been thoroughly reassessed and Patrick Collinson
Patrick Collinson
Patrick Collinson CBE was an English historian, known as an authority on the Elizabethan era. His most influential work has been about Elizabethan Puritanism. He was Emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, having occupied the chair from 1988 to 1996...
has outlined the Earl's place in it. Dudley's religion could thus be better understood, rather than simply to brand him as a hypocrite. Leicester's importance as a privy councillor and statesman has often been overlooked; one reason being that many of his letters are scattered among private collections and not easily accessible in print, as are those of his colleagues Walsingham and Cecil. Alan Haynes describes him as "one of the most strangely underrated of Elizabeth's circle of close advisers", while Simon Adams, who since the early 1970s has researched many aspects of Leicester's life and career, concludes: "Leicester was as central a figure to the 'first reign' [of Elizabeth] as Burghley."
Ancestry
See also
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- Elizabeth I (TV miniseries)
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- Joseph FiennesJoseph FiennesJoseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...
- Kenilworth (novel)Kenilworth (novel)Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published on 8 January 1821.-Plot introduction:Kenilworth is apparently set in 1575, and centers on the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Amy Robsart, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart...
- Lady Catherine GreyLady Catherine GreyLady Catherine Grey , Countess of Hertford, was the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. A granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, she was a potential successor to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, but incurred Elizabeth's wrath by her secret marriage to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford...
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