William Dudley was Dean of Windsor

Dean of Windsor

The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the Canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as primus inter pares.-List of Deans of Windsor:* William Mugge, 1348* Walter Almaly, 1380...

 and then Bishop of Durham.

A younger son of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley

John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley

John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, KG was an English nobleman. A diplomat and councillor of Henry VI, he fought in several battles during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses, and acted as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1428–1430.-Family and peerage:John Sutton was born at 25 December 1400 and...

, Dudley was nominated to Durham on 31 July 1476. He was consecrated between 1 September and 12 October 1476. In 1483 he supported Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Richard III of England

Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

, the future King Richard III, in his bid for the Throne of England

Throne of England

The Throne of England is the English term used to identify the throne of the King of England. The term can refer to very specific seating, as in King Edward's Chair, which has been used in the coronations of British kings for eight centuries...

. In the last months of his life he was Chancellor of Oxford University. Dudley died on 29 November 1483.