Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, c.1564. In the background are the devices of the Order of Saint Michael and the Order of the Garter, of both Robert Dudley was a knight.
Born	24 June 1532
Died	4 September 1588 Cornbury, Oxfordshire
Resting place	Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
Title	1st Earl of Leicester
Tenure	1564–1588
Titles	1st Baron of Denbigh
Known for	Favourite of Elizabeth I
Nationality	English
Residence	Kenilworth Castle
Locality	Warwickshire
Wars and battles	Battle of St. Quentin Dutch Revolt Spanish Armada
Offices	Master of the Horse Lord Steward of the Royal Household Privy Councillor Governor-General of the United Provinces
Spouse(s)	Amy Robsart Lettice Knollys
Issue	Sir Robert Dudley (illegitimate) Robert Dudley, Lord Denbigh (died as a child)
Parents	John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland Jane Guilford

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 (?)^[1] – 4 September 1588), K.G., was the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I of England from her first year on the throne until his death. For many years the Queen gave him reason to hope that she would one day marry him and he was widely believed to be her lover.

His youth was overshadowed by the downfall of his family during the succession crisis of 1553. He 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 he was appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household.^[2]

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was one of Elizabeth's leading statesmen, often championing the Protestant cause. He supported non-conforming preachers, but tried to mediate within the Church of England. From 1585–1587 he led the English campaign in support of the Dutch Revolt, accepting the post of Governor-General of the United Provinces, which infuriated his Queen. The venture was unsuccessful. During the Spanish Armada, Leicester 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 great "entertainments" he organized over the years. He was a principal patron of the arts, literature, and the Elizabethan theatre.^[3]

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 shattered his real chances in this respect. Popular rumours that he had done away with his wife continued throughout his life, despite the coroner's jury's verdict of accident. For eighteen years he did not remarry for Queen Elizabeth's sake and when he finally did, Lettice Knollys, his new wife, was banished from court forever. 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 Leycester's Commonwealth was best-selling in England. It laid the foundation of a literary and historiographical tradition that often depicted the Earl as the Macchiavellian "master courtier"^[4] and, since the 18th century, also as a shallow and even foolish character.

Youth

Robert Dudley was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guilford, daughter of Sir Edward Guilford. The Dudley boys had such instructors as John Dee^[5], Thomas Wilson^[6] and Roger Ascham. The latter thought that Robert Dudley had an uncommon talent for languages and writing, although he regretted that Robert had not done more in this field, having preferred "Euclid's pricks and lines" (mathematics). "When I see the ability of inditing that is in you naturally, I lament...and could chide if I had authority, that by your own fault you do not exercise and exceed yourself by labour wherein you exceed almost all other by nature", Ascham wrote him in 1564.^[7] On 4 June 1550, Robert married Amy Robsart in the presence of the young King Edward VI.^[8] Amy was a girl of the Norfolk gentry, the same age as the bridegroom. She would inherit her father's estate after both her parents' deaths,^[9] yet the young couple depended largely on both their fathers' gifts.^[10] It was quite possibly a love-match.^{[fn 1]}

On 6 July 1553, King Edward VI died, and Robert's father, the Duke of Northumberland, attempted to put Lady Jane Grey on the Throne of England. Lady Jane was his daughter-in-law, having been married to his youngest son, Guilford Dudley. Lord Robert Dudley, as he was known since his father had become a duke, led a small force into Norfolk, where Mary Tudor was assembling her followers, and after some ten days in the county, he took the town of King's Lynn for Queen Jane, proclaiming 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 he was sent to Framlingham Castle before Queen Mary.^[11]

He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, attainted, and condemned to death, along with his father and brothers Guilford, John, Ambrose and Henry. Only his father and brother Guilford were eventually executed. In the Tower, his stay coincided with the imprisonment of his childhood friend,^[12] Princess Elizabeth, who had been sent there on the orders of her half-sister, the Queen. It is possible that Elizabeth met Robert Dudley in the Tower, even if not on the leads of the Bell Tower, as popular legend would have it.^[13] In any case, Robert was allowed to walk on "the leads in the Bell Tower" together with his brother Guilford.^[14] The surviving brothers were released in the autumn of 1554. Their mother, who died in January 1555, and their brother-in-law Henry Sidney had been instrumental in working their release. They had befriended the Spanish nobles around the new King Consort, Prince Philip of Spain.^[15] Robert Dudley later frequently acknowledged that it was King Philip "to whom he owed his life".^[16] Through their natural connections, the Dudley brothers to some extent associated with circles conspiring against Mary's regime.^[17] Nevertheless, Robert was at Calais from December 1556 till March 1557,^[18] when he was chosen to deliver personally to Queen Mary the happy news of her husband's, the Spanish king's, return.^[19] Robert and his brothers Ambrose and Henry fought for Philip II at the Battle of St. Quentin (August 1557), for which they were restored in blood and thus could repossess their lands.^[20] Henry Dudley, though, had been killed in the battle, before Robert's own eyes, as he said.^[21]

Relationship with Elizabeth

Elizabeth I Coronation Miniature

There was some association between Robert Dudley and Princess Elizabeth at the time of her residence at Hatfield in 1557 and 1558.^[22] He seems to have helped her out financially,^[23] and he was counted among her most favoured persons by Philip II's special envoy to the English court shortly before Queen Mary's death.^[24] Robert Dudley was very probably with her when she first received news that she was Queen of England.^[21] She immediately made him Master of the Horse, an important post that included close personal attendance on the Queen and which suited him, as he was known to be an excellent horseman. He was to show great professional interest in royal transport and accommodation, horse breeding, and the supply of horses for all occasions. He was also entrusted with organizing and overseeing a large part of the Queen's coronation festivities.^[25]

In April 1559 Elizabeth named Dudley a Knight of the Garter.^[26] At about this time Lord Robert became a well-known figure, even in Europe. An Italian observer wrote: "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."^[27] The Spanish ambassador's news were: "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^{[fn 2]} 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 [Philip II's] behalf...Your Majesty would do well to attract and confirm him in his friendship".^[28]

Lord Robert Dudley was now counted among those three persons who "rule everything".^{[fn 3]} 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. A regular jouster in the tiltyard, Dudley also loved to play tennis.^[29] By November 1559 he and Elizabeth were said to have a "secret understanding"^[30] to marry after Amy Dudley would have been "sent into eternity",^[30] and at the beginning of 1560 "Lord Robert" was the man "in whom it is easy to recognize the king that is to be".^[31] Yet this was not a welcome idea: "There is not a man who does not cry out on him and her with indignation...she will marry none but the favoured Robert."^[31] And there were several plots to kill him.^[32] Among all classes, gossip that the Queen was with child or had children by Lord Robert, got under way in the summer of 1559, and never quite ended for the rest of her life.^[33]

On 8 September 1560, Dudley's wife suddenly died, being at home in Oxfordshire, Dudley himself staying with the Queen at Windsor Castle. As it appeared, Lady Amy had been killed "by a fall from a pair of stairs".^[34] Dudley was "much perplexed" and immediately aware of "the malicious talk that I know the wicked world will use",^[35] and pressed for an impartial inquiry, which had already begun in the form of an inquest:^[35] The verdict was "misfortune",^[36] i.e. accident. Despite this, many people believed that he had arranged for his wife to be murdered in order to free himself to marry the Queen. However, the scandal of Amy's death jeopardised any such plans, playing into the hands of those nobles and politicians, who desperately tried to prevent Elizabeth from marrying him.^[37] Some of these made use of the scandal, but did not themselves believe Dudley to be guilty of murdering his wife.^[38]

Historians today consider murder very unlikely.^[39] Suicide has been favoured^[40] as well as rejected.^[41] It has also been suggested, and accepted by many,^[40] that Amy had breast cancer. Metastatic cancer often causes osteoporosis, thus more easily causing a vertebral fracture; this was possibly the case here.^[42]

Elizabeth remained close with Dudley and he pursued his suit for the Queen's hand in an atmosphere of political intrigue.^[43] From April 1561 onwards, his apartments at court adjoined the Queen's.^[44] Even as she did not marry him, Dudley's intimacy with the Queen gave him a type of influence that other councillors did not have: "You know the Queen and her nature best of any man", a correspondent would write in 1586.^[45] Another side of this privilege was Elizabeth's extreme possessiveness of his person and company. For more than two decades he would not be allowed to go abroad and even short absences from court were taken offence with,^[46] if they were not downright forbidden, as in 1566, when Dudley visited his sick sister only to be commanded back to court instantly.^[47]

Robert Dudley by an unknown painter, c.1560

In October 1562, Elizabeth 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.^[48] In the next year, Elizabeth granted Dudley Kenilworth Manor, Castle and Park, a large Midlands possession of the crown, together with other very generous land grants in North Wales.^[49]

Well before being admitted to the Privy Council in 1562, Dudley had been deeply involved in foreign politics, including Scotland.^[50] In 1563, Elizabeth suggested him as a consort to the widowed Mary Queen of Scots, whom she hoped to neutralise by a marriage to an Englishman. She declared this was to be in compensation for not marrying him herself, "whom, if it might lie in our power, we would make owner or heir of our own kingdom."^[51] At first Mary was not enthusiastic; however, when it became clear, that Elizabeth would declare Mary her official heir on condition that she marry Dudley, the proposal was taken very seriously on the Scottish part. In September 1564, Elizabeth bestowed on Dudley the earldom of Leicester to make him more acceptable to Mary, and it was hinted to the Scots by Cecil that a dukedom was to follow. At the beginning of 1565, Mary was ready to accept the proposal.^[52] However, to the amazement of Thomas Randolph, the English ambassador to Scotland, Dudley was not to be moved to comply with the proposal: "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".^[53] Dudley indeed had made it clear to the Scots at the beginning of the affair, that he was not a candidate for Mary's hand, and forthwith had behaved with passive resistance.^[54] He had also supported Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in the latter's own suit for Mary's hand.^[55] Elizabeth herself eventually told the Spanish ambassador that the marriage project had failed because Dudley refused to cooperate.^[56]

By 1564, Dudley had realised that his chances of becoming Elizabeth's consort were small. At the same time he could not bear "without great repugnance",^[57] as he said, that she chose another husband.^[58] Elizabeth herself, confronted with other marriage projects, made the impression that she would still very much like to marry Dudley.^[59] Between 1565 and 1578, several German and French princesses were suggested as brides for Leicester, as a "consolation"^[60] for giving up Elizabeth, so that she might more readily marry a Habsburg or Valois prince.^[61] He never showed any interest in these plans and proposals; "...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" (Philip II in October 1565).^[62]

Private life

Kenilworth Castle: the gatehouse built by the Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley had to be secretive in any love life he had.^[63] With Lady Douglas Sheffield, a lady-in-waiting of the Howard family, he had a serious relationship from either before she became a widow in 1568,^[64] or shortly afterwards.^[65] He explained Lady Sheffield why he could not marry, not even in order to beget a Dudley heir: "You must think it is some marvellous cause, and toucheth my present state very near, 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", but it would result in "mine utter overthrow".^[66] Although in this letter, Leicester offered to help her to find another husband if she so wished, the affair went on. In 1573, it was reported that Douglas and her sister Frances were "very far in love with him, as they have long been", that "they (of like striving who shall love him better) are at great wars together and [that] the queen thinketh not well of them, and not the better of him."^[65] In 1574, Lady Douglas gave birth to a son, also called Robert Dudley.

Leicester, although he was very fond of his son^[67] and bequeathed to him "the bulk of his disposible real estate",^[68] never acknowledged him as legitimate.^[69] After the death of Elizabeth I, the younger Robert Dudley tried to prove in court that his father had married his mother thirty years earlier in a secret ceremony. Yet all of the ten putative witnesses ("besides others"^[70]) to this ceremony were long dead since. Neither could it be remembered, who the "minister" was, nor the exact date of the marriage.^[70] It did not help the case, that Lady Sheffield had remarried in 1579, nine years before the Earl of Leicester's death. The Star Chamber rejected the evidence, fined several of the witnesses and concluded that Sir Robert Dudley had been duped by a man called Thomas Drury, who in his turn had sought "his own private gains".^[71] He was to have suggested to Robert Dudley the idea of suing for his legitimacy.^{[70][fn 4]}

Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who was the lord of Warwick Castle, and his younger brother Robert were very proud of descending from Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (1382–1439).^[72] Kenilworth Castle, not far from his brother's castle, was the centre of Leicester's ambitions to "plant"^[73] himself in the region.^[74] In July 1575, he made a final, veiled bid for the Queen's hand at the Princely Pleasures^[75] at his magnificent seat. This festival of nineteen days with Arthurian undertones and fairy-tale-style performances remained unequalled during Elizabeth's reign.^[76] When Elizabeth arrived, time stood literally still, as the great tower clock of the castle was stopped for the whole event.^[77] Some elements of the Kenilworth festivities may have found their way into A Midsummer Night's Dream and it is possible that the eleven-year-old William Shakespeare from nearby Stratford was one of the watching crowd.^[78]

Lettice, Countess of Leicester c. 1585

One of the many noble guests at Kenilworth was Lettice Knollys, the beautiful wife of Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex and first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth on her mother's side. Leicester had had a flirt with Lettice in the summer of 1565, causing a prolonged outbreak of jealousy in the Queen.^[79] When Lord Essex went to Ireland in 1573, they became lovers.^[80] This caused much talk, and "great enmity between the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex", when the latter came home in December 1575.^[81] Leicester was in support of sending Essex back to Ireland,^[82] where the latter died soon during an epidemic. His death caused yet more sinister talk.^{[fn 5]}

Leicester married Lettice two years later on 21 September 1578 in his country house at Wanstead in a very private ceremony.^[83] He did not dare to tell the Queen of his marriage; after nine months, Leicester's enemies at court acquainted her with the situation, which caused a furious outburst.^[84] Nevertheless she already had been aware of his marriage plans a year earlier.^[85] Leicester's hope of an heir was fulfilled in 1581, when another Robert Dudley, styled Lord Denbigh was born.^[86] The child died aged three in 1584, leaving behind disconsolate parents.^[87] Leicester found comfort in God, since, as he wrote, "princes...seldom do pity according to the rules of charity."^[88] The Earl turned out to be a devoted husband: "The Earl of Leicester and his lady to whom he is much attached" [and] "who has much influence over him",^[89] observed the French ambassador in 1583. Leicester also had a good relationship with his stepchildren, showing "striking...paternal concern"^[90] for them.

The marriage of her favourite hurt the Queen deeply.^[91] She never reconciled herself to the fact,^[92] often humiliating Leicester in public: "my open and great disgraces delivered from her Majesty's mouth".^[93] On other occasions she was as fond of him as ever.^[94] Against the new Lady Leicester, she nurtured an undying hatred,^[95] telling ambassadors that Lettice was a "she-wolf" among other things.^[96] Thus, Lady Leicester was practically banished from social life.^[97] The Earl also had to suffer: "there is great offence taken [by the Queen] in the carrying down of his lady [to London]", Francis Walsingham observed in 1585.^[98] "She [the Queen] doth take every occasion by my marriage to withdraw any good from me",^[98] Leicester still complained in the seventh year of his marriage.

Colleagues

Robert Dudley in 1576, aged 44, as is stated in the margin. Miniature by Nicholas Hilliard^[99]

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, Robert Dudley had many enemies at court, largely because of his father, the hated Duke of Northumberland,^[100] and his prospects of becoming England's king consort. Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk led the opposition against Dudley, and in 1565–1566 the enmity between the two camps peaked.^[101] Norfolk and Leicester, however, became political allies in 1569, when Norfolk tried to gain the hand of Mary Queen of Scots.^[102] During Norfolk's downfall, Leicester tried to warn and help him.^[103] Robert Dudley's relationship with William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley was a complicated one. They have traditionally been seen as enemies, yet they worked together very efficiently in day-to-day business.^[104] They fundamentally disagreed about some issues, such as the Queen's marriage, but on the whole they were in concord about policies.^[105] Robert Dudley reminded Cecil of their "thirty years friendship",^[106] and wrote him letters in which he contemplates their mutual relationship and his own relationship with the Queen.^[107] Like William Cecil, Nicholas Throckmorton advocated vehemently against Dudley marrying the Queen, but Dudley won him over in 1562.^[108] Throckmorton henceforth became a trusty political advisor to him. After Throckmorton's death in 1571, there quickly evolved a political alliance and companionship between Sir Francis Walsingham and the Earl of Leicester^[109] (they "frequently drank and talked...on Friday nights.").^[110] There also existed a family relationship between them after Walsingham's daughter had married Sir Philip Sidney, Leicester's favourite nephew.^[111] With Sir Christopher Hatton, Leicester enjoyed an unclouded friendship.^[112]

Robert Dudley was one of the most hardworking and conscientious privy councillors.^[113] In 1578, the Spanish ambassador Bernardino de Mendoza described Elizabeth's government as follows: "although there are seventeen councillors...the bulk of the business really depends upon the Queen, Leicester, Walsingham and Cecil".^[114] The last three have been called "the triumvirate".^[115] Still, during the first thirty years Elizabeth's reign, William Cecil and Robert Dudley were the most important councillors, working intimately with the Queen.^{[116][fn 6]}

Patronage and religion

Robert Dudley was engaged in all sorts of politics, as well as business ventures and overseas expansion. He was, to take but one example, responsible for English relations with Morocco. These he handled in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were a losing business).^[117] The Earl was also a friend of Francis Drake, and one of the main backers of his circumnavigation of the world.^[118] The two men occasionally played cards and chess.^[119]

Leicester possessed one of the largest collections of paintings in Elizabethan England,^[120] being the first great private collector.^[121] He was much interested in Italian culture,^[122] and a principal patron of Nicholas Hilliard.^[99] He was also a dedicated patron of literature. In 1579, Edmund Spenser entered the Earl's household, probably as one of his secretaries. He had plenty of time though, to write his first major works of poetry at Leicester House on the Strand in London, the Earl's palatial mansion, where Philip Sidney was meeting his literary friends.^[123] Many years after Leicester's death, Spenser wistfully recalled his time at Leicester House.^{[fn 7]} And in 1591, he remembered the late Earl with his poem The Ruins of Time.^[124]

Apart from hundreds of smaller festivities, Leicester was responsible for several very large ones.^[125] In May 1581, while Francois, Duke of Anjou was visiting England to sue for Elizabeth's hand, Leicester organized a two-day festival with a political message: The Fortress of perfect Beauty, penned by Philip Sidney, was to make clear to the spectators that if the Earl of Leicester could not win the Queen in marriage, a Frenchman had no chances at all.^{[fn 8]} The whole thing was another colourful and highly elaborate Renaissance entertainment.^[126]

Queen Elizabeth at Wanstead House. The figures in the background may include representations of Robert and Lettice Dudley.^[127] Painting by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder

From at least 1559,^[128] Lord Robert Dudley 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 the authorities. In 1577 he helped James Burbage, the former joiner and head of Leicester's Men to erect the first permanent English theatre building, fittingly called: The Theatre. Some of the actors of Leicester's Men later found employment with the The Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company of William Shakespeare.^[129]

Again in 1559, Robert Dudley had suggested to the tailor John Stow to become a chronicler,^{[fn 9]} later he encouraged the translation of the Bible and the Common Prayer Book into Welsh. This may have been done partly in a bid to repair bad feelings in North Wales, as he was very unpopular there among some of the gentry, having become the greatest landowner in the region by royal grants (together with his brother Ambrose, Earl of Warwick).^[130]

As Chancellor of Oxford University, Leicester was very attentive and "highly interventionist".^[131] He obtained from the Queen an incorporation by Act of Parliament for the university, and reformed its financial footing to its benefit. He also gave the university its first printing press.^[132]

From 1559 on, Robert Dudley was a signifant patron to returning Puritan exiles.^[133] In the earlier years of Elizabeth's reign, though, he supported the French Huguenots^[134] as well as having excellent contacts with the papacy. He also managed to protect both radical Protestants and Catholics from the church authorities.^[135] By the later 1560s he was fully identified with Protestantism.^[136] In 1568, the French ambassador described him as "totally of the Calvinist religion".^[137] After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572, this trait in him became the more prononced.^[138] Leicester troubled himself considerably supporting non-conforming preachers, while warning them against too radical positions.^[139] His own position he described as follows: "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."^[140] He was especially interested in the furtherance of preaching, which was the main concern of moderate Puritanism.^[141] During his time as governor-general in the Netherlands, he enthusiatically fostered "the religion"^[142] (Calvinism); this estranged not a few important Dutch politicians from him, who were politiques.^[143] On the other hand he employed Catholics like Sir Christopher Blount in his household. Blount held a position of trust^[144] and Leicester cared very much for his personal well-being.^[145] His patronage of and reliance on individuals was as much a matter of old family loyalties or personal relationships as of religious allegiances.^[146]

Edmund Campion had been Leicester's protégé at Oxford University^[147] and one of his private secretaries before he went abroad to become a Jesuit.^[148] 1581, he was back in London, imprisoned in the Tower in a tiny cell where he could neither stand nor lie down. Leicester examined him in his town house together with the Earl of Bedford, offering him his life and liberty if he returned to the protestant faith. Campion would not do that: "The Earls greatly admired his virtue and learning...and said it was a pity he was a papist...They ordered his heavy irons to be removed and that [he be given] a bed and other necessaries", a contemporary Italian account says.^[149]

Governor-General of the United Provinces

During the 1570s, Leicester had built an excellent relationship with Prince William of Orange and had become generally popular in the Netherlands. Since 1576, he had pressed for an English military expedition to succour the rebels, led by himself (as the Dutch strongly wished). In 1584, the Prince of Orange was murdered, political chaos ensued, and in July 1585, Antwerp fell to the Duke of Parma.^[150] An English intervention became inevitable. It was clear that the Earl of Leicester would go to the Netherlands and "be their chief as heretofore was treated of", as he phrased it in August 1585.^[151] He was alluding to the recently signed Treaty of Nonsuch, in which his position and authority as "governor-general" for the Netherlands had only been vaguely defined.^[152]

Leicester as Governor-General, c.1586-1587

At the end of December 1585, Leicester was received in the Netherlands, according to one correspondent, in the manner of a second Charles V, and a Dutch town official already noted in his minute-book that he was going to have "absolute power and authority".^[153] After a progress through several cities and so many festivals he arrived in The Hague,^[154] where he was urged to accept the title governor-general by the States General of the United Provinces. After a fortnight of negotiations he accepted,^[155] becoming their ruler, his powers being qualified by the resolutions of a Council of State. He remained himself a loyal subject of Elizabeth, making it possible to imply that she was now sovereign over the Netherlands. According to Leicester this was what the Dutch desired.^[156] From the start such a position for him had been implied in the Dutch propositions to the English and in their instructions to Leicester, as it was consistent with the Treaty of Nonsuch.^[157] The English Queen, however, had expressly declined offers of sovereignty from the United Provinces, while still demanding of the States to take the "advice"^[158] of her lieutenant-general in matters of government. Her ministers on both sides of the Channel hoped that she would accept the compromise as a fait accompli and that she could even be persuaded to add the rebellious provinces to her possessions.^[159] Instead, her fury knew no bounds, Elizabeth sending Sir Thomas Heneage to read out her letters of disapproval before the States General, Leicester having to stand nearby. Elizabeth's "commandment"^[160] was that the Governor-General immediately resign his post in a formal ceremony in the same place where he had taken it.^[161] After much pleading with her and protests by the Dutch, it was postulated, that the governor-generalship had been bestowed "not by any Sovereign, but by the States General or the people".^[162] The damage was to prove irreversible: "My credit hath been cracked ever since her Majesty sent Sir Thomas Heneage hither",^[163] 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.^[164] After some initial successes,^[165] 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 was astonished at such a treatment of one from their midst: 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".^[166]

English peace talks with Spain behind Leicester's back, which had started within days after he had left England, further undermined his position among the Dutch leaders.^[167] Elizabeth denied to send promised funds and troops, much aggravating the lot of her soldiers.^[168] "They cannot get a penny; there 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.",^[169] Leicester wrote home. Four months later, mass desertions occuring, he commented: "I do but wonder to see they do not rather kill us all than run away, God help us!"^[170]

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.^[171] Leicester returned to England, to sail again for the Netherlands in the following June after loosing months in which Elizabeth could not make up her mind whom to send to the Netherlands. Shortly after his arrival, the port of Sluis was lost to Parma, Leicester not being able to assert his authority over the Dutch allies, who refused to cooperate in relieving the town.^[172] In December 1587, after the differences between Elizabeth and the Dutch politicians with the Earl in between, had become insurmountable, Leicester gave up his post and asked to be recalled by the Queen.^[173] He was severely in debt because of his personal financing of the war.^[174] Leicester's performance in the Netherlands has always been condemned as a failure.^[175] More recently, it has been taken into account, that he, whose "personal courage...cannot be doubted",^[175] fought against the most formidable army in Europe with few and heavily underfunded forces,^[176] and that the reconquest of the United Provinces by Spanish forces was effectively halted.^[177] It has also been remarked that "Elizabeth refused to endow her representative with the authority to achieve anything."^[178]

Planning the end of Mary Queen of Scots

While Leicester was in the Netherlands, the problem of Mary Stuart became acute due to the Babington Plot, wherein she was involved. According to the Bond of Association (1584), anyone who sought Elizabeth's life should not only be executed, but also unable to ascend the Throne of England. This bond was circulated in the country for subscription by Elizabeth's subjects in order to increase popular approval for her. According to William Camden, the idea of the Bond of Association came from Leicester.^[179] Up to 1583, Leicester had been relatively sympathetic to Mary Queen of Scots. He had supported her rights in the English line of succession, ^[180] and after Mary's flight to England, he had been in favour of her restauration as Scottish queen under English control;^[181] "for there is danger from delivering of her to her government, so is there danger in retaining her in prison", he had mused in 1571.^[182] Like others, he had always tried to keep her goodwill in case she would become Queen of England.^[183] The Throckmorton Plot against Elizabeth's life and, especially, the publication of Leycester's Commonwealth seem to have changed this, because he thought that Mary was behind this malicious book.^[184] When her execution was on the agenda in 1586, he urged it vehemently in letters from the Netherlands. Yet his motive then was the security of Queen Elizabeth, "of whose desperate state I am now more afraid than ever before".^[185]

In December 1586, less than a week back in England, the Earl of Leicester conferred with the Scottish delegate about the desirability of Mary's death in his coach.^[186] The Scottish diplomat had brought two letters by James VI to London. One was meant for Elizabeth, disapproving of his mother's execution and threatening an alliance with Spain. The other was to Leicester; in this King James gave his tacit approval of his mother's death,^{[fn 10]} there was no mention of a European alliance. The Queen and the Earl were in the picture.^[187]

The Armada and death

The tomb of Robert and Lettice Dudley, Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick

In July 1588, the Earl of Leicester was appointed "Lieutenant and Captain-General of the Queen's Armies and Companies"^[188] as the Spanish Armada came nearer. At Tilbury on the Thames, he erected a camp for the defence of London, should the Spaniards indeed land. Leicester was fully submersed in activity, having no illusions about "all sudden hurley-burleys", as his word for the disorganization was.^[189] When the privy council was already considering to disband the camp to save money, Leicester held against it, setting about planning with the Queen a visit to her troops. On the day she gave her famous speech, he walked beside her horse bare-headed.^[190] After the Armada, the Earl was seen riding in splendour through London, and he dined every day alone with the Queen, something unheard of before.^[191] He was on his way to Buxton in Derbyshire to take the bath, when he died at Cornbury Park near Oxford on 4 September 1588, only a week after saying farewell to the Queen. Elizabeth was devastated at the loss of her old friend and "honorary consort"^[192] and locked herself in her apartment for a few days, until Lord Burghley had the door broken.^[193] She kept the letter that he had sent her only six days before his death in her treasure box at her bedside, writing on it "His Last Letter." It was still there when she died 15 years later.^[194]

Leicester is buried in the Beauchamp Chapel in Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick. In the town of Warwick he had founded Lord Leycester's Hospital, a charity for aged and injured soldiers that is still functioning today. When Lettice Knollys died in 1634, she was buried alongside her husband in St. Mary's. Their only child, the little Lord Denbigh, the "Noble Impe",^[195] is buried in the same chapel as his parents.

Historiography

Legend

The reputation of Leicester has been strongly influenced^[196] by a libel commonly called Leycester's Commonwealth, written by Catholic exiles in Paris.^[197] It was printed anonymously under another title in 1584^{[fn 11]} and smuggled into England. It was a best-seller with underground book sellers^[198] and in the next year was also translated into French and Latin, circulating in Europe.^[199] In this magisterial propaganda piece, Leicester is portrayed as a lecherous monster, terrorising the Queen, while the whole country is groaning under this "perpetuall Dictator".^[200] Meanwhile, he himself is ceaselessly conspiring to snatch the crown from Elizabeth, whom he hates in his heart. His private life is no less monstrous. Leicester appears as an expert poisoner of innumerable high-profile personalities, wife and cuckolded husbands included.

Through the centuries, this book (it became a sort of scurrilous classic) had a considerable, often indirect, bearing on how Leicester was assessed by writers and historians.^[201] Already around 1600, "the greatest subject of late days in England and now dead"^{[fn 12]} was more and more perceived as an arch-intriguer, for example in writings of Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Henry Howard.^[202] As much as William Camden's Annales shaped the historical picture of Elizabeth I,^[203] it shaped the image of the Earl of Leicester. It established him "as the evil genius of the Court".^[204] By 1757, another element was added to the picture by Tobias Smollett, describing Leicester as having no ability whatsoever.^[205] Throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries there prevailed the image of the criminally inclined intriguer and the fool in one person. ^{[206][fn 13]}

Re-evaluation

Only in recent decades has there occurred a re-evaluation of the traditional picture of the Earl of Leicester. A study by Eleanor Rosenberg titled Leicester: Patron of Letters from 1955, established his importance in this field.^[207] Reassessments of Elizabethan Puritanism followed; through these, Leicester's religious position could be better understood, rather than simply to brand him as a hypocrite.^[208] It was now possible to appreciate Leicester's role as a mediator between the High Church and non-conforming clergy.^[209] The 1980s saw three general biographies of the Earl. Many aspects of Leicester's life and career have been reassessed in studies by Simon Adams.^[210] He has shown the continuance of the Edwardian establishment around the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland into Elizabeth's reign.^[211] Robert Dudley's position at the core of Elizabeth's court thus gained a new aspect: "The traditional picture of Leicester as a courtier-adventurer who rose to great heights through the Queen's misguided affection is based on a fundamental misconception. From the earliest years of the reign he was the inheritor of his father's following, and it was this that gave significance to his position as intimate and potential consort."^[212]

On stage and in fiction

In the 19th century, Robert Dudley appeared on stage and in novels. In 1800, Friedrich Schiller's Maria Stuart was performed for the first time.^[213] Here, "Graf Leicester" is the leading male character of the play. In 1821 followed Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth,^[214] in which the Princely Pleasures of 1575 are retold with Amy Robsart being murdered fifteen years after she should have met her death. Out of these very successful works of literature, Gaetano Donizetti took two of his opera sujets: Il castello di Kenilworth in 1829, and Maria Stuarda in 1835. In these operas, Dudley, figuring as "Roberto", is given the honour to be the lead tenor part.^[215]

On screen

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester appeared in several feature films and TV productions:

• 1937 Fire Over England played by Leslie Banks.
• 1971 Mary, Queen of Scots played by Daniel Massey alongside Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth.
• 1971 Elizabeth R played by Robert Hardy.
• 1998 Elizabeth played by Joseph Fiennes alongside Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth.
• 2005 Elizabeth I played by Jeremy Irons alongside Helen Mirren as Elizabeth.
• 2005 The Virgin Queen played by Tom Hardy.

Footnotes

1. ^ Wilson pp.43-44, Haynes Bear p.21, and Gristwood p.71, consider a love-match to be very likely; Adams Leicester p.135, says: "reasons for his marriage in 1550 to Amy Robsart, the only child of the middling Norfolk gentleman-farmer Sir John Robsart, remain unclear".
2. ^ "está muy mala de un pecho" in the original Spanish: Adams Household p.63.
3. ^ The others named by the Spanish ambassador were William Cecil and his brother-in-law Nicholas Bacon: Chamberlin p.101.
4. ^ In the 19th century, the question of Sir Robert Dudley's legitimacy was again raised, this time in the House of Lords, but again, it remained unresolved. Historians have had different views on the problem: Wilson p.326, believes in a marriage; Warner p.v-ix, xxxviii-xlvii, is very sceptical; Read p.23, and Adams Leicester p.145, reject it.
5. ^ Rumours that Leicester had poisoned Essex were soon abroad, and, despite an official investigation, which did not substantiate any suspicions of foul play, continued to flourish: Jenkins p.217; Read p.21.
6. ^ "Leicester was as central a figure to the 'first reign' [of Elizabeth] as Burghley.": Adams Leicester p.7. Robert Dudley has been described as "one of the most strangely underrated of Elizabeth's circle of close advisers": Haynes Power p.15.
7. ^ "Next whereunto there stands a stately place,
   Where oft I gained gifts and goodly grace,
   Of that great Lord which therein wont to dwell,
   Whose want too well now feels my friendless case..." (Prothalamion): Jenkins pp.261.
8. ^ Leicester was strongly against Elizabeth marrying the French prince: Doran pp.212-213.
9. ^ According to Stow's own words in 1604: Wilson p.160.
10. ^ "Honour constrains me to insist for her life.", James wrote: Gristwood p.421.
11. ^ The original title was A copy of a letter written by a Master of Art of Cambridge...; in 1641 it was reprinted in London as Leycesters Commonwealth: Burgoyne p.vii.
12. ^ A Welsh author described Leicester in this way c.1598-1600: Adams Leicester p.52.
13. ^ Typical examples of the historiography of their respective eras are: James Anthony Froude (History of England, after 1870): "he [Robert Dudley] combined in himself the worst qualities of both sexes. Without courage, without talent, without virtue, he was the handsome, soft, polished, and attentive minion of the Court. The queen...saw...an image of her own creation.": Adams Leicester p.57. Conyers Read (Mr. Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth, 1925): "Leicester was a selfish, unscrupulous courtier and Burghley a wise and patriotic statesman": Chamberlin p.103. Geoffrey Elton (England under the Tudors, 1955): "a handsome, vigorous man with very little sense.": Wilson p.304.

References

Bibliography

• Adams, Simon (ed.): Household Accounts and Disbursement Books of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Cambridge UP 1995 ISBN 0521551560
• Adams, Simon: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics Manchester UP 2002 ISBN 0719053250
• Adlard, George: Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leycester John Russell Smith 1870 [1]
• Bossy, John: Under the Molehill: An Elizabethan Spy Story Yale Nota Bene 2002 ISBN 0300094507
• Bruce, John (ed.): Correspondence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester, during his Government of the Low Countries, in the Years 1585 and 1586 Camden Society 1844 [2]
• Burgoyne, F.J. (ed.): History of Queen Elizabeth, Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leicester, being a Reprint of "Leycesters Commonwealth" 1641 Longmans 1904 [3]
• Chamberlin, Frederick: Elizabeth and Leycester Dodd, Mead & Co. 1939
• Doran, Susan: Monarchy and Matrimony: The Courtships of Elizabeth I Routledge 1996 ISBN 0415119693
• Freedman, Sylvia: Poor Penelope: Lady Penelope Rich. An Elizabethan Woman The Kensal Press 1983 ISBN 0946041202
• Gristwood, Sarah: Elizabeth and Leicester Bantam Books 2007 ISBN 0553817867
• Hammer, P.E.J.: The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585-1597 Cambridge UP 1999 ISBN 0521019419
• Haynes, Alan: Invisible Power: The Elizabethan Secret Services 1570-1603 Alan Sutton 1992 ISBN 0750900377
• Haynes, Alan: The White Bear: The Elizabethan Earl of Leicester Peter Owen 1987 ISBN 0720606721
• Hearn, Karen: Nicholas Hilliard Unicorn Press 2005 ISBN 0906290821
• Historical Manuscripts Commission (ed.): Report on the Pepys Manuscripts Preserved at Magdalen College, Cambridge HMSO 1911 [4]
• Hume, Martin (ed.): Calendar of...State Papers Relating to English Affairs...in...Simancas, 1558-1603 HMSO 1892-1899 vol.I [5] vol.II [6] vol.III [7] vol.IV [8]
• Hume, Martin: The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth Eveleigh Nash & Grayson 1904 [9]
• Jenkins, Elizabeth: Elizabeth and Leicester The Phoenix Press 2002 ISBN 1842125605
• Kenyon, John: The History Men: The Historical Profession in England since the Renaissance Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1983 ISBN 0297782541
• Kindlers Literatur Lexikon dtv 1974 ISBN 3423031522 (German)
• Lee, Arthur Gould: The Son of Leicester: The Story of Sir Robert Dudley Victor Gollancz 1964
• Nicolas, Harris (ed.): Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton Richard Bentley 1847 [10]
• Nichols, J.G. (ed.): The Chronicle of Queen Jane Camden Society 1850 [11]
• Owen, D.G. (ed.): Manuscripts of The Marquess of Bath vol.V: Talbot, Dudley and Devereux Papers 1533-1659 HMSO 1980 ISBN 011440092X
• Plowden, Alison: Marriage with my Kingdom: The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth I BCA 1977
• Read, Conyers (ed.): A Letter from Robert, Earl of Leicester, to a Lady The Huntington Library Bulletin No.9 April 1936
• Starkey, David: Elizabeth: Apprenticeship Vintage 2001 ISBN 0099286572
• Strong, R.C.; van Dorsten, J.A.: Leicester's Triumph Oxford UP 1964
• Wagner, Heinz: Das große Handbuch der Oper Florian Noetzel Verlag 1991 ISBN 3930656140 (German)
• Warner, G.F (ed.): The Voyage of Robert Dudley to the West Indies, 1594-1595 Hakluyt Society 1899 [12]
• Williams, Neville: Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk Barrie & Rockliff 1964
• Wilson, Derek: Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 Hamish Hamilton 1981 ISBN 0241101492
• Willson, D.H.: King James VI & I Jonathan Cape Paperback 1971 ISBN 0224605720
• Wright, Thomas (ed.): Queen Elizabeth and her Times Henry Colburn 1838 vol.II [13]

Further reading

• Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester by Alan Kendall (1980) ISBN 0304304425
• The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne by Derek Wilson (2004) ISBN 0-7867-1469-7

See also

Alienation Office

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Simple English Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

• Dudley, Robert in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
• Archival material relating to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester listed at the UK National Register of Archives