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FAMOUS DUDLEY'S of ENGLAND
Below you will find pictures and a short story of famous or infamous Dudleys and their famous enemies, or famous associations. These Dudleys played a large role in English history, and in how England became what it is today.
Note: As soon as I am able too and get things caught up, I will have a biographry on each famous Dudley, and give a more in-depth bio on each of them, plus some, who are not listed on this page. With a lot more information of the time period, whats going on and what led them to make the decisions they made.
As of now I have a web site for Lady Jane finished, and I am currently working on a web site for both Robert Dudley and Queen Elizabeth, I am hoping to have these finished soon. To visit these sites, you may click-on the buttons below each image.
Famous Dudleys of England web site !
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John Dudley
Duke of Northumberland
born 1502 or 1503
An English statesman and the son of Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII. John was restored to his inheritance in 1512 after his fathers attainder and execution in 1510. Rising by means of his military ability, he became Viscount Lisle, warden of the Scottish Marches in 1542, and lord high admiral in 1543. Named as one of the executors of Henry VIII's will, he helped Edward Seymour, later duke of Somerset, become protector of the young Edward VI, while he himself was created earl of Warwick and lord high chamberlain. Cooperative and politic, he dissembled his plans for power while distinguishing himself in the field of battle; in 1547 he took part in the victory over the Scots at Pinkie and suppressed the rebellion of Robert Kett in 1549. By never actually committing himself and by playing on both Catholic and Protestant sympathies, he finally formed a coalition against Somerset, deposing him in 1549 and having him executed in 1552. Some say John, of little religious conviction himself, then posed as a firm Protestant to increase his power over Edward VI and ruthlessly advanced the Reformation for political ends. He was appointed duke of Northumberland in 1551. In a plan to protect his power, he was said to have convinced the dying Edward that the latters sister Mary should be excluded from the succession because, she was a Catholic, and he browbeat the council into proclaiming Lady Jane Grey, his daughter-in-law, as queen when the monarch died in 1553.
John Dudley, while on his way to capture Mary in Norfolk in July 1553, was deserted by his army and was arrested and forced to surrender to Queen Mary I. Opportunistically, he recanted his Protestant beliefs and attended Mass, thinking this may cause Mary to pardon him. He was beheaded on Tower Hill on Monday 23 August 1553. On the scaffold, Dudley told the crowd that he was an 'evil liver' of past, but was now 'worthy to die.' He asked for Queen Mary's forgiveness and said, 'I have deserved a thousand deaths.' As he knelt in prayer the bandage around his eyes slipped, causing him to hesitate before laying his head upon the block. He is buried in the Tower chapel.
I hope to have a more in-depth biography on John Dudley in the coming weeks, to tell a little different version of this story, with true facts. John and King Edward were true friends with feelings for each other, John wasn't the tyrant some say he was.
More Info on John Dudley !
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Lady Jane Grey Dudley,
Queen of England 1553
Ceux que les dieux aiment meurent jeunes.
Whom the gods love, dies young.
The story of Lady Jane Grey is probably one of the strangest in the history of women rulers, and yet so typical of the powers that manipulated women. At fifteen she was married to the son of the powerful lord chamberlain John Dudley. His son was named Guildford Dudley. Some say, the purpose of their marriage was to change the royal succession upon the death of the sickly king Edward VI. Lady Jane would become Queen and John Dudley could rule the country through her. Edward approved the marriage and signed a deed declaring Lady Jane his successor. On July 6, 1553 Edward died and Jane became Queen. Edward VI's half sister Mary Tudor contested the succession of Jane and after reigning for nine days she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. She and her husband, and John Dudley were accused of treason and all three were beheaded in 1554.
More Info on Lady Jane Dudley !
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The Execution of Lady Jane-1554
Lady Jane Grey, upon marrying Lord Guildford Dudley, the fourth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, knowing she was in line of succession of the Crown of England. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland persuaded the young Edward on his death bed to transfer the rights of his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. After the kings death on 6th July 1553, Lady Jane Dudley was publicly proclaimed at the Tower, but within eight days Mary's supporters rose in strength. On the 31st July Lady Jane's father, Henry Duke of Suffolk entered her chamber, tore down the canopy of state and told her she was no longer Queen. She begged to go home, but he turned her away. She was now a prisoner of the state, and Suffolk himself was soon to share her fate.
In February 1554, Lady Jane watched her husband, Guildford Dudley go from the Beauchamp Tower to his death on Tower Hill, a few hours before her own execution on the Tower Green. They were buried in the chapel, which also holds the bones of the executed John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and his old enemy, Protector Somerset.
More Info on Lady Jane Dudley !
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Mary I Queen of England
1553-1558
Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary was one of three people in line for the throne, Mary, Elizabeth and Lady Jane. Mary and Elizabeth, by birth and Lady Jane, by birth and by the wishes of King Edward. Just before he died, he placed in his Will, that he wanted Lady Jane to succeed him on the Throne of England as Queen, but Mary protested. She didn't want a protestant to be on the throne of England, she wanted England to turn back to the Catholic Church as its official Church. And Lady Jane had her enemies in Parlament. It wasn't long that Mary was able to gathered an army, and with the help of Parliment, succeeded in taking the throne away from Lady Jane. In fear that Lady Jane might try and take the throne back, Mary had some charges of treason made up aganist John Dudley, Lady Jane and Lady Jane's husband Guildford Dudley and she had all three beheaded. During her reign, she restored Catholicism to England. Mass was restored without opposition and the popeis authority was reestablished. Upon her engagement to Philip II, King of Spain there was a large rebellion led to dispose of Mary and put her half sister Elizabeth on the throne. Philip was very unpopular in England and under his orders Mary joined in a war against France. She is called Bloody Mary because of the 300 people condemned to death for heresy and/or treason under her reign.
Mary died in London on November 17, 1558, and was succeeded by Elizabeth I., and with very few morning her death.
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Tower of London
Founded nearly a millennium ago and expanded upon over the centuries since, the Tower of London has protected, housed, imprisoned and been for many the last sight they saw on Earth, such as Lady Jane Dudley, her husband Guilford Dudley, and her father-in-law, John Dudley.
It has been the seat of British government and the living quarters of monarchs ... the site of renown political intrigue, and the repository of the Crown Jewels ... It has housed lions, bears, and (to this day) flightless ravens ... not to mention notorious traitors and framed members of court, lords and ministers, clergymen and knights.
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Robert Dudley Leicester
(1532-88).
Count Robert--Robert Dudley Leicester, was said to be the favorite of Elisabeth I of England and therefore "intrigued against the marriage proposals from the French and Austrian courts; he was suspected of poisoning his wife Amy Robsart, but the suspicion, which became the subject of Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth, was never confirmed."
Robert Dudley, b. June 24, 1532 or 1533, d. Sept. 4, 1588, was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who made him earl of Leicester in 1564. A son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, he was involved in his father's plan to secure the succession to the throne of Lady Jane Grey in 1553. When the scheme failed, he was condemned to death but later pardoned.
Dudley's dashing personality and good looks made him Elizabeth's favorite courtier from the time of her accession in 1558. She considered marrying him and might have done so had not his first wife, Amy Robsart, died under unusual circumstances in 1560. Many suspected that Dudley had murdered her, but there is no evidence to implicate him, nor did he lose influence with the queen. He was given Kenilworth Castle, near Coventry, in 1563 and ennobled in 1564. In the latter year, Elizabeth also tried to marry him to Mary, Queen of Scots, who rejected the proposal.
In 1578, Leicester did alienate Elizabeth by marrying the widow of the 1st earl of Essex. From 1585 to 1587 he commanded English forces participating in the Dutch Revolt and again angered the Queen by accepting the title of governor of the Low Countries (Denmark and Holland). Leicester was also a notable patron of literature and drama.
More Info on Robert Dudley !
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Queen Elizabeth I
Born: 7 September 1533
Became Queen: 17 November 1558
Died: 24 March 1603
The Virgin Queen.
When Elizabeth took the throne, she was immediately descended upon by suitors. However, as we all know, she never married. One of the most obvious questions would be "why?". Some theorize that because of the way her father treated his wives, Elizabeth was disgusted by the idea of marriage. The more romantic feel it was because she couldn't marry the man that she really loved, her childhood friend, Robert Dudley. When Elizabeth became Queen, Dudley was married, and then his wife died under mysterious circumstances a few years later. Although Robert Dudley was cleared of any wrong-doing in the matter, Elizabeth could not marry him because of the scandal that would no doubt arise. Or perhaps it was a combination of both. Regardless of the reason, Elizabeth never married, but managed to successfully play her suitors off of one another for about 25 years, gaining alliances and wealth from gifts on the possibility of marriage.
More Info on Queen Elizabeth I !
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Dud Dudley
and the Industrial Revolution
By the seventeenth century, serious depletion of forests had occurred and local industrialists turned their minds to finding alternative fuels.
The common metallurgical fuel of the time was charcoal. The absolute dependency on wood for smelting was gradually undermining Britain's naval and mercantile strength. Dudley describes how others tried to use coal in smelting, but failed. He himself succeeded in perfecting a suitable process, and in 1619 obtained a patent from King James for this. Why use coal? Well, there was the increasing scarcity of wood/charcoal; while at the same time vast quantities of small coal, otherwise unusable, were lying around. Many coal pits produced both coal and iron ores from the same workings.
Dudley used coal not only for the smelting of iron ore in the blast furnace, but also to cast Iron works of sundry sorts and to fine pig iron into wrought iron or Merchantable good Bar Iron. During the Civil War he lost most of his goods and of course also his patent. Upon the Restoration, Dudley petitioned the King to be restored to his Place and his patent to be revived. By 1665, this request had not been granted - which was, of course, the reason for the publication of this book. Here Dudley sets out, in a methodical manner, all advantages of his invention, and this leads up to a new petition, which never was granted.
More Info on Dud Dudley!
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Sir Robert Dudley,
1574-1649,
A Renaissance Man
Sir Robert Dudley, was the son of Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, legitimate or illegitimate, has been an argument that has been going on for years and it really doesn't matter, for all will agree he was Robert's biological son, and Sir Robert Dudley was also, quite a renaissance man, skilled in mathematics, navigation, ship building, naval warfare, medicine (he both practiced and invented medicine), instrument making, and cartography.Sir Robert Dudley 1574-1649, was a colorful figure in Elizabethan England. He was the son of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Brilliant and ambitious, he became an extraordinarily skilled navigator, engineer, and chartmaker, and aspired to make a major voyage of discovery in the fashion of Sir Francis Drake. Dudley's life was noteworthy, and was, however, a bigamist, privateer, engineer, mathematician, architect and designer of warships and scientific instruments. In 1594-5 he commanded an expedition to the West Indies and the Guiana coast of South America. In 1596 he served as commander of a vessel in the attack on Cadiz for which he was knighted. He fell out of favor at the English court due to his philandering and ill-considered support of the Essex rebellion and in 1605, Dudley, a Roman Catholic, fled religious persecution in England and settled in Tuscany, Italy. After leaving England, he assumed the titles of Duke of Northumberland and Earl of Warwick, and entered the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. From 1606 until his death in 1649 he lived in Florence and was an influential member of the Court of the Medicis. under the patronage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany a member of the Medici family - for whom he undertook a series of projects including the draining of the swamps between Pisa and Livorno (Leghorn).
His major accomplishment and his masterwork Dell'Arcano del Mare (Secrets of the Sea), a sea atlas and comprehensive treatise on navigation, shipbuilding, and naval organization, also is renowned as the first atlas of sea charts of the world, on a uniform Mercator projection, was published in 1646 and 1647 just before his death in 1649. A second edition with 146 maps was published by Guiseppe Cocchini in 1661.
More Info on Sir Robert Dudley!
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