Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

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Robert Dudley, by Nicholas Hilliard , 1576
Signature Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.PNG

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester [ˈlɛstə] KG (* June 24, 1532 , † September 4, 1588 in Cornbury , Oxfordshire ) was Elizabeth I's most important favorite from her accession to the throne until his death, statesman and head stable master (Master of the Horse).

youth

Robert Dudley was one of thirteen children of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland . The children received an excellent humanistic upbringing under such eminent educators as Roger Ascham and John Dee . Robert Dudley served at the court of Henry VIII and Edward VI. as a companion to the young prince and king. The Duke of Northumberland had chaired the Privy Council since 1550 and was considered the most powerful man in England. After the death of King Edward in 1553 he tried to bring his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Gray to the English throne. John Dudley, his youngest son, Guilford and his wife Jane Gray on the orders Queen Mary I. executed. Robert Dudley was also sentenced to death and imprisoned in the Tower for eighteen months. During the same period, Princess Elisabeth was imprisoned there for a few weeks. Elisabeth had known Dudley since she was “not yet eight years old”. Dudley had married Amy Robsart as early as 1550 .

Elisabeth and Dudley

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester about 1564

In Elizabeth's throne Dudley was appointed Master of the Horse ( Oberstallmeister appointed). It was soon apparent that the Queen was deeply in love with him, and rumors were circulating across the country. When his wife died from falling down a staircase in September 1560, many believed that he had put her aside so that he could marry the queen. However, it was precisely the scandal surrounding Amy's death that initially ruined all chances of getting married. Today's historians consider a murder to be almost impossible: an accident or suicide are considered likely. Amy was also "very sick in one breast". She may have had breast cancer.

In 1563 Elisabeth Dudley proposed as husband to the widowed Queen Mary of Scotland : She hoped to neutralize her by marrying an Englishman. In her instructions for the negotiation, she wrote that the marriage was compensation for not marrying Dudley herself, whom she wished to make, "it is in Our power, the owner or heir of Our kingship." Mary wasn't very interested at first, as Dudley hardly seemed befitting. As a condition she named the assurance of the English succession to the throne, which she was finally assured, should she accept Robert Dudley as husband. In 1564 Elizabeth made him Earl of Leicester . In the end, Maria agreed. Robert Dudley himself had refused from the beginning to be deported to Scotland and could not be convinced of it either, so that nothing came of the plan.

For many years Dudley was a candidate for marriage to Elisabeth. The Queen kept saying this. He became one of her chief statesmen, and she scarcely left him on her side.

Liaisons and second marriage

Robert Dudley, by Jan Anthoniszoon van Ravesteyn

Although Elisabeth Dudley did not marry herself, she expected him to refrain from marrying as well. So it came about that around 1570 he entered into a relationship “without further conditions” (as he put it to her) with the widowed Lady Douglas Sheffield. In 1573 it was noted that not only Lady Sheffield, but also her sister Frances Howard, was "very much in love with him", and that the Queen "thinks nothing good of them, nor the best of him." In 1574 Lady Sheffield gave birth to a son who was also named Robert Dudley (1574–1649). This went to Italy in 1605 because he had lost a lawsuit in England for the recognition of his parentage. He nevertheless carried the titles "Earl of Warwick and Leicester" and "Duke of Northumberland", the latter was confirmed by Emperor Ferdinand II . Dudley Junior became an important explorer and cartographer ("Dell'Arcano del Mare").

Around 1575 the Earl of Leicester began an affair with Lettice Knollys , wife of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex . As Anne Boleyn's great niece , she was a second niece of Queen Elisabeth. Lord Essex died in Ireland in 1576 . Two years later, Leicester married the widowed Countess, initially secretly for fear of the Queen's jealousy. This marriage hurt and insulted the queen deeply. She never put up with it. She nurtured an irreconcilable hatred towards Lettice, which she also expressed publicly. However, she did not want to do without Leicester's company and friendship, even if she occasionally humiliated and disadvantaged him because of his marriage.

Governor General of the Netherlands and the Armada

In 1585, Count Leicester was given command of the English troops in support of the rebellious provinces of the Netherlands against Spain. The States General appointed him Governor General . In December 1587 he resigned and returned to England for good after falling out with the States General.

Dudley was also commander in chief of the English land forces against the Spanish Armada in July and August 1588. In that capacity he organized the troop display at Tilbury for Queen Elizabeth, where she gave one of her most famous speeches. He died shortly afterwards at Oxford on September 4, 1588. The Queen kept a note from Leicester dated August 29 in her treasure chest and wrote "his last letter" on it.

reception

The life of Robert Dudley formed the basis of the opera series Il castello di Kenilworth by Gaetano Donizetti, first performed in 1826 .

Web links

Commons : Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , p. 16.
  2. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , pp. 23, 28-29.
  3. ↑ Simon Adams: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics , Manchester UP 2002, ISBN 0-7190-5325-0 , pp. 139, 134.
  4. ↑ Simon Adams: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics , Manchester UP 2002, ISBN 0-7190-5325-0 , p. 135.
  5. ^ "Está muy mala de un pecho" in the Spanish original: Simon Adams: Household Accounts and Disbursement Books of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester , Cambridge UP 1995, ISBN 0-521-55156-0 , p. 63.
  6. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , p. 124.
  7. ^ Frederick Chamberlin: Elizabeth and Leycester , New York 1939, p. 145.
  8. ↑ Frederick Chamberlin: Elizabeth and Leycester , New York 1939, pp. 136-164, 445-447.
  9. ↑ Doran Susan: Monarchy and Matrimony. The Courtships of Elizabeth I , London 1996, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , p. 212.
  10. ↑ Martin Hume: The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth , Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, London 1904 [1] , pp. 90-104.
  11. ^ Sally Varlow: The Lady Penelope: The Lost Love and Politics in the Court of Elizabeth I , London 2007, ISBN 0-233-00265-0 , p. 60.
  12. ↑ Conyers Read: A Letter from Robert, Earl of Leicester, to a Lady , The Huntington Library Bulletin, No. April 9, 1936.
  13. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , p. 207.
  14. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , pp. 228, 230-231; Sylvia Freedman: Poor Penelope: Lady Penelope Rich. To Elizabethan Woman , The Kensal Press 1983, ISBN 0-946041-20-2 , pp. 121-122.
  15. ^ PEJ Hammer: The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex 1585–1597 , Cambridge UP 1999, ISBN 0-521-01941-9 , p. 43; HMS Hume (Ed.): Calendar of… State Papers Relating to English Affairs… in… Simancas 1558–1603 , 4 vols., London 1892–1899, vol. III , p. 477.
  16. ↑ Elizabeth Jenkins: Elizabeth and Leicester , The Phoenix Press 2002, ISBN 1-84212-560-5 , pp. 247, 279, 263, 305; PEJ Hammer: The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex 1585–1597 , Cambridge UP 1999, ISBN 0-521-01941-9 , p. 46.
  17. ↑ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin. A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 , London 1981, ISBN 0-241-10149-2 , p. 303.
predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Leicester
1564-1588 		Title expired
personal data
SURNAME Dudley, Robert, 1st Earl of Leicester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leicester, Robert Dudley 1st Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English peer, head stable master of Queen Elizabeth I.
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1532
DATE OF DEATH September 4, 1588
Place of death Cornbury