John Dudley, 2nd Earl of Warwick
John Dudley | |
|---|---|
| 2nd Earl of Warwick | |
| Tenure | 1553–1554 |
| Predecessor | John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland |
| Successor | Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick |
| Other titles | Viscount Lisle |
| Born | 1527 (?) |
| Died | 21 October 1554 Penshurst Place, Kent |
| Nationality | Englisch |
| Wars and battles | Campaign against Mary Tudor, 1553 |
| Offices | Master of the Buckhounds Master of the Horse |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Seymour |
| Parents | John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland Jane Guilford |
John Dudley, 2nd Earl of Warwick, KG, KB (c.1527 – 21 October 1554), was an English peer and the heir of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, leading minister and de facto ruler under Edward VI of England from c.1550–1553. As his father's career progressed, John Dudley respectively assumed his father's former titles, Viscount Lisle and Earl of Warwick, until in January 1553 he was created Earl of Warwick in his own right. His splendid marriage to the former Protector Somerset's eldest daughter was intended as a gesture of reconciliation between the young couple's fathers, but did not meet its purpose. Their struggle for power flared up again and ended with the Duke of Somerset's execution. In the summer of 1553, after King Edward's death, Dudley was one of the signatories of the letters patent that set Lady Jane Grey on the Throne of England and took arms against Mary Tudor, alongside his father. The short campaign did not see any military engagements and ended as the Duke of Northumberland and his son were taken prisoners at Cambridge. John Dudley the younger was condemned to death yet reprieved. He died shortly after his release from the Tower of London.
Leben
John Dudley was the third of thirteen children born to Sir John Dudley and Jane Guildford, daughter and heiress of Sir Edward Guildford. When John was born, his father was a young knight, son of the executed Edmund Dudley, councillor to Henry VII; in 1537 he became vice-admiral and later Lord Admiral.[1] In 1542 he received his mother's title of Viscount Lisle.[2] The elder John Dudley was a family man and happily married, as was noted by contemporaries and is evident from letters.[3] The Dudleys moved in evangelical circles from the early 1530s,[4] and their children were educated in the spirit of Renaissance humanism by tutors and companions such as Roger Ascham,[5] John Dee,[6] and Thomas Wilson.[7] Of the brothers, John in particular had scholarly and artistic leanings.[8] Walter Haddon and Thomas Wilson, eminent scholars of the times, dedicated books to him, praising his gifts.[9] As late as 1570, John Dee dedicated one of his major works to the memory of the long deceased John Dudley.[10] The young Dudley had his own small library with books in French, Italian and Latin as well as a Greek grammar, and "a tragedie in english of the unjust supremacie of the bushope of Rome".[11]
John Dudley became his father's heir after his eldest brother Henry was killed in 1544 during the siege of Boulogne under King Henry VIII.[12] At the coronation of Edward VI in 1547 he was made a Knight of the Bath.[13] Some weeks into Edward's reign the new Privy Council awarded themselves a round of promotions based on Henry VIII's wishes, and the elder John Dudley was created Earl of Warwick, the younger assumed his father's old title of Viscount Lisle.[14] The younger John Dudley and his brothers Ambrose and Robert frequently took part in tournaments and other court festivities.[15] On 3 June 1550 he was married to Anne Seymour, daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and former Lord Protector of England. The marriage was a grand affair attended by the twelve-year-old King Edward at the royal palace at Sheen. According to his diary Edward had a lot of fun. The match was intended as an expression of renewed amity between the young couple's fathers, who were political rivals, but the peace would not last.[16] After much plotting on both sides, in January 1552 Dudley's father-in-law was executed for felony on the contrivance of his father, who since early 1550 effectively ruled England.[17]
After King Edward, now fourteen, had raised his father to the dukedom of Northumberland in October 1551, John Dudley was at first styled,[13] and in January 1553, created Earl of Warwick so that he could attend the House of Lords. This he did but made no impact, and it is even unclear whether the other Lords allowed him to participate in debates.[18] In April 1552 Warwick became Master of the Horse,[13] a major position in the royal household normally held by more experienced men; he was also elected a Knight of the Garter at this time.[19] In 1551 he travelled with a diplomatic mission to France.[19] At one point he ran into financial difficulties, possibly due to bad company, as a knowing and sympathetic letter from his father to him reveals.[20] In February 1553 Princess Mary visited London and was welcomed in the outskirts by the Earl of Warwick at the head of numerous gentlemen. It was a splendid occasion, Mary being received by the Lords of the Council "as if she had been Queen of England".[21] Still without a proper income of his own, in the next month, Warwick received the wardship of his fourteen-year-old brother-in-law, Edward Seymour.[19]
Downfall
In the winter of 1553 the King became ill and by the beginning of June his condition was hopeless.[22] For years, the Imperial ambassador Jehan de Scheyfye had been convinced of Northumberland being engaged in some "mighty plot" to settle the Crown on his own head.[23] Always looking out for signs as to this respect, he reported talk that the Duke was contemplating the divorce of his eldest son in order to marry him to Princess Elizabeth.[24] In fact, it was Warwick's younger brother, Guilford Dudley, who had recently been married. His bride was Lady Jane Grey, who was to ascend the English throne after the King's death, according to Edward's will, headed "My Devise for the Succession", in which he bypassed his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth.[25] The Earl of Warwick was among the hundred and two personages who signed the letters patent, which were supposed to settle the Crown on Jane.[26] When the Duke of Northumberland took arms against Mary Tudor, his eldest son went with him.[27]
They passed a week that saw no action in Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds, hearing on 20 July that the Council in London had declared for Mary. Staying at Cambridge, Northumberland himself proclaimed Mary Tudor as queen at the market place.[28] Warwick was with him as he threw up his cap and "so laughed that the tears ran down his cheeks for grief."[29] The city that had welcomed the Duke splendidly was nervous to please the new queen. A large group of townsmen and university scholars surrounded King's College to arrest the Duke, who was with his son lodged on the premises. In contrast to his father, Warwick resisted arrest.[30] A letter from the Council arrived that everyman could go his way, so the Duke asked to be set free, "and so continued they all night [at liberty]".[31] At dawn the Earl of Warwick "was booted ready to have ridden in the morning", and escape.[32] It was too late, however, as the Earl of Arundel arrived to again arrest the Duke and his entourage.[33] At least four people who left accounts witnessed the prisoners' return: they rode side by side through London, the guards having difficulties protecting them against the hostile populace. John Dudley the younger burst into tears as they reached the Tower of London.[34]
After a few days, almost all the Dudley family were imprisoned in the Tower. All the men were eventually attainted and condemned to death. Warwick was tried on 18 August 1553 in Westminster Hall, alongside his father and the Marquess of Northampton. Warwick's turn was last and he, unlike the other defendants, pleaded guilty immediately.[35] After sentence was passed Northumberland asked: "that her Majesty may be gracious to my children ... considering they went by my commandment who am their father, and not of their own free wills".[36] His execution was planned for 21 August at eight in the morning, however, it was suddenly cancelled; Northumberland was instead escorted to St Peter ad Vincula, where he publicly took the Catholic communion, forswearing his hitherto Protestant faith, in what was a great propaganda coup for the new, Catholic, government.[37] Any hopes of a pardon were in vain for the Duke who, after short notice, was now to be beheaded the next day.[38] An hour before the appointed execution the Earl of Warwick, unlike his four younger brothers, went with his father to St Peter ad Vincula, to also receive the sacrament.[39] At the service Northumberland was unable to utter the required words; then the party was allowed to walk in the garden of the Tower's lieutenant, where Warwick said farewell to his father with an embrace.[40]
From mid-September Warwick was allowed visits by his wife.[41] The rebellion of Thomas Wyatt in February 1554 led to the execution of Jane Grey and her husband, Guilford Dudley. John, Ambrose, Robert, and Henry Dudley remained imprisoned in a room of the Beauchamp Tower.[42] They made carvings in the walls, John carving their heraldic devices with his name "IOHN DVDLI".[43] He was allowed to perambulate on the leads, "being crazed for want of air".[13] During 1554 Jane Dudley, John's mother, and his brother-in-law, Henry Sidney, were busy befriending the Spanish nobles around the new king consort, Prince Philip of Spain, as well in England as in Spain.[44] In October, John Dudley and his brothers Robert and Henry were released due to their efforts, but John Dudley died immediately afterwards at Henry Sidney's house Penshurst in Kent.[45]
Notes
- ^ Loades pp. 23, 34, 55
- ^ Adams p. 316
- ^ Ives pp. 105–106, 307; Loades p. 23
- ^ MacCulloch pp. 52–53; Ives pp. 114–115
- ^ Chamberlin p. 55
- ^ Wilson p. 16
- ^ Chamberlin p. 56
- ^ Wilson p.16
- ^ Thomas Haddon: Cantabrigienses, 1552; Thomas Wilson: The Arte of Rhetoricke, 1553 (Wilson p. 312).
- ^ Mathematicall Praeface to Euclid's Elements (Woolley pp. 93, 13).
- ^ David Loades: "Dudley, John, duke of Northumberland (1504–1553)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford UP 2004; online edn. Oct 2008 Retrieved 2009-08-15; Haynes p. 25
- ^ Chamberlin p. 76
- ^ a b c d David Loades: "Dudley, John, duke of Northumberland (1504–1553)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford UP 2004; online edn. Oct 2008 Retrieved 2009-08-15
- ^ Loades p. 90; Wilson p. 28
- ^ Wilson p. 42
- ^ Loades p. 152; Ives p. 111
- ^ Loades pp. 186–190, 285; Ives pp. 112–113
- ^ Ives p. 306; Loades p. 236
- ^ a b c Loades p. 224
- ^ Wilson p. 12; Loades p. 224
- ^ Ives pp. 94
- ^ Loades pp. 238, 239
- ^ Loades p. 240; Ives p. 151
- ^ Chapman p. 92
- ^ Alford pp. 171–173. This and two other simultaneous matches had been in planning long before Edward became ill; only in hindsight became they so significant. David Loades has described them as "routine actions of dynastic politics" (Loades pp. 238–239; Ives pp. 152–154).
- ^ David Loades: "Dudley, John, duke of Northumberland (1504–1553)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford UP 2004; online edn. Oct 2008 Retrieved 2009-08-15; Ives p. 165
- ^ Chapman p. 129, 131
- ^ Ives pp. 246, 241–242
- ^ Ives p. 242
- ^ Ives pp. 242–243
- ^ Nichols p. 10
- ^ Nichols p. 10; Ives p. 243
- ^ Ives pp. 243–244
- ^ Chapman pp. 150–151
- ^ Ives pp. 96–97
- ^ Tytler pp. 225–226
- ^ Ives p. 119
- ^ Ives p. 118–119
- ^ Chapman p. 169; Ives p. 118
- ^ Chapman p. 169
- ^ Nichols p. 27
- ^ Wilson p. 59
- ^ Wilson p. 61
- ^ Adams pp. 157, 134
- ^ Adams p. 157
References
- Adams, Simon: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics Manchester University Press 2002 ISBN 0719053250
- Alford, Stephen: Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Cambridge University Press 2002 ISBN 9780521039710
- Chamberlin, Frederick: Elizabeth and Leycester Dodd, Mead & Co. 1939
- Chapman, Hester: Lady Jane Grey Jonathan Cape 1962
- Haynes, Alan: The White Bear: The Elizabethan Earl of Leicester Peter Owen 1987 ISBN 0720606721
- Ives, Eric: Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery Wiley-Blackwell 2009 ISBN 9781405194136
- Loades, David: John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1504–1553 Clarendon Press 1996 ISBN 0198201931
- MacCulloch, Diarmaid: The Boy King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation Palgrave 2001 ISBN 0312238304
- Nichols, J.G. (ed.): The Chronicle of Queen Jane Camden Society 1850 [1]
- Tytler, P. F.: England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary vol.II Richard Bentley 1839 [2]
- Wilson, Derek: Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533–1588 Hamish Hamilton 1981 ISBN 0241101492
- Woolley, Benjamin: The Queen's Conjuror: The Life and Magic of Dr Dee Harper Collins 2002 ISBN 0006552021