Susan Higginbotham's Blog: History Refreshed by Susan HIgginbotham, page 27

How To Marry a Duchess: A Valentine's Day Post

First, a visit from the Bard:

I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-garter'd; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars, I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-garter'd, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised!

Malvolio, the steward in Twelfth Night who fancies that his noble lady, Olivia, is in love with him, of course, was the victim of a trick. But the idea of a high-born lady marrying one of her servants wasn't an unheard-of one in Tudor England, for here are three Tudor men who managed to land duchesses:

Richard Bertie

Born in 1517, Bertie was the gentleman usher of Katherine Brandon (Willoughby), the dowager Duchess of Suffolk, who was the widow of Henry VIII's great friend Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Katherine, born in 1519, married Bertie around 1552, the year after both of her sons had died of the sweating sickness. Bertie was an Oxford graduate who had previously served Thomas Wriothesley; he was described as "master of the French, Italian, and Latin tongues, bold in discourse and quick at repartee." These were qualities that must have appealed to the duchess, who herself was possessed of a caustic wit.

The fervently Protestant couple and their infant daughter, Susan (an eminently sensible and proper name), found it prudent to leave England during Mary I's reign. While abroad, they had a son, Peregrine, whose name reflected their vagabond status during those years. Susan later married Reginald Grey, who with the duchess's aid eventually became the Earl of Kent when the title was revived. He died as a young man, however, and Susan subsequently married John Wingfield. Peregrine, who became Lord Willoughby, married Mary de Vere, the daughter of the sixteenth Earl of Oxford.

Richard Bertie found his relatively low birth (his wife described him as "meanly born") somewhat of a handicap. Despite his duchess's efforts, he never was able to assume the title of "Lord Willoughby," although his son was allowed to do so. He did, however, serve in Parliament and as a local official in Lincolnshire, and he was granted an M.A. from Cambridge. Bertie composed an answer to John Knox's Monstrous Regiment of Women, which was privately circulated.

Katherine died on September 19, 1580. Her first husband had been buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. She was buried at Spilsby Church in Lincolnshire, where Bertie himself was buried after his death on April 9, 1582. Their monument, containing their busts, can be seen there today.

Adrian Stokes

Stokes (variously described as a master of horse, an equerry, and a steward) was in the service of Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, who was Charles Brandon's daughter and therefore Katherine Brandon's stepdaughter (Katherine had been Charles's ward). I've posted recently on the myths surrounding the marriage of Frances and Adrian. They were married in 1555, about a year after Frances's first husband, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, was beheaded for his role in Wyatt's rebellion against Mary I. The couple had one daughter, who died as an infant.

Horace Walpole recounts the story that Elizabeth I greeted the news of the marriage with the remark, "'What! has she married her horse-keeper?' 'Yes, madam,' replied my lord Burleigh, 'and she says your majesty would like to do so too.'" This story is clearly apocryphal; Elizabeth was not queen when Frances and Adrian married, nor was Robert Dudley, the object of Frances's alleged rejoinder, Elizabeth's "horse-keeper" in 1555. Frances's motives in making the match are unknown, but marriage to a man who was entirely unsuitable for a queen's consort would have sent a strong message to Mary I, who had executed Frances's daughter Jane, that Frances herself had no designs on the crown. William Camden, Elizabeth I's biographer, saw this as the motive for Frances's marriage: he wrote that Frances, "forgetting the Nobility of her Lineage, had married Adrian Stokes, a mean Gentleman, to her Dishonour, but yet for her Security."

Frances died on November 21, 1559. As befitted her status as a niece of Henry VIII, she was buried at Westminster Abbey. In her will, Frances placed all of her property in the hands of Adrian, her sole executor:

In the name of God, Amen. I ladye Frances Dcches Of Suffolke, wife to Adryane Stockes esquyer, considering howe uncerteyn the howre of deathe is, and how certeyne ytt ys that every creature shall dye when ytt shall please God, being sicke in bodie but hole in mynde, thankes be to Almightie God; and considering with my self that the said Adrian Stockes my husbande is indebted to dyvers and sundrye persones in greate somes of money, and also that the chardge of my funeralles, if God call me to his mercye, shalbe greate chardgcs to hym, mynding he shall have, possesse, and enjoye all goodes, catalles, as well reall as personall, as all debtes, legacies, and all other thinges whatsoever I may give, dispose, lymytt, or appoynt by my last will and testament for the dischardge of the saide debtes and funeralles, do ordeyne and make this my present last will and testament, and do by the same constitute and make the saide Adryane Stockes my husbande my sole executor to all respectes, ententes, and purposes. In wytnes whereof I have hereunto putt my hande and seale the ixtb daye of November, in the furst yere of the reigne of our soveraigne ladye Elizabeth, by the grace of God quene of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande, defendour of the faythe, &c. Fraunces Suffolke.

Adrian made a second marriage to Anne Carew, the widow of Nicholas Throckmorton, and went on to serve in Parliament and on local commissions. He died on November 3, 1585. In his will, he left one of his stepdaughters "a bed in the Dutches Chamber" at Beaumanor, where he and Frances had spent part of their marriage. He was buried in the chapel there.

Francis Newdigate

Born in 1519, Francis was employed in the household of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. Somerset, brother to Jane Seymour and uncle to Edward VI, was executed in January 1552. His wife, Anne (nee Stanhope, born around 1510) herself was confined to the Tower until Mary I came to power in 1553, and Francis had his goods confiscated for a time. The widowed duchess had been left with nine children, and it was likely Newdigate's assistance in helping her piece together her life following her release from the Tower that led her to marry him in 1558.

It was a surprising match for the duchess, whose historical reputation (quite possibly exaggerated) is that of a haughty, grasping, and overbearing woman. Anne, however, appears to have been fiercely devoted to those close to her, and she soon used her influence to get her new husband into Parliament. In 1574, the sixtyish duchess wrote to William Cecil about a slighting remark made about her husband, "By redyng my L. Chamberlaynes leter and my answer you may knowe my grefe. The lyke was never offered to any, nor the lyke threats of contempt, withowt offendyng any law, have ben gyven owt as to Mr. Newdegat. Yf your Lordship canne do any good to stay thys defacement to the world, I wolld be glad of yt."

In 1560, Francis's stepson, the Earl of Hertford, secretly married Adrian Stokes' stepdaughter, Katherine Grey. The bride and groom were clapped into prison by Elizabeth I, and both stepfathers were questioned. Neither, however, suffered for their stepchildren's impetuous match.

Francis died on January 26, 1582. In his will, dated May 31, 1580, he wrote, "Since I have received all my preferment by the Duchess's marriage, so I bequeath her all I am able to give her." He made her his sole executor and asked to be buried at Hanworth, which the duchess had been granted shortly before their marriage. Anne died on April 15, 1587. Like Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, she was buried at Westminster Abbey.

So what did it take to land a duchess? Being a Protestant helped a lot; Richard Bertie's religious beliefs forced him to flee abroad with his wife. While both Stokes and Newdigate toed the line during Mary I's reign, both had strongly Protestant beliefs: Stokes directed that he be buried "without any pomp or solemnity as yt hath bene used in the Papistes tyme," while Newdigate commended his soul to be saved "only by faith in Christ's blood-shedding." Two of the three men married a woman whose first husband had died as a traitor. Perhaps what all three men had in common, however, was an ability to make themselves useful to their widowed duchesses, which led to the ultimate reward.

And who knows, maybe they put on yellow stockings.



Sources:

S. T. Bindoff et al. The House of Commons, 1509-1558. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office,

Bruce Bannerman, ed., Miscellanea Genalogica and Heraldica. Vol. II. London: Mitchell Hughes and Clarke, 1908.

Cecilie Goff, A Woman of the Tudor Age. London, John Murray, 1930.

P.W. Hasler, ed. The House of Commons, 1558-1603. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1981.

Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the Manuscripts of the Most Honorable the Marquess of Bath, Preserved at Longleat. Vol. IV, Seymour Papers. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1968.

John G. Nichols, "Anne, Duchess of Somerset." Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 177, 1845.

John Strype, Brief Annals of the Church and State Under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (vol. 3). London, 1731.

Susan Wabuda, 'Bertie , Katherine, duchess of Suffolk (1519–1580)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 13 Feb 2011]

Susan Wabuda, 'Bertie, Richard (1517–1582)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 13 Feb 2011]

Retha M. Warnicke, "Inventing the Wicked Women of Tudor England: Alice More, Anne Boleyn, and Anne Stanhope." Quidditas: Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, 1999.

Retha M. Warnicke, 'Seymour, Anne, duchess of Somerset (c.1510–1587)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 20 Sept 2010]

What the Well-Dressed Couple Brought to the Tower

In October 1551, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and his wife Anne were committed to the Tower. (The duke would be executed on January 22, 1552, the duchess would remain a prisoner until released by Mary I in August 1553.) Here, from Henry Ellis's Original Letters Illustrative of English History, are the items that the couple asked to be brought to them. (Plainly, the duchess was not the sort of lady to drink her beer while lounging in T-shirt and cutoffs.)

" Things necessarie for the Duke of Somerset, which he praythe to have: Firste one gowne; item, one velvet cappe; item one night cappe; item, two dubletts; item, ij. payre of hose; item, iij. shirtes; item ij night kerchers; item vj. hande kerchers; item iij. dussen pointes; item ij. payre of velvet shoes; item, iij. table clothes; item iiij hande towells; item iij. cupbourde clothes; item one dusson table napkings; item x11 in money to paye for his wasshinge, clensinge, and other necessaries.

" Thinges necessarie for the Duches of Somerset, which she prayeth to have. Firste one waste cote of velvyt wrought; item, ij. payre of knitte hose; item ij. payre of knitte sieves; item, one payre of wollen hose, which was in a plate cheste that mistres Susan kepte; item, vij. plane smockes which was last made; item, vj. highe collerd patletts and ruffes to the same; item vj. wayste smockes, whereof iij. wrought; item, vj. froc kerchers, whereof iij. fyne; item, ij. duble railes; item, vj. hand kerchers; item, the laces that mistres Pursbey had in keapinge; item, the crimisyn satten boxe with the stuffe that is in it; item a gowne of blacke velvyt egged with genetts, or else the gowne of blacke satten egged with black jenetts; item, a kirtle of blacke velvet playne; item a verdingale; item, a peace of skarlet for a stomycher; item, a piece of pointinge ryben; item, some blacke silke and white threde; item iij. little books covered with blacke velvyt which be in the cheste where this linning lyethe; item ij. payre of gloves; item, one payre of lether slippers; item xxli. in money to paye for wassinge, clensinge, and other necessaries; item ij. standing pottes for wyne and bere; item, ij. cuppes for bere, and a nest of boilles for wyne; item, vj. silver disshes, and ij. silver sawcers, and one dusson of pewder dishes; item, iiij. sylver plates; item, iiij. sylver spoones; item, iiij. table clothes; item iiij. hand towells; item, ij. dusson table napkins; item, iiij.cupboarde clothes."

Three Myths About Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk

First, let me make it clear that I take no credit for busting the three myths that I am about to discuss: all three have been previously addressed by other authors. Nonetheless, whenever I do a search on Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk (nee Brandon, mother of Jane Grey), I run across all three of them, so I will discuss them here in an effort to counter all of the nonsense that a search brings up.

Myth #1: Frances Grey married her second husband, Adrian Stokes, within three weeks of the executions of her daughter and her first husband in February 1454. (One source I ran across last night has Frances rushing to the altar within 10 days of the executions.) In fact, as Carl T. Berkhout, Leanda de Lisle, and Eric Ives have each pointed out recently, the marriage did not take place until March 1555 or possibly even later. Indeed, as late as April 21, 1455, Simon Renard was reporting to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, "It has been proposed that [Edward] Courtenay might be married to the widow of the last Duke of Suffolk, who comes next to the daughter of Scotland in line of succession to the crown."

But what of the story that Frances had a child by Stokes born in 1454? Notes and Queries from December 8, 1855, citing Cole's Escheats, notes that Frances and Adrian did indeed have a daughter, Elizabeth, who died in infancy on February 7, 1556--a death date entirely compatible with a 1555 marriage. I have yet to find a source that supports the statement that Frances bore a child in 1454.

Myth #2: Adrian Stokes was half Frances's age. Not only is Frances said incorrectly to have rushed to the altar after the executions of February 1554, she's accused of doing so with a boy-toy. In fact, Carl T. Berkhout has found that Laurence Nowell, a contemporary of Stokes, recorded the exact day and hour of Stokes' birth in a horoscope: 8 p.m. on March 4, 1519. This makes Stokes less than two years younger than Frances, born on July 16, 1517. Both parties, therefore, were in their mid-to-late thirties when they married.

Myth #3: A double portrait of a double-chinned woman and a much younger man is that of Frances and Adrian. As readers of Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time know, a bedridden Inspector Grant spots a portrait of Richard III and decides that he must have been a decent chap after all, and proceeds to assemble evidence to that effect. The portrait below has caused many an author to do some reverse Inspector-Granting with Frances. Richard Davy, for instance, notes the "very sinister expression" in Frances's eyes.



All of these physiognomic efforts, however, have been wasted, for the portrait was re-identified in 1986 by Susan Foister as being that of Mary Neville and her son, Gregory Fiennes--not of Frances and Adrian at all. An actual portrayal of Frances Brandon--the figure on her tomb in Westminster Abbey--could not be more different from the portrait that is still misidentified as her.

Sources:

Carl T Berkhout. Notes and Queries. London: Mar 2000. Vol. 47, Issue 1.

Karen Hearn, ed., Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630.

Eric Ives, Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery

Leanda de Lisle, The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey.

Andrew Dudley's Goods and Will

Andrew Dudley was the younger brother of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Born around 1507, he shared in his older brother's improving fortunes and in his downfall.

In 1553, Andrew, in his mid-forties, was betrothed to Margaret Clifford, the daughter of Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. As Margaret was only thirteen or so, it was apparently arranged that she and Andrew would reside for a while at her father's castle of Skipton. In preparation for the marriage, Andrew Dudley sent a number of costly goods to Skipton Castle, including rich apparel for both spouses, "a Venetian cup with a cover pounced," and "a salt with certain stones set therein."

Andrew borrowed some items from the royal household to set up housekeeping with his bride-to-be, as listed by the editor of the Historical Manuscript Commission's Calendar of Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury. The notations in brackets are the editor's.

One fair tablet of gold, to open in the back, made like a castle, garnished with xxvij diamonds, eight rubies, and four sapphires, cut lozenge-wise, with a picture of a woman and an agate [small figure cut in agate] holding a small diamond in her hand, like a glass.

A flower of gold, with a rose of diamonds in the midst, and eight small table diamonds on the borders, and three pearls pendant.

Two erypen parteletts [partlets, or ruffs] of cipress wrought with gold.

A fair ring of gold, with a blue sapphire, enamelled black and white.

A brush of hair, with a handle of purple velvet, garnished with passamen lace of silver and gold.

Sleeves of cambric and calico cloth for plucking out of French sleeves as following, viz., two pair wrought with black silk, three pair wrought with blue silk, and two pair wrought with red silk.

Three linings for partlets of nettlecloth, wrought with red silk.

A pair of shears of iron for a woman, parcel gilt.

A table of Diana and nymphs bathing themselves, and how Action was turned into a hart.

Two targets of steel lined with velvet.

One cassock of black velvet all over embroidered with Venice gold.

An ewer of antique work of silver and gilt, garnished with pearls, jacinths, amethysts, and other stones of small value — 22 oz.

Three bowls with a cover of silver and gilt poz. [i.e. weighing] 971 oz.

Three spoons of gold taken out of the green coffer in the silk house.

One Allmayn cup with a cover thin beaten of silver and gilt, in a case.

Six launsedegayes with brassell staves, trimmed with green velvet, and fringe of green silk, save one is with blue silk and velvet.

One case of knives, of black leather printed with gold, furnished with knives tipped with metal gilt.

Three combs, a glass, an ear-pick, and a bodkin, all of white bone, garnished with damascene work.

Fifty-one ostrich feathers.

A Flanders chest.

Six learns [collars for hounds] and collars of red velvet.

Left behind at Andrew's house at Petty Callyn were garments which included Andrew's Garter robes, a night gown of crimson satin, and a black damask gown lined with fine budge that was apparently a gift from Henry VIII or Edward VI, for it was called "the king's gown."

The marriage, however, was forestalled by Northumberland's attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne. Andrew Dudley, always loyal to his older brother, was arrested in July 1553 and sent to the Tower, where he remained until January 19, 1555. He had not lost his life, but he did lose his bride. On February 7, 1555, Margaret Clifford married Henry Stanley, Lord Strange, the future Earl of Derby. Queen Mary sanctioned the wedding and gave the bride a diamond brooch. Lost along with Margaret Clifford were the goods that Andrew had sent to Skipton Castle.

Andrew was pardoned on April 5, 1555. On April 23, 1555, he was given a pension of 100 pounds per year, and on May 30, 1555, he was granted those goods which he had "craftily concealed" from the queen. Staying well away from politics, he settled at Tothill Street in Westminster, where a bout of sickness caused him to make his will on July 21, 1556. Despite his fears about his health, he lived until some time in 1559, his will being proven on November 22, 1559.

Andrew was survived by his younger brother Jerome, who appears to have been disabled, and by his half-sisters Bridget, the widow of Sir William Cawarden, and Elizabeth, the wife of Francis Jobson. (Elizabeth and Bridget were the products of his mother's marriage to Arthur Plantagenet, Edward IV's illegitimate son.) The nephews referred to in the will are Henry Sidney, who was married to Northumberland's daughter Mary, and Northumberland's sons Ambrose and Robert. The Henry Dudley named in the will had died at the siege of St Quentin in 1557.

I, Sir Andrewe Dudley, Knight, beinge sicke of Bodye, but of good and perfitt Remembraunce, and consideringe that every Man is mortall, and not knowing the certeyn Tyme and Hower when it shall please Godd to call, and willinge to be in a Redyness, do constitute and make my last Will and Testament in Manner and Forme followinge. First, I bequeath my Soule to Almightie God, my Body to be buried at Westminster, where it shall please the Deane to bestowe, and whereas dyvers and sondrye Parsones have Goodes, Juells, and Plate of myn, and be indebted unto me in Manner and Forme followinge: That is to say, where my Lord of Cumberland hath Juells, Plate, Mony, Apparell, Horsses, Wapons, and other Things, to the full Vallue of 4000 Marks and more; and whereas Oswald Wilkinson my Servaunt did receave of my Debts at Callice, at the Hands of my Lord Wentworlb, Sir Richard Cotton and others, the Quenes Hignes Commissioners there, at Guysnes, and other on that Side the Sea, certeyrt Somes of Money, amountinge to the Vallue of 180l. And whereas James Shelley, Gent, doth owe unto me the Some of 200l. which I lent him in redy. Mony, and whereas there was due to me the Some of 30l. by Maister Duke, at Michaelmas now one Yere past, for the Rente of one Yere and a Haulfe of Westtennmoulb, and owing unto me by Hetserolde, the Quenes Goldsmith, foe certeyn Golde he hadd of myn, a Parcell whereof is received, and tenne Pounds which my Lorde of Vrmond doth owe me, which I lent him at Guysnes; and 5l owing unto me by my Lord of Westminster, which I lent him at Bulleyn. And the yerelie Rent of seven Nobles, due unto me by the Space of thre Yeres and a Haulfe, by Thomas Malerth, Yoman, at Michaelmas nowe one Yere past, and going out of certyn Lands and Tenements in Surry, called Fredinghursty and other Lands, as appereth by Indentures made betwene me the said Sir Andrewe, and the said Thomas. I geve and bequeth all and singular, the foresaide Plate, Juells, Apparell, Debts, Somes of Mony, and all other Things whatsoever due unto me by any the Parsones aforesaide, unto my Nephewes Ambrose Dudley, Robert Dudley, Henry Dudley, my Sister Jobson, and my Sister Carden, equally to be devided amonges them; and that the Parsones aforesaide shall pay, out of the foresaid Somes, Juells, Plate, Mony, and other the Premisses, the Somes hereafter ensewinge: That is to say, to my Brother Jerom Dudley the Some of 200l. to my Nephewe Sidney 200l. to Robert Nowell, of Grayesinne, the Some of 100 Marks, &c. further paying my Debts, which as I remember are little above 100l, and geving to the poor Folkes 10l. Also I geve to my Ladie, my Nephewe Ambrose Dudley's Wife, 100l. which I lent him in Gold, and one Gowne which I delyvered in the Tower, furred with Sables, by Estimation worth 80l. Also I geve to my Nephewe Ambrose Dudley, my Nephewe Sidney and his Wife, my Brother Jobson and his Wife, my House in Tuthillstreet; and the best of my Garments and Apparell, whatsoever they be, I bequeath to my Brother Jobson, my olde Apparell to be bestowed amongs my Servaunts. The Residue of my Goods and Debts I will they shall stande and be at the Order, Discretion, and Disposition of my Executors, my Nephewe Sir Henry Sidney, my Brother in Lawe Sir Frauncis Jobson, and Robert Nowell of Grayes Inne, and my Overseers my Nephewes Ambrose Dudley, Robert Dudley, and Henry Dudley.

Following Andrew's death, Robert Dudley brought suit against the Earl of Cumberland to obtain the goods that Andrew had sent to Skipton Castle. Cumberland, who disputed Robert's right to claim the goods, acknowledged having in his possession Andrew Dudley's money and "divers apparels, as shrites, petycotes, trusses, doublets of taffaty and satin, hoses of velvet and saten, jerkyns, clokes, and gowns of velvet and satin with aglets of gold, jackets of cloth of gold, cote of silver, velvet, and satin, hankerchers, certain plate double gilt, parcel gilt, white plate, one cup of gold, and certain pewter and glass." After the examination of various witnesses, which included Margaret Clifford herself, Robert was granted all of his late uncle's forfeited estate.

Sources:

Simon Adams, "The Dudley Clientele." In G. W. Bernard, ed., The Tudor Nobility. Manchester University Press,

Simon Adams, ed., Household Accounts and Disbursement Books of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1558-1561, 1584-1586. Camden Fifth Series, Volume 6, 1995.

Calendar of Patent Rolls.

Arthur Collins, ed., Letters and Memorials of State, 1746.

John Roche Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council, 1554-1556.

Maria Hayward, Rich Apparel. Surrey: Ashgate, 2009.

Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the Manuscripts of The Marquess of Salisbury Preserved at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire

Louis A. Knafla, 'Stanley, Henry, fourth earl of Derby (1531–1593)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 30 Jan 2011]

J. Andreas Löwe, 'Sutton , Henry (d. 1564?)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 30 Jan 2011]

C. C. Stopes, Shakespeare's Environment. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1914.

Guildford Dudley

What is known about Guildford Dudley, the young husband of Lady Jane Grey? Here are some facts about him.

Guildford was the son of John Dudley, who eventually became the Duke of Northumberland, and his wife, Jane—whose maiden name, Guildford, served as her son's Christian name. In 1544, the Dudleys' oldest surviving son died during the siege of Boulogne, leaving his parents with five remaining sons. Historians are divided as to whether Guildford was the fourth or fifth of these, but the Spanish ambassadors described him in July 1553 as the fourth son. He or perhaps his brother Henry was the last of the brothers to marry: John had married Anne Seymour in 1550; Ambrose had married his second wife, Elizabeth Tailboys, some time in 1552 or 1553; Robert had married Amy Robsart in 1550, and Henry had married Margaret Audley before Edward VI's death.

Both Simon Adams and G. J. Richardson give Guildford's year of birth as being around 1535. In a letter written July 15, 1553, Don Diego Mendoza is quoted as referring to himself as Guildford's godfather.

Nothing is known about Guildford's interests or education, but his siblings were certainly well educated: His brother John owned an impressive collection of books and was interested in mathematics; his brother Robert was fluent in Italian and could read Latin and French; and his sister Mary is said to have known French, Latin, and Italian . There is no reason to suppose that Northumberland would have stinted on Guildford's education.

The first we hear of Guildford Dudley is in 1552, when his father was trying to arrange his marriage—not to Lady Jane Grey but to her cousin, Margaret Clifford, whose father was the Earl of Cumberland. The privy council sent Cumberland a letter on July 4, 1552, urging him to finalize the marriage. This proposal prompted one Elizabeth Huggones to impute suspicious motives to the duke: she is recorded as saying "Have at the crown with your leave," a point she emphasized "with a stout gesture." The marriage never did go through; instead, arrangements were made the following year for Margaret to marry Northumberland's younger brother, Andrew, though in the event this marriage never took place either.

The marriage that would ultimately cost both Guildford and his bride their lives came in 1553. According to Roger Alford in a letter written to William Cecil, the idea came from Elizabeth Brooke, Marchioness of Northampton, whose secret marriage to William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, had recently been legalized. By April 24, 1553, preparations for the wedding were underway: parcels of tissues and cloths of gold and silver were to be delivered to Jane, Guildford, their mothers, and the match-making Marchioness of Northampton herself. Just over a month later, on May 25, 1553, the couple were married. (Some sources give the date as May 21, but both Eric Ives and Leanda de Lisle cite evidence putting it at May 25.)

Various chronicles report Jane to have been a reluctant bride, but Guildford's own feelings about the match are a mystery. We can only guess at how compatible the couple was or whether they might have achieved a happy marriage given time. Guildford is often depicted in historical fiction as being spoiled and even brutal, but there is no evidence of that; nor is there evidence to support his depiction in the movie Lady Jane as a frustrated social reformer who hides his idealism underneath a dissolute exterior until his marriage to Jane brings it to the forefront.

Edward VI, meanwhile, was dying, while rumors circulated that Guildford's father was himself aspiring to the crown. Guildford had his own problems at this time: he and several others fell ill while eating some salad at his father's house and was "still suffering from the results" as of June 12, 1553.

As Guildford was recuperating, Edward VI had decided to alter the royal succession: instead of the crown passing to his sister Mary, then his sister Elizabeth, it would go to Lady Jane Grey. Northumberland may or may not have urged this upon the dying king (the question is much debated), but the fiercely Protestant Edward VI took up the idea with enthusiasm. When Guildford learned about it is unknown, but Jane, writing to the victorious Mary after the fact, claimed that she first learned about the altered succession at the time when Edward VI's condition became publicly known, or around June 19.

Edward VI died on July 6, 1553. On July 10, Jane and Guildford, along with their mothers and others, arrived at the Tower via barge. There is a description of both Jane and Guildford as they arrived at the Tower; unfortunately, Leanda de Lisle has pronounced it to be fictional, the 1909 invention of Richard Davey. If the description of Guildford as "a very tall, strong boy with light hair" is not authentic, then we are left with no idea of what he looked like. Portraits of his father and his brother Robert show them to have been dark-haired and dark-eyed; Guildford's sister Mary, on the other hand, had reddish hair.

As recounted by Jane in a letter to Mary written after Jane's brief reign had collapsed, the one recorded quarrel between Guildford and Jane—an episode on which most assumptions about Guildford's character seem to be based—ensued soon thereafter. The hapless Marquis of Winchester brought Jane the crown and asked whether one should be made for Guildford. Not surprisingly for a sixteenth-century male, Guildford wanted to be king, whereas Jane insisted that he could only be a duke. (Bearing in mind the controversy that would arise as to Phillip's role following his marriage to Mary, it doesn't seem terribly unreasonable for Guildford to have expected to be made king.) Word got back to Guildford's mother, whether through Guildford himself or through someone else Jane does not say. The Duchess of Northumberland reacted furiously to this snub to her son and persuaded him not to sleep with Jane anymore. Guildford would have also returned to his family's house at Sion, according to Jane, had not Jane intervened and forced him, through the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, to remain at court. The story does make Guildford sound rather like a petulant mother's boy, but we have only Jane's side of it, written at a time when Jane needed to present herself in the best possible light to Mary and at a time when the imprisoned Jane had little cause to speak kindly of anyone in the Dudley family.

If the Spanish ambassadors can be believed, Guildford did console himself by aping royal style: "He already had himself addressed as 'Your Grace'" and 'Your Excellency,' sat at the head of the Council board, and was served alone."

Guildford had very little time to concern himself with his royal status or lack thereof, however. Mary asserted her right to the throne, and by July 20, Jane, Guildford, and the Duchess of Northumberland were prisoners in the Tower. There, the ambassadors noted with considerable satisfaction, "At present the Tower jailor serves [Guildford] at table, and stands in the stead of his captain of the guard."

From the Beauchamp Tower, where he was imprisoned, Guildford had a front-row seat as his family's fortunes collapsed. His father and his brothers John, Ambrose, and Henry were brought as prisoners to the Tower on July 25, and his brother Robert arrived on July 26. By July 26, the Duchess of Northumberland had been released. She promptly rode out toward Beaulieu, where Mary was staying, "to move her to compassion towards her children," but was refused an audience.

At the Beauchamp Tower, Guildford had two servants waiting upon him; his expenses (including meals and "wood, coal, and candle") for the period from July 20 to July 29 amounted to 109s, 6d. He had the company of one of his brothers, either Robert or Henry, in the Beauchamp Tower. From there he would have witnessed the dreary spectacle of his father being led out to execution at Tower Hill on August 22, 1553, followed by the sight of his headless body being returned for burial at the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.

With their father dead, Guildford and his brothers were allowed the "liberty of the leads" of their respective places of imprisonment in September. Guildford's brothers John, Ambrose, and Robert were allowed to receive visits from their wives, but there is no indication that Guildford and Jane were allowed contact with each other.

On November 13, Guildford, along with Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lady Jane Grey, and Ambrose and Henry Dudley, were led on foot to the Guildhall, where they were to be arraigned for treason. With an ax borne before them, the Archbishop led the gloomy procession, followed by Guildford, Jane, and Ambrose and Henry. All were found guilty of treason. Jane was sentenced to burning or beheading; Guildford and the other men were sentenced to be drawn, hanged and quartered.

Guildford and Jane might well have been eventually pardoned were it not for the outrage provoked by Mary's upcoming Spanish marriage. Determined to stop the marriage, and presumably to replace Mary with her sister Elizabeth, Thomas Wyatt entered into a conspiracy against the queen. Among the co-conspirators was Jane's father, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. The rebellion was a failure, and with its end died all of the hopes that Jane and Guildford, neither of whom had participated, would be allowed to live.

Jane's last days have been described in detail; Guildford's have not. The word "Jane" carved into the wall of the Beauchamp Tower might have been his effort; it is unlikely to refer to his mother by the same name, as she was in no danger of death and there was no need to memorialize her. At some point Guildford wrote a message to his father-in-law in a prayer book, the one which Jane was to take to the scaffold: "Your loving and obedient son wishes unto your grace long life in this world with as much joy and comfort, as did I wished to myself, and in the world to come joy everlasting your most humble son to his death G Duddley." A few pages later in the same prayer book, Jane added her own note to her father "The Lord comfort your grace and that in his word wherein all creatures only are to be comforted and though it has pleased God to take away 2 of your children, yet think not, I most humbly beseech your grace, that you have lost them but trust that we, by losing this mortal life have won an immortal life and I for my part, as I have honored your grace in this life, will pray for you in this life. your Grace's humble daughter Jane Duddley." Jane had expressed nothing but contempt for Guildford's own father after his downfall; it says something about Guildford, surely, that he was able to write without rancor to Jane's father, the man whose ill-advised participation in Wyatt's rebellion had sealed his fate.

With death approaching, Guildford is alleged by Commendone to have asked to say farewell to Jane in person, to be allowed "to embrace and kiss her for the last time." Jane, however, refused on the ground that as such a meeting "would only tend to increase their misery and pain, it was better to put it off for the time being, as they would meet shortly elsewhere, and live bound by indissoluble ties." This has been taken by some to suggest that Jane was indifferent to her husband, but as Eric Ives suggests, it's more likely that Jane simply did not want to be distracted from the serious business of preparing for death. Assuming that Guildford still was sharing quarters with one or more of his brothers, at least he had their moral support.

The executions (commuted to beheading) took place on February 12, 1554. Guildford was to go first at Tower Hill, Jane second at Tower Green. Because of a misreading of "prayers" as "tears" by Stowe and Holinshed, Guildford has been depicted as sniveling his way to the scaffold. In fact, walking to the scaffold without a priest but surrounded by well-wishers, he conducted himself with quiet dignity:

The monday, being the xijth of Februarie, about ten of the clocke, ther went out of the Tower to the scaffolde on Tower hill, the lorde Guilforde Dudley, sone to the late duke of Northumberland, husbande to the lady Jane Grey, daughter to the duke of Suffolke, who at his going out tooke by the hande sir Anthony Browne, maister John Throgmorton, and many other gentyllmen, praying them to praie for him; and without the bullwarke Offeley the sheryve receyved him and brought him to the scaffolde, where, after a small declaration, having no gostlye father with him, he kneeled downe and said his praiers; then holding upp his eyes and handes to God many tymes; and at last, after he had desyred the people to pray for him, he laide himselfe along, and his hedd upon the block, which was at one stroke of the axe taken from him.

Note, the lorde marques [of Northampton] stode upon the Devyl's towre,and sawe the executyon. His carcas throwne into a carre, and his hed in a cloth, he was brought into the chappell within the Tower, wher the ladye Jane, whose lodging was in Partrige's house, dyd see his ded carcase taken out of the cart, aswell as she dyd see him before on lyve going to his deathe,—a sight to hir no lesse then death.

Guildford Dudley's fate has been largely overshadowed by that of his wife, but his death should be viewed as a tragedy no less than hers. At least one observer, the chronicler Grafton, saw it that way: "And in like manner that comely, vertuous, and goodly gentleman the lorde Gylford Duddeley most innocently was executed, whom God had endowed with suche vertues, that even those that never before the tyme of his execution saw hym, dyd with lamentable teares bewayle his death."

Sources
Simon Adams, 'Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 23 Jan 2011]

Simon Adams, 'Sidney , Mary, Lady Sidney (1530x35–1586)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 23 Jan 2011]

Calendar of Patent Rolls

Giovanni Francesco Commendone, The Accession, Coronation, and Marriage of Mary Tudor, as related in four manuscripts of the Escorial. Translated by Cesare V. Malfatti.

John Roche Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council of England

J. Stephan Edwards, Transcription of Lady Jane Grey's prayerbook.

Eric Ives, Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery.

Leanda de Lisle, The Sisters Who Would Be Queen.

David Loades, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1504–1553.

John Gough Nichols, ed., The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Two Years of Queen Mary.

Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ed., The Literary Remains of Jane Grey.

G. J. Richardson, 'Dudley, Lord Guildford (c.1535–1554)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article..., accessed 23 Jan 2011]

Joseph Stevenson, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, Elizabeth I, 1558-1559, Vol. I (Appendix to Preface, "Expenses of the Prisoners in the Tower").

Royall Tyler, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Spain.

Some Goods of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford

John de Vere, thirteenth Earl of Oxford, born on September 8, 1442, was one of those unusual figures of the Wars of the Roses: a Lancastrian leader who died in his bed. After being defeated at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, he continued to harass Edward IV and was finally imprisoned at Hammes Castle in 1475. He might well have spent the rest of his life in prison had it not been for Richard III's seizure of the crown, which appears to have alienated Oxford's jailer, James Blount, who walked off his post and took his prisoner with him to join the exiled Henry Tudor. Oxford helped to win the day for Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485 and subsequently recovered his earldom and his lands. When he died at age seventy at Castle Hedingham on March 10, 1513, having survived into Henry VIII's reign, he was a wealthy and respected man.

Having spent much of his young manhood as an exile or as a prisoner, Oxford had a lot of ground to make up in terms of acquiring goods when he returned to England in 1485. He managed the task quite nicely, however, as shown by Sir William H. St. John Hope in his 1915 article, "The Last Testament and Inventory of John de Veer, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford" (Archaeologia vol. 66). The list that follows represents only a small fraction of the inventory transcribed by Hope (for those interested in reading the whole thing, the 1915 issue of Archaeologia can be found on the Internet Archive).

In his will, which Hope includes in his article, Oxford rather sweetly leaves to his widow, Elizabeth Scrope (his second wife), "a standing cup gilt and enamelled with blue 'Trulovys' in the bottom." The earl left many other goods to his wife, including "w'out dymynucion or restraint all maner appareill to her persone, as well clothe as sylkes, and almanner of cheynes, rynges, girdelles, devices, bedes, brooches, owchis, precious stones, and all other thinges beyng parcell of hir appareill whatsoever they be."

Before her death in 1474, Oxford's mother, Elizabeth de Vere, had been bullied by the young Richard, Duke of Gloucester, into giving up her lands to him in return for an inadequate consideration. Some of her goods were waiting for her son when he returned to England, however, for Oxford bequeathed two altar clothes "wrought by my lady my moder," which are described in the inventory as "two altar cloths, one of white sarcenet, and another of white damask, embroidered and wrought by needle work with my Lord's arms, and a frontlet of the same."

The inventory contains many goods bearing Oxford's various badges: a mullet or a molet ( a five-pointed star), often accompanied by clouds; the ubiquitous blue boar; and a mythical creature called a calygreyhound, which bears no resemblance to a greyhound whatsoever but which the earl seems to have been very fond, for it pops up in all manner of places in the inventory.

Itm a nother quylt w' floure de lic and birdes

Itm a Counterpoynt of tapistry w' the picture of Salamon lined sore worne

Itm a Counterpoynt of counterfeit arrais w' a man and a woman hawkyng and hunting

Itm A tapet of tapestry, w' a gentilwoman bering a Cupp of gold

Itm an olde tapett of tapestry and a woman beryng a baskett w' grapes

Itm an olde tappitt of counterfet areis /a man w' a crossebowe shoting at a wilde best and in a nother corner a castell

Itm A Seler and a tester of Red say and therein a wilde man Ryding on a
horse

Itm an hanging staynid w' Calygreyhaunds and Scalys

Itm iiij tapettt of grysell olde and sore worn [Hope suggests that this depicted the tale of Patient Griselda, which might well have appealed to Oxford]

Itm A splayde Egle of gold w' an angell face w' vj dyamoundes and xj perles w' iiij Rubies gyven to our Lady of Walsinghm

Itm an home of vnykhorn [unicorn] harnesed and garnisshid w' gold [Hopes states that this would have been the tusk of a narwhal]

Itm A pair of Ivory beedes [rosaries]

Itm iiij tapettt of counterfet Areis of thistorie of Tulius and Mesius

Itm A newe Celer and a tester w' a counterpoint of crymsyn damaske enbroderid w' ij gentilwomen standing on a mountain feding a popyniay in a cage full of crankette molette blue boores & water flores

Item a pair of Organs

Itm a peir of Portatyvys [the editor identifies these as small portable organs]

Itm an Image of saint John Baptist standing upon a base siluer and the camell skynne all gilt and his mantell white

Itm A Colar of gold made in garters w1 redde Roses in the garters and a george w' a dyamount and iij greate ples hanging in the dragons foote [note those red roses, please]

Itm A Colar of fyne gold of xxvij S and ij Porteculeisse w' a greate diamount in a red Rose and a Lyon hanging vppon the same Rose w' ij Rubies and a diamount vppon the said Lion and ij greate Rubies /and iiij diamount & ix greate perles vppon the S [this is an example of the famous "SS" collar associated with the House of Lancaster]

Itm A greate cheyne of gold w' a maryners whistell & of viij and oon Lynke [Oxford was the Lord Admiral]

Itm A Matteyns Boke w' a clapse of silu wich my lorde was wont to vse hymself

Itm A Canapy of crymsyn tynsyll satteyn w' the Dome [the Day of Judgment]

Itm A Whistell of Ivory garnisshid w' gold

It A Celor & a testor of red satteyn w' a lyon driving a Whilebarowe & a counterpoint of y e same

It A Celor and a testour of counterfeit areis after thistory of Daniell

Itm A long Cusslicon w' nedill werke w' ij Calygreyhoundes in hit

Mark Satchwill's Portrait of Margaret of Anjou

I have long admired artist Mark Satchwill's portraits of historical figures, and I was delighted to be able to commission one of Margaret of Anjou, just in time for the publication of The Queen of Last Hopes! Here it is!



If you visit Mark at his website, you can see (and order) portraits of Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Elizabeth of York, Richard III, and Henry VII, as well as the Tudor gang. Mark has also produced portraits of Piers Gaveston and of everyone's favorite she-wolf, Queen Isabella.

Queen of Last Hopes Blog Tour

Well, The Queen of Last Hopes is available in bookstores now, and I'm getting ready to embark upon a blog tour! I'll post the schedule in the right sidebar soon, but in the meantime look for me tomorrow at Christy English's blog and Mrs. Q: Book Addict. Many of the sites I'm visiting this time are new to me, so I'm especially happy about meeting a brand-new group of readers.

Since I'm preparing for the blog tour, I might be a little more quiet on this blog than usual this month, but I'll still stop by from time to time. And once I get my author copies, I'll host a giveaway, so stay tuned!

The Queen of Last Hopes in LOL Cats: A Preview While You're Waiting

If you happened to visit your local bookstore on January 1, you might have asked yourself this question, "Where, pray tell, is The Queen of Last Hopes, which Susan has been saying for the last nine months or so would be published on January 1?"

I was experiencing rather similar emotions this weekend:



So where IS The Queen of Last Hopes? Evidently there was a delay at the printer's, but if all goes well, the book should be on its way to bookstores within the next few days. (If you own a Kindle, though, you can download it immediately.) In the meantime, rather than doing nonconstructive things such as kicking small children out of my path, I decided to put together this visual preview of my novel for you.

My Favorite Reads of 2010

OK, everyone else is doing this today, so why shouldn't I? 2010 wasn't a great reading year for me in terms of quantity, but in quality there were some high points. (Most, but not all, of these books were published in 2010.)

My Favorite Novels of 2010:

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler (contemporary fiction). Like all of Tyler's novels, this is a deceptively simple story with characters who linger with the reader.

Secrets of the Tudor Court by D. L. Bogdan. A first novel about Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, and her relationship with her father, Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk. I found this novel to be a haunting one, and I especially liked the character of Norfolk, a figure who could have easily been treated as a cardboard villain but came across as complex and even somewhat sympathetic. I'm looking forward to Bogdan's upcoming novel about Mary's parents.

Mary the Queen and Bloody Mary by Hilda Lewis. The second and the third novels in a trilogy about Mary I, these books are an excellent and insightful psychological portrait of England's first queen regnant.

My Favorite Nonfiction of 2010

Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams.

We Two by Gillian Gill.

Mary Tudor by Anna Whitelock.

Elizabeth's Women by Tracy Borman.

Catherine of Aragon by Giles Tremlett.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen.

All of these were exceptionally well written and engrossing--proof that nonfiction can be as page-turning as fiction in the right hands.

Books I Didn't Read Straight Through but Enjoyed Dipping Into:

She-Wolves by Helen Castor

The Wars of the Roses by Michael Hicks

Richard III by David Hipshon

Edward II by Seymour Phillips

Favorite New Toy of 2010:

Hands down, Mr. Kindle!


As for my plans for 2011, I'm going to be chugging away on my Tudor novel (it's slow going at the moment, but I take comfort in the fact that The Queen of Last Hopes was slow going at this time last year too, and it's due to be published tomorrow!). I've got some blog posts planned on a variety of subjects, including Guildford Dudley, Elizabeth Woodville's son the Marquis of Dorset, the will of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and more, so keep stopping by!

I hope all of you have a great 2011, and that the New Year is especially good for those of you who have had a rough time during 2010. I've never been the best at offering comfort and advice, but my thoughts have been with you.

Happy New Year!