Joanne Paul - The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England

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First published by Michael Joseph in 2022

Copyright Joanne Paul, 2022

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover photography Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images

ISBN: 978-1-405-93720-7

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

To my family, by blood, by law and by love.

Funeral Mask of Henry VII, 1509 2021 Dean and Chapter of Westminster

Edmund Dudleys account book fol. 46, 1507, with the pardon of Thomas Sunnyff for 500 and the kings signature. Seventeenth-century copy British Library

Tortington Church, Sussex 2018 Joanne Paul

Henry VII on his deathbed, 1509, from Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, Add 45131, fol. 54. Richard Fox is to the left of the kings bed and Hugh Denys stands fourth from the left on the right of the bed. British Library

Portrait of John Dudley at Knole, Kent. Early seventeenth century. Wikipedia

Tower of London, 1597. Eighteenth-century copy. The National Archives

Siege of Boulogne, 1544. Eighteenth-century engraving after sixteenth-century painting. The destruction of the wall of the town can be seen in the centre of the image. Wikipedia

Battle of the Solent, 1545. Sixteenth century. Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, follows the king at the centre of the painting. In the water just above them the Mary Rose has sunk and John Dudleys Henri Grce Dieu leads the fleet. Mary Rose Museum

Family of Henry VIII, c. 1545. From the left, Mary I, Edward VI, Henry VIII, Jane Seymour and Elizabeth I. The figures in the archways are two of the household fools. Royal Collection Trust

Henry VIII, Edward VI and the Pope. Sixteenth century. Immediately to the left of Edward VI are Edward Seymour, John Dudley, Thomas Cranmer and John Russell. National Portrait Gallery

Edward VIs Device for the succession, 1553. Wikimedia

Beauchamp carving, with roses, gillyflowers, oak and honeysuckle surrounding the Dudley crest. Alamy

Jane Dudleys brass funeral monument, with five daughters, late eighteenth century, from sixteenth-century monument. Yale Centre for British Art

Family Tree showing the eldest sons of Jane and John Dudley, UPenn Codex 1070, fol. 18. Robert Dudley has been added in the margins. University of Pennsylvania

Battle of Saint Quentin, 1557. Royal Collection Trust

Elizabeth I coronation procession, 1559. Ambrose Dudley leads the second litter horse and Robert Dudley leads the palfrey of honour, directly behind the queen. Wikipedia from the College of Arms

Allegory of the Tudor Succession, c. 1572. Mary I and Philip II on the left bring in war, Elizabeth I on the right brings in peace and plenty. National Museum Wales

Coronation miniature of Elizabeth I, c. 1600. Wikipedia

Portrait of Mary Sidney, Hans Eworth, mid sixteenth century. Wikipedia

Two images of Ambrose and Robert Dudley competing in a joust, late sixteenth century, Harley 69, fols. 19v20r. British Library

Fireplace at Kenilworth, c. 1570. Alamy

Portrait of Robert Dudley, c. 1575, forming a quasi-pair with fig. 23. National Portrait Gallery

Portrait of Elizabeth I (the Reading portrait), c. 1575, forming a quasi-pair with fig. 22. Reading Museum

Nature and God taking vengeance on the Earl of Leicester, from Discours de la vie abominable le my Lorde de Lecestre, 1585. D. C. Peck

The final letter sent by Robert Dudley to Elizabeth I, 29 Aug 1588, which has been marked his last letter by the queen. SP 12/215 fol. 114 @ The National Archives

There was no standardization of spelling, including for proper names, in the sixteenth century. Quotations from sixteenth-century texts have been modernized, but an effort has been made to preserve punctuation and archaic vocabulary, with definitions provided in the footnotes and glossary. Where necessary, I have attempted to use spellings to make distinctions between individuals (for instance, the elder Katherine and younger Catherine Dudley, elder Henry and younger Harry Dudley, as well as Catherine of Aragon, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr). I have largely modernized place names, except in a few cases so as to preserve the original sense of the name. Non-English place names have been Anglicized.

Much of Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar in October 1582, but England persisted with the Julian calendar until 1751, meaning there was a difference of ten days between countries of continental Europe and England from the latter part of the sixteenth century. Dates here have been given in Old Style (according to the Julian calendar), but with the presumption that the new year begins on 1 January, not 25 March.

All values have been given in contemporary terms. One pound in 1500 was worth about 665.96 in 2017, one pound in 1550 about 274.70 in 2017, and one pound in 1600 about 137.88 in 2017. These values and the purchasing power of the amount have been taken from https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/. More detailed and slightly different conversions can also be found at https://measuringworth.com/.

For it is a settled rule of Machiavel which the Dudleys do observe, that where you have once done a great injury, there must you never forgive.

The forbidden book circulated the Elizabethan court in the summer of 1584.

Clutched at by greedy fingers, laughed over by jealous tongues, it had a modest title: The Copy of a Letter Written by a Master of Arts at Cambridge