Lord Guilford Dudley

Guilford Dudley
Posthumous representation of Guilford Dudley, late 16th century
disputed Royal Consort of England
Tenure 6/10 July 1553–19 July 1553
Spouse Lady Jane Grey
Father John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
Mother Jane Guildford
Born c. 1535
Died 12 February 1554
London
Burial St Peter ad Vincula, London

Lord Guilford Dudley (also spelled Guildford) (c. 1535[1] – 12 February 1554) was the husband of Lady Jane Grey who, declared as his heir by Edward VI, de facto occupied the English throne from 6/10 July till 19 July 1553. Guilford enjoyed a humanist education and was married to Jane, about six weeks before the King's death, in a magnificent celebration. After Guilford's father, the Duke of Northumberland, had engineered Jane's accession, Jane and Guilford spent their brief rule residing in the Tower of London, acting in the roles of queen and king. Guilford's demand to be made an actual king was declined by Jane, however. They were still in the Tower as their regime collapsed and remained there, in different quarters, as prisoners. They were condemned to death for high treason in November 1553. Queen Mary was inclined to spare their lives, but Thomas Wyatt's rebellion against her plans to marry Prince Philip of Spain led to the young couple's execution—a measure that was widely seen as unduly harsh.

Contents

Life

Ancestry and marriage

Guilford was the youngest surviving son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir Edward Guildford.[2] The Dudley lineage goes back to a family called Sutton. In the 14th century they became the barons of Dudley of Dudley Castle,[3] from whom Guilford descended through his paternal grandfather. This was Edmund Dudley, a councillor to Henry VII, who was executed after his royal master's death. Through his father's mother, Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle, Guilford descended from the Hundred Years War heroes, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury.[4]

The Dudley children—there were thirteen born in all—enjoyed a humanist education of the same kind as Guilford's future bride, Lady Jane Grey, and as Princess Elizabeth.[5] Under the young King Edward VI, Guilford's father became Lord President of the Privy Council and de facto ruled England from 1550–1553.[6] The cronicler Richard Grafton, who knew him,[7] described Guilford as "a comely, virtuous and goodly gentleman".[8] In 1552 Northumberland tried to marry Guilford to Margaret Clifford, a cousin of Jane Grey; although he had the King's backing, nothing came of it.[9] By the spring of 1553 Guilford was engaged to the sixteen-year-old Jane Grey herself.[10] Jane Grey figured higher in the line of succession than Margaret Clifford.[11][note 1] At Whitsun, on 21 May and the next day, a triple wedding was celebrated at Durham Place, the Duke of Northumberland's town mansion. Guilford married Jane, and his sister Catherine was matched with Henry Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon's heir. Another Catherine, Jane's sister, was matched with Lord Herbert, the heir of the Earl of Pembroke.[12][note 2] It was a magnificent festival, with jousts, games, and masques. For the latter, two different companies had been booked, one male, one female. The Venetian and French ambassadors were guests, and there were "large numbers of the common people ... and of the most principal of the realm".[8] Guilford and some others suffered an attack of food poisoning, because of "a mistake made by a cook, who plucked one leaf for another."[14]

Acting as consort

Guilford Dudley's arms[15]

In his "Device of the Succession", King Edward, now mortally ill, settled the Crown on his cousin once removed, Jane Grey, bypassing his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth. After Edward's death on 6 July 1553 the Duke of Northumberland undertook the enforcement of the King's will.[16] The envoys of the Holy Roman Empire and France were sure of the plan's success.[17] Jane was reluctant to accept the Crown: She gave in after remonstrances by an assembly of nobles, including her parents and in-laws; Guilford chimed in with a lovelier approach, with "prayers and caresses".[18] On 10 July Jane and Guilford made their ceremonial entry into the Tower of London, walking side by side under a canopy.[19] Residing in the Tower, Guilford wanted to be made king; according to her own account, Jane had a long discussion about this with Guilford, who "assented that if he were to be made king, he would be so by me, by Act of Parliament".[20] But then, Jane would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence—"I will not be a duke, I will be King", Guilford replied and went to fetch his mother.[21] Furious, the Duchess of Northumberland took the side of her son and forbade Guilford to sleep any longer with his wife. She also commanded him to leave the Tower and go home, but Jane insisted that he remain at court, at her side.[22] Her summary of this scene was: "[so] was I deceived by the Duke and the Council, and ill treated by my husband and his mother."[23]

The daily Council meetings were presided by Guilford; Jane, as the monarch, would not attend. The meals were taken with the royal couple sitting under their state canopy;[24] Guilford, now addressed in regal style,[25] also dined in state alone.[20] Antoine de Noailles, the French ambassador, described Guilford as "the new King".[26] The Imperial court in Brussels also believed in the existence of King Guilford.[20] The Duke of Northumberland announced that the couple's coronation would take place within a fortnight.[26]

Imprisonment

On 10 July, the same day as Jane's proclamation, a letter from Mary Tudor arrived saying that she was now queen and demanding the obedience of the Council.[27] Mary was assembling her supporters in East Anglia; it was decided to take the field against her after some discussion over who should go, in which Queen Jane made sure that her father should not.[28] The Duke of Northumberland marched to Cambridge with his troops and passed a week that saw no action, until he heard on 20 July that the Council in London had declared for Mary. Northumberland now proclaimed Mary Tudor himself at the market-place and was arrested the next morning.[29] On 19 July, a few hours before Queen Mary's proclamation in London, the baptism of one of the Gentlemen Pensioners' children took place. Queen Jane had agreed to be the godmother and wished the child's name to be Guildford.[30] The Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner, who had been imprisoned in the Tower for five years, took great offence at this fact as he heard of it.[31]

Lady Jane Grey in an 1620 engraving after an earlier painting[32]

A majority of the Privy Council moved out of the Tower before switching their allegiance.[33] Becoming aware of his colleagues' change of mind, Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, abandoned his command over the fortress and proclaimed Mary on nearby Tower Hill. After he had left his Duchess was told she could also go home,[30] while Jane, Guilford, and the Duchess of Northumberland were not allowed to.[34] Later Jane was moved from the Royal apartments to the Gentleman Gaoler's lodgings and Guilford was imprisoned in the Bell Tower. There he was soon joined by his brother, Robert.[35] His remaining brothers were imprisoned in other towers, as was his father, who was for the moment the only prominent person to go to the scaffold; Queen Mary was prepared to spare Jane's and Guilford's lives.[36]

Jane and Guilford were indicted on 12 August,[37] and Jane submitted a letter of explanation to Queen Mary, "asking forgiveness ... for the sin she was accused of, informing her majesty about the truth of events."[38] In this account she spoke of herself as "a wife who loves her husband".[39] On 14 November 1553 Jane and Guilford were tried at Guildhall, together with Archbishop Cranmer and Guilford's brothers Ambrose and Henry. They were all convicted of high treason after pleading guilty.[40] Guilford was convicted of compassing to depose Queen Mary by sending troops to the Duke of Northumberland and by proclaiming and honouring Jane as queen.[41]

In December Jane was allowed to walk freely in the Queen's Garden.[42] "Lord Robert and Lord Guilford" had to be content with taking the air on the leads of the Bell Tower.[43] Jane and Guilford possibly saw each other now and then.[44] In Jane's prayer book, Guilford wrote a message to his father-in-law:

Your loving and obedient son wishes unto your grace long life in this world with as much joy and comfort as ever I wish to myself, and in the world to come joy everlasting. Your humble son to his death, G. Dudley[8]

Execution

Queen Mary's plan to marry Philip II of Spain was greeted with widespread opposition, not just among the populace but also among Members of Parliament and privy councillors. Thomas Wyatt's Rebellion in early 1554, in which the Duke of Suffolk took part, was a result of this dislike.[45] It was not the intention of the conspirators to bring Jane Grey on the throne again. Nevertheless the government, at the height of the military crisis around 7 February, decided to execute Jane and her husband, possibly out of panic. It was also an opportunity for removing possible inspirations for future unrest and unwelcome reminders of the past.[46] Mary was still hesitant to let her cousin die; Simon Renard, the Imperial ambassador, and highranking Council members—the very same who had been instrumental in placing Jane on the throne—prevailed upon her.[47] Bishop Gardiner did not miss the opportunity to press for the young couple's execution in a court sermon.[48] Soon, Renard was confident that "Jane of Suffolk and her husband are to lose their heads."[49]

The day before their executions Guilford asked Jane for a last meeting, which she refused, explaining it "would only ... increase their misery and pain, it was better to put it off ... as they would meet shortly elsewhere, and live bound by indissolulible ties."[50] Around ten o'clock in the morning of 12 February Guilford was led towards Tower Hill, where "many ... gentlemen" waited to shake hands with him.[51] Guilford made a short speech to the assembled crowd, as was customary.[52] "Having no ghostly father with him",[53][note 3] he kneeled, prayed, and asked the people to pray for him, "holding up his eyes and hands to God many times".[7] He was killed with one stroke of the axe. His headless body was carted to the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, in the grounds of the Tower of London. On seeing the body from her window, Jane exclaimed: "Oh, Guilford, Guilford!"[7] He was buried in the chapel with Jane who was dead within an hour after him.[54]

The executions did not contribute to the government's popularity.[7] Five months after the couple's death, John Knox, the future Scottish reformer, wrote of them as "innocents ... such as by just laws and faithful witnesses can never be proved to have offended by themselves".[55] Of Guilford, the chronicler Grafton wrote ten years later: "even those that never before the time of his execution saw him, did with lamentable tears bewail his death".[7]

See also

Cultural depictions of Lady Jane Grey

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jane Grey was the daughter of Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, a niece of Henry VIII by his younger sister Mary.
  2. ↑ In hindsight these matches came to be seen as proof of a conspiracy by the Duke of Northumberland to bring his family to the throne. At the time the marriages took place their dynastical implications were not considered significant by even the most suspicious of observers, the Imperial ambassador Jehan de Scheyfye. David Loades has described them as "routine actions of dynastic politics".[13]
  3. ↑ Guilford had probably refused to be attended by a Catholic priest and been denied a Protestant divine.[53]

Citations

  1. ↑ G. J. Richardson: "Dudley, Lord Guildford (c.1535–1554)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2008 Retrieved 2010-05-19
  2. ↑ Loades p. 238; Chapman p. 62
  3. ↑ Wilson pp. 1–4
  4. ↑ Wilson pp. 1, 3; Adams pp. 312–313
  5. ↑ Chapman p. 65
  6. ↑ Loades pp. 147, 285
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Ives p. 275
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Ives p. 185
  9. ↑ Loades pp. 226, 238
  10. ↑ Ives pp. 185, 36, 299
  11. ↑ Loades p. 238
  12. ↑ Loades p. 239
  13. ↑ Loades pp. 238–239; Ives pp. 152–154
  14. ↑ Chapman p. 82
  15. ↑ Maclagan / Louda p. 27
  16. ↑ Alford pp. 171–172
  17. ↑ Loades p. 256–257
  18. ↑ Ives p. 187
  19. ↑ Ives p. 188
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Ives p. 189
  21. ↑ Chapman p. 118; Ives p. 189
  22. ↑ Chapman pp. 117–118; Ives p. 189
  23. ↑ Chapman p. 118
  24. ↑ Chapman p. 124
  25. ↑ Chapman p. 121; Ives p. 241
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Chapman p. 121
  27. ↑ Chapman p. 122
  28. ↑ Ives p. 198
  29. ↑ Ives pp. 246, 241–242, 243–244
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Ives p. 215
  31. ↑ Ives pp. 184, 241
  32. ↑ Ives p. 15
  33. ↑ Ives p. 214
  34. ↑ Ives p. 241
  35. ↑ Ives p. 249; Wilson p. 59
  36. ↑ Wilson pp. 59, 62, 63
  37. ↑ Ives p. 247
  38. ↑ Ives p. 18
  39. ↑ Ives p. 186
  40. ↑ Wilson p. 63
  41. ↑ Bellamy p. 54
  42. ↑ Ives pp. 252, 355
  43. ↑ Nichols p. 33
  44. ↑ Ives p. 252; Wilson p. 59
  45. ↑ Ives pp. 261–262
  46. ↑ Ives pp. 265–268
  47. ↑ Chapman p. 195; Tytler p. 292
  48. ↑ Ives p. 268
  49. ↑ Chapman p. 190
  50. ↑ Ives p. 274
  51. ↑ Nichols p. 55; Ives p. 274–275
  52. ↑ Chapman p. 204
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Nichols p. 55
  54. ↑ Chapman p. 203
  55. ↑ Ives p. 268

References

English royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Catherine Parr		 Royal Consort of England
10 July - 19 July 1553		 Vacant
Title next held by
Anne of Denmark
English Royal Consorts
George of Denmark (1702–1707) · Mary of Modena (1685–1688) · Catherine of Braganza (1662–1685) · Henrietta Maria of France (1625–1649) · Anne of Denmark (1603–1619) · (Lord Guilford Dudley?) (1553) · Catherine Parr (1543–1547) · Catherine Howard (1540–1542) · Anne of Cleves (1540) · Jane Seymour (1536–1537) · Anne Boleyn (1533–1536) · Catherine of Aragon (1509–1533) · Elizabeth of York (1486–1503) · Anne Neville (1483–1485) · Elizabeth Woodville (1464–1483) · Margaret of Anjou (1445–1471) · Catherine of Valois (1420–1422) · Joanna of Navarre (1403–1413) · Isabella of Valois (1396–1399) · Anne of Bohemia (1383–1394) · Philippa of Hainault (1328–1369) · Isabella of France (1308–1327) · Margaret of France (1299–1307) · Eleanor of Castile (1272–1290) · Eleanor of Provence (1236–1272) · Isabella of Angoulême (1200–1216) · Berengaria of Navarre (1191–1199) · Margaret of France (1170–1183) · Eleanor of Aquitaine (1154–1189) · Matilda I of Boulogne (1135–1152) · (Geoffrey V of Anjou?) (1141) · Adeliza of Louvain (1121–1135) · Matilda of Scotland (1100–1118) · Matilda of Flanders (1066–1083)