John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

“ The wife of Colonel Pride, who conducted King Charles the First to his trial, was Elizabeth Monke of Potheridge, the eventual representative of the family. (Ancient Compotuses of Exchequer, Devon, 37-8 H. eight; Harl. Mss. 1538, folio 213; 3288, folio 50.)
Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke.
In some respects, this was the most remarkable man of his age. He may be said to have risen from nothing, for though his mother was Elizabeth, eleventh Viscountess Lisle in her own right, his father was Edmund Dudley, the mean and avaricious favourite of Henry the Seventh. ”

“ He sent over, to announce his approach, Robert Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland, whom Mary had liberated from the Tower, and who already, it seems, had contrived to win so much favour as to be taken into the Royal service, in which he continued to mount, till, in the next reign, he became the notorious Earl of Leicester and great favourite of Queen Elizabeth. On the 20th of March Philip himself arrived at Greenwich. As he wanted to win the English to join him in the war against France, he paid great court to the City of London. ”

“ Northumberland, whose name was then John Dudley, had supplanted him, and had acquired so great influence and power at court that almost every thing seemed to be at his disposal. He was, however, generally hated by the other courtiers and by the nation. Men who gain the confidence of a young or feeble-minded prince, so as to wield a great power not properly their own, are almost always odious. It was expected, however, that his career would be soon brought to an end, as all knew that King Edward must die, and it was generally understood that Mary was to succeed him. ”

“ Edward motioned the young nobleman to arise as he spoke, and when he still retained a kneeling posture, looked in his face with something of astonishment.
“My liege,” said Dudley in a respectful and low voice, “I did not come from my father. Alas, since he became Duke of Northumberland and Protector of this realm, there has been little of confidence between us. I have come to you, my liege, on a subject dear as my own life, one which I dare not again intrude upon him, though every feeling of friendship and honor should make him listen to my prayer.” ”

“ We dare not. He is the son of the gospel's champion. He is Lord Guilford Dudley.”
Elizabeth had the clue at last. Swiftly she understood Robert Dudley's bullying diplomacy, and that mysterious device which she was to approve. Northumberland had found in the pedant Lady Jane a perfect puppet, as like a soul as the world could furnish to the cold pedant of a boy who was called King. Edward had never found wit or will to thwart his ambitious Minister; there would be neither will nor wit in the bloodless Lady Jane. If she were Queen, Northumberland would be King still in all but name and crown. ”

“ This Charles Dudley was probably some pretender to the honours of the Dudley family who once held the dukedom of Northumberland. The document is curious, for the noble family on whom Charles Dudley conferred this title of Marquis still exists, and we do not know if any British subject, either before or after, has even claimed to be a fountain of honour. But Charles Dudley is not the only English pretender who figures among the papers at the Frari. ”

“ Northumberland was gone. The weight of his dominant influence was removed, and many of his colleagues must have breathed more freely. In the Tower Lady Jane, with those of the Council left in London, continued to watch and wait the course of events. It must have been recognised that the future was dark and uncertain; and whilst the lords and nobles looked about for a way of escape should affairs go ill with the new government, the boy and girl arbitrarily linked together may have been drawn closer by the growing sense of a common danger. Guilford Dudley did not share his father’s unpopularity. ”

“ At Rome he stayed at the English College, and studied antiquities. He attended lectures at Padua University; saw Sir Robert Dudley, titular earl of Northumberland [q.v] , at Florence, and in the company of Sir Dudley Carleton [q. v.] , the English ambassador at Venice, made his way to the Duke of Savoy's court at Turin. ”

“ Even in 1548 Calvin had been able to write to Somerset, thanking God that, through his wisdom, the “pure truth” was preached; [283] but when Dudley administered the government as Duke of Northumberland, bishops did not hesitate to teach that the dogma of the “carnal presence” in the sacrament “maintaineth that beastly kind of cruelty of the ‘Anthropophagi,’ that is, the devourers of man’s262 flesh: for it is a more cruel thing to devour a quick man, than to slay him.” [284]
Dudley resembled Henry and Norfolk in being naturally conservative, for he died a Catholic ”

“ Of what wrong has our sweet playmate and cousin been accused, that she too must be drawn from her home? His Grace of Northumberland forgets that the same blood which fills the veins of his king fills hers also; pray explain, my lord. We have no power to sift all the evil practices of our government, but even his grace, your father, must be careful how he deals with one of our mother’s house.”
The feeble youth became animated with a spirit which surprised Lord Dudley, as he uttered these words. ”

“ His deserted wife, Alicia, was created duchess of Dudley by Charles I. in 1644, and died in 1670, when the title became extinct. Through a daughter who married the Marquis Paleotti, Dudley was the ancestor of the wife of the first duke of Shrewsbury (of the revolution of 1688) , and of her brother who was executed at Tyburn for murder on the 17th of March 1718. Dudley was the author of a pamphlet addressed to King James I., showing how the “impertinences of parliament” could be bridled by military force. ”

“ John Sutton or Dudley (c. 1400–1487) , the 5th baron, was first summoned to parliament in 1440, having been viceroy of Ireland from 1428 to 1430. He served Henry VI. as a diplomatist and also as a soldier, being taken prisoner at the first battle of St Albans in 1455, but this did not prevent him from enjoying the favour of Edward IV. He died on the 30th of September 1487. He was succeeded as 6th baron by his grandson Edward (c. 1459–1532) , and one of his sons, William Dudley, was bishop of Durham from 1476 until his death in 1483. ”

“ It appears that the ‘Examen’ was finished before the author proceeded with the lives of his brothers, and that his life of the lord keeper was suggested by, and grew out of, his labours upon the ‘Examen.’ The life of Sir Dudley followed, naturally, as a supplement to the other; but it is difficult to understand why he should have written Dr. John North's life at all. His own ‘Autobiography’ seems to have been the last work upon which he was engaged. ”

“ The Henry Dudley referred to as commanding a hundred men in 1545 (Acts P.C. 1542-7, p. 164) was probably Northumberland's eldest son Henry who was slain at Boulogne in that year, having married Winifred (d. 1578) , daughter of Richard, first baron Rich [q. v.] ”

“ He left, besides one daughter, two sons, the elder of whom, Sir Dudley, succeeded him as 4th Baron North.
Dudley North, 4th Baron North (1602—1677) , increased the family fortune by marrying the daughter of Sir Charles Montagu, brother of the 1st earl of Manchester. He was an accomplished man, of studious bent, and had fourteen children, of whom the third son, Francis, became lord chancellor as Lord Guilford; the fourth was Sir Dudley North (q.v.) , the economist ”

“ He only once more emerged into public view when in 1630 he was prosecuted in the Star Chamber for communicating a paper of Sir Robert Dudley’s to the earl of Clare, recommending the establishment of arbitrary government. He died in July 1645, leaving one daughter, Anne, the sole issue of his ill-fated marriage, afterwards wife of the 1st duke of Bedford. ”

“ With this aspiring leader it was an object of prime importance to purchase the support of a nobleman who now appeared at the head of three hundred retainers, and whose authority in Wales and the southern counties was equal, or superior, to the hereditary influence of the most powerful and ancient houses. To engage him therefore the more firmly in his interest, Northumberland proposed a marriage between Pembroke's son lord Herbert and lady Catherine Grey, which was solemnized at the same time with that between lord Guildford Dudley and the lady Jane her eldest sister. ”

“ Dudley North, 3rd Baron North (1581—1666) , son of Sir John North and of Dorothy, daughter and heiress of Sir Valentine Dale, was born in 1581 and succeeded his grandfather, the 2nd Baron North, at the age of nineteen. He was educated at Cambridge, and married in 1599 Frances, daughter of Sir John Brockett of Brockett Hall in Hertfordshire. He travelled in Italy, took part in the campaign of 1602 in the Netherlands, and on his return became a conspicuous figure at court, excelling in athletic exercises as well as in poetry and music, and gaining the friendship of Prince Henry. ”

“ This proposal the general court of the Plymouth Company agreed to, and in April 1630 Dudley sailed to America in the same ship with John Winthrop, the newly appointed governor, Dudley himself at the last moment being chosen deputy-governor in place of John Humphrey (or Humfrey) , the earl of Lincoln’s son-in-law, whose departure was delayed. Dudley was for many years the most influential man in the Massachusetts Bay colony, save Winthrop, with whose policy he was more often opposed than in agreement. ”

“ It seems that Sir John—a most unpopular man at best—has been for some time getting out of the good graces of his supporters at Dudley, by having, upon every occasion, voted with Ministers, which, as Solicitor-General, appears to us to be nothing more than might be expected ”