Dudley, Jane

Jane Guildford was born in Kent in 1508 or 1509 and was the only daughter of Sir and Eleanor West, daughter of . Jane studied at home with her brother Richard and her future husband John Dudley , who was under the care of his father Jane from 1512 ^[1] .

In 1525, at the age of about sixteen, Jane married Dudley, who at that time was about twenty-one years old; an agreement on marriage was reached by their parents many years before ^[2] . The family life of Jane and John, apparently, was happy and not clouded by any scandals ^{[2] [3]} ; a poem appeared around 1553 praises the “love and devotion” of their marriage ^[1] .

Jane's father died in 1534 without leaving a will. Since his only son, Richard, died a few years earlier, the property of Sir Edward was inherited by his nephew . John Dudley did not like this situation, because he believed that it was Jane who should become the heiress. With the assistance of Thomas Cromwell, John and Jane were able to seize her father’s inheritance ^{[4] [5]} .

Jane served as a maid of honor under Anna Boleyn and Anna Klevskaya ^[6] . At Boleyn’s court, she became interested in reformist religion, and from the mid-1530s, Jane and her husband ended up in evangelical circles ^[7] . In 1542, Jane's husband received the title of Viscount Lyle. ^[2] During this period, John became close to , whose elder sister Catherine in 1543 became the last wife of King Henry VIII ^[8] . Thanks to this friendship, Jane became one of the four ladies who accompanied Catherine to the altar on her wedding day ^[9] . Viscountess Lyle also belonged to a group of courtiers who sympathized with the poetess Anne Askew , with whom Jane communicated during her imprisonment in 1545-1546. An ardent Protestant Anne Askew was burned for heresy in July 1546 by Bishop Gardiner ^{[2] [10]} .

Dudley raised his children in the spirit of Renaissance humanism ^{[11] [12]} . Jane personally got acquainted with the materials on which her children studied: so in 1553 she approved two works by mathematician and sealant John Dee on the heavenly structure and tides ^[13] . Jane was close with all her children; she was very saddened when, in 1544, her nineteen-year-old son Henry died during the siege of Boulogne . Jane herself suffered from certain seizures: in 1548, state affairs demanded that John stay at court, but he could not leave his wife, who “suffered another seizure, stronger than ever before” ^[14] .

At the beginning of the reign of Edward VI, Jane's husband received the title of Earl of Warwick , while Edward Seymour became the Duke of Somerset and Protector Lord under the Infant King ^[15] , contrary to the will of King Henry VIII ^{[16] [17]} . In October 1549, Somerset lost his power, was arrested and landed in the Tower when the Privy Council opposed the sole authority of the tread ^[18] . John Dudley, who became the head of the Privy Council in 1550, freed Somerset and allowed him to return to the council. ^[19] Earlier, Jane and the attempted to reconcile the spouses, who at that time were political opponents ^[20] ; for the same purpose, a marriage was organized between the eldest children of the Duke and Earl - John Dudley and Ann Seymour ^[21] . In June 1550, a grand wedding took place in the Palace, in which the king himself took part ^[22] . The peace between Dudley and Seymour did not last long: Somerset made plans to overthrow Dudley and was executed for treason in January 1552 ^{[23] [24]} .

Jane shared the influence of her husband at court, who became the Duke of Northumberland in October 1551. Her patronage was sought by financier Thomas Gresh and diplomat ^[2] ; Jane herself stood up for the elder sister of the king Mary ^[25] , who became the godmother of one of the duchess's daughters in 1545 ^[26] .

King Edward fell ill at the beginning of 1553 and by the beginning of June his condition was hopeless ^[27] . By this time, the imperial ambassador had been convinced for more than a year that Jane’s husband was engaged in a kind of “big conspiracy”, the purpose of which was to put a crown on Dudley’s head ^{[28] [29]} . Finding signs of a conspiracy, the ambassador suggested that John was going to divorce his wife and marry Princess Elizabeth ^[30] . However, in June 1553, the king drafted a document entitled “ Device of Succession ”, in the final version of which the crown after the death of Edward VI was passed on to his cousin Jane Gray , and the king’s sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were removed from the succession ^{[ 31] [32] [33]} .

A month before the advent of the Device, May 25, 1553, a triple wedding took place in Dudley's London house: Jane's son, Guildford , married Jane Gray; Guilford's younger sister, Catherine , married , heir to ; Jane's sister, also Catherine , married , heir to ^{[34] [35]} A few months later, these marriages began to be seen as evidence of a conspiracy by the Duke of Northumberland, seeking to bring his family to the throne. However, immediately before and during weddings, these unions did not arouse any suspicion even among the most vigilant observers ^{[36] [37]} . Modern historians interpret these marriages only as part of the “routine policy of dynastic marriages” ^{[38] [39] [40]} , and the is called the initiator of the matrimonial plans ^[38] . Marriage celebrations were accompanied by magnificent festivals, tournaments, games and masquerades. The guests at the festivities were the Venetian and French ambassadors (at the same time, the imperial ambassadors were not invited ^[38] ), as well as “a large number of ordinary people ... and even more representatives of the nobility” ^[41] . Guildford Dudley and some other guests received food poisoning “due to the mistake of the cook who messed up the leaves” ^[42] .

After the death of King Edward on July 6, 1553, the Dudley couple zealously embarked on the fulfillment of the king’s last will ^[43] and the ambassadors of the Holy Roman Empire and France were confident in the successful outcome ^[44] . However, Lady Jane reluctantly accepted the crown: she surrendered only after the exhortations of a meeting of nobles, including her parents and other relatives, and pressure from Dudley ^[45] . On July 10, Jane Dudley accompanied her son and daughter-in-law during the ceremonial entrance to the Tower of London , where the newlyweds spent their short reign ^[46] . At the Tower, the first sharp conflict between Jane Gray and the Dudley family occurred because of Jane’s reluctance to proclaim her husband the king ^[47] . The enraged duchess took the side of her son and was going to leave the Tower with him, however, the young queen insisted that her husband stay with her; Jane Dudley, who disliked her daughter-in-law, decided not to leave her son alone and told him not to share the bed with his wife anymore ^[48] .

Soon, however, Princess Mary spoke out against Queen Jane, who was able to escape from surveillance in East Anglia . There she began to gather her supporters and demanded that the Privy Council recognize her queen ^[49] . When Mary's letter of demand arrived in London on July 10, 1553, Jane Gray dined in the family circle; when the letter was read aloud, the Duchess of Suffolk , the Queen’s mother, and Jane Dudley burst into tears. ^[50] While the husband of Jane Dudley with the troops stayed in Cambridge , Princess Mary, with the support of the Privy Council and London self-government, was proclaimed Queen. It was all over for the Dudley family: Jane's father, Henry Gray , swore allegiance to the new queen in the hope of preserving his daughter's life; the guards at the Tower received orders to arrest Jane Dudley’s daughter-in-law, son, and all their companions ^[51] ; Jane's husband was forced to lay down his arms and surrender to the mercy of the winner ^[52] . Soon after, Jane was released from the Tower. Once free, she tried to intervene before the queen, who was outside London, for her arrested husband and five sons. However, five miles before the camp of Mary I, Jane Dudley was returned to the capital by order of the Queen. ^[25] Then Jane wrote a prayer for help to her friend Lady Paget, the wife of ^53] , but this was unsuccessful: her husband, Jane, was executed on Tower Hill on August 22, 1553 after renouncing the Protestant faith.

After the Wyatt rebellion , on February 12, 1554, Jane's son, Guildford, was beheaded on Tower Hill shortly before the execution of Jane Gray. Knowing the queen's character, in June, Jane pleaded with the authorities to allow her remaining sons to listen to the Mass ^[54] . For the remainder of the summer of 1554, Jane and her daughter’s husband tried to get in touch with Queen Philip of Spain’s spouse. In the fall of 1554, the sons of Jane were released from the Tower, although the eldest, John, died shortly after his release ^[55] . After reuniting with her sons, Jane lived for some time in the house of Mary and Henry Sidney, where their eldest son Philip was born; Jane and Philip of Spain became the godmother of the newborn ^[56] .

Dudley's property was confiscated during the courts in 1553. In 1554, Queen Mary returned to Jane part of her personal property and granted her the right to use her late husband’s house in Chelsea ^{[57] [58] [59]} , where Jane died on January 15 or 22, 1555 ^[60] . Jane Dudley was buried on February 1 at the ^[61] In her will, she tried to ensure the welfare of her sons and thanked the queen and the noble Spaniards who supported her. So, the Duchess of Alba inherited the green parrot Jane, and don Don Diego de Acevedo bequeathed "a new bed of green velvet with all the furniture; and begged him ... to become the sons of [Jane] father and brother, because now they will lose their mother ” ^[62] . Mary Jane left two hundred stamps for her daughter, as well as a watch “that belonged to her Lord Father and which she prays to preserve as a great value” ^[63] . Also in the will, she mentioned her beloved spouse, begged not to allow anyone to open her body , wrote about her religiosity, but did not mention any particular religion ^[64] .

Jane Dudley gave birth to thirteen children: eight boys and five girls ^[65] . In most cases, it is impossible to establish the exact date of their birth, with the exception of Robert ^[54] , who was probably born after the eldest daughter Mary ^[66] .

• Henry (c. 1525 - 1544) - died during the siege of Boulogne.
• Thomas (c. 1526 - 1528)
• John (probably born in 1527 ^{[k 1] [2]} ; died October 21, 1554) - 2nd Earl of Warwick . He was married to Ann Seymour , daughter of Lord Protector Edward Seymour , Duke of Somerset , and ; the marriage was childless. John was one of the signatories of patent letters in which his sister-in-law Jane Gray was declared Queen of England. He also participated in a military campaign against Maria Tudor, and among his other relatives ended up in the Tower after the defeat of the Dudley family. Died shortly after release from prison ^[67] .
• Ambrose (c. 1530 ^{[k 2] [68]} - February 21, 1590) - 3rd Earl of Warwick. He was married three times: the first marriage to Ann Horwood , the daughter of Sir and Cassandra Gray; second marriage to , daughter of , Baron Talboys of Kaim, and Bessie Blount , favorite of King Henry VIII ; third marriage to Anne Russell , daughter of , Earl of Bedford , and Margaret St. John. Despite three marriages, Ambrose died childless: his only daughter from her first marriage died in infancy. Ambrose, like his brothers, ended up at the Tower, but was released after Henry Sidney's petition.
• Henry (c. 1531–1557 ^[69] ) was married to Margaret Audley , daughter of , Baron Audley of Walden, and his second wife, Elizabeth Gray. Like his brothers, Henry ended up at the Tower, but was released after Henry Sidney's petition. He was killed at the Battle of Saint-Quentin .
• Mary (c. 1530/1535 - 1586) - maid of honor at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. She was married to the court Henry Sidney , from whom she gave birth to eight children, among whom were the poet and poetess Philip and Mary Sidney .
• Robert (June 24, 1532 - September 4, 1588) - 1st Earl of Leicester , favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Married twice: first marriage to Amy Robsart , daughters of Sir John Robsart and Elizabeth Scott; the second marriage to Letizia Nollis , the daughter of Sir and Catherine Carey , who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I's niece. From the second marriage, Robert had one son who died in childhood, and another was illegitimate. Like his brothers, Robert ended up at the Tower, but was released after Henry Sidney's petition.
• Guildford (c. 1535 - February 12, 1554) - was married to the "nine-day queen" Jane Gray and executed with her after the accession to the throne of Queen Mary I.
• Charles (1537-1542)
• Katherine (c. 1538 or 1543-1545 ^{[k 4]} - August 14, 1620) - was married to , 3rd Earl of Huntington . I had no children.
• Temperance (d. 1552)
• Katherine - died in childhood.
• Margaret - died in childhood.

• Monuments Chelsea Old Church. Date of treatment March 29, 2016.