Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/50

 48 LEICESTER. lie sumptuously entertained the Queen at Kenilworth.f) at an expense of about £60.000 : was Lord Steward oi the Household, lfiS4-SS. In Oct. 1 5f-5 he was given the command of the Eltgiwh forces to aid the states General, and was. in Feb. 1588 proclaimed Governor oi the United provinces, but wan finally recalled in Nov. 1587 Jn Oct. 1586 he was one i>f the C<»mmi-siorters to try the Queen uf Scats. He was also Lord Lieut, uf WoTwkksbire (15.191. Berks (1560 ?", Worcester-hire (1560-70J Essex, Huts and Midx. <al! in 15.85 and of Leicestershire and Rutland (15S7). Ahout 1571 he rn. privately nt a house in Cannon Kow, and spain (2 years later) in May 1573 (two days before the birth of their BOB] at K.-her. Surrey, in the presence uf many witnesses,; 0 ; Douglas, widow of John (Sheffield), 2rl Haiui.v SHFKriEt.D iit I'uttkhwickk. da. "f William (HliWAHrt), 1st Kaiion HiiWxIID tit Effinoh.ui, by his second wife, Margaret, da. of Sir Tln mas GamaCe. In 1577 or 157S i before Sop. 157*1 this lady in. Kdward StaFFOKD, of Grafton, co. Northampton, whiie the Ear! himself m., -21 Sep. 1578.. li ) at IVanttsad, eo. Essex, Lettice, widow of Walter I DsVK.lt l.rx, 1st. Kari. or Essex, sister of William, 1st Eaiii. OK BaNB1!KT, 1st da. of Sir Francis Knou.y*. K G-., bf Catharine, da. of W illiam r.uiy, and Mary, his wife, who wa3 sister to Ann BoI.EW, Consort to Henry VIII The Karl a. s.p. legit. < e ' -I Sep. 15S8, aped nbcut 56 not without suspicion of ] oison at hi- house at Cornbury, DxoB, and was lur. at the cost of i'f.000 in the Beauc-hamp chapel at Warwick. Will dat. at Middleburg 1 A up. 15S7. pr. 1589. At his death all his Itotv.urs became ex'inet. His widow, who was b. in the time of Henry V11L. and </. in that of Charles [„ m. (within a year of his death i before Ang. 1589, Sir Christopher BtOOHT, one of the late Karl's Gentlemen of the Horse, who was executed for high treason IS March 1600,1, on Toner Hill. She (I. 25 Pee. 1834, aped about 95, at Dra tofi Uasset. and was 6iir. (with her second husband) at Warwick. M.I. Will dat.'l.l Oct 1622, pr. 1 7 Jan. 16-11/5. (*) "In 1563 be received fiom the Crown the manor and lordship and castle of Kenilttorth, the lordship and castle of Denbiiih and la mis in Lancashire. Surrey, Rutland, Denbigh, Carmarthen. York, Cardigan, and lire-knock. The manors of Caldicnte and Pelynge, Beds, with many other parcels of laud, followed in tiie next year, ami in 1566 sixteen other estates in different parts of England and Wales were assigned him." [Nat, Biegr.] (to) Of whose legitimacy there can be little doubt." [Not. Iliogr. in an able article by S. L. Lee, tub Pndb y. Karl of Leicester.] This son was the well known Sir Robert Dudley who styled himself DlKK OF NoKTIIiniliElil.AM) [see under that title] and whose widow, Alice, was rr. in 1614 DCCHKBS DlDI.lv. His male issue became, in all probability, cclinrt in l?£8, ( e ) This is the account of three marriapes according to her own statement. It appears, however, to have obtained little credit in the Star Chamber, probably on account of her re-marriage (which shortly preceded that of the Earl on 21 Sep. 15"S), in spite of her explanation of this having been [which indeed was not improbably the fact] "to secure her life, having had some ill potions piven her." It is to be remarked that it was not till 1601 that the Act passed '■ To restrain all fa-sons from vwriagc until ttiii firmer wires and former hutlonds It dead," whereby such oll'ence is made felony and punishable by death. Tlit rr-marriage, therefore, of each of these two parties in or about 1578 was not felony, and is, therefore, no j rniiive proof against their marriage in 1573. ( rt ) See vol. hi., p. 205, note "c," as to the suspicion of their having been previously over-familiar. A previous (private) marriage between them in 1576 is alluded to by Camden in his "Annuls." See note "g," next below. {") The illegitimacy of his son Kohert (see, however, note " b " next above 1 ! iB here aisumed, who it is certain (at all events) did not succeed to his Father*! Earldom. ( "Dudley combined in himself the worst qualities of both sexes; without courage; without talent; without virtue." [Fronde's " J-lizahelh," vol. i., p. 86'.] The following epitaph was written on him by Een Jouson : — " Heere lyes a valiaunt warrior who never drew a sword, Heere lyes a noble courtier who never kept his word, Here lies the Harle of Leicester who governed the Kstates Whom the earth could never, living, love, and the just heaven now hates." (e) An interesting and accurate account of this lady by "Edward Levien, M.A., F.S.A.," is iu the " t'ollcdunca Archmlogia" (4to), vol. ii, pp. 42-54.