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Ambrose
DUDLEY
(3rd E. Warwick)
Married 1: Anne WHORWOOD (d. 26 May 1552, Otford, Kent) (dau. of William
Whoorwhood, Attorney General and
Cassandra Grey) BEF 4 Mar 1545
Children:
1. John
DUDLEY (b. ABT 1550 - d. 26 May 1552)
Married 2:
Elizabeth
TALBOYS (B. Talboys of Kyme) BEF 10 Sep 1553
Married 3: Anne
RUSSELL (C. Warwick) 11 Nov 1565, Queen's Chapel, Whitehall, London,
England
He was the son of
John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland, and Protector of England
during the reign of Edward VI, and
Lady Jane Guildford.
Ambrose was imprisoned with his brothers in the Tower of London
consequent on the attempt of his father to place
Lady Jane
Grey on the throne. They were kept in the Beauchamp Tower, which was only a walkway from the Bell Tower,
where Elizabeth was herself a prisoner after the
rebellion of
Thomas Wyatt.
John Dudley went to the block, and
Guildford was executed along with
Lady Jane following Wyatt's rebellion. The
Queen had doubtless already decided to
spare him, and not even Wyatt's rebellion caused her to change her mind: after a
further nine months in the Tower with his brothers he was released on 18 Oct
1554 and pardoned on 22 Jan 1555.
After a year's imprisonment, in
Jun 1555, they were released, probably following the
death of their mother, Jane Dudley, in 1555. John Dudley, the eldest son, died
shortly afterwards. Ambrose,
Robert and Henry
jousted at court at one of the Anglo-Spanish tournaments held between Dec 1554
and Mar 1555. In Jan, 1557, when conflict between
France and Spain arose Dudley offered his service, raising an army for
Felipe. He did this in exchange for the return of his families estates, which
had been withdrawn when John Dudley was executed. As his father did before him
he was able to overcome their insidious family legacy and rise again to a
powerful station. Ambrose, Henry and
Robert Dudley joined the forces of
Felipe II and went
to fight in France and took part in the battle of St. Quentin, where Henry was killed.
For these services Dudley together with his brother
Robert and sisters was
restored in blood by Act of Parliament (4 and 5 Phil. and Mary, c.15) on 7 Mar
1558.
He was in high favour with
Elizabeth. With the death of the
French King Francois II in 1560, the Franco~Scottish
Queen Mary found herself a widow
aged 18. The French throne was assumed by the late King’s mother,
Catherine de Medici. These ‘bittersweet events’ in Europe
confounded English court politics and led to the return of
Mary to Scotland, with all its
attendant problems for Elizabeth.
Whilst in France, Medici was struggling to avert civil war, with
the Protestant Huguenots restricted to a limited freedom of worship they
were ready to resort to arms to defer total Catholic rule. After lengthy
prevarication Elizabeth
eventually conceded to pressure from her court to send some six thousand
English troops to assist the struggling Huguenots. Ambrose was
chosen to lead the expedition. Ambrose Dudley’s determination
that he would retain the town of ‘Newhaven’ against the aggression of
the forces of the Duke of Guise, the instigator of the Catholic
tyranny, and uncle of Mary, Queen of
Scots, was hampered from the outset by misadventures ranging
from the simple lack of troops and finance to a plague that afflicted
his armies. When Warwick’s fresh troops were eventually deployed
they were prevented from landing in France through sheer bad weather,
adverse winds preventing them from entering the Port. Even then, once
ashore they too fell to the plague covering France, that was then
claiming about sixty of his men each day.
Elizabeth finally conceded
defeat, not so much on account of the Catholic aggressor as because of
the general circumstances and allowed Warwick leave to withdraw.
The consequence was that the troops imported the plague into London,
where a further 21,000 victims fell ill and died. This affair was a
total disaster for Elizabeth
and fashioned her future reluctance to engage in ill-affordable foreign
conflicts.
In 1564 was created Baron Lisle and Earl of
Warwick, and Robert
was made Baron Denbigh and Earl of Leicester.
Ambrose was first married to Anne Whorwood the
daughter of William Whorwood, Attorney General and Cassandra
Grey sometime before the 4 Mar 1545. Anne died on 26 May
1552, at Otford, her home in Kent and bore Ambrose a son they
named John in 1550 but who died in 1552. Ambrose recovered
from the loss of his first wife and married again to Elizabeth
Talboys before the 10 Sep 1553. This partnership was followed by a
third wedding by his marriage to Anne Russell, daughter of
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of
Bedford on the 11 Nov 1565, at the Queen's Chapel, Whitehall.
His brother
Robert, Earl of Leicester,
having predeceased him, his honours became extinct on his death in 1590.
Ambrose Dudley died after having a gangenous leg amputed, 21 Feb 1589, at
Bedford House, in the Strand. He was apparently re buried on 9 Apr 1590, in the
Lady Chapel of Warwick Collegiate Church.
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