Amy Robsart
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Amy Robsart (7 June 1532 – 8 September 1560[1]) also known as Amy, Lady Dudley was an English noblewoman, who is mainly known for her death under controversial and somewhat mysterious circumstances, which remains a subject of historical speculation and research.[2]
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[edit] Life
Amy Robsart was born in Norfolk, and was the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Sir John Robsart and Elizabeth Scott. The Robsarts were the neighbours of the Dudley family, whose patriarch was John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and one of the regents during the reign of King Edward VI of England.
When she was about 17, Amy married Robert Dudley, a younger son of Northumberland. (Robert's younger brother, Guilford, married Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for nine days). The betrothal between Amy and Dudley appeared to be a love match, since both families were wealthy. Also, their marriage contract stated that they would be wed only if they did "condescend and agree" to the match.
The wedding, held with Edward VI in attendance, soon proved to be the start of an unhappy marriage. Following the accession of Elizabeth I to the throne, Dudley spent most of his time at court with the new queen, nursing his own apparent ambitions to gain the throne. It has been widely speculated that he carried on an illicit love affair with the Queen during her early reign and indeed gained a highly favoured (and envied) place at her side. He did not allow Amy to come to court, as he did not wish to remind the Queen her favourite was indeed a married man. Early in 1560, Robsart was living in the manor house of Cumnor Place, near Abingdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). The house was owned by friends of Dudley, some of whom lived with Robsart. Although legend has it she was a sort of prisoner, it is more likely she had complete freedom of movement.
[edit] Death
Amy Robsart is best known for her death, which occurred at Cumnor Place on Sunday, September 8, 1560, the day of the "Our Lady's Fair" at Abingdon. Amy gave all her servants permission to go to the fair and even insisted so when several refused, believing it was unfit to attend a fair on Sunday. However her companion, Mrs. Oddingsell, refused to leave, believing it unfit for her to mingle with servants. Thus remaining at the house were Amy and Mrs. Oddingsell, as well as Mrs. Owens, the elderly mother of the house’s previous owner, and Mrs. Forster, the wife of the current owner of the house; additionally, Mrs. Oddingsell and Mrs. Forster would also both have had servants with them at the time. When the rest returned from the fair, they found Amy lying dead at the foot of a shallow flight of stairs, leading from her room to the hall, her neck broken. The death was announced to Robert Dudley and Queen Elizabeth at the same time, who both seemed genuinely shocked at the news. Dudley sent a friend to the country estate to check on the circumstances and did not attend the funeral as was proper and expected of the widowed husband in those days.
[edit] Aftermath
Due to these suspicious circumstances, many believed Dudley had ordered the murder, which would rather conveniently open the way for him to marry the Queen. However, as he must have understood that the controversy created by his wife's death could potentially ruin any chance he had of marrying Elizabeth, it is unlikely that he would have orchestrated her demise. Some alleged that the Queen was privy to the plan, and perhaps even ordered it; it is known that she had mentioned to the Spanish ambassador de Quadra that Dudley's wife was near death. Yet another theory is that her death was ordered by William Cecil, the Queen's secretary. Cecil had fallen out of favour upon the rise of Robert Dudley, and it was possible that if Dudley became King Consort, he could undo all that Cecil had worked for in the past several years, thus Cecil had a strong motive to prevent the Queen and Dudley from marrying. Cecil was certainly perceptive enough to understand that the controversy of Amy's death would disallow the Queen from ever marrying Dudley, which would, in turn, bring Cecil back into favour; indeed, this is what happened. Cecil had perhaps the strongest motive and the most to gain from her death, which makes him a likely suspect, though there is no strong evidence to prove this theory. In any event, the scandal surrounding the death was enough to discourage the Queen from marrying Dudley.
Another factor known prior to her death was that Amy suffered from an ailment in her chest, which may have been breast cancer or possibly an aortic aneurism. Relatively recent cancer research has proven consistent with the idea that she suffered from breast cancer, and she may have subsequently had porous bones. This could have caused her neck to break under only limited strain, such as a fall which might occur when coming down even a short flight of stairs, or even just coming down the stairs. It is also often mentioned, and perhaps quite feasible, that Amy committed suicide, either because of the pain in her chest or the strain of mental anguish of knowing her husband to be the favourite of the Queen. This may explain her strange behaviour in wishing to send her servants away on that day. Thus, she may have poetically died of a "broken heart".[citation needed]
[edit] Sources
- Simon Adams, ‘Dudley , Amy, Lady Dudley (1532–1560)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 6 Jan 2008
[edit] References
- ^ Simon Adams, ‘Dudley , Amy, Lady Dudley (1532–1560)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 6 Jan 2008
- ^ Cumnor Parish Record - Amy Robsart
[edit] Further reading
[edit] Books about Amy Robsart
- Amy Robsart: A Drama in 5 Acts by Victor Hugo (published 2001) ISBN 1-58963-474-8
- Amy Robsart: Courtier's Wife by Susan Yaxley ISBN 0-948400-51-X
- The Robsart Affair by Jeanette Dowling Letton ISBN 0-89244-015-5
- Amy Robsart of Wymondham: The Story of Her Life and the Mystery of Her Death by Bartle Henry Temple Frere (1937)
- Amy Robsart: The Story of Her Married Life and Her Death by Josiah Marples
- Who Killed Amy Robsart?: Being Some Account of Her Life and Death, with Remarks on Sir Walter Scott's "Kenilworth" by Philip Sidney (1901)
[edit] Fictional books about Amy Robsart
- Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott (1821), ISBN 0-14-043654-5. One of Scott's Waverley Novels.
- The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory (2005)
- The Bright Day is Done: The Story of Amy Robsart by Judith Saxton
