DUDLEY, archbishop of Armagh in the eleventh century. He was held in high estimation for piety and learning, and wrote the "Annals of Ireland" to his own time, which are quoted by the Ulster Annals and by the four Masters.—J. F. W.
DUDLEY, Ambrose, son of John, duke of Northumberland, was born about 1530. On the attainder and execution of his father, he too was attainted and received sentence of death along with his three brothers. He was confined in the Tower until October, 1554, when the queen pardoned him, and permitted him to come to court. Having been patronized by Philip, Mary's consort, he joined the Spanish army in the Low Countries in 1557, and took part in the famous battle of St. Quentin. His younger brother, Henry, was slain during the siege of that place. About the close of 1557, as a reward for his services, Ambrose Dudley and his brother Robert, afterwards earl of Leicester, were restored in blood. On the accession of Elizabeth he obtained a grant of royal estates in Leicestershire, was made master-general of the ordnance, and was soon after created first Baron De Lisle, and then Earl of Warwick. When Havre was given up to Elizabeth by the Huguenots the earl was appointed to the command, with the title of queen's lieutenant in Normandy. He defended the place to the last extremity against a powerful French army; but, after suffering horrible hardships, was obliged to surrender in the autumn of 1563. During the treaty he was treacherously wounded in the leg with a poisoned bullet, and never completely recovered from its effects. He received numerous honours from the queen, but kept himself aloof from the factions and intrigues of the court, and passed the remainder of his life for the most part in retirement. He was a nobleman of unblemished character and great sweetness of temper, and his usual appellation was "the good earl of Warwick." He died without issue in 1589.—J. T.
DUDLEY, Edmund, a lawyer and statesman who has acquired an unenviable notoriety in English history, was born in 1462. His father was the second son of John, baron of Dudley. He was educated at Oxford, and studied law at Gray's inn. His ability and profound legal knowledge attracted the attention of Henry VII., who took him into his service, and made him a privy councillor at an unusually early age. He recommended himself to the favour of that rapacious monarch, along with Richard Empson, another lawyer of the same stamp, by his arbitrary prosecutions on old penal statutes; and by means of fines and all kinds of exactions filled the royal coffer, and increased his own patrimony at the expense of the people. In 1504 he was made speaker of the house of commons. The death of Henry, however, at once put an end to the oppressive sway of Dudley and Empson; and one of the first acts of his successor, Henry VIII., was to imprison the obnoxious favourites of his father. They were shortly after attainted of high treason by the parliament, but the king was unwilling to inflict on them the extreme penalties of the law. The people, however, became so clamorous for their punishment, that Henry ordered them for execution, and they were accordingly beheaded on Tower Hill on the 18th of August, 1510. During his imprisonment, Dudley composed a work which he dedicated to the king—"The Tree of the Commonwealth;" but it is still in manuscript.—J. T.
DUDLEY, John, son of the preceding, and ultimately duke of Northumberland, was born in 1502. His mother was a coheiress of the Grays, Viscounts Lisle; and the powerful friends of the family obtained from parliament the reversal of his father's attainder, the year after his execution. Young Dudley was introduced at court in 1523, and soon after he attended the royal favourite, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, in his expedition into France, and was knighted for his gallant conduct there. He attracted the notice of Wolsey, whom he accompanied in his embassy to Paris in 1528; and after the downfall of that minister, attached himself to Cromwell, and through the powerful influence of these two ministers, obtained several offices at court. His handsome person and skill in military exercises, recommended him to the favour of Henry VIII., who created him Viscount Lisle in 1542, and soon after bestowed on him the order of the garter, and the office of high-admiral of England for life. He acquired great distinction by the defeat of the French fleet in 1545, with a greatly inferior force, and his successful attack on the coast of Normandy. Dudley was appointed by Henry one of his executors and guardians of his successor, Edward VI. The earl of Hertford, however, the young king's uncle, prevailed on the other guardians to appoint him protector, and he immediately conferred upon his brother, Thomas, the office of high-admiral, which Lord Lisle was compelled to resign. By way of compensation he was created Earl of Warwick, and made chamberlain of England; but his dissatisfaction with this arrangement led to permanent estrangement between Dudley and the protector—now duke of Somerset. For a time, however, they acted together with apparent cordiality, and Dudley accompanied the protector in his Scottish expedition, in the character of his lieutenant-general, and signalized himself by his conduct and courage at the battle of Pinkie. In 1549 he was sent to suppress the insurrection which had broken out among the commons in Norfolk, under Robert Kett. He defeated them in a general engagement, and prevailed on them to give up their leaders, and to lay down their arms. The administration of the protector had by this time become exceedingly unpopular; dissensions had broken out between him and his brother, the admiral, which led to the execution of the latter (see Seymour). Somerset himself was committed to the Tower, and Dudley was restored to his former office of lord high-admiral. An apparent reconciliation took place betweeen the two powerful rivals, and a marriage was effected between Warwick's eldest son and Somerset's daughter, 3rd June, 1550. In the following year Dudley was appointed earl-marshal of England, lord-warden of the northern marches, and finally created Duke of Northumberland. The arrest and execution of Somerset speedily followed (22nd February, 1552); and on the downfall of his rival, to which he mainly contributed, Northumberland rose to supreme power in the kingdom, and gained complete ascendancy over the young king. The health of Edward, however, began to decline, and the duke, anxious to perpetuate his authority, conceived the rash project of raising to the throne Lady Jane Gray, whom he hastily married to his sixth son. Lord Guildford Dudley, in May, 1553, about two months before Edward died. When that event took place, he caused Jane to be proclaimed queen, in accordance with the will of Edward, and conveyed her for security to the Tower. But this step was exceedingly unpopular throughout the country. An insurrection in favour of the Princess Mary broke out in Suffolk, which speedily became so formidable that Northumberland marched in person to suppress it. But his army gradually melted away; his courage and presence of mind seemed to have deserted him, and hearing that Mary had been proclaimed at London, he caused the same ceremony to be repeated at Cambridge, and throwing his cap into the air, exclaimed, "God save Queen Mary." In spite of this pretended loyalty, he was arrested next day, brought to London, and, on the 18th of August, 1553, arraigned for treason, condemned, and executed on the 21st. Before his death he heard mass; and though he had throughout his life professed great zeal for the protestant religion, he declared himself on the scaffold a member of the Romish church. The truth seems to be that he had no great regard for any mode of faith.—J. T.
DUDLEY, Rev. Sir Henry Bate, born at Fenny Compton in 1745; died in 1824. His father was a beneficed clergyman in Cambridgeshire. The son was educated for the church, graduated at Cambridge, and took orders. He got into habits of expense, to which his means were inadequate, and threw himself upon literature for support. He is said to have originated the Morning Post in 1775, and the Morning Herald in 1780; the English Chronicle, and a French paper, the Courier de la l'Europe, were set agoing by him. He was the author of several popular dramas, among others the "Flitch of Bacon." He met at Garrick's the Rev. James Townley, the author of "High Life Below Stairs," rector of a living in Middlesex; became his curate, and continued to write for the theatre. He had become in one way or other possessed of money, and in 1781 the living of Bradwell in Essex was purchased in trust for him, subject to the life of the then incumbent. He took the name of Dudley, and became curate of the living, the reversion of which he had purchased. He laid out on the church and for the parish generally about £28,000. Some of his improvements obtained for him from the Agricultural Society a gold medal. In 1797 the incumbent died. The bishop of London refused to induct Dudley on the ground of simony. During the delay and squabble about the matter the presentation lapsed to the crown, who appointed another. A good deal of talk took place in the house of commons as to the injustice done to Dudley. Sheridan's indignant virtue was awakened in his defence. It was felt that nothing could be done at the time for Dudley in England, and he was shifted to
