Edmund Dudley

Edmund Dudley
Edmund Dudley (right), along with Henry VII of England (centre), and Sir Richard Empson (left)
Born	c. 1462 or 1471/1472
Died	17 August 1510 Tower Hill, London
Cause of death	Decapitation
Resting place	Blackfriars, London
Known for	English financial officer
Notable work	The Tree of Commonwealth
Spouse(s)	Anne Windsor Elizabeth Grey
Children	Elizabeth Lady Stourton John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland Sir Andrew Dudley Jerome Dudley
Parent(s)	Sir John Dudley of Atherington Elizabeth Bramshott

Edmund Dudley (c. 1462^[1] or 1471/1472^[2] – 17 August 1510) was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons and President of the King's Council. After the accession of Henry VIII, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed the next year on a treason charge. While waiting for his execution he wrote The Tree of Commonwealth. Edmund Dudley was also the grandfather of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Henry VII's granddaughter, Elizabeth I.

Career

Edmund Dudley was the son of Sir John Dudley of Atherington, and a grandson of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley. After studying at Oxford, and at Gray's Inn, Dudley came under the notice of Henry VII, and is said to have been made a privy councillor at the early age of 23. In 1492, he helped to negotiate the Peace of Etaples with France and soon assisted the king in checking the lawlessness of the barons. He and his colleague Sir Richard Empson were prominent councillors of the Council Learned in the Law, a special tribunal of Henry VII's reign, which collected debts owed to the king, requested bonds as surety, and employed further financial instruments against high-born and wealthy subjects. Henry VII took a strong interest in these procedures and closely supervised the accounts of the two men.^[1]

Dudley was elected MP for Lewes, in 1491, and knight of the shire for Sussex, in 1495. In 1504, he was chosen as Speaker of the House of Commons. While collecting the king's money, Dudley amassed a great amount of wealth for himself, which resulted in estates in Sussex, Dorset, and Lincolnshire. When Henry VII died in April 1509, Dudley was imprisoned, and charged with the crime of constructive treason. Dudley's nominal crime was that during the last illness of Henry VII he had ordered his friends to assemble in arms in case the king died, but the real reason for his charge was his unpopularity stemming from his financial transactions. He was attainted and made preparations to escape from the Tower of London. He gave up his plan, though, when parliament did not confirm his attainder,^[3] which led him to believe that he would be pardoned. Dudley and his colleague Empson were executed on 17 August 1510 on Tower Hill.

During his imprisonment, Dudley sought to gain the favour of King Henry VIII by writing a treatise in support of absolute monarchy, called The Tree of Commonwealth.^[1] It may, however, never have reached the king. Several manuscript editions survive: the earliest was possibly commissioned by Dudley's son, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland; while the second oldest was made by John Stow in 1563 for Dudley's grandson, Robert Dudley.^[1]

Marriages and issue

Edmund Dudley married twice:

Firstly in about 1494 to Anne Windsor, sister of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor, by whom he had a daughter:
- Elizabeth Dudley (born c.1500), who married William Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton.^[4]
Secondly, between 1500 and 1503,^[4] to Elizabeth Grey (c. 1480–1525), a daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle (d.1492). Three sons were born to this marriage:
- John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504^[4]–22 August 1553)
- Andrew Dudley (c. 1507–1559^[5])
- Jerome Dudley (d. after 1555), destined for the Church by his father, yet was mentally or physically incapacitated.^[1]

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 Gunn 2010
↑ Loades 1996 pp. 1–2
↑ Loades 1996 p. 11
1 2 3 Loades 1996 p. 8
↑ Löwe 2008

References

Gunn, S.J. (2010): "Dudley, Edmund (c.1462–1510)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn. May 2010 (subscription required) Retrieved 2010-06-11
Loades, David (1996): John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1504–1553 Clarendon Press ISBN 0-19-820193-1
Löwe, J.A. (2008): "Sutton, Henry (d. 1564?)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn. Jan 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 2010-06-11
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

The Tree of Common Wealth

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Thomas Englefield	Speaker of the House of Commons 1503	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Englefield

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford

15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington Bowes Burley Tresham Say Popham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock Tresham Green Strangeways Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield

16th century	Dudley Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton

17th century	Croke Phelips Crewe Richardson Crewe Finch Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Rous (Barebones Parliament) Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Long (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Gregory Williams Trevor Powle Foley Littleton

18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully

20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd

21st century	Martin Bercow

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 59493674 LCCN: n85055841 ISNI: 0000 0000 2534 867X GND: 103155104 SUDOC: 090354613

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