Edmund Dudley Esq (abt. 1462 - 1510)

Born about 1462 in Cumberland, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Aug 1510 at about age 48 in Tower Hill, London, England

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Biography

Edmund Dudley was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Different sources give Edmund's birth year as 1462 or 1471/2.

He was the son of John Dudley of Atherington, Sussex, and Elizabeth Bramshot.^[1][2] He was sent to Oxford in 1478 and then he studied law at Gray's Inn. He was politically very active during the reign of Henry VII, for whom he was a Privy Councillor when he was quite young, supposedly only 23. in 1504, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons.

He benefited financially from his political posts, being quite greedy. After Henry VII died in April 1509, Edmund was imprisoned by Henry VIII. He was attainted in January 1509/10, which removed any special privileges he would have in a court of law. While in prison, he wrote a political allegory, "Tree of Commonwealth," a treatise in favor of absolute monarchy, apparently trying to curry the favor of the King, however the King never saw it. Edmund was executed for treason on August 18, 1510. You can read more about Edmund's execution on Susan Higginbotham's blog.

Edmund married twice. First, in about 1494, he married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Windsor, and the widow of Roger Corbet. (Her brother Andrew became the 1st Baron Windsor.) She died soon after the birth of their only child, a daughter Elizabeth, who was born about 1500.^[3]

His second marriage was to Elizabeth Grey, the daughter of Edward Grey, Viscount Lisle. They had three sons: John (who was executed in 1553 by Queen Mary I), Andrew and Jasper/Jerome.

Sources

1. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 555-556.
2. ↑ George Edward Cokayne and Vicary Gibbs ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. IV: Dacre - Dysart, 2nd edition. (London, 1916). Pages 479-481. Online at Archive.org: Dudley or Sutton of Dudley
3. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 302-303.

• "Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. III. p. 160

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry (2013) Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Vol II, page 340-1, Edmund Dudley.

• The Encyclopaedia Britannica 1910. Vol. VIII. New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910. Open Library Page 636

• Dictionary of national biography. Vol. XVI. New York: Macmillan, 1888. Open Library Page 100ff

See Also:

• Andrew_Windsor,_1st_Baron_Windsor
• Edmund_Dudley
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online
• Benolte, Thomas; Philipot, John; & Owen, George. The Visitations of the County of Sussex: 1530 and 1633-4. London: The Harleian Society, 1905. Vol LIII, p 44.