Editing Amy Robsart (section)

==Life==
Amy Robsart was born in [[Norfolk]], the heiress of a substantial [[gentry|gentleman-farmer]] and [[Pastoral farming|grazier]], [[Sir]] John Robsart of [[Syderstone]], and his wife, Elizabeth Scott. Amy Robsart grew up at her mother's house, Stanfield Hall (near [[Wymondham]]), and, like her future husband, in a firmly [[Protestant]] household. She received a good education and wrote in a fine hand.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 15-17</ref> Three days before her 18th birthday she married [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Robert Dudley]], a younger son of [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|John Dudley, Earl of Warwick]]. Amy and Robert, who were of the same age, probably first met about ten months before their wedding.<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 33, 43; Skidmore 2010 p. 15</ref> The wedding contract of May 1550 specified that Amy would inherit her father's estate only after both her parents' death,<ref>Skidmore 2010 p. 23</ref> and after the marriage the young couple depended heavily on both their fathers' gifts, especially Robert's.<ref>Haynes 1987 pp. 20–21; Loades 1996 p. 225</ref> It was most probably a love-match, a "carnal marriage", as the wedding guest [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]] later commented disapprovingly.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 19–20; Adams 2008</ref> The marriage was celebrated on 4&nbsp;June 1550 at the royal palace of [[Palace of Placentia|Sheen]], with [[Edward VI]] in attendance.<ref>Wilson 1981 p. 44</ref>

The Earl of Warwick and future [[Duke of Northumberland]] was the most powerful man in England, leading the government of the young King Edward VI. The match, though by no means a prize, was acceptable to him as it strengthened his influence in Norfolk.<ref>Loades 1996 p. 179; Skidmore 2010 pp. 19, 24</ref> The young couple dwelt mostly at court or with Amy's parents-in-law at [[Ely Palace|Ely House]]; in the first half of 1553 they lived at [[Somerset House]], Robert Dudley being keeper of this great [[Renaissance]] palace.<ref name="ODRobert" /> In May 1553 [[Lady Jane Grey]] became Amy Dudley's sister-in-law, and after her rule of nine days as England's queen, Robert Dudley was sentenced to death and imprisoned in the [[The Tower of London|Tower of London]].<ref>Loades 2004 pp. 121, 125, 127; Loades 1996 pp. 266, 271</ref> He remained there from July 1553 until October 1554; from September 1553 Amy was allowed to visit "and there to tarry with" him at the Tower's [[Constable of the Tower|Lieutenant]]'s pleasure.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 38, 393</ref>

After his release Robert Dudley was short of money and he and Amy were helped out financially by their families.<ref name="ODNB" /> Their lifestyle had to remain modest, though, and Lord Robert (as he was known) was heaping up considerable debts. Sir John Robsart died in 1554; his wife followed him to the grave in the spring of 1557, which meant that the Dudleys could inherit the Robsart estate with the Queen's permission.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 45–46, 59; Loades 1996 p. 273</ref> Lady Amy's ancestral [[manor house]] of Syderstone had been uninhabitable for many decades,<ref>Skidmore 2010 p. 15</ref> her childhood home of Stanfield had been left to her mother for life by her first husband, but on her mother's death had reverted to Amy Robsart's half-brother John Appleyard,<ref name=":0" /> and the couple were now living in Throcking, [[Hertfordshire]], at the house of William Hyde, when not in [[London]].<ref name="ODRobert" /> In August 1557, Robert Dudley went to fight for [[Philip II of Spain]] (who was then [[Mary I of England|Mary I's]] husband) at the [[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)|Battle of St. Quentin]] in France.<ref>Loades 1996 p. 273</ref>
From this time a business letter from Amy Dudley survives, settling some of her husband's debts in his absence, "although I forgot to move my lord thereof before his departing, he being sore troubled with weighty affairs, and I not being altogether in quiet for his sudden departing".<ref>Adams 1995 pp. 380–381</ref>

In the summer of 1558, Robert and Amy Dudley were looking for a suitable residence of their own in order to settle in Norfolk; nothing came of this, however, before the death of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary I]] in November 1558. Upon the accession of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] Robert Dudley became [[Master of the Horse]] and his place was now at court at almost constant attendance on the Queen.<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 76-78</ref> By April 1559, Queen Elizabeth seemed to be in love with Lord Robert, and several diplomats reported that some at court already speculated that the Queen would marry him, "in case his wife should die",<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 95–96</ref> as Lady Amy Dudley was very ill in one of her breasts.{{#tag:ref|"está muy mala de un pecho", in the Spanish ambassador de Feria's original dispatch (Adams 1995 p. 63).|group="note"}} Very soon court observers noted that Elizabeth never let Robert Dudley from her side.<ref>Chamberlin 1939 p. 101</ref> He visited his wife at Throcking for a couple of days at Easter 1559, and Amy Dudley came to London in May 1559 for about a month.<ref name="Adams 1995 p. 378">Adams 1995 p. 378</ref> At this time, on 6 June, the new Spanish ambassador [[Álvaro de la Quadra|de Quadra]] wrote that her health had improved, but that she was careful with her food. She also made a trip to [[Suffolk]]; by September she was residing in the house of Sir Richard Verney at [[Compton Verney]] in [[Warwickshire]].<ref>Adams 1995 pp. 68, 382–383</ref>

By late 1559, several foreign princes were vying for the Queen's hand; indignant at Elizabeth's little serious interest in their candidate,<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 162, 165</ref> the Spanish ambassador de Quadra and his [[Holy Roman Empire|Imperial]] colleague were informing each other and their superiors that Lord Robert was sending his wife poison and that Elizabeth was only fooling them, "keeping Lord Robert's enemies and the country engaged with words until this wicked deed of killing his wife is consummated".<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 166–168, 356–357</ref> Parts of the nobility also held Dudley responsible for Elizabeth's failure to marry, and plots to assassinate him abounded.<ref>Doran 1996 p. 42</ref> In March 1560 de Quadra informed Philip&nbsp;II: "Lord Robert told somebody … that if he live another year he will be in a very different position from now. … They say that he thinks of divorcing his wife."<ref>Chamberlin 1939 p. 119</ref> Lady Amy never saw her husband again after her London visit in 1559. A projected trip of his to visit her and other family never materialized.<ref>Adams 1995 p. 383; Skidmore 2010 p. 224</ref> Queen Elizabeth did not really allow her favourite a wife; according to a contemporary court chronicle, he "was commanded to say that he did nothing with her, when he came to her, as seldom he did".<ref name="ODRobert" />
[[File:Ward Leicester and Amy Robsart at Cumnor Hall.JPG|left|thumb|''Leicester and Amy Robsart at Cumnor Hall'' (1866) by [[Edward Matthew Ward]]. Fantasy portrait after Walter Scott's novel ''Kenilworth'']]
From December 1559 until her death, Amy Dudley lived at Cumnor Place,<ref name="BerkshireHistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/cumnor_place.html |title=Cumnor Place, David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History |access-date=4 July 2018}}</ref> also sometimes known as Cumnor Hall,<ref name="FamilyFriend">{{cite web|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/cumnor/articles/visit-1840s.htm|title=A Visit to Cumnor: 1840s, from an article in the magazine 'Family Friend' 1850, Bodleian Libraries |access-date=5 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="KenilworthScott">{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1606/1606-h/1606-h.htm|title=Kenilworth, Walter Scott at Project Gutenberg |access-date=5 July 2018}}</ref> in the village of [[Cumnor]] in [[Berkshire]] (on the outskirts of [[Oxford]], and now in [[Oxfordshire]]).<ref>Adams 1995 p. 382</ref> The house, an altered 14th century [[Monastery|monastic]] complex, was rented by a friend of the Dudleys and possible relative of Amy, Sir Anthony Forster.<ref name="ODNB">Adams 2011</ref> He lived there with his wife and Mrs. Odingsells and Mrs. Owen, relations of the house's owner.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 59, 169, 172</ref> Lady Amy's chamber was a large, sumptuous upper story apartment, the best of the house, with a separate entrance and staircase leading up to it. At the house's rear there were a [[terrace garden]], a pond, and a [[Medieval deer park|deer park]].<ref>Skidmore 2010 p. 171</ref> Amy Dudley received the proceeds of the Robsart estate directly into her hands and largely paid for her own household,<ref>Adams 1995 pp. 383–384; Gristwood 2007 p. 101</ref> which comprised about 10 servants.<ref name="ODNB" /> She regularly ordered dresses and finery as accounts and a letter from her of as late as 24&nbsp;August 1560 show. She also received presents from her husband.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 192, 194, 195</ref> No picture of her is known to have survived, though according to the Imperial ambassador Caspar Breuner, writing in 1559, she was "a very beautiful wife".<ref>Skidmore 2010 p. 20</ref>

However, in 2009, [[Eric Ives]] suggested that a portrait miniature now in the Yale Center for British Art,<ref name=":3">Ives 2009 pp. 295, 15–16</ref> the Yale Miniature,<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Edwards|first=J. Stephan|title=A Queen of a New Invention – Portraits of Lady Jane Grey, England's 'Nine Days Queen'|publisher=Old John Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-0-9863873-0-2|location=Palm Springs, California|pages=102–103|language=English}}</ref> was, in fact, Amy Robsart.<ref name=":3" /> [[Chris Skidmore]] concurs with this in his 2010 book ''Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart'', adding that Robert Dudley used the oak as a personal symbol in his youth,<ref>Skidmore 2010 p. 21</ref> the sitter wearing oak leaves and gillyflowers at her breast.<ref name=":4" /> Recently a point has been made of the fact that the sprig of yellow flowers at the lady's breast corresponds with the colours of the Robsart coat of arms, green and yellow, or ''Vert'' and ''Or''.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=The Tudors ~ The Robsart Coat of Arms |url=https://www.katherinethequeen.com/440075389 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101000408/https://www.katherinethequeen.com/440075389 |archive-date=1 January 2020 |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=KatherineTheQueen.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The name gilliflower or gillyflower derives from the French giroflée from Greek ''karyophyllon'' meaning ''nut-leaf'', the association deriving from the flower's scent, making it another possible wordplay for oak for Robert or even Robsart,<ref name=":22" /> ''Robur'' being Latin for oak.<ref name=":3" /> 

The Yale miniature ([[:File:Lucas Horenbout Portrait of an Unknown Lady, ca. 1535 B1974.2.59.png|''Portrait of an Unknown Lady'']]), which was formerly attributed to [[Levina Teerlinc]] and dated c. 1550 is now thought to be the work of [[Lucas Horenbout]], c. 1535.<ref name="YCBA">{{cite web |title=Portrait of an Unknown Lady, c. 1535 |url=https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:11611 |website=Yale Center for British Art |access-date=8 September 2024}}</ref>