Editing Amy Robsart (section)

===Early traditions and theories===
[[File:Amy Robsart by W.Q.Orchardson.jpg|thumb|Amy Robsart walking to her death. 19th century fantasy portrait by [[William Quiller Orchardson|Sir William Quiller Orchardson]]]]
From the early 1560s there was a tradition involving Sir Richard Verney,<ref name="Adams / Archer / Bernard p. 66" /> a [[vassal|gentleman-retainer]] of Robert Dudley from Warwickshire, in whose house Lady Amy Dudley had stayed in 1559.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 356, 358</ref> A 1563 chronicle, which is heavily biased against the House of Dudley<ref>Adams, Archer, and Bernard 2003 p. 41</ref> and was probably written by the Protestant activist [[John Hales (died 1572)|John Hales]],<ref>Adams, Archer, and Bernard 2003 pp. 46–51</ref> describes the rumours:<blockquote>[t]he Lord Robert's wife brake her neck at Forster's house in Oxfordshire … her gentlewomen being gone forth to a fair. Howbeit it was thought she was slain, for Sir ----- Varney was there that day and whylest the deed was doing was going over the fair and tarried there for his man, who at length came, and he said, thou knave, why tarriest thou? He answered, should I come before I had done? Hast thou done? quoth Varney. Yeah, quoth the man, I have made it sure. … Many times before it was bruited by the Lord Robert his men that she was dead. … This Verney and divers his servants used before her death, to wish her death, which made the people to suspect the worse.<ref name="Adams / Archer / Bernard p. 66" />
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The first printed version of Amy Robsart's alleged murder appeared in the satirical libel ''[[Leicester's Commonwealth]]'', a notorious propaganda work against the Earl of Leicester written by [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] exiles in 1584.<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 251–253; Jenkins 2002 p. 291</ref> Here Sir Richard Verney goes directly to Cumnor Place, forces the servants to go to the market, and breaks Lady Amy's neck before placing her at the foot of the stairs; the jury's verdict is murder, and she is buried first secretly at the Cumnor parish church before being dug up and reburied at Oxford. Verney dies, communicating "that all the devils in hell" tore him in pieces; his servant (who was with him at the murder) having been killed in prison by Dudley's means before he could tell the story.<ref>Skidmore 2010 pp. 386, 387</ref>

Enhanced by the considerable influence of ''Leicester's Commonwealth'', the rumours about Amy Robsart's death developed into a tradition of embellished folklore.<ref>Chamberlin 1939 pp. 16–19, 420–421; Wilson 1981 p. 124</ref> As early as 1608, a [[domestic tragedy]] named ''[[A Yorkshire Tragedy]]'' alluded to her fall from a pair of stairs as an easy way to get rid of one's wife: "A politician did it."<ref>Chamberlin 1939 pp. 417–418</ref> In the 19th century her story became very popular due to the best-selling novel, ''[[Kenilworth (novel)|Kenilworth]]'', by [[Walter Scott]].<ref name="Adams 1995 p. 378" /> The novel's arch-villain is again called Varney.<ref>Chamberlin 1939 p. 22</ref> The notion that Amy Robsart was murdered gained new strength with the discovery of the Spanish diplomatic correspondence (and with it of poison rumours) by the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] historian [[James Anthony Froude]].<ref name="ODNB" /> Generally convinced of Leicester's wretchedness,<ref>Chamberlin 1939 pp. 23, 45–46</ref> he concluded in 1863: "she was murdered by persons who hoped to profit by his elevation to the throne; and Dudley himself … used private means … to prevent the search from being pressed inconveniently far."<ref>Chamberlin 1939 p. 25</ref> There followed the Norfolk [[antiquarian]] [[Walter Rye]] with ''The Murder of Amy Robsart'' in 1885: here she was first poisoned and then, that method failing, killed by violent means. Rye's main sources were Cecil's talk with de Quadra around the time of Amy Dudley's death and, again, ''Leicester's Commonwealth''.<ref>Gristwood 2007 pp. 115–116</ref> Much more scholarly and influential was an 1870 work by George Adlard, ''Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leycester'', which printed relevant letters and covertly suggested suicide as an explanation.<ref>Gristwood 2007 pp. 115, 122</ref> By 1910, [[Albert Pollard|A.F. Pollard]] was convinced that the fact that Amy Robsart's death caused suspicion was "as natural as it was incredible … But a meaner intelligence than Elizabeth's or even Dudley's would have perceived that murder would make the[ir] marriage impossible."<ref>Chamberlin 1939 p. 40</ref>