The Death of Amy Robsart, as imagined by William Frederick Yeames, 1877
Thank you to Christine Hartweg, author of Amy Robsart: A Life and its End for writing this guest article on Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, for us today.
Who was Amy Robsart? And what do we really know about her? And why?
In 1559, the Imperial ambassador at Elizabeth I's court wrote that Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's great favourite, was "married to a beautiful wife" (but of course the ambassador had never seen her). We know for certain, on the other hand, that Amy Robsart was born on 7 June 1532 in Norfolk. Like her future husband, who was almost exactly the same age, she grew up in an "evangelical" (or Protestant) family. It is possible, even likely, that the marriage of Amy and Robert was a love match. They were married on 4 June 1550 in the presence of King Edward VI.
Although some intriguing glimpses about her life survive in chronicles, council letters, ambassadorial reports, account books and two of her own letters, Amy Robsart is chiefly known for her death. She was only 28 when her lifeless body was found at the foot of some stairs in her home at Cumnor, Oxfordshire, on 8 September 1560. The coroner's report, giving the opinion of 15 gentlemen jurors of the neighbourhood who examined the body and the surroundings, concluded that Amy had left "a certain chamber", intending to descend the adjoining stairs and then "fell precipitously down" those stairs "to the very bottom of the same". The jury found that she suffered two head wounds in the process ("one of which was a quarter of a thumb deep and the other two thumbs deep") and also "broke her own neck, on account of which fracture" she "died instantly".
Now, of course, the jurors' conclusion that "the aforesaid Lady Amy in the manner and form aforesaid by misfortune came to her death and not otherwise" has been doubted ever since. Still, this document is probably the most unimpeachable that we have about her death. Equally important, content-wise, are five letters exchanged between Robert Dudley and his distant cousin and steward, Thomas Blount. These letters tell us most of the things we know about Amy's last day. It was a Sunday, the church festival of the Nativity of Mary and the date of Abingdon fair. Amy had risen early and had sent all her servants away to said fair. Apparently, she wanted to be alone, for she also tried to send away Mrs Odingsells, one of the persons living at Cumnor Place, and her people. Mrs Odingsells said she would not go to the fair on a Sunday and asked Amy with whom she would dine when everybody went. Amy said that Mrs Owen, the mother of the house's owner, would have dinner with her, but also that Mrs Odingsells could do as she pleased. Amy was by that point "very angry".
Blount also reported to Robert Dudley that the stories he heard about Amy made him believe that she was "a strange woman of mind", and that according to her maid Amy had prayed daily on her knees, and also, "that she [the maid] hath heard her pray to God to deliver her from desperation".
All this and more we know through Blount's letters to Robert Dudley. The letters only survive as copies in a 16th-century hand; these were likely made in 1567, in connection with an investigation conducted by the privy council. It was not unusual to make copies of important letters; whole collections of letters were copied during the Elizabethan era and survive only as such.
The stairs. They were only eight steps high (this is steep enough to suffer a fatal accident) according to BL Additional MS 48023, a so-called "journal" but more properly a collection of random facts concerning the most recent history of England. The observations in this journal were written down sometime between c.1561–1563 by an anonymous author. What appears from the text is that the author was London-based and was certainly not anywhere near Cumnor Place on 8 September 1560 or later. It is also clear from his journal that he hated the Dudleys, the whole family. He intriguingly mentions, though, that he had to be told who was Robert Dudley when at court about a month after Amy's death; a detail which implies that he cannot have been there very often either, or he would have known this very prominent court figure. The author of the journal wrote that Amy was "the cause of her own death, falling down a pair of stairs, which by report was but eight steps." Even more remarkably, he also wrote that "it was thought that she was slain, for Sir ––––– Verney was there that day". Most remarkably of all, he knew what Amy's killers were talking about.
Finally, the hood! 24 years after her death, a satirical pamphlet claimed that Amy "had the chance to fall from a pair of stairs and so to break her neck, but yet without hurting of her hood that stood upon her neck". This remark from the notorious work of propaganda, Leicester's Commonwealth, must be one of the most successful pseudo-facts of all time, popping up in countless accounts of Amy's story.
Amy Robsart: A Life and Its End
Amy Robsart, the wife of Queen Elizabeth's favourite Robert Dudley, was found dead at the foot of some stairs at Cumnor, Oxfordshire, on 8 September 1560. Did she fall and break her neck, as the coroner's jury concluded? Was she ill? Did she jump? Was she pushed? Was she murdered, as many people suspected – at the time and since – and who were the killers? This vivid biography recounts her life and death in the shadow of the Tudor court, using all available documents, some for the first time. There will also for the first time be an in-depth look at the people around her, like her half-brothers, her host, or her supposed killer. The possible causes of her death, accident, suicide, murder, even illness, are discussed in context of the surviving evidence, modern statistics, and Renaissance culture. While there will never be a definite answer to the mystery of Amy's death, her life can be rescued from the myths that have grown around her over the centuries.
Christine's book on Amy can be purchased as a kindle book or paperback via Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Christine Hartweg lives in Berlin and was born in South America in 1972. She has researched the Dudley family of Tudor England since 2008 and has advised the BBC and other TV channels. Christine also wrote John Dudley: The Life of Lady Jane Grey's Father-in-Law. Her specialist website is https://allthingsrobertdudley.wordpress.com/
She was a Patsy in the intrigues of the Tudor court. I would add that Elizabeth nearly got her fingers burnt in this, and had to move quickly to distance herself from it.
I was moved in the documentary about how she died when Sarah Greenwood showed us the two letters Amy had sent one to a family member and one to order some material for a new dress and gloves, less than two weeks before her death. It has been speculated that she had breast cancer and died from a fall. Her bones had become brittle and this may have contributed to her death. It is not likely that she killed herself and there is no reliable evidence for murder, despite the melodrama written years later. Even if somewhat depressed by her condition, her letters show a woman still full of life and expecting to live long enough to attend a reception. Her husband was coming home to her and she was not in despair. Her condition could easily have deteriorated, there is also evidence that Amy knew she may be dying. She put a lot of effort into visiting friends and family, maybe to say goodbye.
Why did she empty the house that day? It is apparently unusual to be alone in the house or anywhere, but Amy sent the servants and ladies to a fair and then went to bed. Did she merely want to be alone to rest? Had she been told to clear the house for the Queen? This was speculated in the documentary, but makes no sense. Elizabeth was horrified at Amy Dudley’s death and a full investigation was ordered by Robert Dudley himself. He was anxious to get to the truth.
Personally, I believe Amy was not well, maybe a bit out of it on some of the happy mushroom type herbs which were used for pain at this time. She went to bed for a couple of hours, then woke, forgetting she was alone and began to come downstairs, looking for help, water, food, wine, medical help, something and she stumbled, tripping and falling, broke her neck. The scientific evidence shows she had two small dents, but only small holes in her skull caused by the trauma, not an assault. Her bones were brittle and this contributing to her fall made her go over and her neck break very easily.
Amy was not a government patsey, she was a Tudor housewife, although she didn’t have her own home, but her husband spent a long time at court. She wasn’t a dangerous woman who threatened the heart of the Elizabethan court, but probably a typical Tudor woman. Elizabeth I couldn’t marry Robert Dudley even if she wanted to, he was totally unsuitable. He was low born, the son, brother and grandson of traitors. He was married and killing his wife, especially on the orders of either the Queen or Lord William Cecil would certainly make that impossible. Why, then would she be murdered?
I am saddened that her end was so tragic and that she didn’t leave any children. It would really be nice to know more about her personality or life as a wife. Her tomb is also just a place or stone with a brief name partly covered. She is mentioned in a number of documents and it gives us glimpses from the shadows, but her letters and those about her death to the council allow her to emerge for a time.
Sorry I think that should be Sarah Gristwood.
It was obvious why she was murdered, probably on Cecils orders with full knowledge of the Queen. Dudley was far too ambitious. He was the Queens lover and fully expected to marry her. He was the son of a Lord and not so low born. Saying that the Queen could have married a commoner even back then if she so wished, but of course it would be strongly opposed. Dudleys ambition outstripped itself when Elizabeth realised, if they were married, that he wanted not to be a consort but to be made King of England. This would have caused her to lose all support and probably her throne. She could not give him up as she truly loved him so another way had to be found. By the removal of his wife, and the suspicion he murdered her, even though an inquest at the time recorded accidental death, it caused such a scandal that marriage to the Queen was impossible. Elizabeth loved him all her life. A letter from Dudley even though he later remarried, written years later still proclaiming his love for her, was found next to her bed when she died. Amy Robstat knew her husband was in love with the Queen but she loved her husband and hoped he would return to her. It is summised that she received a letter stating that he would come to her but she must send everyone in the household away so they could meet alone. This left the way open for an assassin
Robert Dudley was the son, grandson, brother of convicted traitors. It doesn’t matter who he was, and being the son of a created Duke doesn’t make him of noble blood; he couldn’t marry Elizabeth I. He was unsuitable. His marriage to Amy started out as a love match, he became estranged from her as he became more involved at Court through duty and love of Elizabeth. Elizabeth wasn’t a fool, she knew she couldn’t marry someone implicated in his wife’s death. Cecil may well want to ensure Elizabeth kept her secrets but then that would be even less reason to murder Amy. By keeping her alive as long as possible, her natural life span, Robert would not be free to marry Elizabeth. Cecil, the same as everyone else on her Council wanted a dynastic alliance, but nobody could agree on which suitor was best. Yes, Elizabeth loved him and could have married him, but she had seen how ambitious men want more and none would be her master. Dudley would marry her favourite, Lettice Knowles and cause them both to fall out of favour. There are too many unanswered questions about the death of this young woman but he did show grief and sorrow and made certain she had a full post mortem. There is no evidence of murder. Amy was ill and her death is most likely a tragic accident. I am sure conspiracy theories will attract people for centuries, but the best evidence points to an open verdict, not to murder.
Real Tudor Lady……So much for low born… (courtesy of find a grave)..
.Earl of Leicester. Born the fifth of thirteen children of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and Lady Jane Guildford. Dudley was first introduced to Princess Elizabeth when he was about eight years old, establishing the basis for a life long friendship. At eighteen, Dudley married Lady Amy Robsart, an heiress in her own right, daughter of Sir John Robsart of Syderstone. Dudley took a seat in the House of Commons for Norfolk in 1551. At nineteen, his father had him made one of the Gentlemen of the King’s Privy Chamber to Edward VI. Upon the King’s death, Dudley supported his father’s plot to place his brother’s wife Lady Jane Grey on the throne in July 1553. The coup, however, failed and the Dudley family were arrested and condemned to death. John, Guildford, and Lady Jane Grey Dudley went to the block, but Robert was released in October 1554; a pardon followed three months later. Queen Mary then made him Master of the Ordnance. In 1557, Dudley raised an army for service against the French in exchange for the return of his family’s estates, which had been attained when his father was executed. Upon her accession in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I gave him the prestigious title of Master of the Horse. He quickly became the new Queen’s favorite and she bestowed titles and gifts on him arousing a great deal of jealousy at court. Such was the Queen’s favor, gossip arose that Dudley had become her paramour and even that she was pregnant by him or that they might marry. Dudley’s wife, Lady Amy, however, died suddenly in 1560 under suspicious circumstances. Rumors that Dudley had had her killed so that he would be free to marry the Queen were rampant. Conspiracy minded talk also speculated that the Queen might have been involved in the death. Although an inquest returned a verdict of misadventure, the scandal was credited with destroying Dudley’s reputation and hopes for elevation. He would not remarry for almost eighteen years when it became clear Elizabeth would not marry him. The Queen did, however, create him Earl of Leicester. In 1573, Dudley had an affair with Lady Douglas Howard with whom he had a son. In 1578, he secretly married the Queen’s cousin, the widowed Lettice Knollys Devereux, Countess of Essex. In 1585, Dudley was made commander of the English forces in aid of the Netherlands which were in revolt against Spanish rule. In 1588, under the threat of the Spanish Armada, Dudley was given command of the Queen’s land based forces in England. Following the defeat of the Armada, his health poor, Dudley made plans to go to Buxton which reputedly had healing waters. He died en route at his house in Oxfordshire. The queen assured her favorite had a sumptuous funeral and he was interred in the Beauchamp Chapel of St Mary’s Church, Warwick
His Earldom and Duchy were created. He didn’t inherit them and Find A Grave relies on members of the public updating the site, not actual historical sources. I am a historian and know who John Dudley, Epsom Dudley, Robert Dudley are, but thanks for your response in any event.
I think she was murdered 3 deep holes in her head suggests she was hit with something and fell down the stairs or taken to them after death and pushed, which could suggest more than one person, they didnt want Elizabeth marrying Robert and knew if Amy was found like she was there would be scandal and the queen couldnt be involved
I heard that the eight stairs were curved with a small landing in the middle, though they no longer exist. Also that in addition to her seemingly suspicious behavior, and deep heads wounds, her hyoid bone was broken… Which today is usually cause for experts to look for further signs of foul play, not to mention the later suggestion that her body was staged.
One possibilty which doesn’t seem to have been considered by various authors is that of “assisted suicide”
Many have been suggested as responsible for Amy Robsart’s (AR) death including Queen Elizabeth 1, her advisor and political enemy of Robert Dudley (RD) lord Lord Cecil and various potential beneficiaries of RDs retinue.
Looking at the oft-stated facts, AR was in a failing love-marriage with RD. She, had borne him no children and was de facto in direct competition for the affections of RD with the most powerful and politically desirable woman in the land, capable of raising RD to the position of queen’s consort (King in all but name).
She may have been suffering with agonising and untreatable breast cancer bony metastases, and would have known that her marriage and life were effectively over. Further sexual liasons and progeny were unlikely. She was witnessed desperately praying for relief from her insuperable troubles
One action she might have taken was to end her own life. It’s unlikely a Tudor gentlewoman would have known much about killing herself (or anyone else).
Hanging herself from a balcony would immediately disgrace herself in the eyes of god and society and her own and her husbands family, with future marital liason of RD with the queen likely, and her family reputation ruined.
So, to taker her own life, and make it look like a plausible and respectable accident (which is what happened) would be good for RD’s prospects (the man she still loved). Also it would be good for her in extricating herself from her various painful and endless embarrassing predicaments.
She would need professional help, probably in the form of a mercinary soldier who could be contracted to kill her quickly, painlessly and secretly for a modest sum and finally to make her death look like an accident. The day chosen was a fair day where the presence of “out of towners” wouldn’t be thought unusual. She angrily cleared her own house, so the deed could be done at leisure and in private.
Her assassin would probably have hidden a war hammer/martell under his riding cloak ( a contemporaneous horseman’s military weapon resembling a traditional mountaineer’s spiked ice axe) Riding through the early morning avoiding crowds, he would approach Cumnor house quietly, by then deserted of witnesses. Once inside he would do the deed striking the kneeling and praying AR in the head at the foot of the stairs. Much as in the manner of a traditional noble’s axe execution (but leaving the head on). Finally using a stlletto dagger to finish off his victim through the cranial hole he’d made with his war hammer. Once breathing stopped he would, as agreed, pose the body as if AR had fallen accidentally. Then riding far and fast avoiding tracks and roads (with his full money- purse) to the next county before AR would be discovered by servants returning late from the fair.
Some may think this idea fanciful, who is this assassin and why don’t we know him. He had much to lose if caught as his “murder for hire” had compounded the emotional options left to the reigning monarch, the prospect of a painful execution might have kept his mouth shut in local taverns.
Anyway this odd sounding possibility fits the facts and might just be correct. Can AR’s body be exhumed ?
John Servant
One possibilty which doesn’t seem to have been considered by various authors is that of “assisted suicide”
Many have been suggested as responsible for Amy Robsart’s (AR) death including Queen Elizabeth 1, her advisor and political enemy of Robert Dudley (RD) lord Lord Cecil and various potential beneficiaries of RDs retinue.
Looking at the oft-stated facts, AR was in a failing love-marriage with RD. She, had borne him no children and was de facto in direct competition for the affections of RD with the most powerful and politically desirable woman in the land, capable of raising RD to the position of queen’s consort (King in all but name).
She may have been suffering with agonising and untreatable breast cancer bony metastases, and would have known that her marriage and life were effectively over. Further sexual liasons and progeny were unlikely. She was witnessed desperately praying for relief from her insuperable troubles
One action she might have taken was to end her own life. It’s unlikely a Tudor gentlewoman would have known much about killing herself (or anyone else).
Hanging herself from a balcony would immediately disgrace herself in the eyes of god and society and her own and her husbands family, with future marital liason of RD with the queen unlikely, and her family reputation ruined.
So, to taker her own life, and make it look like a plausible and respectable accident (which is what happened) would be good for RD’s prospects (the man she still loved). Also it would be good for her in extricating herself from her various painful and endless embarrassing predicaments.
She would need professional help, probably in the form of a mercinary soldier who could be contracted to kill her quickly, painlessly and secretly for a modest sum and finally to make her death look like an accident. The day chosen was a fair day where the presence of “out of towners” wouldn’t be thought unusual. She angrily cleared her own house, so the deed could be done at leisure and in private.
Her assassin would probably have hidden a war hammer/martell under his riding cloak ( a contemporaneous horseman’s military weapon resembling a traditional mountaineer’s spiked ice axe) Riding through the early morning avoiding crowds, he would approach Cumnor house quietly, by then deserted of witnesses. Once inside he would do the deed striking the kneeling and praying AR in the head at the foot of the stairs. Much as in the manner of a traditional noble’s axe execution (but leaving the head on). Finally using a stlletto dagger to finish off his victim through the cranial hole he’d made with his war hammer. Once breathing stopped he would, as agreed, pose the body as if AR had fallen accidentally. Then riding far and fast avoiding tracks and roads (with his full money- purse) to the next county before AR would be discovered by servants returning late from the fair.
Some may think this idea fanciful, who is this assassin and why don’t we know him. He had much to lose if caught as his “murder for hire” had compounded the emotional options left to the reigning monarch, the prospect of a painful execution might have kept his mouth shut in local taverns.
Anyway this odd sounding possibility fits the facts and might just be correct. Can AR’s body be exhumed ?
John Servant
A very possible explanation!