Elizabeth (22 page)

Scarcely a month later, in September 1560, the dramatic and tragic death of Amy Robsart, Robert’s wife, would bring the rumours to a fever pitch, marking a turning point in Elizabeth’s relationship with Robert Dudley.

B
y 1558, Amy was staying in the house of William Hyde at Throcking, as her estate in Syderstone was now uninhabitable. Robert’s accounts indicate that messengers frequently delivered communications between husband and wife, and that he visited her regularly.
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Early in 1559, the account entries indicate that Robert’s servants rode to Mr Hyde’s house ‘for my lady’, delivering gifts, clothes, money and messages from Robert to his wife. The deliveries included venison and spices, all exotic and expensive at the time and flavours that Robert would have grown accustomed to in Court cuisine such as cinnamon, saffron (said at the time to be worth its weight in gold), mace, nutmeg, pepper or ginger.
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The fact that they were delivered to coincide with one of Robert’s visits to the Hydes may indicate that perhaps their diet was not as refined as he might have liked.

One of Amy’s few surviving letters was written on 7 August 1559, to John Flowerdew, a neighbour and friend to Robert and Amy in Norfolk (his son William was married to Amy’s half-sister, Frances Appleyard). In the letter, written from Hayes Court near Chislehurst in Kent, the home of Amy’s mother’s family, Amy asks John Flowerdew to shear and sell some wool at once, even at a loss, as Robert needed money to settle a debt. Flowerdew agreed, but wanted
confirmation that Robert was happy for this to be done. Amy admitted that he hadn’t actually agreed: ‘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.’
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It appears that Robert had been with her at Hayes and had been upset when he left. Amy insisted that Robert’s wish was for the wool to be sold and emphasized the urgency: ‘… my Lord so earnestly desired me at his departing to see those poor men satisfied as though it had been a matter depending upon life; whereof I force not to sustain a little loss thereby, to satisfy my Lord’s desires, and so to send that money … to whom my Lord hath given order for the payment thereof.’
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Since so few letters from Amy survive, this particular one is often shown to illustrate that she had no head for business and that Robert and Amy had parted on bad terms. Another interpretation might be that Amy was confident to make decisions and fulfil Robert’s requests on his behalf. Their parting was, according to Amy, somewhat emotional. He was ‘sore troubled with weighty affairs’, among them possibly the question of Elizabeth’s other suitors, including the very eligible Charles, Archduke of Austria.
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By 1559, Elizabeth had given Robert land in Yorkshire, as well as the manor of Kew. She had also made him Lieutenant of the Castle and Forest of Windsor, and given him a licence to export woollen cloth free of duty. He had yet to buy a ‘home’ estate and settle his wife, most probably because his fortunes were only just being restored. While from 1550 to 1553 Robert had been an up-and-coming gentleman, receiving gifts of land and well-paid posts at Court, after his imprisonment and conviction as a traitor, he was deprived of most of his lands and was reduced to surviving on the revenue from the estates given to him as part of Amy’s dowry. Robert’s fortunes only changed after 1558, when Elizabeth became Queen.

In the time before he was appointed to a Court post, Robert would have lived on what he could make out of his rents, flocks and crops. He would not have been able to afford to lease or buy an estate nearer to London or to afford serious expenditure on his lands. It is probable that having Amy live with friends was the best option financially for them both, allowing Robert to rent the manor houses to bring in extra revenue.

While living in such households as those of William Hyde, Sir Richard Verney and Sir Anthony Forster still required some outlay, it was nothing like the sums that were needed for Amy to run her own household. To keep even a small manor house running depended on a staff of servants who had to be fed and clothed. This required a large budget. Later in the year, when Robert was appointed to the Queen’s Court, his expenses would have, if anything, increased, as he had to show himself to advantage among the royals and nobles, as well as to attract the Queen’s attention.

Amy’s health could have been another reason why the Dudleys did not settle in their own home. As early as April 1559, Spanish Ambassador de Feria was reporting to Philip that Amy had ‘a malady in one of her breasts’. In the same month, Paolo Tiepolo, the Venetian Ambassador, reported in the same context that Robert’s wife had been ailing for some time.
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Amy could have had cancer, an illness that was believed to be incurable, and both Amy and those close to her might have feared that she would die at any time. Amy’s maid, Mrs Pirto, also testified at the inquest into Amy’s death that her mistress suffered from severe depression, leading her to admit the possibility that Amy had considered suicide.

If Amy was ill or suffering from depression, she would have been unable to carry out the duties of running her own household. In this case, by putting her in the safe hands of friends, where she
would not have to carry out the stressful duties of a lady of the manor, Robert may have been ensuring that she suffered from as little pressure as possible. Of course, from an outsider’s point of view, such as that of the foreign ambassadors, among others, who were disapproving of Robert’s relationship with the Queen, they might have interpreted Robert’s actions rather more sinisterly, as part of a greater plan to get rid of Amy in order to marry the Queen. Some speculated that Amy was not, in fact, ill and that the entire story had been devised as a cover for Robert when he killed her. Certainly by late 1559, ambassadors such as de Quadra were openly accusing Robert of plotting to murder his wife, and Robert was most probably aware of these rumours.
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In September 1559, Amy went to stay with Sir Richard Verney, one of Robert’s friends, at Compton Verney in Warwickshire. Two months later, she had moved again, this time to the household of Robert’s treasurer and friend, Sir Anthony Forster, at Cumnor Place in North Berkshire. This move brought Amy closer to Robert – the house was about 30 miles from Windsor, where he had lodgings.

The Forsters were an established Shropshire family with three sons and two daughters. Cumnor Place was a well-built two-storey former monastic building of four wings built around a courtyard. It would have had large, impressive glass windows, panelling, wooden floors, a park and gardens, and included every creature comfort. Before Forster took up the lease, it had belonged to Dr George Owen, whose relation, Mrs Owen, stayed on as part of the lease. She lived in one part of the house, Sir Anthony and his family in another and a third part was turned over for Amy’s use; it was here that she resided along with her servants, including Mrs Pirto and her attendant, William Huggins (or Hogan). Amy also had a footman and perhaps other staff, as in
1559 she received pairs of hose for three of ‘those that waiteth on my lady’.
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Another lady, a widow named Mrs Odingsells, was also a guest in the house. She was most probably Edith Odingsells, whose sister, Alice, was married to Forster.

Amy would spend the coming months settled in this comfortable manor house, surrounded by people who wished her well, and supplied by her husband with such fineries as sewing silk for her embroidery and a looking-glass. The last letter that survives from Amy is to her tailor, dated 24 August 1560, about a new dress. The tone of the letter is cheerful and shows Amy looking forward to the pleasure of a new gown, made in the russet colour (a reddish brown) that she seemed to favour.
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She seemed in good spirits.

Just two weeks later, on Sunday, 8 September 1560, tragedy struck. Amy was found lying dead at the foot of the stairs in the hall. On the day, Amy reportedly insisted that everyone in the house attend a local fair at Abingdon, although Mrs Owen and Mrs Odingsells both declined (the Forsters are not mentioned), the latter stating that she would prefer to go the following day when the gentry, rather than the commoners, would be there.

Amy was angry with the widow for refusing to go to the fair, but she could not order Mrs Odingsells to do her bidding. She did insist that all her servants spend the day at the fair, however. Amy had dinner with Mrs Owen later that evening, after which they parted company – and that was the last that anyone saw of her until the servants, on returning that evening, found Amy lying dead at the foot of the staircase, her neck broken.
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When Robert received news of his wife’s death, he immediately sent word to his household officer Thomas Blount, who he had
sent to Cumnor, instructing him to find out what had happened. Robert understood that the news of Amy’s death would throw suspicion on him.
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He asked Blount to conduct an open inquiry to learn the truth, composed of a jury of ‘discreet and substantial men’ who would be seen as honest. Robert also requested that Blount send him his ‘true conceit and opinion of the matter, whether it happened by evil chance or villainy …’, adding a postscript that he had also requested that his wife’s half-brother, John, as well as others close to Amy be present so that they could keep an eye on matters.
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Amy’s other half-brother, Arthur, was also sent for to ensure that Robert could not be later accused of a cover-up.

Robert acted quickly, with an eye to his own interests. His feelings for Amy were now largely irrelevant: he needed to minimize the damage that his wife’s unnatural death might have on his chances of marrying Elizabeth. It was important that he remain in London, partly to be near the Court and partly to stem any accusations that he had rushed to Cumnor to orchestrate a cover-up or to intimidate the jury at the inquest. He counted on Blount to handle things at Cumnor without interfering personally. He was insistent that the jury should be composed of local men of good standing, even if they were hostile towards Forster or himself, as this would count for their impartiality. He knew that there had to be a full and honest appraisal of events, resulting in a finding that Amy’s death had been an accident, in order for him to be free to marry Elizabeth after a suitable period of mourning.

As instructed by Robert, Blount stopped at Abingdon and spoke to the landlord of the inn to gauge the immediate reaction of the local people to the tragedy. The general feeling seemed to be that Amy’s death had been accidental. Although there may have been some talk that it might have been murder, Forster was
considered so honest by the local people that this speculation was not given much credence. Others thought it was suspicious that Amy had insisted on sending everyone to the fair on the day, which led them to conclude that Amy might have died by her own hand.

Blount asked the inn landlord if she had been suicidal, as the servants had reported to him that she had been depressed: ‘No, good Mr Blount, do not so judge my words; if you should so gather I am sorry I said as much.’
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Blount hoped it was an accident, but seemed to fear it was suicide, as he implied when he wrote to Robert, ‘My Lord … The tales I do hear of her make me think she had a strange mind as I will tell you at my coming.’
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Robert himself went to great lengths in his letters to Blount never to mention the possibility of suicide. On 12 September, he wrote, ‘… if it fall out a chance or misfortune, then so to say; and, if it appear a villainy as God forbid so mischievous or wicked a body should live, then to find it so.’
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He made no mention of a third possible verdict, self-termination. This was not to be mentioned or considered, possibly because it was the one that Robert most feared was true.

There would have been a good deal of evidence to support a verdict of suicide and this might have been better for Robert, but he did all he could to protect his dead wife from this conclusion, which was considered a grave sin. If she had taken her own life, she would have been denied a Christian burial and would have been laid to rest in unhallowed ground, although her rank would have saved her from the fate of being buried at a crossroads with a stake through her heart. In any case, her soul would still be damned for eternity.