Transcript

of

Amy Robsart

Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1878, Vol X, p. 403.

by

Paul Q. Karkeek

Prepared by Michael Steer

Amy Dudley (née Robsart) (7 June 1532 – 8 September 1560) was the first wife of Lord Robert Dudley, favourite of Elizabeth I. She is primarily known for her death by falling down a flight of stairs, the circumstances of which have often been regarded as suspicious. Amy Robsart was the only child of a substantial Norfolk gentleman and at nearly 18 married Robert Dudley, a son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Her name appears as one of the Worthies of Devon in the Association’s Devonian Year Book (1911), and as a Devonshire Celebrity in T.S. Pridham’s eponymously titled book (1869).The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

There seems to be a general impression that this far-famed lady is of Devonshire origin, though the only authority for it is the celebrated romance Kenilworth. The Committee on Devonshire Celebrities, in their first report, presented last year at Kingsbridge, have placed this name on the list, and therefore in future one must be supposed to claim the lady in question as a Devonian. But in reality there is no more evidence that she was ever in this county than that she visited the castle of Kenilworth during the visit of Queen Elizabeth. All those who have written on this subject, particularly Mr. George Adlard, Mr. Pettigrew, and more recently the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, assign Stanfield Hall, in the county of Norfolk, as her probable birthplace. Sir John Robsart was Lord of the Manor of Sedistern, in Norfolk, and married Elizabeth, widow of Roger Appleyard, of Broken, in the same county. Roger Appleyard left Stanfield Hall to his widow for her life, and at her decease it was to descend to his son, John Appleyard. In a pardon granted to Sir John Robsart for certain political actions of a treasonable nature, he is described as "late of Windham, in Norfolk, alias of Stanfield, in the parish of Wymondham." This would show that he was residing at his wife's own house, Stanfield, and here in all probability it was that his only daughter Anne, or Amye, was born.

There is no mention of the name of Robsart in the Heralds' Visitation of Devon, 1620, nor in Westcot or Risdon's Survey, nor in Pole's Collections; and, as far as historical data go, there never would have been, but for the poetic licence of Sir Walter Scott; and why he so generously gave our county a heroine who belonged to Norfolk will for ever remain a mystery.