Biography of Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley 1578-1669

Paternal Family Tree: Legh

Maternal Family Tree: Margaret Donnington Countess Bath 1509-1561

In or before 1573 [her father] Thomas Leigh 1st Baronet (age 30) and [her mother] Katharine Spencer were married.

In 1578 Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley was born to Thomas Leigh 1st Baronet (age 36) and Katharine Spencer at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire [Map].

Around 1591 [her future husband] Robert Dudley (age 16) and Margaret Cavendish (age 21) were married. He the illegitmate son of Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester and [her future mother-in-law] Douglas Howard Baroness Sheffield (age 49).

Life of Robert Dudley Part II. 1596. His much journeying threw Robert Dudley into communication with, other great navigators of the day, among whom was Thomas Cavendish, who had three young and charming sisters. With one of these the young sailor, fresh from his voyages, fell in love, and being a 'heretik' (i. e. protestant), and deeming himself free from Frances Vavasour, he married her [Margaret Cavendish (age 26)]. The bride died soon after, in 1596 without issue, and in the same year he married Alice (age 18) second daughter of Sir [her father] Thomas Leigh (age 54), Knight and Baronet of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

In 1596 Robert Dudley (age 22) and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 18) were married. He the illegitmate son of Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester and Douglas Howard Baroness Sheffield (age 54).

On or before 25th September 1597, the date she was baptised at Kenilworth, [her daughter] Alicia Douglassia Dudley was born to [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 23) and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 19).

In 1606 [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 31) and Elizabeth Southwell (age 22) were married at Lyon, France [Map]. Bigamous in his case since his second wife Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 28) was alive. She the daughter of Robert Southwell and Elizabeth Howard Countess Carrick (age 41). He the illegitmate son of Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester and [her mother-in-law] Douglas Howard Baroness Sheffield (age 64). They were first cousin once removed.

In or before 1611 [her son-in-law] Gilbert Kniveton 2nd Baronet (age 28) and [her daughter] Frances Dudley were married. She the daughter of [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 36) and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 32).

On 4th March 1619 [her brother-in-law] Edmund Sheffield 1st Earl Mulgrave (age 53) and Mariana Irwin Countess Mulgrave were married at St Margaret's Church, Westminster [Map]. She by marriage Baroness Sheffield of Butterwick in Lincolnshire.

In May 1621 [her daughter] Alicia Douglassia Dudley (age 23) died.

In 1626 [her brother-in-law] Edmund Sheffield 1st Earl Mulgrave (age 60) was created 1st Earl Mulgrave. Mariana Irwin Countess Mulgrave by marriage Countess Mulgrave.

In February 1626 [her father] Thomas Leigh 1st Baronet (age 84) died at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire [Map]. His grandson Thomas (age 31) succeeded 2nd Baronet Leigh of Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.

On 23rd July 1629 [her son-in-law] Richard Leveson (age 31) and [her daughter] Catherine Dudley were married. She the daughter of [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 54) and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 51).

In January 1639 [her mother] Katharine Spencer died.

On 23rd May 1644 Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 66) was created 1st Duchess Dudley by King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland (age 43) for life. Her husband [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 69) had claimed to be the legitimate son of Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester but the Star Chamber found against him. King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland disagreed with their verdict and, in compensation of her subsequent treatment, awarded her the Dukedom ... See Patent of Creation.

In October 1646 [her brother-in-law] Edmund Sheffield 1st Earl Mulgrave (age 80) died. His grandson Edmund (age 34) succeeded 2nd Earl Mulgrave, 4th Baron Sheffield of Butterwick in Lincolnshire.

On 6th September 1649 [her husband] Robert Dudley (age 75) died at Villa Rinieri. He was buried at San Pancrazio.

Before 1663 [her son-in-law] Robert Holborne and [her daughter] Anne Dudley were married. She the daughter of [her former husband] Robert Dudley and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 84).

On 22nd January 1669 Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (age 91) died in the parish St Giles' in the Fields Church [Map]. She was buried at Church of the Virgin Mary, Stoneleigh [Map]. Duke Dudley extinct since it was created for life only.

After 22nd January 1669. Church of the Virgin Mary, Stoneleigh [Map]. Monument to Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley (deceased) and her daughter. A large elaborate memorial in black and white marble erected in 1668. Has two recumbent female figures under a canopy supported on eight Ionic columns and on either side an angel with trumpet holding back curtains. Possibly sculpted by William Wright of Charing Cross.

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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

[her daughter] Catherine Dudley was born to Robert Dudley and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley.

[her daughter] Frances Dudley was born to Robert Dudley and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley.

[her daughter] Anne Dudley was born to Robert Dudley and Alice Leigh 1st Duchess Dudley.

                    Life of Robert Dudley Appendix VI. The Patent for creating Alice Lady Dudley a Duchess of England.
                
                    See Dugdale's Baronage, vol. II, p. 225, and the Note in the margin, which says that he copied it from the original in the possession of Catharine Lady Levison, 1670.
                
                    Charles, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all Archbishops, Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, Bishops, Barons, Knights and all other our loving subjects, to whom these our Letters shall come, greeting. Whereas in or about the beginning of the Reign of our dear father King James, of famous memory, there was a sute commenced, in our high Court of Star Chamber, against Sir Robert Dudley, Knight, and others, for pretending himself to be lawfull heir to the honours and lands of the Earldoms of Warwick and Leicester, as son and heir of the body of Robert Late Earl of Leicester, lawfully begotten upon the Lady Douglasse his mother, wife to the late Earl of Leicester, and all proceedings stayed in the Ecclesiastical Courts, in which the said sute depended, for proof of his legitimation: yet nevertheless did the said Court vouchsafe liberty to the said Sir Robert, to examine witnesses in the said Court of Star Chamber, in order to the making good of his legitimacy; divers witnesses were examined there accordingly. Whereupon, by full testimony upon oath, partly made by the said Lady Douglasse herself, and partly made by divers other persons of quality and credit, who were present at the marriage with the said late Earl of Leicester, by a lawfuU Minister, according to the form of Matrimony then by law established in the Church of England; and the said Sir Robert and his mother were owned by the said late Earl of Leicester as his lawfuU wife and son, as by many of the said depositions remaining upon record, in our said Court, still appear, which we have caused to be perused, for our better satisfation herein. But a special order being made, that the said depositions should be seal'd up and no copies thereof taken without leave, did cause him, the said Sir Robert, to leave this our kingdom; whereof his adversaries taking advantages procured a special Privy-seal to be sent unto him, commanding his return into England; which he not obeying (because his honour and lands were denied unto him), all his lands were therefore seiz'd on to the King our father's use.

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