Kdo je hodil z Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester?

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.

Dudley's youth was overshadowed by the downfall of his family in 1553 after his father, the Duke of Northumberland, had failed to prevent the accession of Mary I. Robert Dudley was condemned to death but was released in 1554 and took part in the Battle of St. Quentin under Mary's husband and co-ruler, Philip, which led to his full rehabilitation, but also to the death of his older brother Henry. On Elizabeth I's accession in November 1558, Dudley was appointed Master of the Horse. In October 1562, he became a privy councillor and, in 1587, was appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household. In 1564, Dudley became Earl of Leicester and, from 1563, one of the greatest landowners in North Wales and the English West Midlands by royal grants.

The Earl of Leicester was one of Elizabeth's leading statesmen, involved in domestic as well as foreign politics alongside William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham. Although he refused to be married to Mary, Queen of Scots, Leicester was for a long time relatively sympathetic to her until, from the mid-1580s, he urged her execution. As patron of the Puritan movement, he supported non-conforming preachers but tried to mediate between them and the bishops of the Church of England. A champion also of the international Protestant cause, he led the English campaign in support of the Dutch Revolt (1585–1587). His acceptance of the post of governor-general of the United Provinces infuriated Queen Elizabeth. The expedition was a military and political failure, and it ruined Leicester financially. Leicester was engaged in many large-scale business ventures and was one of the main backers of Francis Drake and other explorers and privateers. During the Spanish Armada, Leicester was in overall command of the English land forces. In this function, he invited Queen Elizabeth to visit her troops at Tilbury. This was the last of many events he had organised over the years, the most spectacular being the festival at his seat Kenilworth Castle in 1575 on the occasion of a three-week visit by the Queen. Leicester was a principal patron of the arts, literature, and the Elizabethan theatre.

Leicester's private life interfered with his court career and vice versa. When his first wife, Amy Robsart, fell down a flight of stairs and died in 1560, he was free to marry the queen. However, the resulting scandal very much reduced his chances in this respect. Popular rumours that he had arranged for his wife's death continued throughout his life, despite the coroner's jury's verdict of accident. For 18 years he did not remarry for Queen Elizabeth's sake and when he finally did, his new wife, Lettice Knollys, was permanently banished from court. This and the death of his only legitimate son and heir were heavy blows. Shortly after the child's death in 1584, a virulent libel known as Leicester's Commonwealth was circulated in England. It laid the foundation of a literary and historiographical tradition that often depicted Leicester as the Machiavellian "master courtier" and as a deplorable figure around Elizabeth I. More recent research has led to a reassessment of his place in Elizabethan government and society.

Elizabeta I. (tudi Gloriana, dobra kraljica Bess (Good Queen Bess) ali deviška kraljica (nikoli se ni poročila)), kraljica Anglije in Irske, * 7. september 1533, † 24. marec 1603. Vladala je od 17. novembra 1558 do svoje smrti. Bila je zadnja od petih monarhov iz hiše Tudorjev.

Elizabeta je bila hči Henrika VIII. in Anne Boleyn, njegove druge žene, ki je bila usmrčena dve leti in pol po Elizabetinem rojstvu. Annina poroka s Henrikom je bila razveljavljena, Elizabeta pa je bila razglašena za nezakonsko princeso. Njen polbrat Edvard VI. je vladal do svoje smrti leta 1553 in zapustil krono Lady Jani Grey, s tem pa je nasprotoval zakonu in ignoriral svoji dve polsestri, rimokatoliško Marijo in mlajšo Elizabeto. Edvardova oporoka je bila razveljavljena, s čimer je Marija postala kraljica in odstavila Jano Grey. Med Marijino vladavino je bila Elizabeta skoraj leto dni zaprta zaradi suma, da podpira protestantske upornike.

Po smrti svoje polsestre leta 1558 je Elizabeta nasledila prestol in se odločila vladati po dobrih nasvetih. Močno je bila odvisna od skupine zaupanja vrednih svetovalcev, ki jo je vodil William Cecil, prvi baron Burghley. Eno njenih prvih dejanj je bila ustanovitev angleške protestantske cerkve, katere vrhovni poglavar je postala. Ta elizabetanska verska ločina se je razvila v Angleško cerkev. Pričakovalo se je, da se bo Elizabeta poročila in rodila dediča, vendar do tega kljub številnim dvorjenjem ni nikoli prišlo. Po smrti jo je nasledil njen sorodnik Jakob VI. Škotski, ki je postavil temelje Kraljestvu Velike Britanije. Pred tem je bila Elizabeta odredila zaprtje in usmrtitev Jakobove matere Marije, škotske kraljice.

Pri vladanju je bila Elizabeta zmernejša od očeta, polbrata in polsestre. Eno od njenih vodil je bil rek Video et taceo (Vidim in molčim). Tudi glede religije je bila razmeroma strpna in se je izogibala sistematičnemu preganjanju. Leta 1570 jo je papež razglasil za nelegitimno vladarico in njene podložnike odvezal poslušnosti, zato je bilo njeno življenje večkrat ogroženo zaradi več zarot, ki pa so bile s pomočjo tajne službe njenih ministrov vse odbite. Elizabeta je bila previdna tudi pri zunanjih zadevah in je manevrirala med glavnima silama Francijo in Španijo. Le polovično je podprla številne neučinkovite pomanjkljive vojaške kampanje na Nizozemskem, v Franciji in na Irskem. Sredi 80-ih let 16. stoletja se Anglija ni mogla več izogniti vojni s Španijo. Angleška zmaga proti španski armadi leta 1588 je Elizabeto povezala z eno največjih vojaških zmag v angleški zgodovini.

S staranjem so Elizabeto vedno bolj slavili zaradi njene deviškosti. Okoli nje je zrasel kult osebnosti, ki so ga slavili s portreti, tekmovanji in literaturo. Obdobje njene vladavine je postalo znano kot elizabetinska doba. To obdobje slovi zaradi razcveta angleške drame z velikimi dramatiki, kot sta William Shakespeare in Christopher Marlowe, ter po pomorski moči angleških pustolovcev, kot je Francis Drake. Nekateri zgodovinarji Elizabeto opisujejo kot drzno, a včasih neodločno vladarico. Proti koncu njene vladavine je vrsta ekonomskih in vojaških težav oslabila njeno priljubljenost. Elizabeti se pripisuje karizmatičnost, ki ji je z naporom uspelo preživeti v dobi, ko je bila vlada nestabilna in so se monarhi v sosednjih državah soočali z notranjimi težavami, ki so ogrožale njihov prestol. Po obdobju kratkih vladavin njenega polbrata in polsestre je njenih 44 let na prestolu kraljestvu prineslo nujno potrebno stabilnost in pomagalo oblikovati občutek narodne identitete.

Douglas, Lady Sheffield (née Howard; 1542/1543 – 1608), was an English noblewoman, the lover of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and mother by him of explorer-cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, an illegitimate son.

Seventeen years after Leicester's death she claimed in litigation that she had secretly been his wife, although she had herself remarried while Leicester was still alive.