Edmund Dudley

NOTE: this article is written by Bill Kaufman. God bless you.

NOTE: To see his Coat of Arms, go to the "Article" section and select "Dudley Coats of Arms".


Edmund Dudley, lawyer and statesman, was the son of John Dudley, Esq. of Atherington, in Sussex County, and Elizabeth Bramshot. His father was a younger son of the famous John, Baron Dudley, Knight of the Garter, and was a wealthy man with extensive land holdings. Although his father was not a member of the nobility, he was sheriff of Surrey and Essex, steward of the King's lands and manors in Berkshire and Hampshire and a member of Parliament from Essex. Edmund was born about 1462 , probably in Sussex, and was beheaded on Tower Hill on August 15, 1510.

Being a very intelligent youth from a prosperous family, Edmund was sent to Oxford in 1478 (age 16) and afterwards studied law at Gray's Inn*, where the arms of the Barons Dudley were emblazoned on one of the windows of the hall. His legal knowledge attracted the attention of Henry VI I on his accession in 1485 and he was made a privy councilor at the age of 23. Note that Edmund's grandfather, the powerful Baron Dudley, was still alive and was in the King's good graces, which no doubt helped the young Edmund get his career off to a strong start.

In 1492, Edmund was serving with the English army in France, at which time he advised King Henry VII to sign the Treaty of Boulogne, which he had helped to negotiate. The treaty was signed 11/6/1492. This may have been one of the most significant events in Edmund's early political life, as the treaty provided for a large annual tribute to be paid by France to Henry. The tribute continued to be paid for many years and helped to enrich the king. This set the pattern for Edmund's career.

Edmund's first wife Anne Windsor, sister of Andrews, lord Windsor** died before 1494, when Edmund obtained the wardship and marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Grey, Viscount Lisle and sister and coheiress of John Grey.

Edmund Dudley became undersheriff of London in 1497. At this time, he was fully in the King's confidence and had formulated a policy to check the lawlessness of the barons, whom the protracted wars of the roses had completely demoralized. In carrying out the policy, Dudley became associated with Sir Richard Empson, who also lived near him in St. Swithin's Lane in London. They required the great landowners to enter into recognizance's to keep the peace, and all taxes and feudal dues were to be collected with the utmost rigor.

The official positions of Dudley and Empson are difficult to define: they probably acted as a sub-committee of the privy council. They certainly were not judges of the exchequer, nor of any other recognized court. It has been asserted by their contemporaries that they habitually indicted guiltless persons of crimes and extorted great fines and ransoms as a condition of staying further proceedings. They are said to have occasionally summoned persons to their private houses and extorted fines without any pretense of legal procedure. Pardons for outlawry were invariably purchased from them, and juries were terrorized into paying fines when giving verdicts for defendants in crown proceedings.

In 1504, Edmund was chosen speaker in the House of Commons. In the Parliament over which he presided, many small but useful reforms were made in legal procedure. In 1506, he became steward of the rape of Hastings, Sussex. In the last year of Henry VII's reign, Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson were nominated as special commissioners for enforcing penal laws. Their unpopularity greatly increased at about that time.

On 4/21/1509, Henry VII died. The king had amassed about £4.5 million in coin and bouillon while Dudley directed his finances. The revenues Dudley secured by the sale of offices and extra-legal compositions was estimated at £120,000 per year.

Henry VIII had no sooner ascended the throne than he yielded to the outcry against Dudley and Empson and committed both to the Tower. The recognizance's which had been entered into with them were cancelled on the ground that they had been "made without any cause reasonable or lawful" by "certain of the learned council of our late father, contrary to law, reason, and good conscience." On 6/16/1509, Dudley was arraigned before a special commission on a charge of constructive treason. The indictment made no mention of his financial exactions, but stated that while in the preceding March, Henry VII lay sick, Dudley summoned his friends to attend him under arms in London in the event of the King's death. This very natural precaution, taken by a man who was loathed by the baronial leaders and their numerous retainers, and was in danger of losing his powerful protector, was construed into a plan for attempting the new King's life. Conviction followed. Empson was sent to Northampton to be tried separately on a like charge in October. In the Parliament which met 1/21/1509-10, both were attained. Henry VIII deferred giving orders for their execution, but popular feeling was not satisfied. Dudley made an abortive attempt to escape from the Tower with the aid of his brother Peter, his kinsman James Beaumont, and others. On 8/18/1510, both he and Empson were beheaded on Tower Hill. Dudley was buried in the church of Blackfriars the same night.

A copy of Dudley's will, dated on the day of his death, is extant in the Record Office. He left his great landed estates in Sussex, Dorsetshire and Lincolnshire to his wife with remainder to his children. His brother Peter is mentioned, and his son Jerome who was placed under four guardians, Bishop FitzJames, Dean Colet, Sir Andrews Windsor, and Dr. Yonge, till he reached the age of 22. Certain lands were to be applied to the maintenance of poor scholars at Oxford. Dudley also expressed a wish to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

* Gray's Inn is one of the four "Inns of Court" in London that function as law schools. Gray's has housed many prominent people including lords, poets, and novelists, as well as lawyers. From the very beginning of the 14th century, when the former Manor House of "the Ancient Manor of Purpoole [Portpoole] in Holborn" housed Sir Reginald de Grey, Chief Justice of Chester, and his clerks, officers, and assistants, it has been associated with the law. A hospitium for lawyers was in the Manor House in 1370. Lakes, dovecotes, and a windmill were in the area. The Inn has a Grand Hall, a Library, a Chapel, and square wings called Quadrangles.

** Note that John Purefoy, brother of our ancestor Mary Purefoy, married Anne Windsor, niece of the Anne Windsor who married Edmund Dudley.

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