Elizabeth Dudley

Elizabeth Southwell was the daughter of Robert Southwell of Woodrising, Norfolk (1563-October 12, 1598 or 1599) and Elizabeth Howard (d.1646). On January 5, 1599, Rowland Whyte wrote to Sir Robert Sidney that “the young faire Mrs. Southwell shall this Day be sworn Mayde of Honor.” As the daughter of Elizabeth Howard and the granddaughter of Catherine Carey, she was the third generation to serve in Queen Elizabeth's Privy Chamber. She was still there when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. On October 26, 1604, Elizabeth’s mother remarried, taking as her second husband John Stewart, earl of Carrick (d.c.1644). Elizabeth Southwell must have had many opportunities to make a good marriage under James I and she is known to have been courted by Sir Clement Heigham, but instead of marrying, she became the mistress of Sir Robert Dudley (August 7, 1574-September 6, 1649), a married man (see ALICE LEIGH) who had seven daughters, five of whom lived to adulthood. He was the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. In July 1605, disguised as a boy, Elizabeth eloped with him and fled with him to the Continent. They were married by special Papal dispensation and she spent the rest of her life in exile in Italy. They had thirteen children, including Henry, Anna (d.1629), Mary, Carlo (1614-October 26, 1686), Ambrose, Fernando, Teresa, Cosmo, and Anthony Enrico (b. September 12, 1631). She died on the day following her youngest son’s birth, although the Oxford DNB entry for her husband attributes the death to the plague.

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• 'Elizabeth SOUTHWELL
• 'Born: ABT 1586
• 'Died: 13 Sep 1631, Italy
• 'Notes: god-daughter of Queen Elizabeth and became maid of honour in 1599. On 5 Jan 1599, Rowland Whyte wrote to Sir Robert Sidney that “the young faire Mrs. Southwell shall this Day be sworn Mayde of Honor”. As the daughter of Elizabeth Howard and the granddaughter of Catherine Carey, she was the third generation to serve in Queen Elizabeth's Privy Chamber. She was still there when Elizabeth died in 1603. On 26 Oct 1604, Elizabeth’s mother remarried, taking as her second husband John Stewart, Earl of Carrick (d. 1644). Elizabeth Southwell must have had many opportunities to make a good marriage under James I and she is known to have been courted by Sir Clement Heigham, but instead of marrying, she became the mistress of Sir Robert Dudley, a married man who had seven daughters, four of whom lived to adulthood. In 1605, disguised as a page, she eloped with Robert Dudley to the continent. They were married by special Papal dispensation and she spent the rest of her life in exile in Italy. They had thirteen children. She died on the day following her youngest son’s birth.
• Father: Robert SOUTHWELL (Sir)
• Mother: Elizabeth HOWARD (C. Carrick)
• 'Associated with: Robert DUDLEY (E. Warwick)
• Children:
  • 1. Henry DUDLEY
  • 2. Anna DUDLEY (d. 1629)
  • 3. Mary DUDLEY
  • 4. Carlo DUDLEY (D. Northumberland) (b. 1614, Florence, Italy - d. 26 Oct 1686)
  • 5. Ambrose DUDLEY
  • 6. Fernando DUDLEY
  • 7. Teresa DUDLEY
  • 8. Cosmo DUDLEY
  • 9. Anthony Enrico DUDLEY (b. 12 Sep 1631, Florence, Italy)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/SOUTHWELL.htm#Elizabeth SOUTHWELL3
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• Elizabeth Howard (buried 31 March 1646). Maid of honour to Elizabeth I of England. She was married first to Sir Robert Southwell. 'One of their daughters, Elizabeth, was a lover and eventually a third wife of Robert Dudley (explorer).' Another daughter, Frances, married Edward Rodney. Elizabeth Howard was secondly married to John Stewart, 1st Earl of Carrick.
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Howard,_1st_Earl_of_Nottingham
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• http://www.lalivornina.it/DESCRIZIONI%20PERSONAGGI%20FAMOSI/Elisabe...

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ELIZABETH SOUTHWELL (c.1586-September 13, 1631)

Elizabeth Southwell was the daughter of Robert Southwell of Woodrising, Norfolk (1563-October 12, 1598 or 1599) and Elizabeth Howard (d.1646). On January 5, 1599, Rowland Whyte wrote to Sir Robert Sidney that “the young faire Mrs. Southwell shall this Day be sworn Mayde of Honor.” As the daughter of Elizabeth Howard and the granddaughter of Catherine Carey, she was the third generation to serve in Queen Elizabeth's Privy Chamber. She was still there when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. On October 26, 1604, Elizabeth’s mother remarried, taking as her second husband John Stewart, earl of Carrick (d.c.1644). Elizabeth Southwell must have had many opportunities to make a good marriage under James I and she is known to have been courted by Sir Clement Heigham, but instead of marrying, she became the mistress of Sir Robert Dudley (August 7, 1574-September 6, 1649), a married man (see ALICE LEIGH) who had seven daughters, five of whom lived to adulthood. He was the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. In July 1605, disguised as a boy, Elizabeth eloped with him and fled with him to the Continent. They were married by special Papal dispensation and she spent the rest of her life in exile in Italy. They had thirteen children, including Henry, Anna (d.1629), Mary, Carlo (1614-October 26, 1686), Ambrose, Fernando, Teresa, Cosmo, and Anthony Enrico (b. September 12, 1631). She died on the day following her youngest son’s birth, although the Oxford DNB entry for her husband attributes the death to the plague.

Robert's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who was said to be very beautiful, joined her aunt at court, eventually becoming a maid of honour to Queen Anne, the wife of King James I. She, like her aunt, also followed the wayward tradition of Tudor maids of court. Despite the attentions of Sir Clement Heigham, who was greatly taken with her, she became involved with Sir Robert Dudley, the handsome illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Lady Douglas Sheffield. Dudley had always been acknowledged by his father and was educated at Christ College, Oxford, with the status of an Earl's son. On the death of his father in 1588, Dudley, then aged fourteen, inherited considerable property under his father's will, including Kenilworth Castle. In 1593, he was left two ships by his friend Thomas Cavendish. Although, only twenty, lacking experience and without government approval he slipped away to the West Indies and set about raiding Spanish ships off Trinidad. He also ventured into the, at that time unexplored, river Orinoco, where he named an island "Dudleiana." Dudley was the nephew of Lord Charles Howard of Effingham, and, in 1596, accompanied him on the raid on the Spanish town of Cadiz. It was following the success of this raid that he was Knighted.

Following the death of his fist wife, Dudley wasted no time in marrying Alice Leigh and tried desperately to establish himself as the legitimate heir to his father's Earldom of Leicester and his uncle's Earldom of Warwick. In this he was unsuccessful and having recently converted to Catholicism, deserted his wife and daughters and fled to France with the younger Elizabeth Southwell. Elizabeth, who was just nineteen, to avoid detection disguised herself as a male page. Their scandalous behaviour was widely noted throughout Europe and allowed King James to seize the Leicester lands. The lovers, however, found refuge in Lyons, and despite the potential bigamy, they applied as cousins for a papal dispensation to allow them to marry, which was suprisingly granted by Pope Paul V. The couple were married in Lyon in 1605. It is possible that the Catholic Church got around the bigamy issue by not recognizing Dudley's earlier Protestant marriage. The couple eventually moved to Florence, where Dudley' s naval and shipbuilding skills brought him wealth and distinction, and enabled him to build himself a palace. He was responsible for draining the swamps near Pisa, wrote several works on navigation and continued his skill as a cartographer, which had started in the West Indies. One of his books contained charts for navigators for the entire world and is considered a milestone in naval cartograpy. He was created an Italian Duke and given a country villa by Duke Ferdinand IT as a mark of his distinction. He and Elizabeth lived happily for the rest of their lives in Italy. They had nine children, who all married into the Italian aristocracy.