Douglas, Lady Sheffield ( Howard; 1542/1543 – 1608), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

noblewoman, the lover of

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 ove ...

and mother by him of

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

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.

Family and first marriage

Douglas Howard was the eldest daughter of

William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham (c. 151012 January 1573) was an English diplomat and military leader. He served four monarchs, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, in various official capacities, most notably on dip ...

, by his second wife, Margaret Gamage. Douglas Howard was probably named in honour of her godmother

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (8 October 1515 – 7 March 1578), born Lady Margaret Douglas, was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and thus the granddau ...

. One of her brothers was Lord High Admiral Charles Howard of Effingham. Douglas Howard was at court by about 1559, probably as a

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Tudors and Stuarts Traditi ...

. In 1560 she married a rich peer,

John Sheffield, 2nd Baron Sheffield John Sheffield, 2nd Baron Sheffield , of Butterwick ( – 10 December 1568) was an English nobleman. Early life John Sheffield was born in Butterwick, Lincolnshire to Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield and Lady Anne De Vere, dau ...

. They had a son and a daughter:

Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave Captain Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, 3rd Baron Sheffield, (7 December 1565 – 6 October 1646) was an English peer and member of parliament, who served as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire from 1603 to 1619 and Vice-Admiral of Yorksh ...

, who was born in 1565, and Elizabeth Sheffield, who later married

Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond and 3rd Earl of Ossory PC (Ire) (; – 1614), was an influential courtier in London at the court of Elizabeth I. He was Lord Treasurer of Ireland from 1559 to his death. He fought for the crown in the ...

, and died in November 1600.

Love affair

Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester attributed to Steven van Herwijck

Not long after the death of John, Lord Sheffield, in December 1568, his widow began an affair with

, Queen Elizabeth's

favourite A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In Post-classical Europe, post-classical and Early modern Europe, early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated signifi ...

.Rickman 2008 p. 51 At some point in the following years, Leicester wrote her a remarkable letter, pondering on the history of their love and explaining to her the reasons why he could not marry, not even to beget a legitimate heir; it would result in his "utter overthrow":

You must think it is some marvellous cause, and toucheth my present state very near, that forceth me thus to be cause almost of the ruin of mine own house ... my brother you see long married and not like to have children, it resteth so now in myself; and yet such occasions is there ... as if I should marry I am sure never to have he queen'sfavour.

He continues, proposing that she accept one of the suitors for her hand, who she had so far declined for his sake: "The choice falls not oft, and yet I know you may have now of the best; and it is not my part to bid you take them ... so it were not mine honesty to bid you refuse them." He would help her, in case she wanted to marry elsewhere for reasons of respectability: "for when you have made your election you shall find me a most willing and ready friend to perform all good offices toward you". On 11 May 1573, the court correspondent Gilbert Talbot observed that the Earl of Leicester was pursued by Lady Douglas and her sister:

There are two sisters now in the court that are very far in love with him, as they have long been; my Lady Sheffield and Frances Howard. They (of like striving who shall love him better) are at great wars together and the queen thinketh not well of them, and not the better of him.

In August 1574, Douglas's son Robert Dudley was born. Leicester acknowledged the paternity of his "base son" and was very fond of him, caring much for his well-being and education. It is unclear how long Leicester's affair with Lady Sheffield continued, but nearly thirty years later her version of events was that Leicester had wanted to end their relationship around 1578, before his marriage to

Lettice Knollys Lettice Knollys ( , sometimes Latinisation of names, latinized as Laetitia, alias Lettice Devereux or Lettice Dudley), Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester (8 November 1543Adams 2008a – 25 December 1634), was an English noblewoman and ...

, the widowed Countess of Essex. She claimed they had met at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

in the garden, where Leicester wanted her to "disavow the marriage", offering her seven hundred pounds a year, but she had passionately rejected the offer. Leicester became furious, saying he could as well part from her, leaving her penniless. Upon some reflection, she accepted the offer at last.Jenkins 2002 p. 217 In 1604 Lady Sheffield claimed that she had refused to surrender the custody of their son, Robert, for fear that his father, Leicester, would have him killed. However, there is no trace of any disagreement over young Robert's upbringing and whereabouts. He grew up in Leicester's and his friends' houses, having "leave to see" his mother whenever she wished.Adams 2008c

Second marriage and Star Chamber trial

On 29 November 1579 Douglas Sheffield married Sir Edward Stafford, whose mother,

Dorothy Stafford Dorothy Stafford, Lady Stafford (1 October 1526 – 22 September 1604) was an English noblewoman, and an influential person at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England, to whom she served as Mistress of the Robes. Dorothy Stafford was the seco ...

, was very influential with the Queen.Doran 1996 p. 161 From 1583 until 1591 Edward Stafford served as English ambassador to the court of

Henry III of France Henry III (; ; ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...

; his wife accompanied him to Paris. There Lady Sheffield became a prominent figure in society and a special friend of

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

, whom she advised about a reform of the French royal household. By Stafford she had two child, who both died young. The ambassador honoured his wife greatly, but had to cope with the fact that she was still emotionally agitated by remembrances of the Earl of Leicester. Stafford was politically opposed to Leicester, and the personal tensions aggravated this rivalry. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in May 1603, Lady Sheffield's son, Sir Robert Dudley, began trying to claim his father's and his

uncle's ''Uncle's'' (Swedish: ''Stampen'') is a 1955 Swedish comedy film directed by and starring Nils Poppe, Ann-Marie Gyllenspetz and Holger Löwenadler.Qvist & Von Bagh p.126 It was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm. The film's sets were desi ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

titles of

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...

and

Earl of Warwick Earl of Warwick is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which has been created four times in English history. The name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick. Overview The first creation came in 1088, and the title was held b ...

. He said he had been told by a shadowy adventurer called Thomas Drury that his parents had been secretly married. The case ended up in the

Star Chamber The court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...

and aroused great public interest between 1604 and 1605. The court heard ninety witnesses for Dudley and fifty-seven for Leicester's widow,

. Lady Sheffield did not attend the trial in person, but she declared in writing that Leicester had solemnly contracted to marry her in Cannon Row,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, in 1571, and that they were married at

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, "in wintertime" in 1573. Yet all of the ten putative witnesses ("besides others") to the ceremony were long dead since. Neither could she remember who the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man was, nor the exact date of the marriage. As an explanation for marrying Edward Stafford, she asserted that Leicester had tried to poison her and, "life being sweet", she had determined to marry "for safeguard of her life".Warner 1899 p. xlv The Star Chamber rejected the evidence and fined several of the witnesses. It was concluded that Sir Robert Dudley had been duped by Thomas Drury, who in his turn had sought "his own private gains". Sir Edward Stafford died while the proceedings in the Star Chamber were in progress. Required to answer questions for the case, he maintained that Sir Robert Dudley had "terrified" his mother into supporting him against her deep reservations. Stafford wrote that he had asked his wife in December 1579, on the Queen's command, if she had been contracted to Leicester, to which "she answered with great vows, grief and passion that she had trusted the said earl too much to have anything to show to constrain him to marry her." Douglas Sheffield died in early December 1608 at

. In her will she left a black velvet bed among other things to her "honourable and beloved son Sir Robert Dudley".Warner 1899 p. xlvi

Footnotes

Citations

References

*Adams, Simon (2008a)
"Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588)"
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'' online edition May 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 2010-04-03 *Adams, Simon (2008b)
"Dudley, Sir Robert (1574–1649)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' online edition January 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 2010-04-03 *Adams, Simon (2008c)
"Sheffield , Douglas, Lady Sheffield (1542/3–1608)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' online edition Jan 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 2010-04-03 * Doran, Susan (1996): ''Monarchy and Matrimony: The Courtships of Elizabeth I'' Routledge *Haynes, Alan (1992): ''Invisible Power: The Elizabethan Secret Services 1570–1603'' Alan Sutton * Jenkins, Elizabeth (2002): ''Elizabeth and Leicester'' The Phoenix Press * Read, Conyers (1936): ''A Letter from Robert, Earl of Leicester, to a Lady'' The Huntington Library Bulletin No.9 April 1936 *Rickman, Johanna (2008): ''Love, Lust, and License in Early Modern England: Illicit Sex and the Nobility'' Ashgate Publishing *Warner, G. F. (1899)
''The Voyage of Robert Dudley to the West Indies, 1594–1595''
Hakluyt Society *Wilson, Derek (1981): ''Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533–1588'' Hamish Hamilton {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield, Douglas Sheffield, Baroness English baronesses

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

1540s births 1608 deaths People of the Elizabethan era Daughters of barons Wives of knights 16th-century English women 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English women 17th-century English people

Douglas Sheffield Douglas, Lady Sheffield ( 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 ...