The Black Legend of the Dudleys
Derek Wilson explores the myths and truths about the famous family, whose fortunes were so closely connected to the Tudor dynasty.
Historians are - or at least, should be - fair-minded, conscious that we have in our hands the reputations of men and women are not around to defend themselves. It is, therefore, surprising to discover not just one individual, but three generations of a family, who have suffered a bad press for over 400 years. Yet, such has been the fate of the sixteenth-century Dudley family. Contemporaries blamed them for many of the evils of the day and what one might call the 'black legend' was often accepted uncritically by later chroniclers. Until recent times historians have, at best, ignored them and, at worst, joined in the chorus of vilification. The name 'Dudley' crops up in the record of every one of the five reigns that filled the sixteenth century. So why has it become 'a name to all succeeding ages curst' (in the words of John Dryden) by disapprobation or silence?
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