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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Elizabeth's Favorite Dies


Robert Dudley, lst Earl of Leicester died on September 4, 1588. He was buried in the Collegiate Church of St. Mary's in Warwick, and his second wife planned an elegant memorial to both of them:

Latin: Deo viventium S[acrum]
Spe certa resurgendi in Christo, hic situs est illustrissimus ROBERTVS DVDLEYVS, IOHANNIS DVCIS NORTHVMBRIÆ, COMITIS WARWICI, Vicecomitis INSVLÆ &c filius quintus; Comes LEICESTRIÆ, Baro DENBIGHIE; ordinis tum S GEORGII, tum S MICHAELIS, Eques auratus; Reginæ ELIZABETHÆ (apud quem singulari gratiâ florebat) Hippocomus; Regiæ Aulæ subinde Seneschallus; ab intimis Consilijs; forestarum, parcorum, Chacearum &[c] citra TRENTHAM summus Iusticiarius: Excercitus Anglici â dictâ Reginâ ELIZ: mis[s]i in BELGIO, ab Anno MDLXXXVº ad Annum MDLXXXVII, Locum-tenens et Capitaneus generalis: provinciarum Confederatarum ibidem Gubernator generalis et præfectus; Regniq; ANGLIÆ locum-tenens contra PHILIPPUM II Hispanium, numerosa Classe et Excercitu ANGLIAM MDLXXXVIII Invadentem.
Animam Deo servatori reddidit anno salutis MDLXXXVIII. die quarto Septembris. Optimo et charissimo marito, mœstissima uxor LETICIA FRANCISCI KNOILES ordinis S Georgii equitis aurati, et Regi[n]æ Thesaurarij filia, amoris et conjugalis fidei ergo, posuit.

English: Sacred to the God of the living. In certain hope of rising again in Christ, here is placed the most famous Robert Dudley, fifth son of John, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, Viscount Lisle, etc., Earl of Leicester, Baron Denbigh; Knight of both the orders of St. George and St. Michael; Master of the Horse of Queen Elizabeth (with whom he was distinguished with exceptional favor); thereafter Steward of the Royal Household; Privy Councillor; High Justiciar of the Forests, Parks, Chases, etc. on this side of Trent: Lieutenant and Captain-general of the English army sent into the Netherlands by the said Queen Elizabeth, from 1585 to 1587; Governor-general and Commander of the United Provinces of the Netherlands; and Lieutenant of the Kingdom of England against the Spaniard Philip II, when he was invading England in 1588 with a numerous fleet and army.
He gave back his soul to God his savior in the year of salvation 1588, on the fourth day of September. His most sorrowful wife, Lettice, daughter of Francis Knollys, Knight of the Order of St. George and the Queen's Treasurer, placed [this monument] to her best and dearest husband on account of her love and faith as his wife.

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