John Dudley: Tudor England's Wicked Duke

Dan Snow (0:00)

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Henry VIII is dead. Who now will rule England? His son, his heir, the boy king, Edward VI, sits on the throne technically. But like old child monarchs, there are going to be shadowy figures whispering into their ears, pulling the strings behind the scenes, the true power players.

In this iteration of the Tudor court, it was John Dudley.

In some ways, he's the archetypal Tudor villain, the kind that you imagine lurking in the shadows in a dark velvet cloak. His moniker in history is the Wicked Duke. He dominated politics during the reign of the boy king Edward VI between 1549 and 1553 Dudley was cunning, calculated, ruthless, a brilliant political operator with a Protestant fervour. He would risk all to get what he wanted. He was a dangerous man, but that isn't to say he wasn't exactly what Tudor England needed at that time. He took the reins in a period of serious crisis. England was unstable, religiously divided, financially strained. He did put an end to expensive wars. He pulled England back from the brink of total economic collapse. He improved administration. He reorganised the Navy. He stabilised the country. To his supporters, he was decisive and practical, driven by survival.

But he went too far, they always do. He led a coup attempt, effectively, to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England. And that led him, eventually, to the executioners' bloc. To chart the meteoric rise and disastrous fall of one of Tudor England's most influential figures, I'm joined by the brilliant Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, expert in all things Tudors. She and I recently made a documentary series called How the Tudors Lost Their Heads, which is out now on National Geographic. In it, we reveal some of the era's most famous figures in a new light by investigating the real reasons their lives ended by execution. So was John Dudley Tudor England's savior or greatest villain? This is Dan Snow's History Hit.

Suzannah, thanks for coming on.

Suzannah Lipscomb (2:54)

It's good to see you, Dan.

Dan Snow (2:55)

It's very good to see you too.

Talk about what a dramatic place to start. The death of old King Henry. He's ruled for as long as anyone can remember. That must have been an extraordinary moment.

Suzannah Lipscomb (3:04)

It certainly was. I mean, actually what's so strange about it is that Henry VIII has become such a dominant presence. Everything has been dictated by his whims for decades. And yet, at the moment of his death, the thing I find extraordinary is that very quickly, everyone's scrambling to work out what's going to happen next, and what position they're going to have, and fear of this great tyrant is almost immediately forgotten. Like his wishes are almost immediately put aside.

Dan Snow (3:35)

They find some backbone, or they start looking after their own interests once the great man is breathing his last. When there's a transition in this period from one king to another, one monarch to another, is that a time of opportunity for the men around the king? Do they seek to maintain what they've got, advance? What goes on then?

Suzannah Lipscomb (3:51)

Yes, it's absolutely a time of opportunity.

And the death of Henry VIII is perhaps particularly the case because in his last will and testament, he says that any grants or gifts which have been unfulfilled should be granted. And one of John Dudley's friends, William Padgett, happily has a document. This document from Dudley's friend William Padgett, which is endorsed by Henry VIII, says things like their friend Edward Seymour should become the Duke of Somerset and that various other people should be ennobled or reached up in terms of the peerage. And so there's this sense that this is a moment to capitalise on that kind of fudging of what Henry actually meant when he said that these things should be unfulfilled.

Dan Snow (4:38)

It's like when one of our relatives died, your mum always wanted me to have that teapot. She just specifically said that. That's so interesting.

So there's oldums and dupedums flying around. Exactly.

Suzannah Lipscomb (4:47)

If you just substitute teapot for like a peerage, yes.