September 8, 1560 – Death of Amy Robsart

Amy Robsart’s death is one of the main enduring Tudor mysteries (right up there with who killed the princes in the Tower, and did Catherine of Aragon or didn’t she). It is also a perennial favorite of the alternative history buffs: would Elizabeth I have married Robert Dudley if Amy Robsart HADN’T died from a fall down a short flight of stairs? But before we get to that….

Amy Robsart was the only child of a substantial Norfolk gentleman-farmer and grazier. She met Robert Dudley when he accompanied his father to put down Kett’s Rebellion, which had broken out in Norfolk over the enclosures and religion. The Robsarts were the perfect family to house the Dudleys, since their wealth and its source placed them on the Crown’s side of the fight despite Lady Dudley’s strong connection to Kett himself (Elizabeth Scott had previously been married to Roger Appleyard, a family with close links across several generations to the Kett family). From there, romance bloomed.

It might seem an unlikely match – but this was before John Dudley ousted Edward Seymour to become the most powerful nobleman in the land, and Robert was still only a fourth son. Meanwhile, Amy was an heiress, and attractive as well (hence William Cecil’s referring to it as a “lust match”).  We don’t hear much more about the marriage, but there was really no reason we would, until Robert was thrown into the Tower because of his father’s attempted coup: we do know that Amy was allowed conjugal visits – and that on at least one occasion, Robert refused.

When Elizabeth acceded to the throne, Robert was given the important post of Master of the Horse. Amy did not join him at court, but instead lived in friends’ homes in different parts of the country. She still would have heard all the scandalous gossip about how her husband was the Queen’s favorite, visiting her apartments and playing cards with her at all hours of the night (she stayed up quite late!). That’s also when a rumor arose that Amy was suffering from “a malady in her breast” – and that Elizabeth and Robert would marry as soon as Amy died.

And then, in September 1560, Amy was found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Well, I say “staircase”, but there were only eight stairs. No one was there to witness or help – for some reason Amy had insisted that her entire household go out to the fair so that she would be alone in the house. That aroused a ton of suspicion, it still does.

At least one of the women in her household suggested it might be suicide, but real suspicion immediately settled on Robert. Truthfully, he really did not have the motive – murder would actually RUIN his chances. The person who DID have the motive was William Cecil: scandal was the way to ensure that Robert could never marry Elizabeth…We actually have a wild story that Cecil told the Spanish ambassador that Amy would die really soon – two days before it actually happened. How could he have known?

Not that I am pointing fingers! I don’t actually believe Cecil did it: he was a pretty straight-up guy. And modern doctors tell us that advanced breast cancer leeches calcium from the bones and makes them weak and prone to spontaneously break…so that Amy COULD have died from such a small fall. Still, this is the Tudorverse and you never know.

After a full inquiry led by Amy’s brother, the coroner ruled death was accidental and exonerated Robert so he could return to court and pick up where he left off. But Elizabeth could not shake the scandal. There were snide comments all around Europe – including a cutting dig from Mary Stuart: “The Queen of England is to marry her horsekeeper – and he has killed his wife to make room for her.”

So in the end, Amy’s death foiled her husband’s plans. There’s some sort of poetic justice in that….

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