John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1504-1553 - Tapa dura

Loades tells a compelling story, while at the same time working in lucid analyses of the structure of politics and finance, foreign policy, and religious change ... this biography is an important addition to our knowledge of the politics of the mid-Tudor period, and removes the simplifications of the good and bad dukes forever. (Ian Archer, History)

a thorough, reliable and disciplined work ... It is a fine biography and should prove one of the most important of recent contributions to the history of Edward VI's short reign. (C.D.C. Armstrong, History Today)

David Loades has now added his own expert knowledge of the mid-Tudor period to Beer's framework and in this book provides the first full account of Northunberland's public career. This is undoubtedly a masterly account of mid-Tudor politics and government. (Simon Adams, University of Strathclyde, Parliamentary History 16/3)

the standard work and has all the qualities which we have come to expect from Professor Loades: meticulous use of both manuscript and printed sources and careful judgements on the major issues of the period ... the book is beautifully produced - a credit to Oxford University Press. (A. G. R. Smith, University of Glasgow, History, Vol 84, no 275, July 1999)

This book reconstructs the personal and political life of John Dudley (1504-1553), Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick, and Duke of Northumberland. For three and a half years (1549-1553) as Lord President of the Council, he was leader of Edward VI's minority government. His involvement in the notorious attempt to frustrate Mary's claim to the throne in favour of his daughter-in-law, Jane Grey, contributed substantially to the evil reputation which clung to him both at the time and since. He is conventionally portrayed as an ambitious, unscrupulous man, who embraced and renounced the Reformation to suit his own purposes. The fact that his father was Henry VII's detested financial agent Edmund Dudley, and one of his sons the colourful Earl of Leicester, has helped to confirm his unprincipled image.

Now his reputation is being reassessed, but historians have concentrated almost entirely on his years in power - the last four years of his life. Drawing upon new research, Professor Loades looks at John Dudley's whole career and by considering the lives of his father, Edmund, and his sons, places him in longer historical perspective. A new and important interpretation of the Tudor service nobility emerges in which John Dudley is seen not merely as an overmighty subject and kingmaker, but first and foremost as a servant of the English Crown.