WEBVTT - Lettice Knollys and her Pride 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:12.400 and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised Queen Elizabeth 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.240 the First had spent the summer traveling across the country, 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:21.279 visiting manors in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. Now at the 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:25.959 end of September she was making one more stop, Wanstead Hall, 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:32.160 the home of Elizabeth's favorite Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. Now, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.120 if you know one thing about Queen Elizabeth the First, 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:37.960 it was probably that she was the Queen of England. 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.320 But if you know a second thing about Queen Elizabeth, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.040 it's her reputation as a virgin queen. Much to the 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.960 chagrin of many of her advisers and nobles of the Kingdom. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.280 Elizabeth never married and never gave birth to an heir 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:58.840 that would carry on the Tudor dynasty. Given the context, 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:03.040 I think her reasoning is pretty easy to understand. Her father, 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.440 King Henry the Eighth, didn't make the concept of marriage 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:10.840 very appealing for a woman. His first wife was cast aside, 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:15.880 his second, Elizabeth's mother, was beheaded, a third died in childbirth, 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:20.160 his fourth cast aside again. His fifth beheaded, and the 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.800 sixth managed to be okay, mostly because Henry died before 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.600 he could do anything terrible to her. Elizabeth knew that 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:34.600 marriage would fundamentally undermine her power, automatically making her subservience 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.280 to her husband in the eyes of the court and 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.720 the world, and a marriage would diminish the power she 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:46.039 wielded by suggesting that she might be willing to marry 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:50.120 someone for diplomatic reasons and or might be willing to 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.320 make someone her air. And that's all to say nothing 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.360 of the physical danger she would have been in had 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:01.000 she carried and delivered a child. But just because Elizabeth 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.680 never got married didn't mean she didn't enjoy male attention 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:11.280 and romantic, if not physical, companionship. She did, particularly from 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.200 Robert Dudley, who, almost from the moment of Elizabeth's ascension 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:21.480 as queen was considered a royal favorite. Dudley would spend 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.320 years trying to get Elizabeth to marry him. If you 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.760 are a longtime listener of the show, you might remember 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.480 an earlier episode we did on the mysterious death of 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.119 a woman named Amy Robsart who fell down a staircase 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.440 and broke her neck. That was Dudley's first wife, and 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.200 so while in theory he was single again and eligible 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.520 to marry the Queen, his wife's death was so mysterious 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:53.160 and scandalous that it cast the type of pr paul 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.840 that would have made a match between Dudley and Elizabeth 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.679 a non starter. But still well, he was highly esteemed 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:06.279 in court, spending plenty of time with and flirting with Elizabeth. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.680 When the Queen arrived that September day to Dudley's home, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.880 she wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary, a feast, 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:19.080 of course, and time with her favorite who though she 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:24.120 wouldn't marry him, she was still jealously protective of The feast. 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:29.919 That night had another esteemed guest, Elizabeth's cousin Letise Knowles. 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.400 It wasn't out of the ordinary for another courtly lady 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.640 to be around, so I imagine at the time Elizabeth 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.520 didn't give it too much thought. She didn't know that 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:45.120 Dudley and Latisse had a secret that would upend both 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:50.720 of their lives. Just two days earlier, without the Queen's permission, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:56.520 Dudley and Latisse had been secretly married, and so they 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.920 sat down with her to dinner, knowing that the moment 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:06.720 Elizabeth found out nothing would contain her wrath. I'm Danish 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:15.000 forts and this is noble blood. It always struck me 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.080 as a little hollow and anachronistic to call Elizabeth the 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:23.479 First a feminist. Absolutely, she was a powerful woman in 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:28.800 an incredibly patriarchal society who brilliantly played her hand and 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.320 held down to her power in a way that most 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.080 others would not have been able to, and so I 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.280 absolutely understand the compulsion to point to her as a 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:43.599 feminist symbol. But there's a distinction between a symbol and 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.839 an individual, just as there's a distinction between a woman 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.960 who gets to be powerful and a woman advocating for 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:57.440 the structural advancement of women. As an individual, Elizabeth was 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.640 really only the former, and when it came to family, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.360 it's hard to call her a girl's girl. She famously 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:10.560 imprisoned and beheaded her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:15.400 imprisoned another cousin, Lady Katherine Gray, in the Tower of London, 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:20.799 for daring to get married without her permission in Elizabeth's defense. 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.680 Both of those women had claims to the throne of England. 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:30.080 Elizabeth's wrath in those cases, wasn't vindictive, maybe a little, 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.320 but it was mostly political. That is not the case 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:39.560 with Latis Knowles. Latis was no political threat to Elizabeth 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.520 at all, but still in the end Elizabeth would grant 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:49.960 her no mercy. Latis Knowles was also Elizabeth's cousin. Obviously 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.000 we know Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry the eighth 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:57.960 and Anne Boleyn. Latis was the granddaughter of Mary Bolin 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:04.400 aka the other Bolin girl. Latis's grandfather was Mary Boln's husband, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:09.080 William Carey, But because Mary had had a physical relationship 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.960 with King Henry the eighth, some more gossipy histories suggest 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:19.000 the possibility that Latis was also descended from Henry, which 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:24.159 would make Latis and Elizabeth even more closely related. Although 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.960 I'm not quite sure what the name for that sort 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.480 of cousin would be. It might be about now when 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.120 you're wondering if it's just you or Latis's name sounds 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:39.839 suspiciously close to Lettuce. Was there a Rapunzel situation happening 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.240 with her parents, you might ask. The answer is no, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:48.119 it's far more ordinary. Latis was simply a shortened form 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:53.280 for the Latin word for happiness. Letitia Latis was born 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:58.080 on November sixth, fifteen forty three. It's a rare treat 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.359 to know the actual day, and we know it because 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.359 her father kept a Latin diary wrapped in calf binding, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.480 and in it he recorded Latisa's birth and the birth 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:15.240 of his thirteen other children. Sometime likely in Latisa's late 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:20.000 teenage years, around fifteen sixty one or sixty two, she 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.760 married the nobleman Walter Devereaux, who would eventually become the 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:29.640 Earl of Essex. But even early on, the rumors about 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:35.960 Latis and Robert Dudley were circulating around court. A Spanish 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:40.760 ambassador observed in fifteen sixty five that Robert Dudley was 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:45.240 flirting with Latis at court to make Elizabeth jealous. If 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.440 you were trying to make the Queen jealous, Latis would 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:51.480 be a good choice to do that with. Not only 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.640 was she regarded as one of the best looking women 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.800 at court, but she also had red hair and didn't 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.800 look dissimilar from Elizabeth I, aside from, you know, being 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:08.239 a decade younger. But we also shouldn't give the ambassador's 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.560 gossip too much weight, given that at the time that 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:17.600 he was writing Latis was massively pregnant with her husband's child. Still, 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:22.680 even that probably didn't stop Dudley from flirting. The gossip 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:27.120 about a possible affair between Dudley and Latis only really 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:31.560 began in earnest, almost a decade later, when Latisa's husband 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.200 was over in Ireland after he put together a proposal 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:40.040 for a plantation in Ulster. He Devereaux wouldn't return for 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.760 a few years, and the rumors swirled in that time 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:48.200 he was away, rumors that Latis had two children with 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:53.800 her lover, Robert Dudley. There is no actual historical evidence 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.200 that these children ever existed, and now feels like a 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.680 good time to mention that a lot of anti Dudley's 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:06.680 sentiment comes from a pro Catholic book called Lester's Commonwealth 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.480 that was written in the fifteen eighties, which makes all 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.920 sorts of wild accusations against Dudley, a man who happened 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:21.520 to support Elizabeth the I's Protestant agenda. So it's possible 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.880 that Lettis found comfort in the arms of Robert Dudley, 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.960 Earl of Leicester while her husband Devereaux was away, but 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.520 it's equally likely, in my opinion that she was just 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:37.720 bopping around various castles in England, and later pro Catholic 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.559 sources were looking to come up with whatever dirts against 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:46.920 Dudley they could. Devereaux returned to England and then went 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:51.439 back to Ireland, and on September twenty second, fifteen seventy six, 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.720 he died of dysentery during an epidemic in Dublin. Of course, 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.240 you can imagine what Lester's Commonwealth had to say about that. 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.120 In case you can't imagine, it's that Letis and Robert 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.960 Dudley murdered her husband, possibly because he was already planning 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:13.520 on taking furious revenge on Dudley for fathering a child 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.600 with his wife. And of course this murder would be 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.480 no big deal for Robert Dudley, who, if you'll recall 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.400 Amy Robsart and her tragic fall down the stairs, had 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:31.000 obviously already killed his own first spouse. It's the type 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.000 of story that's good if you're a Catholic who wants 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:38.800 to present a key Protestant figure as the embodiment of evil. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:43.120 But there was an official investigation concluding that Devereaux died 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:48.079 of natural causes. One piece of evidence, though, that Devereaux 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.960 and Latise might have been estranged by this point, is 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.880 that he barely referred to his wife in his will. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.840 In fact, Latisse would be forced to spend time writing 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.359 letters to try try to get her meager jointure increased, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.199 even threatening to sue out a writ of dower if 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:11.920 it wasn't increased, which thankfully it was. Latis observed the 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:17.920 customary two year morning period until September twenty first, fifteen 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:22.640 seventy eight, almost two years to the day exactly when 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:26.440 her husband died. When the thirty four year old widow 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.400 married Robert Dudley at a private country house in Wanstead 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.800 before a notary, One witness noted that she wore a 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:40.520 loose gown, which some take as a hint that there 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.480 might have been a growing reason that the wedding needed 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.439 to take place sooner rather than later. That theory gets 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.000 a little more credence by the fact that there was 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:57.160 a larger second wedding later at another estate. At this point, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.600 for Dudley, it had been more than ten year years 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.560 since his first wife, Amy died, though he had tried 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.760 his best to get Elizabeth to marry him in the time, 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.920 since even he must have realized that it was just 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.880 never going to happen. It certainly seems like he and 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:20.000 Latis were genuinely in love, But if Dudley were still 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.000 holding a candle for the Queen, there's something to be 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.640 said for his choice of marrying her cousin who bore 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:32.480 her a famous resemblance. Obviously, both Latis and Dudley knew 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.800 that Elizabeth would not be happy about the marriage. There 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.040 was a reason they didn't ask her for her royal consent. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.720 Elizabeth wasn't going to marry Dudley, but she definitely wouldn't 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:49.120 want Latis to marry him. For Latitsa's part, she kept 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.319 a very low profile in the early days of their marriage. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:58.160 She's very demure, very mindful, continuing to use the title 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.520 Countess of Essex from her first husband and still living 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.959 with her father. That winter, for New Year's Elizabeth, Dudley 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:11.920 and Latis were still on good terms. Latis was received 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.040 at court and gave the Queen a chain of amber 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:20.240 with gold and pearl. Dudley gifted Elizabeth tons of jewels, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:26.360 including buttons with his family crust and lover's nods, but 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.640 the couple would only be able to keep their secret 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:34.760 for so long, Robert Dudley's many enemies began spreading the 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.600 word of the secret wedding, and even Mary, Queen of Scott, 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.400 who was imprisoned but not yet executed at this point, 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.760 knew about the scandalous marriage. It was only a matter 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:52.640 of time before the couple would face Elizabeth's wrath. Elizabeth 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:56.559 at this time was doing her classic move of considering 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.840 that she might marry someone for diplomatic reasons, and in 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:05.120 the summer of fifteen seventy nine, the maybe would be 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.800 groom was the Duke of Anjou. The French ambassador was 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.880 facing an uphill battle trying to arrange the match. It 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:19.320 was extremely unpopular and the Queen's favorite, Dudley, opposed it. 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.240 The ambassador, in a peak of stubbornness, told the Queen 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.520 that Dudley had quote no right to prevent this marriage 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.560 or even try, given that he had married your kinswoman secretly. 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:38.920 That's all there was to it. Elizabeth was furious. Her 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.000 first instinct was to want to send Robert Dudley and 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.840 Latisan Knowles to the Tower of London. Thankfully, her courtiers 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.200 talked her out of that, but Elizabeth's anger wasn't going anywhere. 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.960 According to one story, Elizabeth smacked Latis on the ear 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.000 and shouted at her, as but one son lighted the earth, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.040 there would be but one one queen in England. And 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:07.920 even more infuriating, Latis wouldn't back down or apologize. She 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.680 had made a love match, and she was proud of 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.080 her husband. However she might have felt about losing her 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:19.040 friendship with her cousin, outwardly, Latisse would never show remorse. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.480 Her love for Dudley was worth whatever it had cost, 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.960 and she would keep her head held high. The Spanish 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.120 ambassador wrote of Latis, Yet still she is as proud 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.880 as ever, rides through cheapside, drawn by four milk white steeds, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.480 with four footmen in black velvet jackets and silver bears, 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.760 the symbol of the Dudley family on their backs and breasts, 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.360 two knights and thirty gentlemen before her, and coaches of 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:54.320 gentle women, pages and servants behind it, so that it 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.360 might be supposed to be the queen or some foreign 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:05.000 prince or ambassador. In other words, Latisa's behavior was delightfully brazen, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.000 and if there was ever a chance that Elizabeth might 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.800 have forgiven her Letisa's complete lack of remorse made that 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:18.520 chance disappear. It seemed she no longer cared whether she 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:23.440 incurred the Queen's displeasure. Dudley, on the other hand, very 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:28.200 much did care. He didn't really regret his marriage to Latise. 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.720 It seemed like they were in love. He wanted marriage 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.760 and an heir, and, as he wrote in a letter 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:39.080 to a colleague, quote, I have lost both youth and liberty, 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:44.080 and all my fortune reposed in Elizabeth. Elizabeth had taken 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.680 and taken, and she was never going to marry him. 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:52.320 What was Dudley supposed to do? Still? Latis left London 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.600 for the countryside, and though Dudley was originally vanished from 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:01.680 court to Elizabeth pretty quickly forgave him and enjoyed him 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.560 back at court where she could pretend he wasn't married. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.840 Although there were new spikes in Elizabeth's fury when Dudley 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:14.160 and Latis began actually living together a few years later, 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:22.639 Elizabeth's anger at Letisse never abated. When Dudley tried to 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.480 get one of Latis's daughters from her first marriage wed 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.800 to James the first Elizabeth shot the suggestion down and 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.159 said she would never allow James to marry quote the 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:39.920 daughter of such a she wolf. But soon Elizabeth's displeasure 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.119 would be eclipsed by an even greater challenge in the 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:47.200 lives of Latis and Dudley. In fifteen eighty four, their 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.399 three year old son died. To say it was a 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:54.679 tragic loss would be an understatement. At this point, Latis 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.919 was forty four years old, and so the death of 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.640 their son marked the end of dudley hopes for continuing 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.879 his family line. Even still, Elizabeth was said to be 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.959 upset when Dudley went to comfort his wife in their grief, 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.600 and Elizabeth was made even more upset by the fact 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.800 that Latis accompanied her husband on vacation the following year, 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.199 and there were rumors that Latis was going to accompany 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.040 Dudley to the Netherlands, where he was Governor General, with 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:30.560 quote such a train of ladies as her majesty had none. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.360 I mean, who did she think she was? Robert Dudley 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.720 died in fifteen eighty eight. Just a few years later, 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:45.480 possibly of malaria. He provided for Latis generously three thousand 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.920 pounds a year and six thousand pounds of additional furniture 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.479 and valuable home goods, which should have made her a 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.440 very wealthy widow, except Dudley also left her the burden 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.880 of massive debts, and he had an illegitimate child from 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.119 before their marriage that was trying to weasel his way 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:10.320 into claiming legitimacy and the inheritance. In order to settle 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:15.960 Dudley's estates, Latis sold off Lesterhouse actually sold it to 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:21.280 her son from her first marriage, Robert Devereaux. Incidentally, it 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.840 was around this time that Latis's son, Robert, who was 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:30.159 now the Earl of Essex, was becoming a court favorite 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.080 with Elizabeth. I'm going to call him Essex because that's 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.560 usually how he's referred to, and there are a lot 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:41.800 of Roberts in this story. He Essex actually took Dudley's 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:46.359 position as Master of the Horse, and after Dudley's death, 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.800 he got control of Dudley's royal monopoly on sweet wines, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:55.280 which provided him a nice income. It seemed that Elizabeth 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.760 did not hold a grudge against Latis's son, even while 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.800 he's herself was never forgiven for the crime of marrying 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:10.040 Elizabeth's favorite. This could be the end of Latis's story 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.879 with her husband. The Queen's favorite dead, but her still 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.159 banished from court and never to be forgiven. But Letis 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.960 has such a strange and tragic third act that if 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:29.720 you'll indulge me, the story just must continue fairly Quickly 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:34.240 after Dudley's death, Latise married for a third time, this 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.000 time to a man twelve years younger, a soldier named 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:43.400 Sir Christopher Blunt. Throughout all of this, Elizabeth's grudge against 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:48.840 Latise continued. As I mentioned, Latis's oldest son from her 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:53.480 first marriage had actually established himself quite well in court, 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.920 and he tried to get his mother and Elizabeth back 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:01.000 on good terms. He arranged a meeting, and though Elizabeth 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:05.960 largely ignored Latise, she did allow her to kiss her hand, 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:12.239 which wasn't nothing, although it wasn't all uphill progress. In 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:17.200 fifteen ninety nine, Latisa's son, Essex, would be briefly imprisoned 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:22.159 in house arrest after a disastrous stint in London, and 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.480 Latis tried to advocate for her son's release by sending 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:31.520 Elizabeth a gown that cost one hundred pounds. Elizabeth rejected 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.280 the gown and this time would not even permit Latis 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:40.240 to kiss her hand. If you're wondering why Essex was imprisoned. 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.400 The short version is Essex was Lord Lieutenant in Ireland 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:49.639 and without the Crown's permission, made a humiliatingly bad truce 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.000 with the leader of the Irish chieftains and came back 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:57.440 home in a move that was pretty universally characterized as desertion. 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.840 The house arrest was eventually lifted, but Essex didn't get 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:07.040 back the sweet wine monopoly that he held previously. All 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:09.960 of this set off a chain of events in which 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:13.840 Essex was left bitter and angry at Elizabeth I and 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:18.320 her government, and in a desperate fit of self aggrandizement, 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:24.119 he made a truly terrible decision. Essex and a group 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:29.480 of followers, including Lettis's new husband, Christopher Blunt, decided that 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:32.480 they were going to march through the city and force 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.760 an audience with the Queen and demand that she changed 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:40.080 her government. Essex thought he could rally the people behind him. 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:44.399 In short he could not, and fairly quickly the group 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:48.480 were treated back to essex House, where they surrendered. Two 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:53.639 weeks later, Essex was convicted of treason. Both he and 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:58.399 Sir Christopher Blunt, Latis's son and her husband would be 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.120 beheaded at the Tower of Life, London. Ironically, it had 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:05.960 been Essex who had appointed the very executioner who would 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.000 take his head. The executioner had been convicted of rape, 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.320 but Essex had kept him from the death penalty on 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:17.760 the condition he become an executioner. Unfortunately, it did not 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.359 seem like he was very good at the job, given 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:26.720 that it took thirty strokes to remove Essex's head. Latisse 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:32.040 was left in a terrible and precarious position. Not only 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:36.560 were her son and husband just convicted of treason and executed, 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:40.080 but that husband had also left her pretty much broke 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.600 before that by spending all of her money. Thankfully, Latisse 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:49.160 would have one major stroke of luck a new regime. 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.840 Elizabeth the First died and the new king, James the sixth, 0:23:54.320 --> 0:23:57.760 did not hold the same grudges as his kinswoman did 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:02.560 helpfully to one of Latis's daughters from her first marriage, 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:07.760 was in favor with James's wife, Anne of Denmark. James 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:12.159 wiped out the remains of Dudley's debts and restored the 0:24:12.359 --> 0:24:16.240 Essex lands to Latise, and though she would still have 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:20.399 to fight against Dudley's illegitimate son, she was able to 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:24.600 do so successfully, and eventually there was a formal ruling 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:30.560 in her favor. Latise Knowles lived fifteen more years, dying 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:34.119 at the age of ninety one on Christmas Day, the 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:39.840 quote last survivor of the Great Elizabethans. She requested that 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:44.560 she be buried with her second husband, Robert Dudley, the 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:54.520 Queen's favorite and hers. That's the story of Latis Knowles. 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:57.840 But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:01.760 about some more of the insane rumors that swirled around 0:25:01.800 --> 0:25:17.119 her love life. Plenty of scandalous rumors surrounded Ltisnoles and 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:21.120 Robert Dudley, and plenty of them, especially with regards to Dudley, 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:26.440 were politically motivated, whether by his Catholic enemies or by 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:31.200 people who were jealous of his power over Elizabeth in court. Obviously, 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:35.439 we've already talked about the suspicious death of Dudley's first wife, 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:39.560 Amy Robsart, and then the death of Latis's first husband, 0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:43.040 which caused a downe slew of rumors that Latis and 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:46.880 Dudley had conspired to murder him so that they could 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:51.159 be together. But there were even accusations Latis killed her 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:55.159 second husband too. During the restoration, there would be a 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:59.320 horror story written about how Dudley planned on killing Latise 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:02.159 because she was having an affair, but she managed to 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:06.040 kill him first. But the story of Dudley and Latis 0:26:06.520 --> 0:26:11.000 working together to kill Latice's first husband, Devereaux, is the 0:26:11.040 --> 0:26:15.919 most famous of the would be scandals involving Latise. The 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:19.040 rumors were so well known at the time and in 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:24.200 the decades following that some have speculated that William Shakespeare 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:28.120 was actually inspired by them. That he heard a story 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:32.400 about a man killing a woman's husband and then marrying her, 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.719 and then the adult son from that first marriage making 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:40.399 his way at court while dealing with that, and decided 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:57.959 to write a play called Hamlet. Noble Blood is a 0:26:57.960 --> 0:27:02.520 production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. 0:27:03.080 --> 0:27:07.240 Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts, with additional 0:27:07.400 --> 0:27:12.680 writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, Courtney Sender, 0:27:13.000 --> 0:27:17.239 Julia Melani, and Armand Cassam. The show is edited and 0:27:17.400 --> 0:27:22.560 produced by Noehmy Griffin and rima il Kaali, with supervising 0:27:22.640 --> 0:27:27.800 producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, 0:27:27.800 --> 0:27:32.560 and Matt Frederick. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio. Visit the 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:36.960 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:27:36.960 --> 0:27:42.600 favorite shows.