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Dudley (JOHN Duke of Northumberland)

JOHN, Duke of Northumberland, son of Sir Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII.; born in 1502. He was left by Henry VIII. one of the ex- ecutors named in his will, as a kind of joint-regent during the minority of Edward VI. Under that prince he manifested the most insatiable ambition and The illness of the obtained vast accessions of honors, power, fested the most insatiable ambition and and emoluments. The illness of the and emoluments. king, over whom he had gained complete ascendency, aroused his fears, and he endeavored to strengthen his interest by marrying his son, Lord Guildford Dudley, to Lady Jane Grey, descended from the younger sister of Henry VIII., and persuaded Edward to settle the crown on his younger sister of Henry VIII., and per- suaded Edward to settle the crown on his kinswoman by will, to the exclusion of his two sisters, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. The death of the king, the abortive attempts to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and the ruin of all those concerned in the scheme are among the most familiar events in the annals of England. He was beheaded in 1553.