I seem to be drawn to the bear and ragged staff. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester gained his earldom when Elizabeth I proposed that he marry her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots in 1564 – it might have been a method of ensuring that Dudley had a title that made him a worthy candidate for a royal match, or it might simply have been a way for Bess to make Robert an earl, knowing that Mary wouldn’t be keen on the idea of marrying a second-hand favourite. Little did I realise that two books on I would find myself writing about Anne Beauchamp and her daughters. And the link between the two groups?

Robert Dudley was descended from Margaret Beauchamp, the eldest of the three half-sisters of Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick (The Kingmaker’s wife and mother to Anne Neville).

Robert’s grandfather, Edmund Dudley, the hated tax collector of Henry VII was married to Elizabeth Grey who was Margaret Beauchamp’s great granddaughter. Margaret married to John Talbot who became the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury . Robert Dudley and his brother Ambrose were both exceptionally proud of their descent from the Beauchamp Earls of Warwick and the Talbot Earls of Shrewsbury. Robert Dudley adopted the bear and ragged staff device of Warwick’s earls and acquired Kenilworth Castle while brother Ambrose was given the earldom of Warwick.

For more on the Kingmaker’s women – check out the Pen and Sword blog for Women’s history month.