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Dudley, Robert
Dudley, Robert(b. Sheen House, Surrey, England, 7 August 1573; d. Villa di Castello, Florence, Italy, 6 September 1649) navigation. Dudley was the son of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Lady Douglas Sheffield. The legitimacy of Dudley’s birth was questioned in his lifetime, yet he was given every advantage commensurate with his father’s position in Elizabethan England. He was a student at Christ Church, Oxford, and at the age of twenty-one sailed in command of two ships to the West Indies. In 1596 he was in the battle of Cádiz with the earl of Essex and was knighted for his bravery. In 1605 Dudley left his wife and children in England and traveled to Italy, accompanied by one of the beauties of the day, Elizabeth Southwell. He established himself in Florence, became a Catholic, married Miss Southwell, and entered the service of the grand duke of Tuscany. He was put in charge of several major engineering projects, including the building of the port of Leghorn, and the beginnings of land reclamation near Pisa. He never returned to England; his assumed titles, earl of Warwick and duke of Northumberland, invalid in England, were confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in recognition of his services. Dudley’s first work, an account of his voyage to the West Indies, was printed by Hakluyt in the second edition of his Voyages under the title “A Voyage... to the Isle of Trinidad and the Coast of Paria.” He had become interested in navigation while at Oxford, and the interest had been further stimulated by his close association with the great sea captain Thomas Cavendish, brother of his first wife. He continued to work on the pressing problems of navigation, including the determination of longitude; made a collection of the best and most advanced navigational instruments, now in the Florence Museum of Science; and at the age of seventy-three published his great work, Dell’arcano del mare (three volumes, Florence, 1646-1647). It is one of the great sea atlases of all time, magnificently engraved, and may justly be regarded as an encyclopedia of knowledge regarding the sea. It contains a treatise on naval strategy; a manual of shipbuilding; directions on building coastal fortifications; instructions to navigators, including the essential elements of nautical almanacs; and a set of maps of the entire world. It is these maps that give Dudley’s work special significance; Dell’arcano del mare is the first sea atlas with all maps drawn on Mercator’s projections, as modified by Edward Wright. The maps, virtually without ornamentation and restricted to the information essential to the seaman, are, in spite of errors and imperfections, among the milestones of naval cartography. BIBLIOGRAPHYSee G. F. Warner’s biographical sketch and preface to the Hakluyt Society’s edition of Dudley’s Voyage (London, 1899); and Vaughan Thomas, The Italian Biography of Sir Robert Dudley(Oxford, 1861?). George Kish |
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"Dudley, Robert." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Dudley, Robert." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830901242.html "Dudley, Robert." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830901242.html |
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Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of
Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of (c.1532–88). Son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, Dudley became one of Elizabeth I's most prominent courtiers. Until his death in 1588, he was master of the queen's horse and a privy counsellor. He was appointed general of the English forces in the Netherlands in 1585, where his conduct angered Elizabeth greatly. Leicester was a controversial figure. He was involved in his father's plan to crown Lady Jane Grey and was sentenced to death in January 1554, but pardoned in October of that year. Any hopes he might have had of marrying Elizabeth were destroyed by the suspicious manner of the death of his first wife, Amy Robsart, in 1560. Later there were plans for a marriage to Mary, queen of Scots, and he was created earl in 1564 to make him a more acceptable husband. In the end, his second wife was Lettice Knollys, widow of the 1st earl of Essex (1578). He died in September 1588 soon after taking charge of the army at Tilbury against the Spanish Armada.
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JOHN CANNON. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-LeicesterRobertDdly1strlf.html JOHN CANNON. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-LeicesterRobertDdly1strlf.html |
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Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of (1532–88) English courtier. He was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who ennobled him and gave him a castle at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. Marriage to Elizabeth seemed possible, but instead Elizabeth proposed his marriage to Mary, who rejected him. Leicester unsuccessfully led (1585–87) an English force in the Revolt of the Netherlands against Spain.
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"Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-LeicesterRobertDudleyErlf.html "Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-LeicesterRobertDudleyErlf.html |
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Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of
Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of (?1532–88), the favourite of Elizabeth I, figures in Scott's Kenilworth as the husband of the unfortunate Amy Robsart.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-LeicesterRobertDudleyerlf.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-LeicesterRobertDudleyerlf.html |
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Robert Dudley
Robert Dudley see Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of . |
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"Robert Dudley." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Robert Dudley." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-DudleyR.html "Robert Dudley." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-DudleyR.html |
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Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of
Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of See DUDLEY, ROBERT.
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Cite this article
"Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-LeicesterRobertDdly1strlf.html "Leicester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-LeicesterRobertDdly1strlf.html |
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