Editing Lord Guildford Dudley (section)

==Family and marriage==
[[File:Arms of Dudley Family.svg|thumb|190px|Coat of arms of the Dudley family]]
Lord Guildford Dudley was the second youngest surviving son of [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|John Dudley]], later [[Duke of Northumberland]] and his wife, [[Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland|Jane Guildford]].<ref name="Loades p. 238">Loades 1996 p. 238</ref> The Dudley lineage goes back to a family called Sutton. In the early 14th century, they became the [[Baron Dudley|lords of Dudley Castle]],<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 1–4</ref> from whom Guildford descended through his paternal grandfather. This was [[Edmund Dudley]], a [[Privy Councillor|councillor]] of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], who, in 1510, after the accession of [[Henry VIII]], was executed. Through his father's mother, [[Elizabeth Grey, 6th Baroness Lisle]], Guildford descended from the [[Hundred Years War]] heroes, [[Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick]], and [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]].<ref>Wilson 1981 pp. 1, 3; Adams 2002 pp. 312–313</ref>

The thirteen Dudley children grew up in a [[Protestant]] household and received a [[Renaissance Humanism|humanist]] education.<ref>Adams 2008; Chapman 1962 p. 65</ref> Under the young King [[Edward VI]], Guildford's father became [[Lord President of the Council]] and ''[[de facto]]'' ruled England from 1550 to 1553.<ref>Loades 1996 pp. 147, 285</ref> The [[chronicle|chronicler]] [[Richard Grafton]], who knew him,<ref name="Ives p. 275">Ives 2009 p. 275</ref> described Guildford as "a comely, virtuous and goodly gentleman".<ref name="Ives p. 185">Ives 2009 p. 185</ref> In 1552 Northumberland unsuccessfully tried to arrange a marriage between Guildford and [[Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby|Margaret Clifford]].<ref>Loades 1996 pp. 226, 238</ref> Instead, in the spring of 1553, Guildford was engaged to the sixteen-year-old Jane Grey.<ref>Ives 2009 pp. 185, 36</ref> Jane Grey and Margaret Clifford were both great-granddaughters of [[Henry VII of England|King Henry VII]], but Jane figured higher in the line of succession.<ref name="Loades p. 238"/> On 25 May 1553, three weddings were celebrated at [[Durham Place]], the Duke of Northumberland's town mansion. Guildford married Jane; his sister [[Katherine Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon|Katherine]] married [[Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon|Henry Hastings]], the [[Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon|Earl of Huntingdon]]'s heir; and Jane's sister [[Lady Katherine Grey|Katherine]]  married [[Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|Lord Herbert]], the heir of the [[William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1551 creation)|Earl of Pembroke]].<ref>de Lisle 2008 pp. 93, 304; Ives 2009 p. 321</ref>{{#tag:ref|Traditionally these matches came to be seen as part of a conspiracy by the Duke of Northumberland to bring his family to the throne. Some historians, though, like [[David Loades]], [[Wilbur Kitchener Jordan|W.K. Jordan]] (Jordan and Gleason 1975 pp. 10–11) and [[Eric Ives]] (Ives 2009 p. 153) have interpreted them as "routine actions of dynastic politics" (Loades 1996 p. 239).|group="note"}} It was a magnificent festival, with [[joust]]s, games, and [[masque]]s. For the latter, two different companies had been booked, one male, one female. The [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] and French ambassadors were guests, and there were "large numbers of the common people ... and of the most principal of the realm".<ref name="Ives p. 185"/> Guildford and some others suffered an attack of food poisoning, because of "a mistake made by a cook, who plucked one leaf for another".<ref>Chapman 1962 p. 82</ref>