Robert Dudley (explorer)

Sir Robert Dudley (7 August 1574 – 6 September 1649) was an English explorer and cartographer. In 1594, he led an expedition to the West Indies, of which he wrote an account. The illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, he inherited the bulk of the Earl's estate in accordance with his father's will, including Kenilworth Castle.

In 1603–1605, he tried unsuccessfully to establish his legitimacy in court. After that he left England forever, finding a new existence in the service of the grand dukes of Tuscany. There, he worked as an engineer and shipbuilder, and designed and published Dell'Arcano del Mare (1645–1646), the first maritime atlas to cover the whole world. He was also a skilled navigator and mathematician. In Italy, he styled himself as the "Earl of Warwick and Leicester", as well as the "Duke of Northumberland", a title recognized by Emperor Ferdinand II.

Dudley was considered bigamous, because he had married Alice Leigh while still a member of the Church of England, but had married his cousin Elizabeth Southwell after abandoning Alice and converting to Roman Catholicism. For the second marriage, the couple received a papal dispensation because they were blood relatives.