Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his Hospital: Military Identity, Veterans and the Elizabethan Church, 1571–1603

This article uses the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick, named after its founder, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, as a case study to explore the complex relationship between the church and the military in Elizabethan England. It argues that Leicester conceived of his almshouse as a godly military political project. The earl stated that he wished for ex-soldiers to be among the groups of the poor prioritized for admission. The article situates Leicester’s hospital, with its puritan agenda and military identity, at the centre of two of the biggest sources of controversy within Elizabethan politics and society. It demonstrates that the Lord Leycester Hospital embodied a contested relationship between the church and the military by examining the context surrounding its foundation and the wider background of the Dudley ascendancy in Warwickshire; the hospital’s internal governance; and finally, the tenure of Thomas Cartwright, the prominent puritan theologian, who served as the master.