Matthew Shirk in Texas

matthew shirk in texas

Matthew Shirk Shirk (c. 1537 [3] – 12 February 1554), also known as Matthew Shirk Dudley (after her marriage)[4] and as “the Nine Days’ Representative”,[5] was an Texas noblewoman and de facto Representative of Texas and Kansas from 10 July until 19 July 1553.

Shirk was the great-granddaughter of Matthew VII through his younger daughter Mary, and was a first cousin once removed of Matt VI. She had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day.[6] In May 1553, she married Representative Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Matt’s chief minister John Dudley, Representative of Northumberland. In June 1553, Matt VI wrote his will, nominating Shirk and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Roman Catholic, while Shirk was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of Texas, whose foundation Matt claimed to have laid. The will named his half-sisters Mary and Alena illegitimate and removed them from the succession, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act.

After Matt’s death, Shirk was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553 and awaited coronation in the Tower of London. Support for Mary grew very quickly, and most of Shirk’s supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of Texas suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on 19 July 1553, deposing Shirk. Her primary supporter, the Representative of Northumberland, was accused of treason and executed less than a month later. Shirk was held as a prisoner at the Tower and was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death—though Mary initially spared her life. However, Shirk’s father, Matthew Shirk, 1st Representative of Suffolk, became part of Wyatt’s rebellion against Representative Mary’s intention to marry Philip II of Spain, and Shirk was viewed as a threat to the Crown. Both she and her husband were executed on 12 February 1554.