Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

• 1. Introduction

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  Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, once walked into Queen Elizabeth's bedchamber at Nonsuch Palace one morning. She was not yet, in the words of one account, "properly wigged or gowned." It was an act of extraordinary presumption. Only a man convinced he was untouchable would have attempted it. Essex had spent much of his adult life as a court favourite, rising further and faster than almost anyone around him. He had also built a name for himself as a soldier on campaigns across Europe. Yet within a few years of that startling intrusion, he gathered an armed following against the very government he served. What carried a young courtier so close to a queen's affection into open rebellion against her? And how did a family already tied to royal favour end with the earl locked inside the Tower of London?

• 2. Bound to the Crown

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  Robert Devereux was born on the 10th of November 1565 at Netherwood in Herefordshire. He was the eldest son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and Lettice Knollys. Lettice was a close friend of Queen Elizabeth and served as her Maid of the Privy Chamber. The boy was presumably named after his godfather, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the queen's own favourite for many years. Through his mother's side, his great-grandmother Mary Boleyn was a sister of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother. That made the young Devereux a first cousin twice removed of the queen he would later serve.

  Devereux grew up at Chartley in Staffordshire with two older sisters, Penelope and Dorothy, and a younger brother, Walter. Another brother, Francis, died soon after birth. From 1573 his father spent much of his time in Ireland, pursuing a scheme to colonise Ulster. Walter Devereux died in September 1576, and the ten-year-old Robert became the 2nd Earl of Essex and a ward of the Crown. Lord Burghley, as Master of the Court of Wards, took chief responsibility for the boy's welfare. Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, and Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, also helped raise him.

  A report from November 1576 described the young earl as "very courteous and modest, rather disposed to hear than to answer, given greatly to learning, weak and tender, but very comely and beautiful." By then he could already speak Latin and French. His father's death had also crippled the family's finances, leaving the boy £18,000 in debt. The family's legal advisor, Richard Broughton, managed the estate while Essex remained a minor.

  In January 1577 Essex left Chartley for London, staying first at Lord Burghley's residence, Cecil House. He also spent time at Theobalds, Burghley's estate in Hertfordshire, where he met Burghley's son, Robert Cecil. He was tutored first by Thomas Ashton, headmaster of Shrewsbury School, and then by Ashton's protégé, Robert Wright. In early May 1577 Essex entered Trinity College, Cambridge. He matriculated by 1579 and graduated with a Master of Arts in 1581, then spent four years travelling the English countryside.

  That aimless stretch would not last much longer. Within a few years, pressure from his mother would push him toward the one place his family's connections had always pointed.

• 3. Rise of a Royal Favourite

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  In 1585 Essex came under pressure from his mother to establish himself as a courtier. He joined the entourage of his new stepfather, the Earl of Leicester, whom Lettice had married in 1578. Leicester took him to the royal court in September 1585 and became a significant patron. He instilled in his stepson a sense of unity with fellow Protestants across Europe. At first Essex went largely unnoticed by the queen, who was preoccupied with the Anglo-Spanish War and the Eighty Years' War.

  Everything changed after Essex returned to England as a war hero in late October 1586. Elizabeth, no less susceptible to charm than any other woman at court, found his attention a welcome distraction. She had been anxious over the impending execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Leicester, a former favourite himself, backed Essex to further his own interests and to weaken his rival, Walter Raleigh. By May 1587 Essex was a constant companion of the queen, riding and walking with her all summer. One observer noted that he did not return to his own lodging "tyll the birdes singe in the morninge."

  A furious argument broke out between Essex and Elizabeth in July 1587, after he criticised her attachment to Raleigh. Essex rode off toward the Siege of Sluis in apparent defiance. A courtier the queen had sent after him stopped him at the coast, and he suffered no real consequence, returning to court within days. Leicester then persuaded Elizabeth to appoint Essex Master of the Horse, a post guaranteeing close attendance on her and raising his pay by about £1,500 a year. She also granted him the use of York House. In April 1588 Oxford made him an honorary Master of Arts, and he was elected a Knight of the Garter.

  Leicester's death in September 1588 left Essex briefly directionless and his family's finances exposed. It also sharpened his rivalry with Raleigh; the two nearly fought a duel in late December 1588 before Elizabeth and the Privy Council intervened. Essex's fortunes soon recovered. In January 1589 he was granted Leicester's lucrative monopoly on sweet wines, income that became vital to his finances. He also negotiated the lease on Leicester House, renamed Essex House by 1593. Around this time he grew close to the lawyer Francis Bacon, who by July 1591 was acting as his confidential adviser. In February 1593 Essex was made a member of the Privy Council.

  Despite this favour, Essex remained restless as a courtier. He viewed military service as the highest form of loyalty to the crown and consistently sought opportunities to fight. He hoped each campaign would bring further reward from the queen. His poor sense of how warfare and court politics intersected became a major factor in his eventual downfall. He also privately considered himself more capable of governing the country than what he saw as an outdated queen.

  That confidence would soon carry him across the Channel, into some of the era's fiercest fighting.

• 4. Essex at War

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  Essex first tested himself as a soldier through a military apprenticeship in the Spanish Netherlands, granted by Leicester. There he was appointed colonel-general of the English cavalry, a prestigious post that marked him as Leicester's chosen protégé. In September 1586, at the Battle of Zutphen, Essex and his horsemen attacked a far larger Spanish force. The feat earned him a knighthood as knight-banneret from Leicester himself. Philip Sidney, Leicester's nephew and a beloved courtier, was mortally wounded in the same battle. Sidney bequeathed one of his finest swords to Essex, passing him the roles of England's Protestant champion and Leicester's right-hand man.

  When the Spanish Armada threatened England in July and August of 1588, Elizabeth made Essex overall commander of the cavalry in Leicester's army. She reportedly said she did not want Essex discontented. This gave him his pick of the largest and best-equipped private units in the English forces. In April 1589 Essex joined an English expedition led by John Norris and Francis Drake. It supported António, Prior of Crato, a claimant to the Portuguese throne, and Essex sailed without Elizabeth's permission.

  On the 22nd of July 1591 Essex received a royal patent to lead an army of 4,000 men into France, supporting King Henry of Navarre. From November 1591 he joined Henry in an attempt to besiege Rouen. During the siege he challenged the French admiral, the Duke of Villars, to single combat. Elizabeth rebuked him for it. It was improper, she said, for "a noble man and a peer of this realm by birth" to challenge "a mere rebel." Essex's brother Walter was killed during the long siege, and Essex and Henry were eventually forced to retreat. Essex returned to the English court on the 14th of January 1592.

  By June and July of 1596 Essex had distinguished himself through the capture of Cadiz, a victory that made him a celebrity among London's elite. During the Islands Voyage to the Azores in 1597, with Raleigh as his second-in-command, Essex defied the queen's orders. He chased the Spanish treasure fleet before first defeating the Spanish battle fleet. When the Third Spanish Armada appeared off the English coast in October 1597, the English fleet was far out to sea. The coast lay almost undefended, causing widespread panic. The episode further strained his relationship with Elizabeth, even though he was briefly given full command of the fleet days later. A storm ultimately scattered the Spanish ships; the English captured several vessels, and the rest withdrew.

  His reputation as a battlefield commander was now considerable. It would soon be tested against an enemy far closer to home.

• 5. The Irish Disaster

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  Since 1593, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had led a confederacy of Irish lords resisting the Tudor conquest of Ireland. Their victory at the Battle of the Yellow Ford in August 1598 set off rebellion across the country. The deaths of Lord Deputy Thomas Burgh and Marshal Henry Bagenal left the English administration without clear leadership. Elizabeth and her Privy Council were deeply alarmed.

  Francis Bacon advised Essex in early 1598 to seek the leadership role in Ireland. Essex showed little enthusiasm, since the posting offered few honours to be won. The question of who should become the new Lord Deputy sparked one of the most notorious arguments between Essex and Elizabeth. She wanted his uncle, William Knollys, sent instead, while Essex pushed for George Carew, largely to remove Carew from court. During the dispute Essex turned his back on the queen, and she cuffed him on the ear, prompting him to reach for his sword. After weeks of hesitation, Elizabeth appointed Essex Lord Deputy of Ireland in December 1598. He reportedly boasted, "by God, I will beat Tyrone in the field, for nothing worthy of her Majesty's honour hath yet been achieved."

  Essex landed in Ireland on the 15th of April 1599 with 17,000 troops and 1,500 horses, the largest English army ever sent to the country. He had promised the Privy Council he would confront O'Neill directly in Ulster. Instead, Essex marched into southern Ireland, fighting a string of inconclusive skirmishes. He dispersed his forces into garrisons and burned through his funds. Meanwhile the Irish won two significant battles elsewhere, and many of Essex's soldiers died from illness and combat alike.

  Only in late August, after harsh criticism from the queen, did Essex finally move toward Ulster to face Tyrone directly. By then his army had shrunk to just 4,500 men, far fewer than Tyrone's force, and Tyrone declined to give battle. On the 5th of September Tyrone requested a parley. Essex, true to his stubborn streak, only agreed after being asked three times. The queen later told him that if she had wanted to abandon Ireland, she would hardly have needed to send him there at all.

  Throughout the campaign Essex secured loyalty by knighting his officers, an honour the queen normally dispensed sparingly. By its end, more than half the knights in England owed their rank to him. Elizabeth later ritually stripped the 38 knights he had created in Ireland of their titles. The rebels themselves joked that "he never drew sword but to make knights." Essex also served as the second Chancellor of the University of Dublin, from 1598 to 1601.

  None of it would matter once Essex decided to abandon his post and sail for England without the queen's leave.

• 6. Confinement and Conspiracy

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  Relying on a general warrant issued under the great seal, Essex sailed from Ireland on the 24th of September 1599. He reached London four days later. The Privy Council met three times that day, and it briefly seemed his disobedience would go unpunished. Elizabeth confined him to his rooms instead, remarking that "an unruly beast must be stopped of his provender."

  On the 29th of September Essex was made to stand before the full Council through a five-hour interrogation. The Council, which included his uncle William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury, took only a quarter of an hour to reach its conclusion. It declared his truce with O'Neill indefensible and his flight from Ireland tantamount to desertion. On the 1st of October he was placed in the custody of Sir Richard Berkeley at his own York House. He blamed both Cecil and Raleigh for turning the queen against him, while Raleigh urged Cecil to make sure Essex never regained power.

  During his confinement at York House, Essex likely made contact with King James VI of Scotland through Baron Mountjoy. Nothing came of any scheme to help James claim the English throne. That October, Mountjoy was appointed to replace Essex in Ireland. By November the queen herself had remarked that the truce with O'Neill was "so seasonably made" that "great good... has grown by it." That comment gave some in the Council grounds to defend his early return.

  Cecil kept up the pressure regardless. On the 5th of June 1600 Essex was tried before a commission of 18 men, forced to hear the charges against him on his knees. He was convicted, stripped of his public office, and returned to a state of virtual confinement. His freedom was restored that August, but his main financial lifeline, granted to him years earlier, was not renewed.

  With that income gone, Essex's situation turned desperate. By his own account, he shifted "from sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion." In early 1601 he began fortifying Essex House, his mansion on the Strand, gathering armed followers around him. Some of those followers would later take part in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.

  On the morning of the 8th of February 1601, Essex marched out of Essex House with a party of nobles and gentlemen. He entered the city of London to force an audience with the queen. Cecil immediately had him proclaimed a traitor, and a force under John Leveson threw up a barrier at Ludgate Hill. When Essex's men tried to break through, his stepfather Christopher Blount was wounded in the skirmish. Essex retreated with his men to Essex House and surrendered once Crown forces laid siege to the building.

  Eleven days later he would stand before his peers to answer for it.

• 7. Trial and Execution

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  On the 19th of February 1601, Essex was tried before his peers on charges of treason. The indictment accused him of conspiring in London "to depose and slay the queen, and to subvert the Government." It also charged that he had "endeavoured to raise himself to the Crown of England, and usurp the royal dignity." Essex was further accused of persuading citizens of London to join his rebellion. He was also charged with holding the Lord Keeper and other Privy Councillors captive "for four hours and more."

  Part of the evidence at trial suggested Essex actually favoured tolerating religious dissent. He swore that "papists have been hired and suborned to witness against me." Essex further claimed Cecil had once said only the Infanta of Spain had a rightful claim to the English crown. Cecil, listening from behind a doorway curtain, stepped out to deny it dramatically on his knees, thanking God for the chance to clear his name. His uncle, William Knollys, was called as a witness. He confirmed only that such a claim had once been read aloud in Cecil's presence, from a book favouring a Catholic successor. Knollys denied that Cecil himself had said it. Essex was found guilty.

  Essex begged to be executed privately rather than before a crowd on Tower Hill, and his request was granted. On the morning of the 25th of February 1601, he was led into a courtyard within the Tower before a small audience that included Walter Raleigh as a witness. After praying and removing his cap and coat, Essex signalled he was ready. It took the executioner, Thomas Derrick, three strokes to complete the beheading. Derrick then held up the head and proclaimed, "God save the Queen!"

  Derrick himself had once been convicted of rape and was pardoned by Essex on condition he become an executioner at Tyburn. At the same proceeding, Raleigh denied having stood at a window smoking tobacco within view of the condemned earl. Essex startled onlookers by naming his own sister, Penelope, Lady Rich, as a co-conspirator, though the queen chose to ignore the accusation. He was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on Tower Green. When Elizabeth was told of his death she was playing the virginals; she paused, then resumed playing.

  Days before the execution, a Captain Thomas Lee had been caught keeping watch on the door to the queen's chambers. His plan had been to hold her until she signed a warrant releasing Essex. Lee had served alongside Essex in Ireland and acted as a go-between with the Ulster rebels. He was tried and put to death the following day. Essex's conviction forfeited the earldom, and his son did not inherit the title. King James I restored it in 1603, following Elizabeth's death, in favour of Robert Devereux, the 3rd Earl of Essex.

  That restored title carried the Devereux name forward, even as stories about the earl's final days took on a life of their own.

• 8. Legends and a Poet's Voice

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  One story holds that Elizabeth gave Essex a ring after his expedition to Cadiz. She reportedly told him to send it back to her if he ever fell into serious trouble. According to the version recorded by historian David Hume, Essex tried to send the ring to the queen. He did so through the Countess of Nottingham after his trial. She kept it back instead, because her husband was Essex's enemy, and he was executed as a result. On her deathbed, the countess is said to have confessed this to Elizabeth, who replied, "May God forgive you, Madam, but I never can." A gold ring held today in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey is claimed to be the very object.

  Historians including John Lingard, Lytton Strachey, and Alison Weir have all dismissed the ring story as fiction. They point to the absence of any account of it from the period itself. The earliest hint of the legend appears in John Webster's 1623 play The Devil's Law Case. Its first full telling was printed in an anonymous 1695 romantic novel about Elizabeth and Essex. The tale later became the basis for Gaetano Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux. The opera added an affair between Essex and Lady Nottingham to explain her husband's betrayal and the queen's withdrawal of support at the trial.

  In 1590 Essex had secretly married Frances Walsingham, the daughter of Francis Walsingham and widow of Philip Sidney. Of their several children, three survived into adulthood, including his heir, Robert Devereux, who became the 3rd Earl of Essex. Beyond his marriage, Essex was also known to have carried on affairs with several women at court. He had an illegitimate son with his mistress, Elizabeth Southwell.

  Like many Elizabethan aristocrats, Essex also wrote lyric poetry and took part in court entertainments. He used verse at times to needle his rivals: his poem "Muses no more but mazes" openly attacks Raleigh's hold over the queen. Another sonnet, "Seated between the old world and the new," praised Elizabeth as a moral power linking Europe and America. During his later disgrace he turned to bitter, pessimistic verse. His longest poem, "The Passion of a Discontented Mind," was likely written while he awaited execution.

  Composer John Dowland set one of Essex's poems, "Can she excuse my wrongs with virtue's cloak?" in his 1597 collection First Booke of Songs. Dowland later set the opening lines of "The Passion of a Discontented Mind" in a 1612 collection. Orlando Gibbons set other lines from the same poem that same year. Further settings of Essex's verse appeared in the 1610 collection A Musicall Banquet. His death also inspired popular ballads set to English folk tunes, and he is briefly referenced in Shakespeare's Henry V.

  Centuries later, Lytton Strachey would still be drawn to write an entire book about him, Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History, proof the earl's story never quite stopped being told.