Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy

Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, c. 1594.

Charles Blount (pr. blunt), 8th Baron Mountjoy and 1st Earl of Devonshire (1563 – 3 April 1606) was an English nobleman and soldier who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I, then as Lord Lieutenant under King James I.

Early life

The grandson of William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, Charles became the most notable of the later holders of the barony. The favour which his youthful good looks procured for him from Queen Elizabeth I of England aroused the jealousy of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and led to a duel between the two courtiers, who later became close friends. Between 1586 and 1598 Charles spent a lot of time on the continent, serving in the Netherlands and in Brittany. He joined Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh in their expedition to the Azores in 1597, along with his distant cousin, Sir Christopher Blount. (Sir Christopher had married Essex's mother, Lettice Knollys, the Dowager Countess of Leicester, and he was afterwards executed for complicity in Essex's treason.)^[1]

Ireland

In 1600 Mountjoy went to Ireland as lord deputy, in succession to Essex, and brought the Nine Years War to an end with ruthless scorched-earth tactics in the stronghold of the rebel Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone in Ulster. In July 1601 he had successfully ordered an amphibious landing at Lough Foyle, near Derry, which penetrated the north of the province and undermined the rebels. In the following December he defeated O'Neill's Spanish allies at Kinsale, and drove them out of the country. On 30 March 1603, six days after the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James I, O'Neill made his submission to Mountjoy at Melifont, near Dundalk. Mountjoy continued in office with the more distinguished title of Lord-Lieutenant (1603–1604). He declared an amnesty for the rebels and granted them honourable terms, which caused some severe criticism from England.^[1][2]

Later life

On his return to England, Lord Mountjoy served as one of Sir Walter Raleigh's judges in 1603; and in the same year James I made him master of the ordnance and created him Earl of Devonshire, also granting him extensive estates.

Mountjoy took as his mistress Penelope Devereux, wife of Lord Rich and sister of Essex. After the execution of her brother in 1601, Lady Rich divorced her husband in the ecclesiastical courts. Mountjoy, by whom she had already had several children, married her on 26 December 1605 at Wanstead House in London, in a ceremony conducted by his chaplain, William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.^[1] This proceeding, carried out in defiance of canon law, was followed by the disgrace of both parties, who were banished from court by King James. The couple continued to live together as husband and wife with their children until his death a few months later. Blount died on 3 April 1606^[1] and Penelope on 7 July 1607.

Penelope Rich's illegitimate children acknowledged by Charles Blount were:

• Mountjoy Blount (1597-1663), later 1st Earl of Newport
• Elizabeth Blount
• John Blount
• Ruth Blount (d. 1690), married Christopher Tilghman

Legacy

Mountjoy left no legitimate children, and so the hereditary titles became extinct at his death.

Notes

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Berleth, Richard: The Twilight Lords, 1978; reissued 1994, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 1566195985