| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Robert Devereux 2nd earl of Essex |
For more information on Robert Devereux 2nd earl of Essex, visit Britannica.com.
| 5min Related Video: Devereux, Robert |
| Biography: Robert Devereux, 2d Earl of Essex |
The English courtier Robert Devereux, 2d Earl of Essex (1567-1601), was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. However, his extravagance and desire for glory compromised his delicate position in the power structure.
Robert Devereux was born on Nov. 10, 1567, at Netherwood, Herefordshire, the eldest son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and his wife, Lettice Knollys. His father died when the boy was only 9, and he was placed under the guardianship of the powerful Lord Burghley, the Queen's chief counselor. Already the financial affairs of the family were much embarrassed. Essex was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and received a master of arts degree on July 6, 1581.
Career at Court
Although Essex first appeared at court at Christmas 1577, it was not until 1584 that his stepfather, the Earl of Leicester, induced him to enter the court seriously. It was noted that his "innate courtesy" and "goodly person" soon made him popular. In August 1585 Essex was appointed general of the horse in the expedition under Leicester to aid the Netherlands in its revolt against Spain. His gallantry in the battle of Zutphen (Sept. 21, 1586) was rewarded with the dignity of a knight banneret.
In 1587 Essex returned to court. He was now a handsome young man of 20 and very clearly had the Queen's favor. A friend remarked how the Queen and Essex were frequently together and how "he cometh not to his own lodging till birds sing in the morning." It is from this period that Essex's rivalry with Sir Walter Raleigh stemmed. It is clear that Leicester was pushing Essex forward in an attempt to reduce Raleigh's influence with the Queen.
Military Expeditions
In 1589, dissatisfied with his position at court, Essex joined a naval expedition in support of Don Antonio, a claimant to the throne of Portugal. Essex distinguished himself in this campaign, but the Queen initially showed great displeasure at his departure. On his return home he was able to effect a reconciliation, but for the moment he took little prominent part in home affairs. Essex married Sir Philip Sidney's widow in 1590.
In 1591 Essex was granted a commission to command an expedition to France in support of Henry of Navarre. Though he showed "true valor and discretion," he accomplished little and was recalled in January 1592. For the next 4 years Essex remained at home and sought to build a position of domestic power. He became a privy councilor in 1593 and was regularly in attendance in the House of Lords. Increasingly he found himself in a power struggle with Burghley's son, Robert Cecil, and he began to gather around him those opposed to the dominance of the Cecil family. He found a valuable ally in Francis Bacon, who became his political adviser. By 1595 Essex seemed to be making a rapid advance in power and position.
Cadiz Expedition
In 1596 Essex came out strongly in favor of an attack on the shipping in Spanish ports, and after some delay he was made commander of the land forces for the expedition. He played a prominent role in the capture of Cadiz and emerged as the popular hero of the expedition. The Queen, however, was suspicious of military leaders whose fame might rival her own. His rivals, especially Sir Robert Cecil, were able to exploit this fact to undermine his domestic position while he was abroad. Essex attempted a reconciliation with the Cecil faction and secured the command of another naval expedition against Spain, this time to the Azores, but his peaceful relations with the court were shortlived. While the country increasingly sought peace, Essex was identified as a leader of the war party.
Meanwhile the situation in Ireland had grown critical. A rebellion led by the Earl of Tyrone threatened to overthrow the English dominance. After failing to secure the mastership of the wards in 1598, Essex accepted command of the army in Ireland. It was a great risk, for Ireland had been the graveyard of many a Tudor statesman's reputation. The gamble failed; the council was slow to send supplies, and Essex found himself committed to a long campaign. In defiance of the Queen he left his command in 1599 and returned to England. This action caused his situation to deteriorate even further. In June 1600 a special tribunal removed his offices.
Rebellion against Elizabeth
With the whole structure of his personal patronage collapsing, Essex took one last desperate gamble. He fostered a plot for an armed rising that would force the Queen to take on new advisers. On Feb. 8, 1601, Essex and some 200 followers attempted to ignite the rebellion in London. No one rallied to their cause, and the rebellion died stillborn. Essex was brought to trial and quickly condemned. On February 25 he was executed despite evident popular regret at his fall.
Further Reading
The best modern study of Essex is Robert Lacey, Robert, Earl of Essex (1971). See also G. B. Harrison, The Life and Death of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (1937). Lytton Strachey, Elizabeth and Essex (1928), has some interesting insights. Recommended for general historical background are John B. Black, The Reign of Elizabeth, 1558-1603 (1936; 2d ed. 1959); Stanley T. Bindoff, Tudor England (1950); A. L. Rowse, The England of Elizabeth: The Structure of Society (1951); James A. Williamson, The Tudor Age (1953); Geoffrey R. Elton, England under the Tudors (1955); and A. L. Rowse, The Expansion of Elizabethan England (1955).
| British History: Robert Devereux Essex |
Essex, Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of (1566-1601). Courtier. Essex served under his stepfather Leicester at Zutphen in 1586 and was knighted for gallantry. From 1587 he was Elizabeth's master of horse and was given the Garter in 1588. After his capture of Cadiz in 1596 his success seemed assured. But a second expedition in 1597 was unproductive, and his short spell as lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1599 was disastrous. Instead of subduing Tyrone as he had vowed, Essex met him for private negotiations. When Essex returned to England in express defiance of Elizabeth's orders, he was disgraced. His half-hearted attempt at a palace coup in 1600 led to his execution.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Robert Devereux, 2d earl of Essex |
Bibliography
See biography by R. Lacey (1971); L. Strachey, Elizabeth and Essex (1928, repr. 1969).
| Wikipedia: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex |
| Robert Devereux | |
|---|---|
 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, after Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger |
|
| Born | November 10, 1565 Netherwood near Bromyard, Herefordshire, England |
| Died | February 25, 1601 (aged 35) Tower of London |
| Cause of death | Execution by beheading |
| Resting place | Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, London |
| Title | 2nd Earl of Essex |
| Tenure | 1576-1601 |
| Known for | Favourite of Elizabeth I |
| Nationality | English |
| Residence | Essex House, London |
| Wars and battles | Dutch revolt Spanish Armada English Armada Capture of Cadiz Azores expedition, 1597 Nine Years War |
| Offices | Master of the Horse Privy Councillor Earl Marshal Master-General of the Ordnance Lord Lieutenant of Ireland |
| Predecessor | Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex |
| Successor | Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Walsingham |
| Issue | Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex |
| Parents | Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex Lettice Knollys |
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (10 November 1565[1] – 25 February 1601), was a military hero and royal favourite of Elizabeth I, but following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599, he failed in a coup d'état against the queen and was executed for treason.
Contents |
Essex was born on 10 November 1565 at Netherwood near Bromyard, in Herefordshire, the son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and Lettice Knollys. His maternal great-grandmother Mary Boleyn was a sister of Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth I, making him a cousin of the Queen, and there were rumours that his grandmother, Catherine Carey, a close friend of Queen Elizabeth's, was Henry VIII's illegitimate daughter.[2]
He was brought up on his father's estates at Chartley Castle, Staffordshire and at Lamphey, Pembrokeshire in Wales and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.[3] His father died in 1576, The new Earl of Essex became a ward of Lord Burghley. On 21 September 1578 his mother married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth I's long-standing favourite and Robert Devereux's godfather.[4]
Essex performed military service under his stepfather in the Netherlands, before making an impact at court and winning the Queen's favour. In 1590 he married Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham and widow of Sir Philip Sidney, by whom he was to have several children, three of whom survived into adulthood. Sidney, Leicester's nephew, died at the Battle of Zutphen in which Essex also distinguished himself.
Essex first came to court in 1584, and by 1587 had become a favourite of the Queen, who relished his lively mind and eloquence, as well as his skills as a showman and in courtly love. In June 1587 he replaced the Earl of Leicester as Master of the Horse.[6]
He underestimated the Queen, however, and his later behaviour towards her lacked due respect and showed disdain for the influence of her principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, the Queen reportedly cuffed an insolent Essex round the ear, prompting him to draw his sword on her.
After Leicester's death in 1588, the Queen transferred to Essex the royal monopoly on sweet wines, which the late Earl had held; by this Essex could profit from collecting taxes.
In 1589, he took part in Sir Francis Drake's English Armada, which sailed to Iberia in an unsuccessful attempt to press home the English advantage following the defeat of the Spanish Armada; the Queen had ordered him not to take part in the expedition, but he only returned upon the failure to take Lisbon. In 1591, he was given command of a force sent to the assistance of King Henry IV of France. In 1596, he distinguished himself by the capture of Cadiz. During the Islands Voyage expedition to the Azores in 1597, with Sir Walter Raleigh as his second in command, he defied the Queen's orders, pursuing the treasure fleet without first defeating the Spanish battle fleet.
Essex's greatest failure was as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post which he talked himself into in 1599. The Nine Years War (1595–1603) was in its middle stages, and no English commander had been successful. More military force was required to defeat the Irish chieftains, led by Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, and supplied from Spain and Scotland.
Essex led the largest expeditionary force ever sent to Ireland — 16,000 troops — with orders to put an end to the rebellion. He departed London to the cheers of the Queen's subjects, and it was expected that the rebellion would be crushed instantly. But the limits of Crown resources and of the Irish campaigning season dictated another course. Essex had declared to the Privy Council that he would confront O'Neill in Ulster. But instead, Essex led his army into southern Ireland, fought a series of inconclusive engagements, wasted his funds, and dispersed his army into garrisons. The Irish forces then won several victories. Instead of facing O'Neill in battle, Essex had to make a truce with the rebel leader that was considered humiliating to the Crown and to the detriment of English authority.
In all of his campaigns, Essex secured the loyalties of his officers by conferring knighthoods, an honour which the Queen herself dispensed sparingly. By the end of his time in Ireland, more than half the knights in England owed their rank to Essex. The rebels were said to have joked that "he never drew sword but to make knights." But his practice of conferring knighthoods could in time enable Essex to challenge the powerful factions at Cecil's command.
He was the second Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, serving from 1598 to 1601.
Relying on his general warrant to return to England, given under the great seal, Essex sailed from Ireland on 24 September 1599, and reached London four days later. The Queen had expressly forbidden his return and was surprised when he presented himself in her bedchamber one morning at Nonsuch Palace, before she was properly wigged or gowned. On that day, the Privy Council met three times, and it seemed his disobedience might go unpunished, although the Queen did confine him to his rooms with the comment that "an unruly beast must be stopped of his provender."
Essex appeared before the full Council on 29 September, when he was compelled to stand before the Council during a five hour interrogation. The Council — his uncle William Knollys included — took a quarter of an hour to compile a report, which declared that his truce with O'Neill was indefensible and his flight from Ireland tantamount to a desertion of duty. He was committed to custody in his own York House on 1 October, and he blamed Cecil and Raleigh for the queen's hostility. Raleigh advised Cecil to see to it that Essex did not recover power, and Essex appeared to heed advice to retire from public life, despite his popularity with the public.
During his confinement at York House, Essex probably communicated with King James VI of Scotland through Lord Mountjoy, although any plans he may have had at that time to help the Scots king capture the English throne came to nothing. In October, Mountjoy was appointed to replace him in Ireland, and matters seemed to look up for the Earl. In November, the queen was reported to have said that the truce with O'Neill was "so seasonably made… as great good… has grown by it." Others in the Council were willing to justify Essex's return to Ireland, on the grounds of the urgent necessity of a briefing by the commander-in-chief.
Cecil kept up the pressure and, on 5 June 1600, Essex was tried before a commission of 18 men. He had to hear the charges and evidence on his knees. Essex was convicted, was deprived of public office, and was returned to virtual confinement.
In August, his freedom was granted, but the source of his basic income—the sweet wines monopoly—was not renewed. His situation had become desperate,and he shifted "from sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion." In early 1601, he began to fortify York House and gather his followers. On the morning of 8 February, he marched out of York House with a party of nobles and gentlemen (some later involved in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot) and entered the city of London in an attempt to force an audience with the Queen. Cecil immediately had him proclaimed a traitor. Finding no support among the Londoners, Essex retreated from the city, and surrendered after the Crown forces besieged York House.
On 19 February 1601, Essex was tried before his peers on charges of treason. Part of the evidence showed that he was in favour of toleration of religious dissent. In his own evidence, he countered the charge of dealing with Catholics, swearing that "papists have been hired and suborned to witness against me." Essex also asserted that Cecil had stated that none in the world but the Infanta of Spain had right to the Crown of England, whereupon Cecil (who had been following the trial at a doorway concealed behind some tapestry) stepped out to make a dramatic denial, going down on his knees to give thanks to God for the opportunity. The witness whom Essex expected to confirm this allegation, his uncle William Knollys, was called and admitted there had once been read in Cecil's presence a book treating such matters (possibly either The book of succession supposedly by an otherwise unknown R. Doleman but probably really by Robert Persons or A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England explicitly mentioned to be by Parsons, in which a Catholic successor friendly to Spain was favored). Essex, however, denied he had heard Cecil make the statement. Thanking God again, Cecil expressed his gratitude that Essex was exposed as a traitor while he himself was found an honest man.
Essex was found guilty and, on 25 February 1601, was beheaded on Tower Green, becoming the last person to be beheaded in the Tower of London. (It was reported to have taken three strokes by the executioner to complete the beheading.) At Sir Walter Raleigh's own treason trial later on, in 1603, it was alleged that Raleigh had said to a co-conspirator, "Do not, as my Lord Essex did, take heed of a preacher. By his persuasion he confessed, and made himself guilty." In that same trial, Raleigh also denied that he had stood at a window during the execution of Essex's sentence, disdainfully puffing out tobacco smoke in sight of the condemned man.
Some days before the execution, Captain Thomas Lee was apprehended as he kept watch on the door to the Queen's chambers. His plan had been to confine her until she signed a warrant for the release of Essex. Capt. Lee, who had served in Ireland with the Earl, and who acted as go-between with the Ulster rebels, was tried and put to death the next day.
Devereux's conviction for treason meant that the earldom of Essex was forfeit, and his son did not inherit the title. However, after the Queen's death, King James I reinstated the earldom in favour of the disinherited son, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl of Leicester |
Master of the Horse 1587 – 1601 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Worcester |
| In commission
Title last held by
The Earl of Shrewsbury |
Earl Marshal 1597 – 1601 |
In commission
Title next held by
The Earl of Worcester |
| Preceded by Lords Justices |
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1599 |
Succeeded by Lords Justices |
| Preceded by Sir John Perrot |
Custos Rotulorum of Pembrokeshire 1592 – 1601 |
Succeeded by Sir James Perrot |
| Preceded by Thomas Trentham |
Custos Rotulorum of Staffordshire bef. 1594 – 1601 |
Succeeded by Sir Thomas Gerard |
| Military offices | ||
| Vacant
Title last held by
The Earl of Warwick |
Master-General of the Ordnance 1597 – 1601 |
Vacant
Title next held by
The Earl of Devonshire |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by Walter Devereux |
Earl of Essex 8th creation 1576 – 1601 |
Succeeded by Robert Devereux |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Essex, Second Earl of |
| Robert Devereux Essex |
| Robert Devereux Essex |
 | Was Walter Devereux the Earl of Essex? |
| When was sean devereux born? |
| Who is Robert Mapplethorpe? |
Copyrights:
 |
 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex". Read more |
Mentioned in
