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Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex Biography

Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex Image

ESSEX, Robert Devereux, second Earl of (1567–1601). An English court favorite and statesman. He was born at Netherwood, Herefordshire. Entering Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1579, he was given the degree of M.A. in 1581, and three years afterward his guardian, Lord Burghley, introduced him at court, where he became a favorite of Elizabeth. Accompanying his stepfather, the Earl of Leicester, to Holland, he distinguished himself at the battle of Zutphen. After the death of Leicester, Essex continued to rise in the favor of Elizabeth, who loaded him with honors. She gave him command of the forces sent in 1591 to assist Henry IV of France against the Spaniards; and five years afterward she appointed him joint commander with Lord Howard in the expedition against Spain. Though Essex displayed exceptional courage at the taking of Cadiz, the expedition was fruitless, so that on his return he had to defend himself against various accusations. In 1597, however, he was made Earl Marshal of England, and when Burghley died, Essex succeeded him as Chancellor of Cambridge. At the outbreak of the rebellion in 1599 he went to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant; but his government was ill-advised and ineffective, and after a few trivial undertakings he concluded with the rebels a truce for which he was regarded at court with grave misgivings. Contrary to the Queen's express commands, he hastened back to London to confront his enemies, and without changing his travel-stained garments he forcibly effected an interview with the Queen in her bedchamber. She received him kindly; but in June, 1600, he was brought to trial before a special court consisting of the principal officers of state and the judges, on charges of contempt and disobedience, and sentenced to dismissal from all offices of state and to imprisonment in his own house during the Queen's pleasure. Through the intercession of Francis Bacon his liberty was soon restored. But when he foolishly tried to excite an insurrection in London to compel Elizabeth to remove his enemies from the council, he was imprisoned, tried, and condemned to death. Elizabeth delayed signing the warrant for his execution in the hope that he would implore her pardon. He was beheaded Feb. 25, 1601, after defending himself with pride and dignity.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 102-103.