On This Day in Elizabethan History: The Execution of Essex, and more

 

A portrait of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. By Marcus Gheeraerts, circa 1596. National Maritime Museum. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

On this day in Elizabethan history in 1601, (which had been an Ash Wednesday) Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, was beheaded for treason.
How did this royal favorite wind up with his head upon the block? And what were the repercussions for his friends and family? Learn the answers to these questions in our BeingBess article about the fall of the Earl of Essex.

Also today in Elizabethan history....

In 1570, Queen Elizabeth I, despite being a Protestant, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Pius V. As a confirmed heretic in contempt of the "one true faith", Pius V had effectively absolved Catholic Europe of sin if they were to assassinate Elizabeth.

A composite image of Pope Pius V and Queen Elizabeth I (The Ermine Portrait). Shared for public use on Wikimedia Commons by JW1805.

A year later, in 1571, Queen Elizabeth promoted her hardworking secretary, William Cecil to the peerage, creating him Baron Burghley. He also earned a seat in the House of Lords. 

A portrait of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, depicted in his robes for The Order of the Garter. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

On This Day in Elizabethan History: Essex, Excommunication, and Burghley

A miniature of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, circa 1596. By Isaac Oliver. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

On this day in Elizabethan history in 1601, (which had been an Ash Wednesday) Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, was beheaded for treason.

How did this royal favorite wind up with his head upon the block? And what were the repercussions for his friends and family? Learn the answers to these questions and more in our article on the fall of the Earl of Essex.

Also today in Elizabethan history....

A composite image of Pope Pius V and Queen Elizabeth I (The Ermine Portrait). Shared for public use on Wikimedia Commons by JW1805.

In 1570, Queen Elizabeth I, despite being a Protestant, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Pius V. As a confirmed heretic in contempt of the "one true faith", Pius V had effectively absolved Catholic Europe of sin if they were to assassinate Elizabeth.

A portrait of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, depicted in his robes for The Order of the Garter. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

In 1571, Queen Elizabeth promoted her hardworking Secretary, William Cecil to the peerage, creating him Baron Burghley. He also earned a seat in the House of Lords.

On This Day in Elizabethan History: The Death of Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester

A portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester from 1564, the same year Queen Elizabeth granted him his earldom. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 "A personage so dear unto us."

-Queen Elizabeth describing the Earl of Leicester in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, 1588.

 

On this day in Elizabethan history, 1588, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester died. While the earl had been unwell for quite some time, nobody expected his illness to be fatal, least of all Queen Elizabeth (ODNB). 

Dudley's unexpected death occurred when he was on the road to "take the waters" in Buxton, Derbyshire. A few miles after stopping to write the Queen a letter at Rycote in Oxfordshire on August 29th, Leicester grew gravely ill and took shelter at the nearby manor of Cornbury. It is there that he died in the early morning hours of September 4th (Gristwood, 334).

Only a week earlier Leicester had bid the Queen farewell after she had ordered him to go on retreat and tend to his health. The letter that Leicester had sent her from Rycote became her most prized possession; on it she scrawled, "His last letter", and she kept it in a private box in her closet. The letter now resides in the National Archives.

"His last letter", in the National Archives in England. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Leicester had been in physical anguish following his role as the Queen's Lieutenant General at Tilbury, a position that he had welcomed and a duty that he had been honored to fulfill. But  the work had been stressful none the less. Leicester had been in charge of between 12,000-17,000 men at Tilbury fort, and another 6,000 were under his command in Sandwich (Gristwood, 328). The Earl of Leicester had urged his Queen to visit her troops at Tilbury, writing to her that, "you shall comfort not only these thousands, but many more that shall hear of it" (quoted in Gristwood, 330).

Indeed, once a chaplain in Leicester's service recorded Queen Elizabeth's "excellent oration", which he wrote that she delivered dressed like an "armed Pallas", (Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war) the speech was printed and circulated throughout Europe within the week (Gristwood, 329-30). The English people were inspired by the Queen's Tilbury Speech, which they could now hold in their hands, and the rest of the world knew from the pamphlet that the English were not to be intimidated.

A painting of Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury, courtesy of Anniina Jokinen. Image public domain.

Leicester and Elizabeth's collaboration at Tilbury would be their last; yet their romantic and political partnership had spanned almost 30 years. Leicester was the Queen's emotional support, and sometimes her stand-in an state functions. Theirs was a bond unlike any other; it survived imprisonment, threat of execution, a mysterious death, rejections, indiscretions, marriage, and the threat of assassination and war.

A composite image of a pair of portrait miniatures of Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Painted c.1575, by Nicholas Hilliard. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

According to the antiquarian William Camden, (the author of the invaluable primary source, The Annals of Queen Elizabeth) after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth was having papers drawn up to make Leicester the permanent Lieutenant Governor of England. Camden claimed that the Queen was only dissuaded from putting this plan into action by William Cecil, Lord Burghley and Sir Christopher Hatton.

A detail of a portrait of Sir Christopher Hatton, c.1575. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Perhaps this was true; Camden was working from many primary sources now lost to us, and his work is largely accurate and free of the religious bias that permeated most works of the 16th and 17th century. Certainly Elizabeth was starting to think about what would happen to England upon her death, even if she refused to speak of the succession aloud.

The frontispiece and title-page of the 1575 edition of The Annals of Queen Elizabeth, by William Camden. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Leicester dined every day in the Queen's apartments before he left for Buxton (Gristwood, 333). We can hope that Queen Elizabeth found comfort in her memories of their last days together, after she had recovered from the initial shock of Leicester's unexpected death.

A miniature of the Earl of Leicester, c.1572-76. By Hilliard. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

The Earl of Leicester's demise was probably caused by stomach cancer, which his persistent gastric symptoms seem to suggest, or complications caused by chronic malaria (Gristwood, 333-34). Malaria was rampant in England in the 16th century and had claimed the lives of many, including prominent members of the royal family, like Arthur Tudor. We do know that Leicester had complained of "the stone", which was a colloquialism for any intestinal problem (Gristwood, 334).

A miniature of Queen Elizabeth, c.1572-76. By Hilliard. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 The juxtaposition of England's celebration over the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the death of her oldest and dearest friend was almost too much for Queen Elizabeth to bear:

"Elizabeth was condemned to an extraordinary conjunction of public rejoicing and private agony. This was her own personal sorrow-it would be folly to try to damper the mood of he country-and against a background of the national victory celebrations she shut herself into her own chamber to grieve." (Gristwood, 334-365)

Many contemporary reports confirm that Queen Elizabeth locked herself away in her apartments. Sir Francis Walsingham lamented that he could not get the Queen to attend to state business at this time, "by reason that she will not suffer anybody to have access to her" (quoted in Gristwood, 335).

Sketch of Queen Elizabeth I from life. By Zuccaro, 1575.

This tells us how profound Queen Elizabeth's grief was. Here is a woman who relished her role in government and never shirked her public responsibilities because of her private feelings, save for this one instance. Elizabeth's life experiences had caused her to develop a hard, protective exterior, which rarely cracked to reveal signs of affection or vulnerability; Robert Dudley had always been the only exception.

Sketch of the Earl of Leicester from life. By Zuccaro, 1575.

Yet, however much the Queen of England mourned her "Sweet Robin", his death barely registered with the rest of England in comparison to the victory over Spain. The antiquarian John Stow, who himself admitted that he owed his career to Leicester, wrote: "All men, so far as they durst, rejoiced no less outwardly at his death than for the victory lately obtained against the Spaniard." 

Still, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester left this life having accomplished a great deal for Queen and Country, and should be remembered for it. I think William Camden's epitaph of the earl conveys many of the aspects of his character; this is fitting since the way the earl was thought of differed so greatly from person to person. 

"He was reputed a complete courtier, magnificent, liberal, a protector and benefactor of soldiers and scholars...very officious, and cunning toward his ill-willers; for a time much given to women...to say the truth, he was openly held to be in the rank of those which were worthy of praise, but the things which he secretly plotted displeased many."

We do not know how Robert's widow, Lettice Knollys dealt with the loss of her husband. Let it be said that we should not for a minute entertain the idea that she and her second-cousin, the Queen, would have commiserated over their mutual loss. Lettice's greatest testament to her husband may have been their joint tomb. Elizabeth's may have in fact been her relationship with Leicester's step-son, Essex.

The tomb of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and his wife, Lettice Knollys in Beauchamp Chapel in the Collegiate Church of St.Mary, Warwickshire. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Historian Sarah Gristwood explains the significance of Queen Elizabeth's relationship with the Earl of Essex:

"Perhaps it is to the years ahead (of Leicester's death) that we should look for Elizabeth's last (and almost disastrous) great loving gesture towards her lost companion to her relationship with Leicester's stepson and surrogate, Essex. Leicester had brought Essex to court as he himself began to tire and age, willing still to perform necessary duties, but unable any longer to flatter Elizabeth with the conviction he once has; unable to provide the energetic, exciting pageant of eager masculinity. Elizabeth obediently would follow his programme almost to her destruction; would try to believe Essex was another Leicester. The Queen's long, her extraordinary, indulgence towards Robert Devereux was her long lament for Robert Dudley."

(Gristwood, 337)

When Elizabeth whispered the name "Robert" on her deathbed in 1603, there can be no doubt to which earl she was referring.

A portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester circa 1560-65. Attributed to Steven van der Muelen. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Sources

Gristwood, Sarah. Elizabeth and Leicester: Power, Passion, Politics. New York: Viking, 2007. Print.

"Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition. Retrieved 09-02-2012

Theatre Thursday: Essex's Rebellion in Much Ado About Nothing?

A detail from a portrait of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex by Marcus Gheeraerts. The painting is from the 1590's, so this is probably how Essex looked at the time he staged his senseless rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

The rebellion of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex (1566-1601) and his cronies is very likely alluded to in one of my favorite Shakespeare comedies, Much Ado About Nothing:

"Like favorites, made proud by princes, that advance their pride against the power that bred it."

Social commentary and political criticism was always very craftily hidden within Shakespeare and other early-modern playwrights works. There could be serious consequences for openly criticizing policies or questioning authority in the age of monarchy. For example, Ben Jonson's work The Isle of Dogs was banned from ever being published because it was deemed so utterly offensive after being performed only once in 1587. Jonson and two others were arrested and thrown into prison under the orders of Robert Cecil. The co-author, Thomas Nashe was spared the humiliation; Nashe claimed that he had merely written the introduction to the play, and those investigating the matter believed him. 

Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury and son of William Cecil Lord Burghley. Elizabeth called Robert Cecil her "pygmy" (she was fond of giving odd pet-names to those who were close to her) because of his abnormally small stature. This painting of Robert Cecil in his robes of The Order of The Garter is by John de Critz; It was completed c. 1608 in the reign of James I, under whom Robert Cecil also served. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 The work was so effectively suppressed that to this day we still do not know why it was deemed to be objectionable. Some theories are that the Queen herself was satirized in the play, but more likely it was because the piece was lampooning a few high-ranking nobles at court. Jonson would also be reprimanded for other works in the 17th century under the reign of James I.

On this Day in Elizabethan History: The Execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

On this day in Elizabethan history, February 25th, 1601, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex was executed for high treason. While Essex's Rebellion was the brash act which was to seal the fate of Queen Elizabeth's last great favorite, Essex's downfall had been a long time in the making.

A portrait of Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, painted between 1590-96 by Marcus Gheeraerts. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 Essex had flirted and teased with the queen until she had agreed to put him in charge of a military expedition in Ireland in 1599. Queen Elizabeth hoped that the Earl, who was often a lot of talk with very little to back up his claims of worth, could use this opportunity to prove himself to her, but especially to her court, who had an increasingly low opinion of him. Essex was confident that he could conquer a territory that had been the great undoing of so many Englishmen before him. Being in charge of any campaign in Ireland was a thankless job, and many courtiers tried to avoid having to go there at all costs. Those who were appointed to certain offices in Ireland by the queen often exhausted all efforts to get out of it!

No amount of planning could prepare Essex for an Irish uprising that was so large and so damaging to the English that it was unprecedented in recent history. None the less, Essex probably could have suppressed the rebellion had he done what he had been expected to do: take his army straight to Ulster to confront the Earl of Tyrone. But instead, Essex chose to blaze his own trail, taking his men through Munster where they were ambushed by the Irish. Essex disregarded the fact that he was not a free agent and that he was sent on his mission because Queen Elizabeth had good faith in him; He made an impulsive decision that he was not authorized to make without prior approval of the crown, calling a truce with the Irish.

Elizabeth had been kept up to date on Essex's escapades in Ireland, and she was outraged at every twist and turn in the story. Essex and Tyrone actually forged some sort of a friendship, and when Essex abandoned his army and returned to court without the queen officially recalling him to her side, (a grave offence) he had the audacity to petition his benefactress on the Earl of Tyrone's behalf! This was the final straw for Elizabeth, who reprimanded him severely and had him forced into exile in within the boundaries of her realm. She did not want to look at him, nor did she want him to enjoy himself, gallivanting about with his friends.

Another portrait of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex. Picture acquired though Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

During Queen Elizabeth and Essex's separation, more intelligence began to get back to the queen on her favorite's misdeeds. It was clear to her that she could no longer protect and defend the Earl, and he was put on trial in June of 1600. Essex was tried by his peers, and while he was not at this time convicted of any serious crime, he was dismissed of his offices and sentenced to be held under house arrest. This was an unfathomable punishment for a man who relished the spotlight, and Essex began scheming almost immediately to change his fortunes. While Essex was lucky enough to be released from his gilded cage just two months later, he tried to push his luck by attempting to win back the queen, but she refused to associate with him any more. Essex became increasingly paranoid and aggressive, and somehow he deluded himself into believing that Robert Cecil, whom he had long hated, and certain members of the previous council were poisoning Queen Elizabeth's mind against him. Essex concocted a plan to use military force against the government to remove these parties that he deemed offensive.

The Kitchner Portrait of Elizabeth I, 1580. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.


Contemporaries outside of Essex's circle of sycophants and modern scholars can agree that Essex's allegations had no bearing; these were the rants of a madman nursing his wounded pride. And as I have explained in previous articles, everyone who knew Queen Elizabeth, especially those members of her inner circle, knew that no one persuaded to the queen to do anything against her own will. Queen Elizabeth was a pragmatist and a master politician, who heard endless points of view and deliberated for months, sometimes years before ever making a decision. No man could influence her without her permitting it.


The Hardwick Portrait of Elizabeth I, 1592. 


Essex must have learned nothing from the Duke of Norfolk when he conspired with the Scots to enact a coup d'etat. Essex contacted King James VI and his friend Lord Mountjoy in the hopes that they would support his uprising.

A portrait of Sir Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy c.1594, by an unknown artist. Mountjoy is sporting the fashionable "peascod" style doublet, which gives the optical illusion of a trim waistline! Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

The Scottish king wisely declined, so Essex's only real comrades were his cronies, who did not have the military power or political leverage to contribute anything critical to his cause, with the exception of his friend (and Shakespeare patron) Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton. Essex and Southampton and a few supporters stormed London unsuccessfully-even the street people of London knew Essex's crusade against the queen was ill-advised. The rebels were captured and sent to the Tower.

An portrait of Essex's co-conspirator Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, from1603. By John de Critz. This portrait of Southampton imprisoned in the Tower is filled with allegory and symbolism. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Essex was tried for treason. Some of his former associates, like the Lord High Admiral Charles Howard, with whom he had attacked the Spanish base at Cadiz, passed judgement on him. Queen Elizabeth had suffered the ultimate betrayal at the hands of Essex-the betrayal of a friend. She did not deliberate for long, before she signed his death warrant.

A detail from a portrait of Lord High Admiral Charles Howard. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Robert Devereux, son of Walter Devereux and the queen's cousin, Lettice Knollys, was beheaded in 1601. Southampton would survive in the Tower long enough to see the light of day again when King James VI of Scotland became James I of England as Elizabeth's successor. The Earl of Essex's son with his wife, Frances Walsingham, was disinherited, but his rights were later restored by James I; He became the 3rd Earl of Essex.

A detail of a portrait of Frances Walsingham, Countess of Essex, and her son Robert, from 1594. By Robert Peake. Frances was the daughter of Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the resemblance between the two is uncanny around the eyes. Little Robert later became 3rd Earl of Essex. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

The Earl of Essex truly embodied the notion "pride cometh before a fall", and although he was the queen's last great favorite, they were not intimates as she and his stepfather Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester had been. Theirs was a connection of folly and flirtation, not long talks and shared minds. Sadly, Essex's only legacy is his betrayal of England's most beloved queen.

On this Day in Elizabethan History: The Death of Katherine Carey-Howard, Countess of Nottingham

A Portrait of a Lady from the English school; the subject is thought to be Katherine Carey-Howard, Countess of Nottingham, c.1595-97. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain

The date is contested, but on either February 24th or 25th,  Katherine Carey-Howard, Countess of Nottingham died in 1603, the same year as her famous relative and good friend, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

And who was this other Katherine Carey/Howard? (She is not to be confused with her aunt, Katherine Carey, Lady Knollys, who was Elizabeth I's first cousin on her mother's side via her aunt Mary Boleyn, and who was also one of the queen's few women friends, nor Katherine Howard, the ill-fated fifth wife of King Henry VIII)



A late 16th century miniature by esteemed court painter Nicholas Hilliard, reputedly of Katherine Carey-Howard, Countess of Nottingham. This may also be Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon, and a myriad of other candidates. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.


This Katherine Carey was born around 1547. She was the eldest daughter of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon and his wife, Anne Morgan. Henry Carey was one of the children of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Elizabeth's mother Queen Anne Boleyn. Mary Boleyn had been King Henry VIII's mistress for several years before he became infatuated with Anne, and it has often been speculated based on contemporary evidence that Henry Carey was actually an illegitimate child of King Henry, and perhaps also his sister Katherine. While there are many interesting candidates for King Henry's unacknowledged illegitimate children, there are only two that I personally believe to be endowed with Tudor blood: Henry's sister, Katherine Carey (later Lady Knollys) and Ethelreda (Audrey) Maltes of (see Mary Boleyn: The Mistress Kings). But, if indeed Katherine Carey's father was the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, this would make her the grandchild of the iconic Tudor king. If Henry Carey was a mere cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, this still made all his children directly related to the queen on her maternal (Boleyn/Howard) side.

Henry Carey, created 1st Baron Hunsdon by Queen Elizabeth I, and father of Katherine Carey, later Countess of Nottingham. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain. 

Katherine Carey first came to court in 1560 as a gentlewoman of the privy chamber. She became a fast friend of Queen Elizabeth I. She would marry well, to Charles Howard in July of 1563. Charles Howard was the great-uncle of the queen, since he was the half-sibling of her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Howard-Boleyn (yes, the circles of the nobility were all closely, if not incestuously intertwined). Charles rose to fame as the Lord High Admiral of England, leading the English naval forces against the Spanish Armada. He is one of a few men directly responsible for the victory over the Spaniard's attempted invasion in 1588. Charles would be created Earl of Nottingham  in 1596, and his wife therefore Countess of Nottingham; he would also be made Lord Lieutenant General of England. Howard would continue to fight against the Spaniard's, as he and the Earl of Essex would attack their base at Cadiz. Ever the loyal servant of England and Elizabeth, Charles Howard would later serve as a commissioner at the trial of his former comrade Essex, who would be executed for treason.


A detail from a portrait of Charles Howard, c. 1620 by Daniel Mijtens. By this time, Charles was remarried after the death of his first wife Katherine Carey-Howard,  to Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray, who was more than 5 decades his junior. Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales could count Elizabeth Stuart as an ancestor! Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.


While many women left the Queen's service after marriage to retire to domestic life, Katherine Carey-Howard stayed on at court, a testament to her close bond with the queen. While serving Queen Elizabeth, Katherine held several positions: She became both Mistress of Robes and Mistress of Jewels, which were both positions of great trust because it meant dealing with the queen's expensive and beloved collection of fine gowns and baubles. She and her husband would entertain Elizabeth twice at their home, a great honor, first in 1585 and again in 1587. For her retirement, Queen Elizabeth honored her friend by granting her the manor house in Chelsea in 1591. It was an emotionally significant property for Elizabeth I to give, as this was where she had spent time as a young girl in the Queen Dowager Katherine Parr's household after her father's death. Katherine Carey-Howard and the Lord High Admiral would have five children together:

1. Frances. Frances' first marriage was to Henry FitzGerald, the 12th Earl of Kildare (Ireland). Her second marriage was to Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham. Frances and her second husband had a lovely family, and their family portrait is one of my favorite depictions of Elizabethan domestic life (see below). Her mother-in-law, Frances Newton, is the woman seated in the picture. By all accounts, Cobham was a good man, but no great statesmen, and he often floundered in court politics. Baron Cobham would take part in a rebellion in opposition to James Stuart's rule in England, called the Main Plot, which attempted to use military force to remove James and place Arabella Stuart on the throne. He would be imprisoned in the Tower for his involvement. Old and sick, he was released out of courtesy in 1618, dying later in poverty. Frances witnessed her husband's tragic fall, and did not die herself until 1628.
2. William, 3rd Baron Howard of Effingham (1577-1615)
3.Charles Howard, 2nd Earl of Nottingham (1579-1642)
4. Margaret. Margaret married Sir Richard Leveson, and died having had no children.
5. Elizabeth. Elizabeth Howard was a Maid of Honor of Queen Elizabeth I. Her first marriage was to Sir Robert Southwell, with whom she had several children. One of these children, a daughter also named Elizabeth, was the lover and eventual third wife of the charismatic explorer Robert Dudley, the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and Lady Douglas Sheffield (whom Leicester may or may not have married). Elizabeth Howard's second marriage was to John Stewart, 1st Earl of Carrick. 

Katherine Carey-Howard's daughter Frances and her husband Henry Brooke, Baron Cobham and their "blended" family. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

When Katherine died, Queen Elizabeth was reportedly devastated at the loss of one of her closest friends. The queen reportedly experienced a "deep melancholy, with conceit of her own death", and also began complaining "of many infirmities suddenly to have overtaken her" (Kenny, 256). Elizabeth always grieved bitterly for the death's of those that she was close to, often taking to bed and speaking to know one for days, or weeks, as it was in the case of the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth's profound display of grief for Katherine was undoubtedly exacerbated, as the above quotes imply, by her self-awareness that her own life, and her reign, were coming to a close.

But there is another reason that Elizabeth might have been so troubled to see her friend die; according to legend, Katherine confessed a deathbed secret to the queen. Supposedly, the disgraced Earl of Essex sent a ring with a messenger to Katherine's sister, Lady Scrope. Lady Scrope was an Essex sympathizer, and the Earl hoped that she would intercede with the angry queen on his behalf, bearing the gift in his stead. When the messenger mistook the Countess of Nottingham for her sister, Katherine kept the ring for herself, as she did not like Essex, and did not wish to see the queen soften in her resolve against him. When the ax fell on Essex's treasonous head, it was too late for Katherine to confess her deception to the queen. When Katherine felt the heavy hand of death and her own immortal judgement awaiting her, she told the queen everything. This is where the now famous quote, "May God forgive you; I never can!" supposedly came from, as Queen Elizabeth cried out in sorrow.

A detail of a portrait of Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex c.1590, by Marcus Gheeraerts. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

While I think Elizabeth may have said this iconic quote at another time, about something else, it is unlikely that it pertained to Katherine, the Countess of Nottingham. Katherine was not even at court in the days leading up to the Earl of Essex's execution.

Katherine Carey-Howard, Countess of Nottingham, was interred at Chelsea three days before Queen Elizabeth was interred at Westminster Abbey. May they both rest in peace.

Sources:

Weir, Alison. Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings. New York: Ballantine Books, 2011. Print.

Kenny, Robert W. Elizabeth's Admiral: The Political Career of Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham. 1536-1624. Print.

Elizabethan Quote of the Day: Elizabeth's "unruly horse"

"An unruly horse must be abated of his provender*, that he may be the easier and better managed."-Queen Elizabeth I, 1600.

Provender-fodder for livestock, originating in 13th century Middle English.

After a series of disappointing mismanagement's within his appointed office, and an unchecked ego, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex was due for a sharp reprimand, though his own inflated perception of himself did not allow him to see that the walls of his own design were closing in around him. His monopoly on sweet wines, which Elizabeth I had granted in 1590 for ten years, come up for review in 1600. After several years of giving her last favorite the benefit of the doubt, the queen had grown tired of Essex's behavior. The charismatic bravado that had once entertained her and made her feel carefree in her rare moments away from state business, had now grown to an intolerable, and dangerous level. 

A miniature portrait of the Earl of Essex, by Nicholas Hilliard. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Elizabeth decided to put Essex in his place, saying the above quote before she revoked his monopoly on sweet wines. The "unruly horse", of course, is Essex, and the "provender" is his monopoly. This was a prudent decision of the queen's, not only to send a strong message to Essex about his pride, but also due to the fact that he had now amassed a financial debt somewhere around 16,000 pounds. I agree with David Loades, who in his book Elizabeth I: A Life supposes that Elizabeth did in fact know of Essex's money troubles when she revoked his monopoly, although we cannot ever know for sure (Loades, 277).



A 16th century portrait of Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex. Essex was the son of  Lettice Knollys, who was one of the 14 children of Elizabeth I's beloved cousin Katherine Carey-Knollys. Lettice boldly married Elizabeth's confidante and only true romantic interest, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. When Leicester's biological son tragically died young, he adopted Devereux as his heir. Essex's great-grandmother was therefore Mary Boleyn, the sister of Elizabeth's mother, Queen Anne Boleyn. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.



The month's ahead were to bring about the end of the Earl and some of his cronies, for their ill-planned and executed rebellion against the queen. While Essex would claim that his intent was not malicious, and that he only wanted to "free" the queen from her  ill-advisers, like Robert Cecil, whom he hated, his claim was transparent to those about him: Essex's Rebellion was a personal vendetta for a man with wounded pride, and not about alleged corrupt advisement of the queen. 

And anyone who knew Elizabeth, especially those intimates on her Privy Council, knew that know one could ever manipulate or influence the queen to do anything against her will! Elizabeth's judgement was always final, and the ax fell on Essex's head for his twice-fold treason: a personal and political betrayal.

Sources:

Loades, David. Elizabeth I: A Life. London: Continuum, 2006.

How Queen Elizabeth I Ended Debt in England

With all the debt crisis’s going on in countries around the world, including my own, it seemed fitting to address the debt crisis in England when Elizabeth came to the throne, and how she solved the problem. Enjoy!

By a combination of remaining at peace with England’s enemies (even when tensions were high), making the most of her kingdom’s natural resources, and keeping state expenses at a minimum (for example, by choosing not to fund a standing army), Queen Elizabeth I was able to replenish the treasury that had been destroyed by the previous Tudor regimes, most notably during her sister Mary’s reign. Queen Mary had used her power to make England more or less a principality of Spain, and had depleted its treasury for Philip and his military whims. Her own subjects had protested against her for her choice of husband, and the country’s coffers paid dearly for her mistake.

The marriage portrait of Mary I of England and Phillip II of Spain. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.

Elizabethan Crown from 1601. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.



            By 1574, Queen Elizabeth and her financial policy had made England debt-free! The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Walter Mildmay, had addressed parliament in 1566, praising Elizabeth’s success, saying that she had “most carefully and providently delivered the kingdom from a great and weighty debt…begun four years at least before the death of Henry VIII” (quoted in Palliser, 108)
 

Elizabeth I presiding over Parliament c. 1580-1600. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.

            In the second half of her reign, Queen Elizabeth borrowed less than half as much money as she had been forced out of necessity to do in the first. Taxes, loans, and selling property and monopolies, helped her to replenish her countries finances. While the selling of monopolies (such as a monopoly over wine imports, for example) was not always popular (because sometimes the subjects who gained the monopoly were seen as unworthy, like the Earl of Essex) Elizabeth’s practices worked, and in the case of Essex and others, when she saw her error she revoked the privilege.

Elizabethan Crown from 1602. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.



            Queen Elizabeth’s solving of the debt crisis in England is just one of the many jewels in her crown of achievement. 

Sources:

 

Palliser, D.M. The Age of Elizabeth: England Under the Later Tudor's. Print.

The Peerage in Elizabethan England

Everyone has heard of at least some of the notable personalities of the Elizabethan era, even if it is only in passing in school or in a movie. But how much do we really know about the institution of nobility in Queen Elizabeth's time?

Well, I have found us the answers and am going to decode the "peerage" for you here!

In 1547 there existed only 48 men within the peerage. In 1553 the number had grown to 56, then 57 in 1558. Then, their numbers decreased again, to 55, by the year of Elizabeth's death.

The power to appoint worthy men to the peerage was reserved for the sovereign, and the survival of a given title was dependent on the nobleman's ability to produce legitimate male issue. Should a member of the nobility die without a legitimate son, like the Earl of Oxford did, the title reverted to the crown and was, for lack of a better word, dormant, until resuscitated by the monarch.

In other unfortunate cases, such as a nobleman being convicted of treason and subsequently executed, the title and the land reverted to the crown, regardless of whether the nobleman had legitimate issue. Part of the tragedy of having a traitor in the family is that not only would your name be dishonored, but you would loose your inheritance.

There were cases when a monarch made exceptions, such as an instance where Elizabeth took mercy on the heirs of a corrupt nobleman and bequeathed land back to them.

During Elizabeth's nearly 45 year reign, the queen only created 18 peerages. All but two of those (Burghley and Compton) were restorations or grants to old, loyal aristocratic families. Upon her ascension, 46% of England's peers were first or second generation in their title. By 1603, only 18% were.

D.M. Palliser, a Reader in Economic History at the University of Birmingham,  proposes that the actions of the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland in King Edward Tudor's brief reign made both Mary I and Elizabeth I wary of promoting any of their subjects to a dukedom. Being a duke was traditionally one of the most powerful positions in the English kingdom, and usually reserved for brothers of kings.

A detail from a portrait of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, wearing his chain of office. Somerset was the Lord Protector of England during his nephew King Edward VI's minority. He was eventually executed for high treason. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

After the execution of the traitorous Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk in 1572, England would remain without a duke until 1623.

Thomas Howard, the proud 4th Duke of Norfolk, who after many shady grasps at power, was executed for treason. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 As for knighthoods bestowed during Elizabeth's reign, the queen and her lords and generals created 878 knights. Robert Devereux, the tempestuous and willful Earl of Essex, would create the most knights at any one given time during Elizabeth's reign, 81, when he knighted his following during his disastrous term in Ireland. Essex did this without reason, as he had achieved no military victory; he also failed to ask the queens permission, which was becoming more and more typical at this point in their relationship. His knighting of his cronies was a thinly veiled attempt at earning loyalties and building a faction. Elizabeth of course saw through it, and was not pleased.

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. The stepson of Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and the queen's  favorite for the second half of her reign, until he betrayed her. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Essex was an exception, as was Norfolk, and for the most part, the members of the Elizabethan peerage were extremely loyal to their queen and hardworking on her behalf. Elizabeth's confidence, charisma and diplomacy commanded respect and instilled fierce commitment, and her people served her well.

Source

Statistics taken from D.M. Palliser's socio-economic study The Age of Elizabeth: England under the later Tudors 1547-1603.