THE EARLS OF ESSEX

An English title that has been in existence since 1140, when it was granted to Geoffrey de Mandeville, notorious for his atrocities and changes of allegiance during the civil war of King Stephen´s reign.

Passing twice through marriage, the title was acquired in 1236 by the Bohun family, earls of Hereford. After their male line became entinct in 1373, the earldom was one of the dignities given to Edward III´s son Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, who married a Bohun coheiress; after his death it was held by two members of the Bouchier family, his descendants. 

The title was held for a few weeks before his execution (1540) by Henry VIII´s minister, THOMAS CROMWELL.

In 1572 Walter Devereux (died 1576) was created earl of Essex; his son Robert, 2nd earl, was the famous courtier and soldier of Queen Elizabeth I´s reign.

The third and last Devereux earl was a general for the Parliament in the English Civil War.

In 1661 Arthur Capel, a diplomat and Whig politician of the reign of Charles II, was created earl of Essex; the earldom is still held by his descendants.


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WALTER DEVEREUX, 1ST EARL OF ESSEX

English soldier who led an unsuccessful colonizing expedition to the Irish province of Ulster from 1573 to 1575.

The atrocities he committed there contributed to the bitterness the Irish felt toward the English.

He was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux, 3rd Baron Ferrers and Viscount Hereford, to whose titles he succeeded in 1558.

Sometime between 1560 and 1565 he married Lettice, daughter of Sir Francis Knollys.

He served as "high marshall in the field" in the suppression of an insurrection in northern England in 1569 and in 1572 he offered to subdue and colonize at his own expense a portion of Ulster that had not accepted English overlordship. The region was dominated by the rebellious O´Neills, led by Sir Brian MacPhelim and Tirlogh Luineach and they were supported by Scots under Sorley Boy MacDonnell.

Essex arrived in Ireland by autum 1573. He was soon engaged in intrigues to divide his enemies and he had difficulty obtaining the continued cooperation of Queen Elizabeth I ahd her lord deputy of Ireland, Sir William Fitzwilliam. His military operations took the form of raids characterized by brutal massacres of the populace. He treacherously captured Brian MacPhelim at a conference in Belfast in October 1574 and had MacPhelim and his wife and brother executed at Dublin.

On advice from Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, Elizabeth commanded Essex to abandon the enterprise in 1575; before leaving Ireland, and at Rathlin he massacred Tirlogh Luineach and Sorley Boy´s following, chiefly women and children.

He died of dysentery shortly after returning to Ireland from England in 1576.

Two years later Leicester married Essex´s widow.



ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2ND EARL OF ESSEX

Soldier and courtier fasmous for his relationship with Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603).

While still a young man, Essex replaced his stepfather, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (died 1558) as the aging Queen´s favourite; for years she put up with rashness and impudence but their relationship finally ended in tragedy.

He was a cousin of Elizabeth on his mother´s side and when he was nine he succeeded to the title held by his father Walter Devereux, earl of Essex.

Young Essex first attained prominence by fighting bravely against the Spanish in the Netherlands in 1586. The following year Elizabeth made him master of the horse. Even at this early date he consistently provoked the Queen´s anger while managing to remain in her favour. Contrary to her wishes he took part in the English operation against Lisbon in 1589 and secretly married Frances Walsingham, widow of the poet Sir Philip Sidney in 1590. In n1591-92 he commanded the English force in France, which helped the Protestant king Henry IV in his campaign against the French Roman Catholics.

For the next four years Essex remained in England, becoming an expert on a foreign affairs in an unsuccessful attempt to challenge the long-established ascendancy in this field of the Cecil family. He was made privy councillor in 1593 and in 1594 uncovered an alleged plot against the Queen´s life by her physician Roderigo Lopez.

When the revival of offensive operations against Spain in 1596 opened new opportunity for military adventure, Essex became one of the commanders of the force that seized and sacked Cádiz on June 22. This spectacular but indecisive success put him at the height of his fortunes and made him a leading advocate of a more vigorous strategy against Spain. A force he commanded in 1597 failed to intercept the Spanish treasure ships at the Azores. Next year the possibility of peace with Spain sharpened his rivalry with the Cecils while the growing seriousness of a major rebellion in Ireland led to bitter differences between Essex and Elizabeth over apointments and strategy.

By this time Elizabeth was growing alarmed by Essex´s importunate ambition. Nevertheless in 1599 she sent him to Ireland as a lord lieutenant. After an unsuccessful campaign against the rebels he concluded an unfavourable truce and suddenly deserting his post, returned to England to vindivicate himself privately to the Queen. She responded by depriving him of his offices (June 1600). Politically ruined but confined only to house arrest he and 200 to 300 followers tried on Feb. 8, 1601, to raise the populace of London in revolt. The attempt failed and Essex surrendered. He was executed after being found guilty of treason. Francis Bacon, the scientist-philosopher for whose advancement in the government Essex had continually pressed was one of the prosecutors at Essex´s trial.



ROBERT DEVEREUX, 3RD EARL OF ESSEX

English nobleman who commanded with notable lack of success the parliamentarian army against the King´s forces in the first three years of the Civil War (1642-51).

Because his father, Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, had been executed for treason (1601), Devereux had to obtain special permission from Parliament to succeed (1604) to his family titles and estates.

In 1606 King James I (ruled 1603-25) arranged Essex marriage to Frances Howard, countess of Suffolk. But Frances soon fell in love with the King´s Scottish favourite, Robert Carr and in 1613 James had a divorce commission annul her marriage so that she could marry Carr. Not surprising the episode embittered Essex against the King.

Essex military career began in 1620 and in 1625 he was vice admiral in the unsuccessful expedition sent by Jame´s son and successor Charles I (ruled 1625-49) against the Spanish port of Cádiz.

Although Charles appointed him second in command of the bloodless Bishop´s War against Scotland in 1639, Essex refused to stand by the King when his chief ministers were deposed by the Long Parliament (beginning November 1640).

In July 1642, Essex was appointed to command the parliamentarian army. He fought courageously against the Royalist at the bloody but indecisive Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 and he advanced on London in 1643. But his 6,000-man army was besieged at Lostwithiel, Cornwall in August 1644 and all surrended except Essex who escaped by sea.

He resigned his command in April 1645 just before Parliament passed the Self-Denying Ordinance excluding its members from military command.