Today’s guest post is courtesy of author Tony Riches, whose books I can highly recommend as well-written, and more importantly well-researched, historical fiction.
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, is one of the most intriguing men of the Elizabethan period. Tall and handsome, he soon becomes a ‘favourite’ at court, so close to the queen many wonder if they are lovers.
The truth is, of course, far more complex, as each has what the other yearns for. Robert Devereux longs for recognition, wealth and influence. His flamboyant naïveté amuses the ageing Queen Elizabeth, like the son she never had, and his vitality makes her feel young.
So how did it all go so badly wrong? I had no idea when I began researching for my book, but began exploring primary sources, and soon found clues to the earl’s state of mind from his letters.
One in particular is held in the National Archives, and written by Robert Devereux to Queen Elizabeth on the 6th of September, 1600. At the time of writing, Essex had been banished from court for his lack of leadership as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Transcript:
Hast [hasten], paper, to thatt happy presence whence only unhappy I am banished. Kiss thatt fayre correcting hand which layes new plasters to my lighter hurtes, butt to my greatest woond applyeth nothing. Say thou cummest from shaming, languishing, despayring, S.X.
Signed with the unimaginative cipher for Essex, he should have known the queen well enough to realise this approach was unlikely to change her mind. He’d set out with the largest expeditionary force ever sent to Ireland, yet he failed to crush the rebellion and eventually made terms with its leader, Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
He overstepped the bounds of his authority by conferring numerous knighthoods on his commanders (against the queen’s orders). The Irish rebels joked that ‘he never drew sword but to make knights’. Despite pleading for forgiveness from the queen, who had held him high in favour for many years, he would never again enjoy her good graces.
I also studied Walter Bourchier Devereux’s two-volumes of the Lives and Letters of the Devereux, Earls of Essex, a rich source of both primary and secondary details. On the anniversary of the queen’s accession on the 17th September 1600 Essex wrote to her:
Vouchsafe, dread sovereign, to know there lives a man, though dead to the world, and in himself exercised with continued torments of mind and body, that doth more true honour your thrice blessed day, than all those that appear in your sight.
There is one more, undated letter, which makes it clear Essex had lost all hope of regaining Queen Elizabeth’s favour. He writes to the queen:
You may tell those who thirst and gape after my ruin, that you now have an advantage, that, being in passion, I spake rashly.
Sir John Harrington, who served as his commander of horse in Ireland, noted in his journal, “[Essex] shifteth from sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion so suddenly, as well proveth him devoid of good reason as of right mind.”
I believe Harrington knew Essex well, and reports what we would now call serious mental health problems, exacerbated by his failure and dramatic fall from grace. Robert Devereux’s ‘rebellion’ was chaotic and poorly planned. He unwittingly played right into the hands of his growing list of enemies at court, and paid the ultimate price.
I found it challenging to put myself in his shoes, (as he could easily have done what I did, and return to the peace of his home in Pembrokeshire). I hope readers will be able to tell that this book is one I’ve really enjoyed researching and writing, and that I’ve been able to find some of Robert Devereux’s redeeming qualities.
Author Bio
Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of best-selling Tudor historical fiction. He lives in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the history of the Wars of the Roses and the lives of the early Tudors. As well as the Tudor Trilogy, Tony’s other published historical fiction novels include The Brandon Trilogy, about the life of Charles Brandon and his wives. For more information about Tony’s books please visit his website tonyriches.com and his blog, The Writing Desk and find him on Facebook and Twitter @tonyriches