ESSEX, ROBERT DEVEREr X, second Earl Of (1567-I601). An English Court favorite and statesman. lie was horn at Netherwood. Here fordshire. Entering Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1579. he was given the degree of M.A. in 15SI, and three years his guardian. Lord Burghley, introduced him at Court, where he be came a favorite of Elizabeth. Accompanying his step father. the Earl of Leicester, to Holland, he distinguished himself at the battle of Zutphen.
fter the death of Leicester Essex continued to rise in the favor of Elizabeth, who loaded him honors. She gave him command of the forces si nt in 1591 to assist Henry IV. of France :wain 1 the Spaniards: and five years eft•-wards 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 resultless, 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 Bur ghley 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, ttivial undertakings he con cluded with the rebels a truce which was re garded at Court as high treason. 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 bed chamber. She received him kindly, but after con
sulting advisers she deprived him of his dignities and commanded that he should be called to ac count for his behavior. 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 im plore her pardon. lle was beheaded February 25. 1601, after defending himself with pride and dignity. Consult: Bacon, Declaration of the Practises and Treasons . . . Committed by Rob ert. Late Earl of Essex (London, 1601) ; Sped ding. Bacon, i. (London. 1881), chief authority, should be read with the following: Abbott, Bacon and Essex (London. 1877). more favorable than Spedding; Barrow. Earl of Essex, in his Memoirs of the Nara! Worthies of Queen Eliza beth's Reign, pp. 333-376 (London, 1845) ; Birch, Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (Lon don. 1754): Bruce. Correspondence of King James VI. of Scotland with ,Sir Robert Cecil, etc. (Westminster. ]SOI ) ; Lohmann. Essex-Traucr spiel (Leipzig. 1856) ; Croxall, Memoirs of tuc Unhappy Paroritc ( London, 1729) ; Wotton, Characters of Bober/ Dcrercas . . . and George Villiers, etc. (Lee Priory, 1811); Cooper. Athe na' (2 vols., Cambridge, 1S58). for his writings.