Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux | |
|---|---|
 Bust of Robert Devereux 3rd Earl of Essex | |
| Born | January 11, 1591 |
| Died | September 14, 1646 (aged 55) |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Howard Elizabeth Paulet |
| Children | One, name unknown |
| Parent(s) | Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Frances Walsingham |
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex (January 11 1591 – 14 September 1646) was the son and heir of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, the courtier and soldier from the later reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He took his father's title in 1604 when James I came to the throne. Three years earlier the previous Earl had been executed for treason after leading a rebellion against Elizabeth. However James chose to restore the family title. His mother was Frances Walsingham (1569–1631), the only daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster.
Youth and Personal Life
In his youth, Essex was a close friend of Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales. Essex's marriage to Frances Howard at the age of 13 was not successful. After she began an affair with Viscount Rochester, their marriage was annulled on the grounds of his impotency. Essex claimed that he was only impotent with her, had been perfectly capable with other women and added that she "reviled him, and miscalled him, terming him a cow and coward, and beast."[1] Their divorce was a public spectacle and it made him a laughing-stock at court. On 11 March, 1630 he married Elizabeth Paulet, daughter of William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester. This marriage also failed - though not as publicly. They separated in 1631. There was a child produced from the union; however, the father was largely suspected to be her lover, Sir Thomas Uvedale.
Political and Military Career: 1620-1642
In 1620 Essex embarked on what was to be an undistinguished military career prior to the start of the First English Civil War. Between 1620 and 1624 he served in Protestant armies in Germany and the Low Countries. In 1620 he joined Sir Horace Vere's expedition to defend the Palatine. In 1621 he served with Prince Maurice of Nassau. In 1624 he commanded a regiment in the unsuccessful campaign to relieve the siege of Breda. And in 1625 he commanded the failed English expedition against Cadiz. Despite the lack of distinction, this period of his life gave him a good working knowledge of continental war methods and strategies, even if his own experience was limited to defensive operations.
Throughout his military career he remained involved in politics. A strong Protestant, Essex had a reputation for being one of the puritan nobles in the House of Lords. When Charles I became King of England in 1626 Essex became one of his parliamentary critics. He was friends with John Pym, one of the strongest critics of Charles in the House of Commons during the 1640 Short Parliament and its successor the Long Parliament. Despite having served in the king's army in the first Scottish Bishops' War in 1639, he was denied a command in the second, which took place in 1640. This pushed him further into the arms of the growing number of the king's opponents in parliament.
In 1641, parliament passed a Bill of Attainder against the king's minister Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, who was fiercely loyal Charles. This resulted in Strafford's execution. In an attempt at reconciliation with parliament, Charles invited Essex (who had supported the action against Strafford) and others to join his Privy Council. He had been appointed Captain General of the royal armed forces south of the River Trent in February and was made Lord Chamberlain in July. However the relationship between Charles and his parliament deteriorated further.
On 4th January 1642, Charles went to the House of Commons to arrest Pym and 4 other members for their alleged treason , Essex among others had tipped them off about what the king was planning to do. Charles was humiliated when he entered the House of Commons only to find that those who he sought to arrest had fled. In that same month Essex began to absent himself from Charles's court. In April he was dismissed from the office of Lord Chamberlain when he failed to join the king at York. His position as Captain-General of the southern forces was deemed to have lapsed.
As the insurgencies in Ireland and Scotland threatened to spiral out of control, Charles strengthened his army to counter it. However parliament became increasingly afraid that this army would be used against them. On 12th July 1642, parliament voted to raise an army of its own. As one of the few English nobles with any military experience, Essex was chosen to lead it [2].
Role in the First English Civil War: 1642-1646
Essex had been put in a difficult position in 1642. Whilst parliament had voted to raise an army to counter the one Charles was strengthening, it was collectively unsure about how to conduct it. Charles laid his cards on the table when he raised his standard at Nottingham Castle on 22nd August 1642. This was a symbolic declaration of war against the parliamentary army. It was clear from this point onwards that the two armies would inevitably engage at some point.
From then on royalist MPs filtered away. They later set up a rival parliament in Oxford. The remnants of the Long Parliament gradually split into two camps. One wished to defeat the king in parliament. The other, known as the peace party, wanted to force Charles to the negotiating table rather than defeat him. Although his commitment to the parliamentary cause never wavered, his sympathies lay with the peace party throughout the conflict and this undermined his effectiveness as a military leader.
The Battle of Edgehill, 23rd October 1642
Following several minor skirmishes, the first major engagement took place at the Battle of Edgehill on 23rd October 1642. Both sides had raised impressive armies. Essex's life guard included Henry Ireton, Charles Fleetwood, Thomas Harrison, Nathaniel Rich, Edmund Ludlow, Matthew Tomlinson and Francis Russell, all of whom were to play a leading role in the civil war and its aftermath. But a degree of amateurism and bad discipline was evident on both sides during the battle and in the weeks leading up to it.
The battle began with a royalist cavalry charge led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine. A second royalist cavalry charge scattered both the right and left flanks of the parliamentarian horse. The royalists unwisely chose to pursue them, probably with their eye on the baggage train. But Essex had kept two cavalry regiments in reserve. As the rival infantry divisions engaged in combat, with Essex fighting alongside his troops with a pike, the two remaining parliamentarian cavalry regiments made a devastating attack on the exposed royalist foot soldiers.
Both sides incurred heavy losses and the battle ended in stalemate after Rupert's royalist cavalry returned to stop a rout.
Both armies spent the night in the field before withdrawing the next day without engaging in battle again.
This battle and its aftermath portrayed the strengths and weaknesses in Essex's military mindset. Although his planning and leadership had allowed the parliamentarian forces to stand their ground, his defensive caution and his unwillingness to engage the enemy led to his army being outmanouevered. Although he had begun his military preparations in London, prior to the battle Charles had been able to position his army in between the parliamentarian forces and London. This left the road to London open to Charles. The king had also been able to engage Essex's army before they were at full strength. On the day of the battle, Essex was still waiting for the arrival of John Hampden's regiment.
Luckily for Essex, Charles did not take much advantage of this superior position. The king chose to make an assault on London with his army at full strength, as he too was awaiting the arrival of more soldiers. This allowed Essex and his army to make a break for London via Watling Street. Essex arrived back in London to a hero's welcome on 7th November, before Charles was able to get there.
The Battle of Brentford and the Battle of Turnham Green, 12-13th November 1642
On 12th November the small parliamentarian garrison stationed at Brentford suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Brentford. Royalist forces proceeded to sack the town. This galvanised the sentiments in the city of London against a royalist occupation.
On 13th November Essex is able to muster 24,000 men for the Battle of Turnham Green, including the remnants of the Edgehill army and the City trained bands, as well as apprentices and militiamen from Hertfordshire, Essex and Surrey.
Charles, with much smaller forces, does not engage in battle. He retreats with only a handful of shots fired.
Essex and Major-General Phillip Skippon are key to this display of force by placing their soldiers in effective defensive positions and by keeping up morale.
At the end of 1642, Essex’s forces are the weaker side against the royalists but he has the sympathy of the Scots and thousands of other troops around the country. The scene was set for a long conflict.
The First Battle of Newbury, 20th September 1643
After a long winter break, Essex's army captured and occupied Reading on 26th April 1643. However progress towards the king's base at Oxford was slow. This was in contrast to the ascendancy of Oliver Cromwell's cavalry, who became known as the 'Ironsides', in the newly formed Eastern Association.
In what was perhaps his finest hour, on 20th September, Essex’s army forced the royalist army to withdraw to Oxford after the First Battle of Newbury. Despite not winning an outright victory, this gave the parliamentary army a clear road to Reading and London.
The Lostwithiel Campaign, June-September 1644
1643 and 1644 saw the increasing polarisation of the parliamentary alliance between the peace party and those who wished to defeat the king in battle. On 2nd July 1644 parliamentary commanders Lord Fairfax, Lord Leven and the Earl of Manchester defeat royalist forces at the Battle of Marston Moor.
His conduct in pursuing Royalist forces in Cornwall, which led to the defeat at the Battle of Lostwithiel, infuriated Cromwell. He eventually resigned his position in 1646 following the passing of the Self-denying Ordinance and died the same year, without an heir. The earldom died with him, until revived in 1661 for Arthur Capel.
It has recently been suggested that Essex suffered from male hormone deficiency, leading to failure to consumate his first marriage and produce an heir in his second.[3] However, portraits of Essex show him with a prolific growth of facial hair. He also had a tendency to aggression leading to quarrels and threats of duels. Both these characteristics are counter-indicative of hypogonadism.
Notes
- ^ Haynes, Alan: Sex in Elizabethan England, page 129. Wrens Park Publishing, 1997
- ^ 'July 1642: The Parliaments' Commission to the Earl of Essex to be Captain-General of their Army.', Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660 (1911), pp. 14-6. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=55735. Date accessed: 13 April 2007.
- ^ Haynes, Alan: Sex in Elizabethan England, page 131. Wrens Park Publishing, 1997
References
- Haynes, Alan. Sex in Elizabethan England. Groucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1997. ISBN 0-905-778-359
- Snow, Vernon F. Essex the Rebel: Life of Robert Devereux, Third Earl of Essex, 1591-1646. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970 ISBN 0-8032-0719-0
- tudorplace.com.ar Accessed July 31, 2007