Penelope Devereux

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Miniature portrait by Nicholas Hilliard circa 1590, presumably showing Penelope Devereux

Penelope Devereux (born January 1563 in Chartley Castle , Staffordshire , † July 7, 1607 in London , England ), married Lady Rich, was an English noblewoman and lady-in-waiting . She was the sister of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and is usually considered the inspiration for Philip Sidney's "Stella" from his sonnet sequence "Astrophel and Stella". She married Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, and had a public affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy , whom she married in an informal ceremony after her divorce from Rich.

Youth and first marriage

Penelope Devereux was born in 1563 as the eldest daughter of Walter Devereux, 2nd Viscount Hereford , later 1st Earl of Essex, and his wife Lettice Knollys . Her mother Lettice was the daughter of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey , the daughter of Mary Boleyn and Sir William Carey. However, after some rumors, Catherine came from Mary Boleyn's affair with King Henry VIII.

In 1572 her father was named Earl of Essex. He died in Dublin in 1576, but had still sent a letter to Philip Sidney from his deathbed, in which he expressed his wish that this should marry Penelope. Essex's secretary also later wrote a letter to Sidney's father, the choice of words suggests that the two families had reached a firm agreement. Penelope had already met Philip Sidney in 1575 when he had accompanied her distant cousin Elizabeth I on a visit to Lettice Knollys, and had probably met him often, not least because of the many connections between the two families.

After the death of their father, Penelope and her younger siblings Dorothy and Walter were entrusted to the guardianship of their relative Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon. In 1578 her widowed mother married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester , the Queen's favorite. It is possible that Lettice Knolly's marriage with Robert Dudley is also the reason for the failure of Sydney's marriage with Penelope, as Sidney's prospects for the Leicester legacy were thus ruined.

In January 1581 Penelope came to the court of Elizabeth I, accompanied by her guardian’s wife, Catherine, Countess of Huntingdon, who was Leicester's sister and Sidney's aunt. 3rd Baron Rich (later 1st Earl of Warwick). It is said that Penelope protested in vain against her marriage to Rich.

The children from her marriage to Robert Rich were:

  • Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1587–1658)
    1. ∞ Frances Hatton (1590–1623)
    2. ∞ Susan Halliday, b. Rowe (1582-1646)
    3. ∞ Eleanor Wortley
  • Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland (1590–1649)
    1. ∞ Isabel Cope
  • Sir Charles Rich († 1627)
  • Lettice Rich († 1619)
    1. Sir George Carey (ca.1541-1616)
    2. ∞ Sir Arthur Lake (1598–1633)
  • Penelope Rich († 1613)
    1. ∞ Sir Gervase Clifton (1587–1666)
  • Essex Rich
    1. ∞ Sir Thomas Cheek († 1659)
  • Isabella Rich
    1. ∞ Sir John Smythe, First Governor of the East India Company

Penelope as a muse

Penelope Devereux was considered a beauty at Elisabeth's court. She had golden blonde hair and dark eyes, was a gifted singer and dancer and spoke French, Spanish and Italian fluently.

Penelope is usually the inspiration for Philip Sidney's sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella (also: Astrophil and Stella ), which was probably composed in the 1580s and contains 108 sonnets and 11 songs. Many of the poems were already in circulation as manuscripts before they were first published by Thomas Newman in 1591, five years after Sidney's death. It remains unclear, however, whether Sidney actually fell passionately in love with Penelope, or whether the "Stella" sonnets were merely intended for entertainment at court.

Sidney died in 1586 after being badly wounded in the Battle of Zutphen. In 1590 Penelope's brother Robert married Sidney's widow Frances Walsingham and Penelope was surrounded by many poets and musicians while her brother rose to court. The poet Richard Barnfield dedicated his first work to her, The Affectionate Shepherd, and Bartholomew Young also dedicated his translation of Diana by Jorge de Montemayor to her . John Davies of Hereford and Henry Constable also addressed sonnets to them.

It is known that the miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard painted two miniatures by Penelope Devereux, which were given to Jacob VI. from Scotland and the French ambassadors. It is possible that a miniature now in the Royal Collection could be one. Charles Tessier also dedicated a book of French and Italian songs, Le premier livre de chansons , “Madame Riche” and John Dowland composed My Lady Rich's Galliard in her honor.

Affair with Charles Blount

Penelope's marriage to Robert Rich was unhappy, and by 1595 she had started an affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy. Rich took no action during the lifetime of Penelope's powerful brother Robert, who rose to be the Queen's favorite.

After Essex's rebellion against the Queen failed, he also denounced his sister as a traitor, and after being executed for high treason in 1601, Rich Penelope and her children dismissed their relationship with Mountjoy. Mountjoy had also been involved in the rebellion, but since Elizabeth I wanted as much mercy as possible, she did not proceed against him or against Penelope. Penelope lived from now on with Mountjoy and the two maintained a public relationship. When Jacob I ascended the throne , Mountjoy was made Earl of Devonshire and Penelope was also in the king's favor and served Jacob's wife, Anna of Denmark , as lady-in-waiting.

From 1605 onwards, Rich sought divorce and Penelope wanted to marry Mountjoy in order to legitimize their children. During the divorce proceedings, she publicly admitted that she had committed adultery. The divorce was granted, but her application to remarry and legitimize her children was denied. On December 26, 1605, Penelope married Mountjoy in London in a private ceremony, whereupon both were expelled from court by King Jacob. The two continued to live together as a married couple until Mountjoy died just a few months later on April 3, 1606. Penelope died on July 7, 1607.

Penelope's illegitimate children recognized by Charles Blount are:

  • Mountjoy Blount (1597–1663), later 1st Earl of Newport
    1. ∞ Anne Boteler
  • Elizabeth Blount
  • John Blount
  • Ruth Blount (1600–1694), died in Jamestown, Virginia

Individual evidence

  1. ^ PEJ Hammer: The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597 . Cambridge UP, 1999, p. 22 .
  2. a b c d e f Hugh Chisholm: Rich, Penelope, Lady . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 23 . Cambridge University Press, 1911, pp. 292 .
  3. a b Katherine Duncan-Jones: Sidney, Stella, and Lady Rich. In: JA van Dorsten, Dominic Baker-Smith, and Arthur F. Kinney (Eds.): Sir Philip Sidney: 1586 and the Creation of a Legend . Brill Archive, 1986, p. 182 .
  4. ^ PEJ Hammer: The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597 . Cambridge UP, 1999, p. 33 .
  5. a b c A Historical Dictionary of British Women . 2nd Edition. Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2003, pp. 371 .
  6. a b Katherine Duncan-Jones: Sidney, Stella, and Lady Rich . In: JA van Dorsten, Dominic Baker-Smith, and Arthur F. Kinney (Eds.): Sir Philip Sidney: 1586 and the Creation of a Legend . Brill Archive, 1986, p. 188 .
  7. Mona Wilson: Sir Philip Sidney . Duckworth, London 1931, p. 168 .
  8. JE Neale: Elizabeth I . Pelican Books, 1988, pp. 357 .