The Essex Rebellion The Essex Rebellion Author Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Kate McPherson, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

This document uses Canadian English spelling

 Published file. Updated metadata proofed updated author respStmt. swapped the desc and figDescs to be correct. added image citation and figure. Added date, pubPlace, and publisher tags to sources, changed tag from ref to bibl in block quote Added Shakespeare’s Life and Times database to Best sources. Fixed mistakes Created File
Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex by the Studio of Marcus Gheeraerts, 1596–1601. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art. Public Domain.
Courtier and Military Leader

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (1566–1601), was one of Queen Elizabeth I’s favored courtiers near the end of her reign, from about 1587 until he died in disgrace. He served as her Master of the Horse and later as a member of the Privy Council. His charisma and military leadership in the wake of the 1588 Spanish Armada crisis, as well as expeditions and battles in the Netherlands, France, and Spain, made him very popular among both the English court and populace. His fortunes changed after being named Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1599 and his failure to suppress the Irish Rebellion in 1600. He left Ireland without the Queen’s permission and was tried and convicted by the Privy Council upon his return.

Devereaux’s Fall and Richard II

In February 1601, Essex and a few sympathizers commissioned The Lord Chamberlain’s Men to stage a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard II. The play features a king being deposed. This deeply offended and disturbed the Queen and her advisors. Elizabeth is said to have exclaimed, I am Richard II. Know ye not that? Essex and his 200 armed fellows entered the City of London to seek an audience with the Queen but was soon arrested. He was quickly tried and executed for treason.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men was paid 40 shillings, more than the usual 10 shillings for the performance. They had complained that the play was so old and long out of use that they were afraid of a small audience. Augustine Philips, one of the players, had to go before the Privy Council to explain the company’s involvement. As Alan Nelson notes, Philips testified that they had been asked to perform the deposyng and kyllyng of Kyng Rychard the Second. Phillips and his fellow actors proposed an alternative play but after negotiation were finally content to play as requested. No action was taken against them. Ironically, the players also performed another play before the queen on the eve of Essex’s execution.

Shakespeare, Essex, and Henry V

Before the collapse of Essex’s rebellion, Shakespeare had expressed high hopes about the Earl’s expedition to Ireland. Near the end of the play Henry V, the Chorus describes Essex’s Irish adventure as it proclaims But now behold, In the quick forge and working house of thought, How London doth pour out her citizens! The mayor and all his brethren in best sort— Like to the senators of th’ antique Rome, With the plebeians swarming at their heels— Go forth and fetch their conqu’ring Caesar in; As, by a lower but by loving likelihood, Were now the general of our gracious empress (As in good time he may) from Ireland coming, Bringing rebellion broached on his sword, How many would the peaceful city quit, To welcome him! (Prologue.22–34) Essex’s ambitions had destroyed the precarious balance of Elizabeth’s earlier reign by forcing her to side with a faction led by Robert Cecil, Lord of Burghley, who was Secretary of the Privy Council. Burghley had long been the Queen’s most trusted advisor, and Essex failed to supplant him despite his charms. After a failed 1599 campaign to put down rebellion by the Irish lords against England’s colonial rule in Ireland, Essex abandoned his post and returned to court without the Queen’s permission. She banished him and he remained under suspicion of treason. His rebellion and subsequent death occurred the next year.

Key Print Sources The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan, 2nd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015. Potter, Lois. The Life of William Shakespeare: a Critical Biography. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Shapiro, James. 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. Harper-Collins, 2005.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. Elizabeth and Essex. Shakespeare’s Life and Times.Internet Shakespeare Editions, https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/history/elizabeth/essex.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023. Nelson, Alan H. Examination of Augustine Phillips. Shakespeare Documented, 1 Feb. 2020, 10.37078/341. Robert, Earl of Essex. British Broadcasting Corporation, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/earl_of_essex_robert.shtml. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Image Source Studio of Marcus Gheeraerts, The Younger,. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. 1596–1601. Oil on wood. National Gallery of Art. Accession 1947.18.1. https://www.nga.gov/artworks/34162-robert-devereux-2nd-earl-essex.