Essex, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of

Essex, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of (1566-1601), English court favourite and statesman, who acted against the wishes of Queen Elizabeth I and paid for it with his life. He was born in Netherwood, Herefordshire, on November 19, 1566, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1585, Essex accompanied his stepfather, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, on an expedition to aid the Low Countries in their revolt against Spain. Essex distinguished himself at the Battle of Zutphen, in the Netherlands, and thereafter began to rise in the favour of Elizabeth. In 1589, however, he angered Elizabeth by joining, without her permission, an expedition of the English navigator Sir Francis Drake to Portugal. She was also displeased when he married (1590) the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. After commanding (1591) the English forces sent to assist King Henry IV of France against the Spanish, Essex returned to a position of influence at court. In 1596 he commanded a victorious expedition against Cádiz, but in 1597 he failed to destroy the Spanish fleet and seize the Azores, and was reproached by Elizabeth. In that same year, however, he was made Earl Marshal of England. At the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion in 1599, he went to Ireland as lord lieutenant. After his defeat at Arklow, he made an unauthorized truce with the rebel Irish leader Hugh O'Neill and returned to London to vindicate himself. Elizabeth received him kindly, but in June 1600, he was brought to trial before a special court on charges of contempt and disobedience. He was deprived of his estates, dismissed from all offices of state, and placed under house arrest. Through the intercession of the philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, his liberty was restored. Later, when Essex tried to incite insurrection in London to compel Elizabeth to remove his enemies from her council, he was imprisoned and condemned to death. Although Elizabeth postponed signing the warrant, Essex was beheaded on February 25, 1601.