Essex Robert Devereux

Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of (1567-1601), a courtier of Queen Elizabeth's time. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he came to court in 1584, and was made Master of the Horse and Knight of the Garter, and commanded the cavalry under Leicester in the Netherlands in 1587, and succeeded that nobleman in the Queen's favour. In 1590 he married Walsingham's daughter, the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. In 1596 he commanded the expedition which burnt Cadiz, and the next year he had a hand in the capture of some Spanish ships. In 1597 he was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, but was unsuccessful in governing the country, and through petulance coquetted with the malcontents of all parties, and when summoned before the Council, resisted and committed overt acts of rebellion, for which he was beheaded in February, 1601.