Essex Rebellion

Essex Rebellion is in 1600-1603 Essex Rebellion Elizabeth's Death.

On 7th February 1601 Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex (age 35) received a summons from the Queen to appear the Privy Council. He decided to bring forward his plans and summoned three hundred followers, telling them that Cecil and Ralegh were planning to assassinate him, and that the rising should therefore take place the next day.

On 8th February 1601 Thomas Egerton 1st Viscount Brackley (age 61) and three others were held hostage by Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex (age 35) at Essex House. Thomas Egerton 1st Viscount Brackley attempted to rouse London but his support never materialised. When he returned to Essex House he found the hostages gone. Essex House was besieged by the Queen's men under Charles Howard 1st Earl Nottingham (age 65). Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex and Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton (age 27) surrendered. Charles Danvers (age 33) and Christopher Blount (age 36) took part. Roger Manners 5th Earl of Rutland (age 24) was implicated and was imprisoned for several months. He was fined £30000; a staggering amount three times more than any other conspirator.

After 8th February 1601 Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton (age 27) was sentenced to death during the Essex Rebellion. Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland (age 67) on the advice of Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 37) commuted the punishment to life imprisonment.

On 25th February 1601 Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex (age 35) was beheaded at Tower Green, Tower of London [Map] as a consequence of his involvement in the Essex Rebellion. Earl Essex, Viscount Hereford, Baron Bourchier and Baron Ferrers of Chartley forfeit. He was the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. It isn't clear whether his other titles Viscount Hereford, Baron Ferrers of Chartley and Baron Bourchier were forfeit.

On 18th March 1601 Charles Danvers (age 33) and Christopher Blount (age 36) was beheaded for their part in the Essex Rebellion.

Life of Robert Dudley Part II. In 1601 Dudley fell under the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth, for taking part in the rebellion of the young Earl of Essex. The Earl had been under arrest in his own house for some time, having offended the Queen though it is not precisely known for what reason. Lotti, the Italian resident at London, opines that he had made some negotiations with the King of Scotland which were displeasing to Her Majesty of England¹. Tired of being a prisoner he protested, and the matter was placed by the Queen in the hands of Parliament. But this was too slow for the young rebel, who got his friends together, Dudley and Blount among them, and with 1100 followers and partizans, marched into London. The Earl of Essex, Dudley, Blount, and others were taken prisoners. The Earl was subsequently beheaded, as we know to the Queen's eternal remorse. Dudley got off easily, being shortly after released.

See Lotti's account of this in Appendix, n. IV.

                    Life of Robert Dudley Appendix IV. Dudley imprisoned with the Earl of Essex 1602.
                
                    From a letter from London in February 1601 (or 1602 in the common style).
                
                    From a letter from London dated the 22nd of last month [22nd January 1601], they report that in London and at Court several upsets occurred because of the Earl of Essex, who had been confined for some time by the Queen's command in his house in London, and having been afterwards restored to his former freedom, continued to urge the Queen to get justice and reason from Lord Cecil, over the injury he claimed had been done to him by said Cecil. Since the Queen did not yield to his prayers and solicitations, but referred the matter to the decision of Parliament, the said Earl of Essex had undertaken to take revenge himself with the help of his friends. The Queen, having heard of this audacity, had expressly and under penalty ordered the said Earl not to take any action, and not to include in his company more than 80 gentlemen and servants while traveling or going to Court. Nonetheless, disregarding this command, the said Earl had gathered up to 1100 men, with whom he planned to show up in London and at Court. Hence, the Queen, warned of this recklessness, had her guards disperse these gathered men, and had the aforementioned Earl of Essex arrested along with Lords Dudley, Blount, and several others who were partisans of the said Earl. But until now, the cause of such disturbance has not been ascertained, and according to the ordinary talk of people, it is something newly and extraordinarily occurred, with different speculations about it among some saying that the noise was that the said Earl had some dealings with the King of Scotland, and others, with other designs.
                
                    Da una lettera di Londra del Febbraio 1601 (ossia 1602 alio stile comune).
                
                    Di Londra con letters delli 22 passato avvisano che in Londra et in Corte erano accadute alquante alienation! per cento del Milor d' Essex, il quale essendo stato alquanto tempo sequestrato per comandamento della Eegina nella sua casa in Londra, et rimesso dipoi nella pristina liberty, haveva continuato Yerso la Regina a sollecitare di voler haver giustitia et ragione del Lord Cial, sopra 1' ingiuria cbe pretendeya essergli fatta da detto Cial. Onde non movendosi la Regina a sue preghiere et sollicitationi, ma rimettendo il negotio alia decisione del Parlamento, il detto Conte d' Essex haveva intrapreso di fame vendetta per s6 stesso et con 1' aiuto de' suoi amici. II che inteso dalla Regina, haveva espressamente et sotto pena fatto dire a detto Conte di non muoversi in punto alcuno, et di non ammetter nella sua compagnia passando cammino overo andando in Corte piu de 80 gentilhuomini et servitori. Ma non ostante questo comandamento haveva detto Conte adunato insino a 1100 huomini, con i quali disegnava di ritrovarsi in Londra et in Corte. Onde la Regina avvertita di quella temerità, fece con quelli della sua guardia separar dette genti adunate, et fecero pregione il predetto Conte di Essex con li signori Dudley, Blount et alquanti altri che erano partigiani di detto Conte. Ma insin hora non s' h potuta sapere la causa di tale alterations, et secondo r ordinario delle genti e cosa nuovamente et straordinariamente avvenuta, parlandosi diversamente di questo fra alcuni con dirsi, che il romore fusse che detto Conte havesse qualche pratica col Re di Scotia, et altri, con altri disegni.
                
                    (Omissis.)

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Brief Lives: Charles Danvers 1568 1601. ^[711]Sir Charles Danvers (age 33) was beheaded on Tower-hill [Map] with Robert, earle of Essex (age 35), February the 6th, 1600^[712]. I find in the register of the Tower chapell [Map] only the sepulture of Robert, earl of Essex, that yeare; wherfore I am induced to beleeve that his body was carryed to Dantesey^[CX] in Wilts to lye with his ancestors. Vide Stowe's Chronicle, where is a full account of his and the earle's deportment at their death on the scaffold.

With all their faylings, Wilts cannot shew two such^[713] brothers.

His familiar acquaintance were...^[714], earl of Oxon (age 50); Sir Francis (age 40) and Sir Horace Vere (age 36); Sir Walter Ralegh (age 47), etc.-the heroes of those times.

Quaere my lady viscountesse Purbec and also the lord Norris for an account of the behaviour and advice of Sir Charles Danvers in the businesse of the earl of Essex, which advice had the earle followed he had saved his life.

^[715]Of Sir Charles Danvers, from my lady viscountesse Purbec:-Sir Charles Danvers advised the earle of Essex, either to treat with the queen-hostages..., whom Sir Ferdinando Gorges (age 36) did let goe; or to make his way through the gate at Essex house, and then to hast away to Highgate, and so to Northumberland (the earl of Northumberland maried his mother's (age 51) sister), and from thence to the king of Scots, and there they might make their peace; if not, the queen was old and could not live long. But the earle followed not his advice, and so they both lost their heads on Tower-hill.

Note.

Note 711. MS. Aubr. 8, fol. 25v.

Note 712. i.e. 1600/1.

Note 713. Dupl. with 'shew the like two brothers,' scil. as Sir Charles Danvers and his brother Henry, earl of Danby.

Note 714. Edward Vere, seventeenth earl of Oxford.

[CX] In MS. Aubr. 3, fol. 46, Aubrey writes, in reference to burials at Dantesey, 'quaere, if Sir Charles Danvers that was beheaded?-He was buryed in the Tower chapell.' Aubrey's description of the burial-place of the Danvers family (MS. Aubr. 3, fol. 46), with the inscriptions, is printed in J. E. Jackson's Aubrey's Wiltshire Collections, pp. 223-225; the pedigree of Danvers is there given at p. 216.

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On 8th February 1601 Thomas Smythe (age 43) was visited by Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex (age 35) at his house Gracechurch Street [Map]. Smythe was later accused of complicity in the Essex Rebellion, he was examined before the Privy Council. He was fired from his office of Sheriff of and committed to the Tower of London [Map].

Annales of England by John Stow. Sunday the eight of February [1601], about ten of the clock before none, Robbert Devereux Earle of Essex, assisted by sundry noble men and gentlemen, in warlike maner, departed from his house by the Strand, and entered the Citie of London, at the Temple-Barre, crying for the Quéene, for the Quéene, till they came into Fenchurch Stréete, and there entered the house of Maister Thomas Smith, one of the Shrives of London, who finding himselfe not maister of his owne house, by meanes of the strength the Earle brought with bim,and being ignorant of his intent and purposes, convayed himselfe out at a backe-gate to the Maior, whereupon the Earle: with his troupe returned into Fenchurch Stréete to an Armorours house where they required Armour which was denyed them, & then went info Grasse-stréete, where perceinig himselfe with his assisters to be proclaimed traytors as also the Citizens to be raised in armes against him, be with his followers wandering up and downe the Citie, towards evening, would have passed at Ludgate, which was closed and defended against them, so was he forced to returne to Quéene-hith, and from thence by water, to his house by the Strand, which house he fortified, but understanding that great Ordinance was brought to have beat it downe, be yéelded, and was convayed to the Tower about midnight.

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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. This death of his was the more hastened by that bloody practice of Thom Lea (age 50), who, not four days after the Earl's apprehension, dealt with Sir Henry Nevill, son-in-law to the Lord Treasurer, and with Sir Robert Crosse, assuring them that he would deal also with some four other gentlemen of resolution, who, at supper time, when the Queen should have been in the privy chamber, should have taken her, locked the doors, and, as he sillily pretended, only have pinned her up there till he had forced her to sign a warrant for the Earl's delivery out of the Tower. Which vile purpose being discovered by those two gentlemen and avowed to his face, he being that very night watching at the privy cliamber door to discover bow he might the next day have had access, he was seized on, and being examined, confessed thus much, only vo-wing that he would not have hurt her royal person, whom God bless, except others would liave forced in upon her to hinder that course which he pretended for their delivery; but within four days [14th February 1601] he received the due reward of a traitor at Tyborne.

On 14th February 1601 Thomas Lee (age 50) was hanged at Tyburn [Map].

Annales of England by John Stow. The xvii [7th] of February [1601] Captaine Thomas Lee (deceased), was drawne fo Tiborne, and there hanged, bowelled and quartered, being before condemned, for consspiracie against the Quéene, about deliverance of the Earle of Essex out of the Tower, he tooke his death constantly, confessing he had divers wayes deserved it, but to be innocent of that he was condemned for, &c.

Annales of England by John Stow. The 19 of February [1601], Robert Devereux Earle of Essex (age 35), was arraigned Westminster, and found guilty of high treason, as more at large appearreth in Bookes thereof extant, published by authoritie, wherefore I will forbeare to set downe in this place any further of that matter of his arraignement,

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. After that he [Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex (age 35)] made a very humble suit to the Queen, that he might have the favour to die privately in the Tower which her Majesty granted, and for which he gave most humble thanks. The 25th of February [1601] he suffered in the Tower with very great patience and humility, only, notwithstanding his resolution that he must die, the conflict betwixt the flesh and the soul did appear only thus far that in his prayers he was fain to be helped, it proceeding out of the weakness of the flesh at the instant, for otherwise no man living could die more Christianly than he did.

Annales of England by John Stow. The 25 of Feruary [1601], then being Ashwednesday, about eyght of the clocke in the morning, was the sentence of death executed upon Robert Devereux earle of Essex (age 35), within the Tower of London, where a Scaffold being set up in the Court, and a sorme néere unto the place, where on sat the Earles of Cumberland, and Hartford, the Lord Vice-count Bindon, the Lorde Thomas Howard, the Lorde Darcye, and the Lorde Compton. The Lieutenant, with some sixtéene Partizans of the Guard was sent for the Prisoner, who came in a Gowne of wrought Vevlet, a blacke Sattin sute, a Felt-Hatte blacke, a little Ruffe about his neck, accompanied from his Chamber with thee Divines, Doctor Montford, Doctor Barlow, and Maister Ashton his Chaplaine: them be bad requested not to part from him, but oberne him, and recall him if either his eye, countenanc, or speeche, should bewray any thing which might not beséeme him for that time: All the way be desired the spectators to pray for him, and so arriving on the Scaftold, he vailed his hat, and with obeysance unto the Lords, to this effect he spake, viz.

Annales of England by John Stow. [28th February 1601] The last of February, a young man named Woodhouse was hanged in Smithfield, for speaking and Libelling against the Quéenes Proclamation, and apprehending of the Earle of Essex.

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. The 5th of March [1601], Sir Christopher Blunt (age 36), Sir Charles Davers (age 33), Sir John Davys (age 39), Sir Gelly Merick, and Henry Cuff (age 38) were ail arraigned at Westminster and condemned, they confessing the plot as is afore set down, with many other circumstances to it, absolutely submitting themselves to her Majesty's mercy, which is like to appear in some of them.

Annales of England by John Stow. The 13 of March [1601], sir Gilley Merike Knight, and Henry Cuffe (age 38) Gentleman, were drawne to Tiborne, the one from the Tower, the other from Newgate, and there hanged, boweled, and quartered, as being actors with the late earle of Essex.

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. [13th March 1601]. But Merick and Cuff (age 38), the one a principal actor, the other a chief plotter and inducer of the were yesterday executed at Tyburne.

Annales of England by John Stow. The 18 of March [1601], sir Charles Dawvers (age 33), and sir Christopher Blunt (age 36) knights, were upon a new Scaffold set up for that purpose, on the Tower hill, beheaded.

In July 1601 John Lyttelton (age 40) died in the Queen's Bench Prison having been tried for high treason for involvement in the Essex Rebellion.