Lettice Knollys
Encyclopedia
Lettice Knollys Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester (8 November 1543 – 25 December 1634), was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
and Lady Penelope Rich; through her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite
, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's undying hatred.
A grandniece of Anne Boleyn
and close to Princess Elizabeth since childhood, Lettice Knollys was introduced early into court life. At 17 she married Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford
, who in 1572 became Earl of Essex
. After her husband went to Ireland in 1573 she possibly became involved with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. There was plenty of scandalous talk, not least when Essex died in Ireland
of dysentery
in 1576. Two years later, Lettice Knollys married Robert Dudley in private. When the Queen was told of the marriage she banished the Countess forever from court, effectively curtailing her social life. The couple's child, Robert, Lord Denbigh, died at the age of three, to the great grief of his parents and ending all prospects for the continuance of the House of Dudley. Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester was nevertheless a happy one, as was her third marriage to the much younger Sir Christopher Blount
, whom she unexpectedly married in 1589 only six months after the Earl
's death. She continued to style herself Lady Leicester.
The Countess was richly left under Leicester's will; yet the discharge of his overwhelming debts diminished her wealth. In 1604–1605 she successfully defended her widow's rights in court when her possessions and her good name were threatened by the Earl's illegitimate
son, Robert Dudley, who claimed that he was his father's legitimate heir, thus implicitly declaring her marriage bigamous
. Lettice Knollys was always close to her large family circle. Helpless at the political eclipse of her eldest son, the second Earl of Essex
, she lost both him and her third husband to the executioner in 1601. From the 1590s she lived chiefly in the Staffordshire
countryside. In reasonably good health until the end, she died aged 91 on Christmas Day.
, Oxfordshire
. Her father, Sir Francis Knollys
, was a Member of Parliament
and acted as Master of the Horse
to Prince Edward. Her mother, Catherine Carey, was a daughter of Mary Boleyn
, sister to Queen Anne Boleyn. Thus Catherine Knollys was Elizabeth I's first cousin, and Lettice Knollys her first cousin once removed. Lettice was the third of her parents' sixteen children.
Sir Francis and his wife were Protestants. In 1556 they went to Frankfurt
in Germany to escape religious persecution
under Queen Mary
, taking five of their children with them. It is unknown whether Lettice was among them, and she may have passed the next few years in the household of Princess Elizabeth with whom the family had a close relationship since the mid-1540s. They returned to England in January 1559, two months after Elizabeth I's succession. Francis Knollys was appointed Vice-Chamberlain
of the Royal Household
; Lady Knollys became a senior Lady of the Bedchamber
, and her daughter Lettice a Maid of the Privy Chamber.
In late 1560, Lettice Knollys married Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford
. The couple lived at the family seat of Chartley
in Staffordshire
. Here the two eldest of their five children, the daughters Penelope and Dorothy
, were born in 1563 and 1564, respectively. Lettice Devereux returned to court on at least one occasion, in the summer of 1565, when the Spanish ambassador Diego Guzmán de Silva
described her as "one of the best-looking ladies of the court" and as a favourite with the Queen. Pregnant with her first son, she flirted with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen's favourite
. The Queen found out at once and succumbed to a fit of jealousy. The Viscountess went back to Staffordshire where, in November 1565, she gave birth to Robert
, later 2nd Earl of Essex
. Two more sons followed: Walter, who was born in 1569, and Francis, who died soon after birth at an unknown date.
Walter Devereux was raised to the earldom of Essex in 1572. In 1573 he successfully suggested to the Queen a project to plant
Englishmen in Ulster
. In the autumn he went to Ireland
, not to return for two years. During this time Lettice Devereux possibly engaged in a love-affair with the Earl of Leicester; her whereabouts in the following years are largely unknown, though. In 1573 Leicester sent her a present of venison to Chartley from his seat Kenilworth Castle
in Warwickshire
, and she made hunting visits to Kenilworth in 1574 and 1576. She was also present in July 1575 when Dudley entertained the Queen with a magnificent 19-days festival at the castle. Elizabeth and the court (including the Earl of Leicester) then progressed to Chartley, where they were welcomed by the Countess of Essex.
When Walter Devereux returned to England in December 1575, the Spanish agent in London
, Antonio de Guaras, reported:
These rumours were elaborated on years later in Leicester's Commonwealth
, a Catholic
underground libel against the Protestant Earl of Leicester satirically detailing his alleged enormities. Here the Countess of Essex, after having a daughter by Leicester, kills a second child "cruelly and unnaturally" by abortion to prevent her homecoming husband from discovering her affair. There is no evidence that any such children ever existed.
The Earl of Essex returned to Ireland in July 1576. At Dublin, he died of dysentery
on 22 September during an epidemic, bemoaning the "frailness of women" in his last words. Rumours of poison, administered by Leicester, immediately sprung up and continued notwithstanding an official investigation which concluded that Essex had died of natural causes. His body was carried over to Carmarthen
, where his widow attended the funeral.
The Countess' jointure
, the lands left to her under her husband's will, was too little to live by and did not comprise Chartley, so that she and her children had to seek accommodation elsewhere. She partly lived in her father's house at Rotherfield Greys, but also with friends; Leicester's Commonwealth claimed that Leicester had her move "up and down the country from house to house by privy ways". She pleaded for an augmentation of her jointure with the authorities and, to reach a compromise with the late Earl's executors, threatened "by some froward advice" to claim her dower rights
. These would have amounted to one third of the Devereux estate. After seven months of wrangling a more satisfactory settlement was reached, the Countess declaring to be "content to respect my children more than myself". She equally—though unsuccessfully—tried to move the Queen to forgive Essex' debts to the Crown, which very much burdened the inheritance of her son, the young Earl of Essex.
Lettice Knollys married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester on 21 September 1578 at around seven o'clock in the morning. Only six other people were present at the Earl's country house at Wanstead
, Essex
; among these were the bride's father and brother, Francis and Richard Knollys, the bridegroom's brother, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick
, and his two friends, the Earl of Pembroke
and Lord North
. The officiating chaplain Humphrey Tyndall later remarked that the bride wore a "loose gown" (an informal morning dress), which has triggered modern speculation that she was pregnant and that the ceremony happened under pressure from her father. The marriage was, however, in planning between Leicester and his wedding guests for almost a year. While Lettice Devereux may well have been pregnant, there is no further indication as to this. The marriage date coincided with the end of the customary two-years-mourning for a widow.
Leicester—a widower since 1560—had for many years been in hope of marrying Elizabeth herself, "for whose sake he had hitherto forborne marriage", as he confessed to Lord North. He also feared Elizabeth's reaction and insisted that his marriage be kept a secret. It did not remain one for long, the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau
, reporting it only two months later. When the Queen was told of the marriage the next year, she banished Lettice Dudley permanently from court; she never forgave her cousin, nor could she ever accept the marriage. Even Lady Leicester's movements through London were resented by the Queen, let alone summer visits to Kenilworth by husband and wife. In 1583 Elizabeth asked a Scottish diplomat whether it was true that Leicester wanted to marry his younger stepdaughter Dorothy to James VI of Scotland; when the Scot denied this
Lettice Dudley continued to style herself Countess of Essex for several years into her new marriage. She lived very discreetly, often with her relatives at the Knollys family home in Oxfordshire. In February 1580 she was expecting the birth of a child there. For the birth of Leicester's heir, Robert, Lord Denbigh, in June 1581, she moved to Leicester House
on the Strand
. A further advanced pregnancy was reported in September 1582 by the French ambassador, yet the outcome is again unknown. The next year Lettice Dudley became officially resident at Leicester House, and Elizabeth was once again furious with the Earl "about his marriage, for he opened the same more plainly than ever before". A few weeks later Michel de Castelnau was a guest at Leicester's palatial mansion: "He especially invited me to dine with him and his wife, who has much influence over him and whom he introduces only to those to whom he wishes to show a particular mark of attention."
Robert Dudley had been close to the Knollys family since the early 1550s; several of Lettice's brothers had been in his service and his marriage only enhanced his relations with her siblings. To his four stepchildren he was a concerned and generous stepfather. The Dudleys' domestic life is partly documented in the Earl's accounts; Lettice Dudley financed her personal expenses and servants out of her revenue as Dowager
Countess of Essex, remaining largely excluded from society life.
The three-year-old Lord Denbigh died suddenly on 19 July 1584 at Wanstead. His death shattered the dynastical hopes of the House of Dudley. Leicester stayed away from his court duties for a few weeks "to comfort my sorrowful wife for the loss of my little son, whom God has lately taken from us." He also thanked Lord Burghley
for—unsuccessfully—pleading with the Queen "on behalf of my poor wife. For truly my Lord, in all reason she is hardly dealt with."
In 1585 Leicester led an English expedition to assist the rebellious United Provinces
against Spain. He incurred Elizabeth's wrath when he accepted the title of Governor-General
in January 1586—what had especially kindled her fury was a tale that the Countess of Leicester was planning to follow her husband to the Netherlands "with such a train of ladies, and gentlewomen, and such rich coaches, litters, and side-saddles, as Her Majesty had none, and that there should be such a court of ladies, as should far pass Her Majesty's court here." Thomas Dudley, who informed Leicester about these events, stressed that "this information" was "most false". At this same time the Earl was giving his wife authority to handle certain land issues during his absence, implying they had no plans to meet in Holland. William Davison, whom Leicester had sent to explain his doings to the Queen, described a visit to the Countess during the crisis: "I found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how I had proceeded with Her Majesty."
The Earl returned to England in December 1586, but was sent again to the Netherlands in the following June—to the grief of his wife, as the young Earl of Essex remarked in a letter. Leicester eventually resigned his post in December 1587. The Countess was with him when he died unexpectedly, possibly of malaria, on 4 September 1588 at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire; they had been on their way to Kenilworth and Buxton. The Earl's funeral at Warwick
in October 1588 was attended by his widow as well as numerous members of her family circle.
3,000 p.a., to which came plate and movables worth £6,000. However, her jointure was to suffer greatly from paying off Leicester's debts, which at some £50,000 were so overwhelming that she was advised to decline the responsibility of dealing with her husband's financial legacy.
In March or April 1589 the Countess married Sir Christopher Blount
, a relatively poor Catholic soldier 12 years her junior, who had been the Earl of Leicester's Gentleman of the Horse and a trusted friend of his. The marriage was a great surprise and the Earl of Essex complained that it was an "unhappy choice". In the face of tittle-tattle that had reached even France, Lady Leicester—she continued to be styled thus—explained her choice with being a defenceless widow; like her marriage to Leicester, the union proved to be a "genuinely happy" one. Some 60 years later it was claimed in a satirical poem that she had poisoned the Earl of Leicester on his deathbed, thereby forestalling her own murder at his hands, because he had found out about her supposed lover, Sir Christopher Blount.
In 1593 Lettice Knollys sold Leicester House to her son, after which it became known as Essex House. She moved to Drayton Bassett
near Chartley in Staffordshire, her main residence for the rest of her life. Still banished from court, she saw no point in returning to London without being reconciled to Elizabeth. In December 1597 she had heard from friends that "Her Majesty is very well prepared to hearken to terms of pacification", and was prepared to do "a winter journey" if her son thought "it be to any purpose". "Otherwise a country life is fittest for disgraced persons", she commented. She travelled to London, staying at Essex House from January till March 1598 and meeting all her children and grandchildren. Only to meet the Queen was a problem, as Sir Robert Sidney
was informed:
At last a short meeting was granted where the Countess kissed the Queen and "the Queen kissed her", but nothing really changed.
Lettice Knollys' second son, Walter Devereux, died 1591 in France while on military duty, and in subsequent years she was anxious for her elder son's safety. She addressed him "Sweet Robin", longing for his letters and helpless about his moodiness and depression. After returning from his command in Ireland without licence, Essex was imprisoned in 1599; his mother came to London to intercede for him with the Queen. She endeavoured to send Elizabeth a "a most curious fine gown" worth £100, which Elizabeth, though she "liked it well", neither accepted nor refused. Lady Leicester's efforts to get sight of her son made matters worse: "Mislike is taken that his mother and friends have been in a house that looks into York Garden where he uses to walk and have saluted each other out of a window."
During Essex' revolt, trial, and execution in February 1601, Lettice Knollys remained at Drayton Basset. She did not only lose her son but also her "best friend", as she called her third husband. Sir Christopher Blount was executed on 18 March 1601, three weeks after his stepson, to whom he had been a comrade and confidant for many years.
s of Essex and Blount led to a legal dispute over the Countess of Leicester's remaining property. In this context she claimed that Blount, in the process of paying off Leicester's debts, had squandered her jewels and much of her landed wealth. The death of Elizabeth I in 1603 meant some form of rehabilitation for the Countess; the new monarch, James I
, not only restored her grandson, the third Earl of Essex
, to his father's title and estate, but quickly cancelled the rest of her debts to the Crown, almost £4,000.
Even more than his debts, the Earl of Leicester's will triggered litigation. He had intended his illegitimate
son from his early 1570s relationship with Lady Douglas Sheffield
, the adolescent Robert Dudley, to inherit Kenilworth after his brother's, the Earl of Warwick
's, death. Some of the Countess of Leicester's jointure manors
lay in the castle's vicinity, while at the same time they had been assigned to the younger Dudley's inheritance by the overseers of Leicester's will. After Warwick's death in February 1590, lengthy legal proceedings ensued over whether particular parts of Lady Leicester's jointure belonged to the Kenilworth estate or not.
In 1603 Dudley initiated moves to prove that he was the legitimate son of his parents and thus the heir to the earldoms of Warwick
and Leicester
. If successful, this claim would not only have implied that Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester had been bigamous
, but would also have nullified her jointure rights. Consequently, in February 1604, she filed a complaint against Dudley in the Star Chamber
, accusing him of defamation. She was backed by Sir Robert Sidney
, who considered himself the only legitimate heir of his uncles Leicester and Warwick. During the Star Chamber proceedings 56 former servants and friends of the Earl of Leicester testified that he had always regarded Dudley as his illegitimate son. The other side was unable to cite clear evidence and the King's chief minister, Robert Cecil
, thought it unwise to rake up the existing property settlement, so the outcome was in favour of Lady Leicester. All the evidence was impounded to preclude a resumption of the case.
Throughout her life, Lettice Knollys cared for her siblings, children, and grandchildren. Until their respective deaths in 1607 and 1619, her daughters Penelope and Dorothy were her closest companions. The young third Earl of Essex, also called Robert, shared much of his life with the old Countess at Chartley and Drayton Bassett. Still walking a mile a day at nearly 90, she died in her chair in the morning of 25 December 1634, aged 91. Widely mourned as a symbol of a by-gone age, she wished to be buried "at Warwick by my dear lord and husband the Earl of Leicester with whom I desire to be entombed". Her request was respected and she came to rest in the Beauchamp Chapel of St. Mary's, Warwick
, opposite the tomb of her son, the little Lord Denbigh.
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
and Lady Penelope Rich; through her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's undying hatred.
A grandniece of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
and close to Princess Elizabeth since childhood, Lettice Knollys was introduced early into court life. At 17 she married Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG , an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantation of Ulster, where he ordered the massacre of Rathlin Island...
, who in 1572 became Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
. After her husband went to Ireland in 1573 she possibly became involved with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. There was plenty of scandalous talk, not least when Essex died in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
in 1576. Two years later, Lettice Knollys married Robert Dudley in private. When the Queen was told of the marriage she banished the Countess forever from court, effectively curtailing her social life. The couple's child, Robert, Lord Denbigh, died at the age of three, to the great grief of his parents and ending all prospects for the continuance of the House of Dudley. Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester was nevertheless a happy one, as was her third marriage to the much younger Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount was an English soldier, secret agent, and rebel. He served as a leading household officer of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. A Catholic, Blount corresponded with Mary, Queen of Scots's Paris agent, Thomas Morgan, probably as a double agent...
, whom she unexpectedly married in 1589 only six months after the Earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
's death. She continued to style herself Lady Leicester.
The Countess was richly left under Leicester's will; yet the discharge of his overwhelming debts diminished her wealth. In 1604–1605 she successfully defended her widow's rights in court when her possessions and her good name were threatened by the Earl's illegitimate
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
son, Robert Dudley, who claimed that he was his father's legitimate heir, thus implicitly declaring her marriage bigamous
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
. Lettice Knollys was always close to her large family circle. Helpless at the political eclipse of her eldest son, the second Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, she lost both him and her third husband to the executioner in 1601. From the 1590s she lived chiefly in the Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
countryside. In reasonably good health until the end, she died aged 91 on Christmas Day.
Family and upbringing
Lettice Knollys was born on 8 November 1543 at Rotherfield GreysRotherfield Greys
Rotherfield Greys is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is west of Henley-on-Thames and just over east of the village of Rotherfield Peppard....
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. Her father, Sir Francis Knollys
Francis Knollys (the elder)
Sir Francis Knollys , of Greys Court, in Oxfordshire, KG was an English courtier in the service and favour of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I of England, and was a Member of Parliament for a number of constituencies....
, was a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and acted as Master of the Horse
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
to Prince Edward. Her mother, Catherine Carey, was a daughter of Mary Boleyn
Mary Boleyn
Mary Boleyn , was the sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn and a member of the Boleyn family, which enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII of England...
, sister to Queen Anne Boleyn. Thus Catherine Knollys was Elizabeth I's first cousin, and Lettice Knollys her first cousin once removed. Lettice was the third of her parents' sixteen children.
Sir Francis and his wife were Protestants. In 1556 they went to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
in Germany to escape religious persecution
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
under Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, taking five of their children with them. It is unknown whether Lettice was among them, and she may have passed the next few years in the household of Princess Elizabeth with whom the family had a close relationship since the mid-1540s. They returned to England in January 1559, two months after Elizabeth I's succession. Francis Knollys was appointed Vice-Chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
of the Royal Household
Royal Household
A Royal Household in ancient and medieval monarchies formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations....
; Lady Knollys became a senior Lady of the Bedchamber
Lady of the Bedchamber
This is an incomplete list of those who have served as Lady of the Bedchamber in the British Royal Household...
, and her daughter Lettice a Maid of the Privy Chamber.
First marriage and love affair
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG , an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantation of Ulster, where he ordered the massacre of Rathlin Island...
. The couple lived at the family seat of Chartley
Chartley Castle
Chartley Castle lies in ruins to the north of the village of Stowe-by-Chartley in Staffordshire, between Stafford and Uttoxeter . It is a Grade II* listed building...
in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. Here the two eldest of their five children, the daughters Penelope and Dorothy
Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland
Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland was the younger daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex by Lettice Knollys, and the wife of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland.-Family:...
, were born in 1563 and 1564, respectively. Lettice Devereux returned to court on at least one occasion, in the summer of 1565, when the Spanish ambassador Diego Guzmán de Silva
Diego Guzmán de Silva
Diego Guzmán de Silva was a Spanish canon and diplomat. He served as ambassador to England , the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice....
described her as "one of the best-looking ladies of the court" and as a favourite with the Queen. Pregnant with her first son, she flirted with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen's favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
. The Queen found out at once and succumbed to a fit of jealousy. The Viscountess went back to Staffordshire where, in November 1565, she gave birth to Robert
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, later 2nd Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
. Two more sons followed: Walter, who was born in 1569, and Francis, who died soon after birth at an unknown date.
Walter Devereux was raised to the earldom of Essex in 1572. In 1573 he successfully suggested to the Queen a project to plant
Plantations of Ireland
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....
Englishmen in Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
. In the autumn he went to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, not to return for two years. During this time Lettice Devereux possibly engaged in a love-affair with the Earl of Leicester; her whereabouts in the following years are largely unknown, though. In 1573 Leicester sent her a present of venison to Chartley from his seat Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, and she made hunting visits to Kenilworth in 1574 and 1576. She was also present in July 1575 when Dudley entertained the Queen with a magnificent 19-days festival at the castle. Elizabeth and the court (including the Earl of Leicester) then progressed to Chartley, where they were welcomed by the Countess of Essex.
When Walter Devereux returned to England in December 1575, the Spanish agent in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Antonio de Guaras, reported:
As the thing is publicly talked of in the streets, there can be no harm in my writing openly about the great enmity between the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex, in consequence, it is said, of the fact that while Essex was in Ireland his wife had two children by Leicester. ... Great discord is expected in consequence.
These rumours were elaborated on years later in Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth
Leicester's Commonwealth is a scurrilous tract that circulated in Elizabethan England and which attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
, a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
underground libel against the Protestant Earl of Leicester satirically detailing his alleged enormities. Here the Countess of Essex, after having a daughter by Leicester, kills a second child "cruelly and unnaturally" by abortion to prevent her homecoming husband from discovering her affair. There is no evidence that any such children ever existed.
The Earl of Essex returned to Ireland in July 1576. At Dublin, he died of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
on 22 September during an epidemic, bemoaning the "frailness of women" in his last words. Rumours of poison, administered by Leicester, immediately sprung up and continued notwithstanding an official investigation which concluded that Essex had died of natural causes. His body was carried over to Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
, where his widow attended the funeral.
The Countess' jointure
Jointure
Jointure is, in law, a provision for a wife after the death of her husband. As defined by Sir Edward Coke, it is "a competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of lands or tenements, to take effect presently in possession or profit after the death of her husband for the life of the wife at...
, the lands left to her under her husband's will, was too little to live by and did not comprise Chartley, so that she and her children had to seek accommodation elsewhere. She partly lived in her father's house at Rotherfield Greys, but also with friends; Leicester's Commonwealth claimed that Leicester had her move "up and down the country from house to house by privy ways". She pleaded for an augmentation of her jointure with the authorities and, to reach a compromise with the late Earl's executors, threatened "by some froward advice" to claim her dower rights
Dower
Dower or morning gift was a provision accorded by law to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband...
. These would have amounted to one third of the Devereux estate. After seven months of wrangling a more satisfactory settlement was reached, the Countess declaring to be "content to respect my children more than myself". She equally—though unsuccessfully—tried to move the Queen to forgive Essex' debts to the Crown, which very much burdened the inheritance of her son, the young Earl of Essex.
Marriage to Leicester and banishment from court
Wanstead Park
Wanstead Park is the name of a grade II listed municipal park covering an area of about 140 acres , located in Wanstead, in the London Borough of Redbridge, historically within the county of Essex...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
; among these were the bride's father and brother, Francis and Richard Knollys, the bridegroom's brother, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
, and his two friends, the Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke KG was an English peer of the Elizabethan era.-Life:He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Parr. His aunt was queen consort Catherine Parr, last wife of King Henry VIII. Herbert was responsible for the costly restoration of Cardiff Castle...
and Lord North
Roger North, 2nd Baron North
Roger North, 2nd Baron North was an English peer and politician at the court of Elizabeth I.He was the son of Edward North, 1st Baron North, for whom the title Baron North had been created. After representing Cambridgeshire in several parliaments , North acceded to his title in 1564...
. The officiating chaplain Humphrey Tyndall later remarked that the bride wore a "loose gown" (an informal morning dress), which has triggered modern speculation that she was pregnant and that the ceremony happened under pressure from her father. The marriage was, however, in planning between Leicester and his wedding guests for almost a year. While Lettice Devereux may well have been pregnant, there is no further indication as to this. The marriage date coincided with the end of the customary two-years-mourning for a widow.
Leicester—a widower since 1560—had for many years been in hope of marrying Elizabeth herself, "for whose sake he had hitherto forborne marriage", as he confessed to Lord North. He also feared Elizabeth's reaction and insisted that his marriage be kept a secret. It did not remain one for long, the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière , French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, was born in Mauvissière, , Touraine about 1520...
, reporting it only two months later. When the Queen was told of the marriage the next year, she banished Lettice Dudley permanently from court; she never forgave her cousin, nor could she ever accept the marriage. Even Lady Leicester's movements through London were resented by the Queen, let alone summer visits to Kenilworth by husband and wife. In 1583 Elizabeth asked a Scottish diplomat whether it was true that Leicester wanted to marry his younger stepdaughter Dorothy to James VI of Scotland; when the Scot denied this
the Queen became so excited about it as to say that she would rather allow the King to take her crown away than to see him married to the daughter of such a she-wolf, and, if she could find no other way to repress her ambition and that of the traitor Leicester, she would proclaim her all over Christendom for the bad woman she was, and prove that her husband was a cuckold. She said much more to the same effect.
Essex House (London)
Essex House was a house in London, built around 1575 for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and originally called Leicester House.The property occupied the site where the Outer Temple, part of the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, had previously stood , and was immediately adjacent to the...
on the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
. A further advanced pregnancy was reported in September 1582 by the French ambassador, yet the outcome is again unknown. The next year Lettice Dudley became officially resident at Leicester House, and Elizabeth was once again furious with the Earl "about his marriage, for he opened the same more plainly than ever before". A few weeks later Michel de Castelnau was a guest at Leicester's palatial mansion: "He especially invited me to dine with him and his wife, who has much influence over him and whom he introduces only to those to whom he wishes to show a particular mark of attention."
Robert Dudley had been close to the Knollys family since the early 1550s; several of Lettice's brothers had been in his service and his marriage only enhanced his relations with her siblings. To his four stepchildren he was a concerned and generous stepfather. The Dudleys' domestic life is partly documented in the Earl's accounts; Lettice Dudley financed her personal expenses and servants out of her revenue as Dowager
Dowager
A dowager is a widow who holds a title or property, or dower, derived from her deceased husband. As an adjective, "Dowager" usually appears in association with monarchical and aristocratic titles....
Countess of Essex, remaining largely excluded from society life.
The three-year-old Lord Denbigh died suddenly on 19 July 1584 at Wanstead. His death shattered the dynastical hopes of the House of Dudley. Leicester stayed away from his court duties for a few weeks "to comfort my sorrowful wife for the loss of my little son, whom God has lately taken from us." He also thanked Lord Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
for—unsuccessfully—pleading with the Queen "on behalf of my poor wife. For truly my Lord, in all reason she is hardly dealt with."
In 1585 Leicester led an English expedition to assist the rebellious United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
against Spain. He incurred Elizabeth's wrath when he accepted the title of Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
in January 1586—what had especially kindled her fury was a tale that the Countess of Leicester was planning to follow her husband to the Netherlands "with such a train of ladies, and gentlewomen, and such rich coaches, litters, and side-saddles, as Her Majesty had none, and that there should be such a court of ladies, as should far pass Her Majesty's court here." Thomas Dudley, who informed Leicester about these events, stressed that "this information" was "most false". At this same time the Earl was giving his wife authority to handle certain land issues during his absence, implying they had no plans to meet in Holland. William Davison, whom Leicester had sent to explain his doings to the Queen, described a visit to the Countess during the crisis: "I found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how I had proceeded with Her Majesty."
The Earl returned to England in December 1586, but was sent again to the Netherlands in the following June—to the grief of his wife, as the young Earl of Essex remarked in a letter. Leicester eventually resigned his post in December 1587. The Countess was with him when he died unexpectedly, possibly of malaria, on 4 September 1588 at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire; they had been on their way to Kenilworth and Buxton. The Earl's funeral at Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
in October 1588 was attended by his widow as well as numerous members of her family circle.
Blount and Essex
Lettice Dudley was left a wealthy widow. Leicester's will appointed her as executrix and her income from both her husbands' jointures amounted to £Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
3,000 p.a., to which came plate and movables worth £6,000. However, her jointure was to suffer greatly from paying off Leicester's debts, which at some £50,000 were so overwhelming that she was advised to decline the responsibility of dealing with her husband's financial legacy.
In March or April 1589 the Countess married Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount
Sir Christopher Blount was an English soldier, secret agent, and rebel. He served as a leading household officer of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. A Catholic, Blount corresponded with Mary, Queen of Scots's Paris agent, Thomas Morgan, probably as a double agent...
, a relatively poor Catholic soldier 12 years her junior, who had been the Earl of Leicester's Gentleman of the Horse and a trusted friend of his. The marriage was a great surprise and the Earl of Essex complained that it was an "unhappy choice". In the face of tittle-tattle that had reached even France, Lady Leicester—she continued to be styled thus—explained her choice with being a defenceless widow; like her marriage to Leicester, the union proved to be a "genuinely happy" one. Some 60 years later it was claimed in a satirical poem that she had poisoned the Earl of Leicester on his deathbed, thereby forestalling her own murder at his hands, because he had found out about her supposed lover, Sir Christopher Blount.
In 1593 Lettice Knollys sold Leicester House to her son, after which it became known as Essex House. She moved to Drayton Bassett
Drayton Bassett
Drayton Bassett is a village and civil parish in the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Nearby are the town of Tamworth and Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve, formerly a gravel quarry known in part as Drayton Bassett Pits.It formerly had a manor....
near Chartley in Staffordshire, her main residence for the rest of her life. Still banished from court, she saw no point in returning to London without being reconciled to Elizabeth. In December 1597 she had heard from friends that "Her Majesty is very well prepared to hearken to terms of pacification", and was prepared to do "a winter journey" if her son thought "it be to any purpose". "Otherwise a country life is fittest for disgraced persons", she commented. She travelled to London, staying at Essex House from January till March 1598 and meeting all her children and grandchildren. Only to meet the Queen was a problem, as Sir Robert Sidney
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester , second son of Sir Henry Sidney, was a statesman of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. He was also a patron of the arts and an interesting poet...
was informed:
I acquainted you with the care to bring Lady Leicester to the Queen's presence; it was often granted, but the Queen found occasion not to come. Upon Shrove Monday, the Queen was persuaded to go to Mr Controller's at the Tilt End, there was my Lady Leicester with a fair jewel of £300. A great dinner was prepared by my Lady Chandos, the Queen's coach ready and all the world expecting Her Majesty's own coming; when upon a sudden she resolved not to go and send so word. My Lord of Essex that had kept his chamber the day before, in his night gown went up to the Queen the privy way; but all would not prevail and as yet my Lady Leicester hath not seen the Queen.
At last a short meeting was granted where the Countess kissed the Queen and "the Queen kissed her", but nothing really changed.
Lettice Knollys' second son, Walter Devereux, died 1591 in France while on military duty, and in subsequent years she was anxious for her elder son's safety. She addressed him "Sweet Robin", longing for his letters and helpless about his moodiness and depression. After returning from his command in Ireland without licence, Essex was imprisoned in 1599; his mother came to London to intercede for him with the Queen. She endeavoured to send Elizabeth a "a most curious fine gown" worth £100, which Elizabeth, though she "liked it well", neither accepted nor refused. Lady Leicester's efforts to get sight of her son made matters worse: "Mislike is taken that his mother and friends have been in a house that looks into York Garden where he uses to walk and have saluted each other out of a window."
During Essex' revolt, trial, and execution in February 1601, Lettice Knollys remained at Drayton Basset. She did not only lose her son but also her "best friend", as she called her third husband. Sir Christopher Blount was executed on 18 March 1601, three weeks after his stepson, to whom he had been a comrade and confidant for many years.
Litigation and old age
The executions and attainderAttainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...
s of Essex and Blount led to a legal dispute over the Countess of Leicester's remaining property. In this context she claimed that Blount, in the process of paying off Leicester's debts, had squandered her jewels and much of her landed wealth. The death of Elizabeth I in 1603 meant some form of rehabilitation for the Countess; the new monarch, James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, not only restored her grandson, the third Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
, to his father's title and estate, but quickly cancelled the rest of her debts to the Crown, almost £4,000.
Even more than his debts, the Earl of Leicester's will triggered litigation. He had intended his illegitimate
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
son from his early 1570s relationship with Lady Douglas Sheffield
Lady Douglas Sheffield
Douglas Sheffield , Baroness Sheffield, née Howard, was an English noblewoman and the mother of the explorer and cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester...
, the adolescent Robert Dudley, to inherit Kenilworth after his brother's, the Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
's, death. Some of the Countess of Leicester's jointure manors
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
lay in the castle's vicinity, while at the same time they had been assigned to the younger Dudley's inheritance by the overseers of Leicester's will. After Warwick's death in February 1590, lengthy legal proceedings ensued over whether particular parts of Lady Leicester's jointure belonged to the Kenilworth estate or not.
In 1603 Dudley initiated moves to prove that he was the legitimate son of his parents and thus the heir to the earldoms of Warwick
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is a title that has been created four times in British history and is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the British Isles.-1088 creation:...
and Leicester
Earl of Leicester
The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...
. If successful, this claim would not only have implied that Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester had been bigamous
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
, but would also have nullified her jointure rights. Consequently, in February 1604, she filed a complaint against Dudley in the Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
, accusing him of defamation. She was backed by Sir Robert Sidney
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester , second son of Sir Henry Sidney, was a statesman of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. He was also a patron of the arts and an interesting poet...
, who considered himself the only legitimate heir of his uncles Leicester and Warwick. During the Star Chamber proceedings 56 former servants and friends of the Earl of Leicester testified that he had always regarded Dudley as his illegitimate son. The other side was unable to cite clear evidence and the King's chief minister, Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
, thought it unwise to rake up the existing property settlement, so the outcome was in favour of Lady Leicester. All the evidence was impounded to preclude a resumption of the case.
Throughout her life, Lettice Knollys cared for her siblings, children, and grandchildren. Until their respective deaths in 1607 and 1619, her daughters Penelope and Dorothy were her closest companions. The young third Earl of Essex, also called Robert, shared much of his life with the old Countess at Chartley and Drayton Bassett. Still walking a mile a day at nearly 90, she died in her chair in the morning of 25 December 1634, aged 91. Widely mourned as a symbol of a by-gone age, she wished to be buried "at Warwick by my dear lord and husband the Earl of Leicester with whom I desire to be entombed". Her request was respected and she came to rest in the Beauchamp Chapel of St. Mary's, Warwick
Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in the town of Warwick, England. It lies in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is a member of the Greater Churches Group....
, opposite the tomb of her son, the little Lord Denbigh.