The Earl of Essex and The Political Climate of the 1590s Part V

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

             After hearing about the defeat in Ireland of the English under Henry Bagenal, Essex offered his service to the Queen who was at Whitehall. The Queen's demand for an apology and Essex's refusal to do so stalled the favor between them but over time, Essex found himself in her favor once more. It was after the death of Richard Bingham, that Elizabeth relented and allowed for Essex to regain his fame by subduing the Irish Rebels. Essex took on the challenge and chance at winning glory for the Queen and boasted in a letter to his fellow expeditionary John Harington that:                                                                   

  I have beaten Knollys and Mountjoy in the Council, and by God, I will beat Tyrone in the field; for nothing                 worthy of her Majesty's honour hath yet been achieved.^[1]

This was an highly important post for Essex and a chance to win a valuable position at court and redeem the role of the Devereux's in Ireland.

         The importance of the post to his family honor was due in part that Essex was the son of the ill-fated Protestant expeditionary leader in Ireland, Walter Devereux, the 1^st Earl of Essex  who fought a undulating struggle against the Irish rebel Brian MacPhelim, a member of the O'Neil Sept in Ulster. After years of failure and mishaps in Ireland, Essex’s father died at Dublin Castle of the less than glorious ailment of dysentery.  While there he dealt with the lack of resources and proper intelligence that seem to parallel Leicester's experience in the Netherlands and his son's endeavor into Ireland. The policy in Irish warfare had not changed much in the nearly thirty years between the 1st and 2nd earls of Essex expedition there. An O'Neil was leading a devastating rebellion, the troops were ill supplied and the lack of organization and exchange of information was prohibiting the cause. The lack of proper intelligence on the condition in Ireland was due the covetous protection the Burghley and now his son, Robert Cecil.

Essex was very much a man of honor and distinction in the military and political spheres in the Elizabethan age but his sense of duty base on honor, virtue and social hierarchy was archaic and did not fit the world of politics he was thrust into in the 1590s. He placed too much trust in low ranking men like the Cecils who only nominally shared his vision of honor and loyalty. Essex was also placed in a position under a female ruler which upset the natural order of masculine dominion of state and religious affairs. Elizabeth's reign did nothing to prove him wrong as she was vain, indecisive, parsimonious and timid in her foreign and domestic policies. Essex push for an Anglo-French alliance would have created a power bloc in Western Europe that would have stopped the Spanish advance in its tracks and formulated strong ties in the future European wars. His distrust of the Spanish was rightly supported and had he been able to secure a garrison in Cadiz, it would have consolidated government policy and focus it on the destruction of the Spanish Empire. This would have given England access to a great deal of wealth and would have prevented the breakdown of government that occurred when the Stuarts inherited the quagmire of Elizabethan and Cecilian policies. It was the manipulation and subversive behavior of the Cecils' Machiavellian political policies and beliefs  that controlled the reign of Elizabeth and pushed the noble ambitions of men like the earl of Essex into a position where the only way to preserve of the honor of England is to revolt.

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^[1] Harington,  Nugae Antiquae 30

The Earl of Essex and The Political Climate of the 1590s Part IIII

Sir Walter Raleigh

       Essex pro-French policy was against the views of Elizabeth who "disliked and profoundly distrusted" Henry and Burghley who viewed the French as England's traditional foe.^[1] The Queen and Burghley's views were shared by the other councilors who agreed with Sir Thomas Wiles comment in 1593 that "if the king of Spayne were dead, wee are like enoughe to care little for France"^[2] When the Spanish were pushed from the Netherlands, the Queen's and Burghley's focus turned on the Irish insurrection and the allocation of resources from France  towards Ireland. This put Essex at odds with Elizabeth and the Cecils' policy and forced Essex to change the Queen's mind. Elizabeth's reaction was that Calais be returned to the English and she would support the French against the Spanish. This was a price that Henry would never pay and a fear spread that the French king would give "genuine substance to his nominal conversion to Catholicism."^[3] Essex greatest fear was that the break with the French would leave England vulnerable to the full extent of the Spain.

         With the growing fear of a second Spanish Armada and the raid of Cornwall  in 1595, supported Essex's case about the vulnerability of the English. Essex and the Cecils had agreed upon the importance of military action against Spain and both factions had put their support behind it. Essex saw it as an opportunity to use his battle prowess to win over the Queen's favor and eventual higher political aspirations. But before the expedition left England in 1596, there was in fighting and a feud between the soldiers like Essex and his associate, Sir Francis Vere, a veteran from the Netherlands campaigns and Lord High Admiral Charles Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh over a land based conquest or sea battle to plunder the Spanish cargo ships^[4] The English taking of Cadiz success was daunted by Howard and Raleigh, bitter about the burning of the merchant ships in the Bay of Cadiz, fought with Essex and Vere over garrisoning Cadiz and using it as a base of operations  because it went against the orders of the Queen.  Despite the in fighting, the City of Cadiz was razed by the English troops and the hostages taken back to England. The Cadiz expedition caused the Essex faction at court to worry, a worry that resonated into the French court. King Henry IV "viewed Essex's new venture with horror, fearing the diversion of resources abroad and the absence of Essex himself."^[5] Henry IV fear was that Burghley was secretly plotting to distract Essex from leading an English delegation and subsequently cutoff a Anglo-French league.^[6]

       Essex's had hoped that wartime strategy and success would have shown how the war with Spain should have fought. Had he been able to garrison Cadiz, the Queen would have to focus on Spain instead of shifting resources from France to Ireland.^[7] This would have decimated the Cecil faction at court by undermining their special interests in Ireland and "shoestring" war budgeting because Elizabeth focus would have to be on her Spanish acquisitions. However, the Cadiz expedition had only served to distract Essex from the Cecilian intrigue. Before Essex left England he had bade the Queen to hold off appointing a new secretary of state until his return, banking that his wartime defiance and success would have won him the position. When Elizabeth heard of the political strategy that Essex had plotted out for Cadiz, she appointed Robert Cecil, secretary of state. As well, it was promised that Cadiz would bring the Queen "great riches" from the Cadiz expedition and subsequent plundering of the Spanish ships. When she saw little treasure from the expedition, Burghley and Cecil blamed Essex and alleged that Essex allowed his men to keep the plunder for themselves.^[8]

         As well, the Islands Voyage, the second expedition against the Spanish this time to the Azores. The Privy Council had decided to proactive against the Spanish who were amassing another great armada and attack the Spanish coastal city of Ferrol in the province of Corunna in 1597.^[9] Essex, Raleigh and Howard were once again chosen to command the English forces. but a storm off the Bay of Biscay split them with Howard heading towards Corunna, Essex and Raleigh off to a safe port. After regrouping with the English fleet, Raleigh was again separated and headed for the Azore under the idea that he was chasing Spanish ships. Once again he and Essex regrouped, the earl ordered Raleigh to resupply and meet him at the island of Fayal. Raleigh obliged him and arrived at the island with Essex no where to be found. The English ships sat adrift until they were induced into landing by a cannonade of Spanish artillery. Raleigh led the charge ashore and was shot and wounded in the leg. Essex arrived late and furious at the fact that Raleigh had already began the assault.

             Essex  was dishonored by Raleigh and sought to have his rival court-marshaled for disobeying orders. Essex was a renown disciplinarian in his leadership and the constant separation and actions of Raleigh were undermining his command. Howard intervened and dissuaded Essex, resulting in his decision to on getting treasure by plundering the Azores instead of securing and defeating the Spanish fleet.^[10] The distraction was costly because a dying Philip II was indeed organizing another armada and it now sailed ahead of the English fleet and headed for England. Essex's fleet was saved by the fact that the Spanish armada was again defeated by sea storms. When he returned to England, Essex was accosted by the Queen for his failure in protecting the kingdom from the advancing Spanish flotilla. This sense of failure in his most ardent cause made Essex silently about the success in the Azores. As a result of Essex's failure to secure neither protection nor more wealth for the Crown,  the Queen under Burghley influence began to entertain a treaty with the Spanish.

        The very suggestion of a treaty with the Spanish enemy enraged Essex and caused him to write the elaborate and well published "letter" in defense of his actions and protest to the possible treaty. In the Apologie , Essex calls attention to his enemies "my fortune bred me Envie: and that Envie procured me strong & dangerous opposition"^[11] and that when he acted against Spain he did so because "no man , in my country, of my ranke, disposing himself that way."^[12] Essex was addressing his fellow courtiers and their inaction after the Armada. Essex was extremely critical of the roles of these “self-loving men” that “love ease, pleasure and profit”^[13] especially when they were dictating the highly suspicious push for a treaty with Spain. The push for the uneasy and hasty Spanish treaty with a deceptive enemy was the turning point in Essex’s career with in the court of Elizabeth. He states in his Apologie that : They say, England cannot  stand without peace, Peace cannot growe but by treatie, treatie canot be had but when the Enemy offers it; & now the Enemy offers to treat^[14] The reply which Essex gives to this is remarkably brazen. He replies to the accusation in his letter that he believes the treaty to be a Trojan horse and that is Spain really wanted peace they would make the proper accommodations for England and Protestant interests.  He defends the stance by exploring the motivation of Philip II’s push for peace:

Princes or States, when they enter into consideration of their owne affaires, may dispose them selves  to peace, for utilitiy, convenience or necessitie. For utility, if they can get advantage: for conveniency, if peace be fittest to conscrue then in the state they are: for necessity, when they have no longer means to make war.^[15]

It is apparent to Essex that the push for peace by the Privy Council had been motivated by some sinister ploy or intrigue orchestrated by the council's leaders. It is not purely speculation that Essex bases his case against the council because he himself had been victim to it.

          Essex protest of the Spanish treaty and criticism of the royal government placed him in a vicarious position: he was losing favor with his queen and the growing clandestine Cecil political strategies had him from her graces.  When the need for a new military commander Ireland was brought before the Queen and it was suggested that Essex's uncle, Sir William Knollys be appointed. This enraged Essex who felt threaten by the loss of an ally at court and insisted that Sir George Carew a member of the Cecil faction go instead. The Queen refused on account that it would disrupt Robert Cecil's office and Essex in a fit of temper turned his back on the Queen. This show of disrespect angered the Queen, who struck him aside the head  and hollered "Go to the devil!" At which, Essex grasped his sword hilt and replied angrily into Elizabeth's face  "This is an outrage, that I will not put up with. I would not have borne it from your father's hands!"^[16] Nottingham had grabbed hold of Essex and drew him back and Essex stormed out of the room. The Queen did not respond to the outrageous behavior and focused mainly on the ailing Burghley on his deathbed while Essex lingered in depression in the country. 

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^[1] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 243

^[2] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 244

^[3] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 245

^[4] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 364

^[5] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 365

^[6] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 365, 122ff

^[7] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 367

^[8] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p 373

^[9] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics pp.263-5

^[10] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 266

^[11]  Essex,  An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 7 (B1)

^[12]  Ibid

^[13]  Essex,  An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 14 (C1)

^[14]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 17 (C2)

^[15]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 21 (C4)

^[16] Strachey ,  Elizabeth and Essex pp. 168-9

The Earl of Essex and The Political Climate of the 1590s Part III

Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury

    In addition to the inadequacies of a female ruler, the idea that men of lower rank were dominating over established nobility. The Cecilian faction are the epitome of this and as a result a constant thorn in the earl of Essex's side because they had the monopoly of the Queen's policy. They represented everything, Essex  has been turned against in his emulation of great and noble figures in his personal and greater history. In protest of the Cecilan domination of court, Essex scoffs "Judge you...whether it can be grief to a man descended as I am, to be trodden underfoot by such base upstarts"^[1] It was the cunning and corruption of the upstarts and their total disregard of tradition reminiscent of the disputes between Roman Patricians and the rising plebiscite power  and  the parallels with the downfall of the purity of the Roman state happening before his very eyes. This was the world that Essex existed in the late 1590s, a vain queen ruled over  by base and manipulative men who sought to defame the "defender of the English" state.

          When Essex accompanied his mentors, Leicester and Sidney to the Netherlands, he saw very little actual fight but he observed the planning, mismanagement and other worries of military leaders. He personally witnessed the way that the Queen and Burghley had levied war in the Netherlands by undermining the troops by denying them proper supply and pay.  Now, he was again confronted, albeit this time directly, with the reality of a parsimonious Queen, a court of men concerned with their own luxuries and an underfunded army. This was apparent in internalized corruption of the Privy Council that was rampant in the 1590s. The unstable political climate created court factions in the later reign of Queen Elizabeth I: on the one hand the Essex faction, Essex, the Bacon brothers and the Earl of Southampton, the “men of action” who disliked the miserly conduct of the war and the wasteful use of domestic wealth versus the Cecilan faction of Lord Burghley, Sir Robert Cecil, and Edward Coke, those whose self-interest and extravagance laid upon the Queen the riches and sumptuous lifestyle she demanded. The Cecil faction was a consummate impediment to Essex's aspiration to fill the role of the Queen's primary statesman. Lord Burghley and his son Sir Robert Cecil, were well acquainted with the youthful aristocratic and his potential role as a dominant area of influence at court.  They used this past relationship to draw his trust in them and use it to their greater goals and political advantages.

           During the Rouen expedition, Essex kept correspondence with the younger Cecil in order to keep in the good graces of the Lord Treasurer on behalf of his sister's father-in-law and Privy Council member, Sir John Perrot. Essex had petitioned Burghley to defend the former Lord Deputy of Ireland Perrot who was being tried for treason on trumped up charges. Burghley ignored his requests because he had created the case against Perrot so he could replace him with a relative, William FitzWilliams who was more in line with the Cecil faction's  activities in  both Ireland and England. This was exemplar of the push for a "regnum Cecilianum"^[2] the singular rule of the English state by Cecilian power and authority. While the ageing Lord Burghley control of Elizabethan policy was losing the battle of time, Burghley's supporters held keys spots in government posts. His influence on the Privy Council, Courtiers and the Queen. assisted the elder statesman in securing that his views and decisions were achieved. Burghley's influence upon Essex had created a sense of trust in the earl's former guardian that would soon be broken by the Cecilian intrgue.

            Upon his return from France, Essex expecting some form of reward or reimbursement was shunned by the Queen. When he asked for some forgiveness, on the loans he had taken for the French expedition, the Queen told him to take his business to Sir Robert Cecil, a junior member of the Privy Council. Essex was furious because the war had cost him not only in money but also the loss of his younger brother, Walter Devereux. This was only the first of his misgivings at the hands of Cecil cunning.

          When he ascended into the Privy Council, Essex's policies and choice of state offices were continually undermined by Burghley and his son. Essex was aiming to be a reputable and able statesmen creating his own domestic and continental intelligence networks. Essex's connections, spies and information sometimes worked in unison with Burghley's own elaborate one system but more often they where in competition.  The competition between the powerful statesmen was not overtly apparent but it existed in the chase to deliver continental intelligence to the Queen first. As well, Essex's methodology in politics was often forceful and abrasive because he did not have the experience or finesse in the workings of deception factionalized politics. Essex as adept as he was at warfare he was not ready for the "daungerouslie poisoned with the secrett stinges of smilinge enemies"^[3] found at court.  When he sought to place Francis Bacon as attorney-general, Burghley first gave support  but then shifted his support behind the more experienced and pro-Cecilian, Edward Coke. Burghley wanted to fill the English government with men that were aligned to his surreptitious form of government. This sort of cunning and activity was at odds with Essex ideological outlook.

      Essex's political goals rested heavily in his Protestant upbringing and was seen in his push to ally with the Dutch and Henry IV of France. He sought the alliance as means to facilitate a crusade against the growing "tyranny" of the Spanish. Essex saw the Spanish as "an insollent, cruell and usurping Nation that disturbed the common peace , aspired to the conquest of my Countrie, and a general enemy to the liberty of Christendom"^[4] The stability of the Netherlands since the 1590, Essex focused his attention to Henry IV and the French. Essex had strong ties to the Huguenots through his childhood friend, Count Montgomery and the relationship with Henry IV from the Rouen campaign. These ties pushed for Essex to dedicate himself to being Henry's "greatest & onlye freind...in England"^[5] because he admired the French king's resolve and virile conduct which was so unlike Elizabeth's indecisiveness.

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^[1]  James, Society, politics, and culture: studies in early modern England  p. 423

^[2] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 392

^[3] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics  p. 359

^[4] Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 5-6 (A4)

^[5] Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 243

The Earl of Essex and The Political Climate of the 1590s Part II

Queen Elizabeth I

    Essex conduct at war is chivalric in nature because the execution or action was not solely based on his victories. Essex's "glory and honour is not given by success or political achievement but by courage and intrepid conduct and behaviour."^[1]His honorable conduct in the Spanish War and at court are purposed with the preservation of the English, as Essex narrates and defends his this steadfastness to the Queen  and the English state in both his accomplishments and failures in An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, against Those Which Iealovsly, and Maliciovsly, Tax Him to Be the Hinderer of the Peace and Qviet of His Covntry.  In his early experiences under Leicester in the proxy war against Spain in the Netherlands, Essex  recalls fondly that "the State of England not onely dispose it selfe to great actions, but ingaged in them."^[2] He saw the valor of these battles as influencing his fate and directing him on the course of martial prestige. Essex views to the English cause as influencing his fate and directing him on the course of martial prestige.

          Essex views his involvement in the defense of the King of Portugal, as an obligation to end the oppression of Philip II and "to free both mine Country and our confederates, from the feare or danger of his attempts"^[3] He further defends his unsanctioned actions against the Spanish as a necessity because there was no time to consult over a retaliation. Essex's devotion to the English State and its earthly monarch are determined and accomplished by his Protestantism, his renown military leadership, his virtuous and steadfast honor. His chivalric honor is seen in the political arena as well, as he describes the sacrifices he had made in order to maintain his honor: He states in the Apologie:

The reputation of a most faithfull subject and zealous Patriot (which, with hazard of my life and decay of my estate, I have sought to purchase) must not suffer this ougly and odius aspersion, that my actions have caused, maintained, or increased the warres or had ever any such scope or intent^[4]

While he is blamed for the continued wars with Spain and abroad, he confesses that his actions were in accordance to his ideology of being a "Patriot" not a warmonger. It is  in this dedication to England and that Essex soundly fortifies himself in the self-appointed  role as defender of the Elizabethan state.

          Essex combined his chivalric ideals with the translations of Roman historians, mainly drawing upon Tacitian histories "Agricola" and "The Ende of Nero" to create a staunch faith in the ability of a noble in his political climate The application of Roman civic ideology and classical ethics is clear early in Essex days at Trinity college. Essex relied on the histories of Rome because they offered “rules and patternes of pollecy are aswell learned out of olde Greeke and Romayne storyes, as out of of states which are at thys daye.^[5]” These words will resonates throughout Essex career as he will draw heavily on the works of Tacitus and the Greek philosophical masters to justify his social rank and defense of the justice and virtue of the English state. In the “A.B. To the Reader” of Henry Savile’s translation of Tacitus' The Ende of Nero and Beginning of Galba Fower Bookes of the Histories of Cornelius Tacitus, the prologue note to the reader is assumed to be written by Essex and emphases the importance of history as an exemplar of the Human justice and error. He used the examples of three leaders after the tyranny of Nero who scramble for power. Essex describes Galba as a victim of manipulation,  Otho as an irrational reactionary man and praises Vespasian as a well-balanced leader whom employs that "in civil tumults  an advised  patience, and opportunitie well taken are the onelie weapons of advantage"^[6] The earl of Essex concludes that:

under them thou muest see calamities that follow civill warres, when lawes lye sleepe, and all things judged by the sworde. If thou mislike their waires  be thankfull for thine owne peace; if thou doest abhorre their tyrannies, love and revrence thine owne wise, just and excellent Prince.^[7]

Essex compares the events of Tacitian Roman history to his own politcal climate and  assigns the masks of  Galba,  Otho and others to the players in Elizabeth's court. 

            When he is confronted with the chastisement of his actions in the Spanish Wars by his "base-born" enemies at court, he defends "that the greatnesse of her Majesties favor must grow out of the greatnesse of her servants merits: & I saw no way of merit lye so open to me as by service in her wars"^[8]  The Queen's recent conduct under the influence of the Privy Council is an example of  “a good prince governened by evill ministers is as dangerous as if hee were evill himselfe" and her Privy Council members indeterminate policies to exemplar of a "rash man ...which rises at an instant, and falles in a moment."^[9]  The interpretations of Roman civic duty and virtue is found in Essex's An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, against Those Which Iealovsly, and Maliciovsly, Tax Him to Be the Hinderer of the Peace and Qviet of His Covntry when he states that Rome's noblewomen supplied "the common treasure and  to maintaine the warres, spoyl themselves of their Jewels and ornaments" and  then assails the Elizabethan English state as being "so base a state , as that the people therein will not bestow some part of their superfluous expences to keepe themselves from conquest and slavery"^[10] cites a hope that "there is yet left some seede of that auncient Vertue,"^[11] which will waken the noble sense of altruistic loyalty  and civic honor to end the factionalized disputes within court of intrigue and avarice.

        Essex's ideology was a common foundation for early Tudor law and order because the system was dependent upon the "majority of governing class who controlled the principle order-keeping forces available" and "a system of social controls and moral sanctions"^[12] However, there were two major points of contention in the Elizabethan reign that undermined the system of aristocratic, chivalric and civic value and virtue: the innate nature of the Queen's gender and the ennobling of men with little achievement outside of their own stellar arrival at court. Essex himself could not fault the Queen herself for inaction in politics because he understood that the personality traits require to do so were not acquainted with the fairer sex. The Queen inactivity in politics and especially in  regards to the Spanish War were naturally inclined to timidity, her avoidance of open war; avarice, her reluctance to spend money on the war; and inconsistency, as seen in the constant shift of allegiance from one faction to another , or her indecisiveness with regards to religion. These were the opposite of the courtly virtues plugged in the chivalric tradition.

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^[1]  James, Society, politics, and culture: studies in early modern England  p. 316

^[2]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 5 (A4)

^[3]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 6 (B1)

^[4] Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 2 (A3)

^[5]  Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p.306-7

^[6]  Ibid.

^[7]  Savile, The Ende of Nero...:A.B. To the Reader p. 4

^[8]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 7 (B1)

^[9]  Savile, The Ende of Nero ...:A.B. To the Reader p. 3

^[10]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 32 (E4)

^[11]  Essex, An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, p. 38 (F1)

^[12]  James, Society, politics, and culture: studies in early modern England p. 318

The Earl of Essex and The Political Climate of the 1590s Part I

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

          No actor in Elizabethan politics exemplified the struggle against the Privy Council and governmental corruption better than Robert Devereux, the 2^nd Earl of Essex. His rebellion of 1601 was the result of a long standing dispute over the health and function of the English State. Essex watched as the glorious reign of Elizabeth was corrupted by personal aspirations of civilian courtiers like Sir Walter Raleigh and the Cecils by parsimoniously undermining English war and peace time policies. In the 1590s when Essex inherited the role of court favorite to the queen , he hoped to restructure the government in a idealized vision of a true commonwealth where monarch, council and subject functioned as a healthy political body. This was quickly dashed by the reality and vanity of a queen set on both hording her wealth and allowing unscrupulous activities to run rampant. 
        Essex virtuous goals are  seen throughout his adventures in continental wars, domestic policies, writings and acts as recounted in his An Apologie of the Earle of Essex, against Those Which Iealovsly, and Maliciovsly, Tax Him to Be the Hinderer of the Peace and Qviet of His Covntry, his letter explaining his beliefs, behaviors  and concerns while in service to the Queen and her council‘s push for a hasty treaty with Spain. While his protest of the treaty with Spain was a vocal turning point for Essex, his decision to rebel was wrought with controversy, because the factors that surrounded the rebellion call into question the role of several contributing issues that shaped Essex reactions. First, Essex’s ideological character, namely that of his sense of honor and justice, were major contributors to his behavior in defense of England at court and abroad. Secondly,  Essex experience and witness of the corruption and abuses by  the “base-born” upstarts  in the name of the Queen in the Privy Council. Finally, his distrust of the Privy Council and their seemingly indecisive relationship with Spain that his frustration with the court blossoms, and he begins to truly believe it is his destiny to save the English throne from it cancer of corruption.

          Essex's ideas of the state came from his aristocratic, chivalric and humanist upbringing at a time of political turmoil both in England and on the Continent. Essex believed that his "inherited" behavior and beliefs would serves as the figurehead of the way that proper nobles should behave. This belief was based on his father's idealized  "cult of Walter Devereux" that was promoted by men like his father's secretary, Edward Waterhouse and  shaped the younger Essex's view of his lineage and the virtuous behavior associated with those of high birth. At his father's funeral the Reverend Richard Davies sermon on Walter Devereux, the 1st earl of Essex, described his:

nobilitie, comparing it to a Mountayne from which foure famous ryvers must issue (the Mountaine true Religion, the rivers, Prudence, Justice, Fortititude, and Temperaunce) is a rule to you: first to follow your father in truth of Religion, then to be as he was, wise, just, valiaunt, and temperate.^[1]

Essex's efforts to  live up to his father's level of virtue and honor were successful and as a result Essex  was a well sought after patron in all spheres of intellectual, political  and military life because he was generally well-liked and idealized by others because of his active and noble lifestyle. His reputation encouraged aspirant nobles  desire to enter the world under his auspices, and his military leadership was looked up to by all soldiers.

         Essex was praised by clergymen like George Gyfford who that proclaimed that "God hath prepared your honour as a right worthy instrument for His plans."^[2] Matthew Sutcliffe praised Essex: "God hath placed your lordship as it were on a high stage in this Estate: never man had greater favour of the beholders, nor was more likely to obtain a singular applause of the people."^[3] It was this sort of praise that Essex relished and placed his faith in his reputation and honor upon it. The Puritan factions considered him as their protector, while the Roman Catholics saw him as the foundation of establishing religious tolerance in England. There is no question that his lofty temper broke out occasionally in arrogance to his equals and even to his sovereign, though, to his honor it was said  his conduct to his inferiors was ever marked by the most singular delicacy and generosity.

         His education in chivalric virtue and honor by way of the French writer Raymond Lull’s The Book of the Ordre of Chyvalry  and the English Boke of St. Albans. The key lessons Essex incorporated in his life were that the role of the noble to steadfastly defend his lord and govern justly by the virtues of war and peace of a knight that were commissioned by God through the blood-born inheritance of a aristocratic bloodline. Essex's behavior exemplified this, he gauged his reputation and honor based on his service to England including the Queen herself, God and his family. Essex's service to the Queen was not unaware of  his honor in the public sphere because he was the idol of the populace and the Queen herself despite their disputes, favored him at court. Their relationship at first supported the reciprocity needed, as  Essex must be loyalty to the Queen, his independence and function of  knightly honor relied on her maintenance and "good lordship".  Essex further chivalric honor is seen in his dedications to the military causes, his apprenticeship under Leicester in the Netherlands, his forays in France and the conquest of Cadiz.

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^[1]  Davies, A Funeral Sermon p. 1-2

^[2]  Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 214

^[3]  Hammer, The Polarization of Elizabethan Politics p. 215