Place Name
Robert Devereux (November 10, 1565 – February 25, 1601) was a courtier, soldier, statesman and poet, who became a favourite of Elizabeth I, until a spectacular falling out led to his downfall and execution. He succeeded as 2nd Earl of Essex in 1576. Born in Herefordshire, he was the son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and Lettice Knollys. His early life was marked by his close association with the queen, who favoured him and appointed him to several significant positions, including Master of the Horse and Privy Councillor. In 1590 he married Frances, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, following the death of her first husband, Sir Philip Sidney. Devereux enjoyed a meteoric career as a solider, he led flamboyant military expeditions to Cadiz and the Azores, and gained political power as Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. But an on-going feud with the powerful Cecil family, frequent absences from court, and even, for a time his marriage (he had not sought permission from the queen) led to him falling out of favour, it was said: “This excited the queen’s anger, and Essex agreed that his wife should live ‘very retired at her mother’s house.'” However, it was his actions in Ireland that led to his ultimate downfall. Having left with a large military force to crush the rebels, he made a series of tactical errors leading to major defeats. He compounded the problem by securing the loyalty of his officers by conferring knighthoods, an honour the Queen herself dispensed sparingly, and by the end of his time in Ireland more than half the knights in England owed their rank to him. Little realising his disfavour at court, he ignored the queen’s express orders not to return to England. In punishment she did not renew his monopoly to sell sweet wines in Essex. At a stroke this removed his major source of income and he plotted against the Crown. This short lived rebellion ended in ignominy when the Crown’s forces besieged his property Essex House, not far from the Strand. He was executed on Tower Green, becoming the last person to be beheaded within the Tower of London. His death marked a significant turning point in Elizabethan politics, highlighting the tensions between the monarchy and the nobility. Beyond his political and military endeavours, Devereux was also known for his literary contributions. He was a competent lyric poet who engaged in literary feuds with contemporaries, including Sir Walter Raleigh. His poem Muses no more but mazes attacks Raleigh’s influence over the queen. Other lyrics were written for masques, including the sonnet Seated between the old world and the new in praise of the queen as the moral power linking Europe and America. During his disgrace, he also wrote several bitter and pessimistic verses. His longest poem, The Passion of a Discontented Mind (beginning “From silent night…”), is a penitential lament, probably written while imprisoned awaiting his sentence to be carried out. Several of Essex’s poems were set to music, and his death and confession became the subject of two popular 17thCentury broadside ballads. This road was laid out in the 1920s and 1930s during a period of rapid expansion in the area, it is one of a cluster of streets built by Davis Estates and named after prominent Tudors and their associates, a popular theme with developers at that time. The Elizabethan era was seen as a “golden age” of culture, particularly in theatre and literature, and because it offered a romanticised sense of national pride and stability, contrasting with the post-World War I era of social and economic upheaval.
