(1566-1601)
Robert Devereux was the son
of Walter Devereux 1st Earl of Essex, he born at Netherwood, Cumbria,
in 1567, his mother was Lettice Knollys. He spent his early years
on his fathers estate in Wales.
The Devereux's were well connected
with the English royal family, his great grandmother was Mary Boleyn
sister of Anne Boleyn second wife of King Henry VIII. Robert Devereux
was educated at Trinity College Cambridge, when he was eleven his
father died, four years later in 1580 his mother married Robert
Dudley Earl of Leister.
The 2nd Earl of Essex took up
a military career serving under his stepfather the Earl of Leister,
in 1590 he married Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham,
who was largly responsible for gathering information which led to
the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots.
Frances Walsingham was the widow
of Sir Philip Sidney who was killed at the Battle of Zutphen in
the Netherlands on September 22, 1586, in which Essex emerged with
distinction. |
