D evereux, R obert, Earl of E ssex

Abstract

Robert Devereux (1565–1601), second earl of Essex, was the most prominent courtier of the late sixteenth century, a poet in his own right as well as a leading literary patron of the period. His military exploits brought him great popular acclaim, and his spectacular fall from grace in a treasonous but ineffectual uprising sent shock waves through the country, leaving a mark upon the literary culture of the seventeenth century.