The Earl of Essex and Late Elizabethan Political Culture PDF
Preview The Earl of Essex and Late Elizabethan Political Culture
THE EARL OF ESSEX AND LATE ELIZABETHAN POLITICAL CULTURE OXFORD HISTORICAL MONOGRAPHS Editors p. clavin r. j. w. evans l.goldman j.innes r.service p.a.slack b.ward-perkins j.l.watts The Earl of Essex and Late Elizabethan Political Culture ALEXANDRA GAJDA 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries #AlexandraGajda2012 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2012 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable ISBN 978–0–19–969968–1 PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby MPGBooksGroup,BodminandKing’sLynn For my family This page intentionally left blank Preface and Acknowledgements ‘Essex?Hewasafool!’Thisremark,deliveredbyaneminentprofessorof early modern history, greeted a paper that I had just delivered on Essex andpopularpoliticsinOxfordin2007.Itwasintended(thoughdidnot succeed) toclosedownadiscussion ofhowhistoriansmightevaluatethe significance of Essex’s appeal on 8 February 1601 to the citizens of London to rise and join with him to defend his life, and reform the governmentoftherealm.Despitetheeffortsofrecentscholarstorehabili- tateEssex’sreputationasaseriousstatesman,theextraordinaryimplosion of Essex’s later career, which plummeted from the heights of popularity, favour,andpraise,remainsmorenotoriousthanunderstood.Atendency todismisstheearlasapetulantbutterfly,whoprancedandsulkedhisway tothescaffold,stillpersistsinacademicscholarshipaswellasinthepopular imagination.Infact,insixteenth-centuryEngland,RobertDevereux,2nd earlofEssex,wasa noblemanofunparalleled domestic andinternational renown:asoldier,statesman,andhereditarynobleofexceptionallypower- fulambition,whogeneratedahugeresponsefromhiscontemporaries,but who alsodivided and polarizedopinion.This widespreadacclaim for the earl, and his sensational fall from grace, rising, and death, spanned and definedthepoliticsofthefinaldecadeofElizabeth’srule,whichhasbeen seen as the darkest, and most turbulent of the Queen’s reign—an era of severeeconomichardship,exacerbatedbytheimmenseburdensofconti- nental war, and underscored by profound anxieties about the unsettled successiontothecrown. This study attempts to understand Essex as contemporaries saw him, and as he saw himself, through an analysis of the ideological frameworks that gave shape to his political mentality. It examines the attitudes of theearlandhisclosestfollowersandpoliticaladvisorstowar,religion,and domestic politics, and the literary and historical frameworks that both influencedandgavemeaningtoEssex’sincreasinglyfracturedrelationship withtheElizabethanregime.ThisworkisalsoastudyofEssex’sreverber- atingimpactonElizabethanpolitics,andofthewaysthatcontemporaries responded to Essex and his example in positive and negative senses. It analysestheagencyoftextsandideasinrealpoliticalcontexts:thedecline ofEssex’scareer,andhisdownfallanddeathin1601.Morebroadly,itis anexplorationoftheinterfacebetweenideasandpoliticsinlatesixteenth- century England. In short, it is a study of how late Elizabethan political culturebothshaped—andwasshapedby—theearlofEssex. viii PrefaceandAcknowledgements I am very grateful for permission to cite from manuscripts owned or controlledbythemarquisofSalisbury;theHenryE.HuntingtonLibrary, California;theMasters oftheBenchoftheInnerTemple,theWarwick- shireRecordOffice;andDurhamUniversityLibrary.Iwouldalsoliketo thank the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (formerly AHRB)forfundingthethesisuponwhichthisbookisbased. PerhapsunliketheearlofEssex,Ihavebeenexceptionallyfortunatein thecounselthatIhavereceivedfromfriendsandfellowscholarsoverthe years. Myfirst thanksmust goto Susan Brigden, matchlesssupervisor of my DPhil thesis. I have been sustained by her teaching, friendship, and advicethroughthebleakestandbestoftimes.Theexaminersofmythesis, Jenny Wormald and Blair Worden, provided extremely helpful encour- agementandcriticisminmyviva,andmuchsupportsince.PaulineCroft has been a great mentor and friend. I have also learned a great deal from other scholars working on Elizabethan political culture, Essex, and the 1590s. In particular, Paul Hammer, Essex’s exemplary biographer, has been exceptionally generous with his time and the exchange of ideas. Paulina Kewes, Peter Lake, and Malcolm Smuts have offered inspiration andadvice,whileIhaveenjoyedmanystimulatingexchangesaboutEssex withJanetDickinson,NeilYounger,andHughGazzard. The development of my thought also owes a great deal to friendships with my peers, in particular Anna Bayman, Leif Dixon, and George Southcombe.Imustalso thankPaulCavill, NancyDurrant,EllaHeeks, Sophie Lazar, Paul Miller, Danielle Moon, Tom Porter, Cath Rothon, AmyScott,TraceySowerby,GrantTapsell,AndreaWalkden,andCathe- rine Wright. I owe a great deal to Chris Joy and Diane Troth, my sixth- form history teachers, who first taught me about the sixteenth century. WhileIwasanundergraduateandgraduateatNewCollege,Oxford,Eric Christiansen, Ruth Harris, and David Parrott provided an excellent education.ImustthankGarethDavies,TimGardam,PeterGhosh,and Howard Hotson, for electing me to a Junior Research Fellowship at StAnne’sCollege,Oxford,andprovidingsuchawelcomingandscholarly atmosphere. The same applies to my colleagues at the University of Birmingham, especially Hugh Adlington, Elaine Fulton, Tara Hamling, Simone Laqua-O’Donnell, Tom Lockwood, George Lukowski, and Gillian Wright. I must single out Richard Cust for his great support, andMargaretSmall,uponwhomIhavedependedentirelyforshelterand sustenance. For uncountable reasons, many of them related to the com- petitivereadinginwhichweindulgedaschildren,everythingIdoowesan enormous amount to Susie Cogan. Christopher Gort has mended my computer on more occasions than he would have wished: I really have PrefaceandAcknowledgements ix always appreciated it. Any flaws in this book are, of course, entirely myown. The boundless love and support that I have always received from my parents, Ann and Norbert Gajda, have maintained me in everything thatIhavedone.Finally,Icannotreallyexpressthedepthofmygratitude andloveforJamesPhythian-Adams—foreverything,foralways.
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