The Execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565 – 1601).
The Execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565 – 1601). Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, executed for treason at the Tower of London, on 25th February 1601. Essex was the last person to be beheaded in the Tower. He was thirty-five years old. Robert Devereux was born on 10th November 1565, the third child and first son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and Lettice Knollys, a first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth I, as she – Lettice- was a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn. He became a ward of the Crown with Lord Burghley, then chief adviser to the Queen, being mainly responsible for his upbringing. Robert was a bright child who “can expresse his mind in Latin & French as well as in Englishe, verie curteus and modest, rather disposed to heare than to aunswer, given greatly to learning, weake & tender, but very comly & bewtifull”. In 1577 Robert went to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating from the...