Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (/ˈdɛvəˌruː/; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599.

He was educated by Thomas Ashton (an influential figure in the evolution of Tudor drama), previously headmaster of Shrewsbury School within his father's household.

[10] After Leicester's death in 1588, the queen transferred the late Earl's royal monopoly on sweet wines to Essex, providing him with revenue from taxes.

[12] Essex did underestimate the queen, however, and his later behaviour towards her lacked due respect and showed disdain for the influence of her principal secretary, Robert Cecil.

On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, the queen reportedly cuffed an insolent Essex round the ear, prompting him to half draw his sword on her.

He departed London to the cheers of the queen's subjects, and it was expected the rebellion would be crushed instantly, but the limits of Crown resources and of the Irish campaigning season dictated otherwise.

In all of his campaigns, Essex secured the loyalty of his officers by conferring knighthoods, an honour the queen dispensed sparingly, and by the end of his time in Ireland more than half the knights in England owed their rank to him.

[18] The rebels were said to have joked that, "he never drew sword but to make knights",[19] but his practice of conferring knighthoods could in time enable Essex to challenge the powerful factions at Cecil's command.

[20] Relying on his general warrant to return to England, given under the great seal, Essex sailed from Ireland on 24 September 1599 and reached London four days later.

[22][23] On that day, the Privy Council met three times, and it seemed his disobedience might go unpunished, but the queen did confine him to his rooms with the comment that "an unruly beast must be stopped of his provender.

The Council—his uncle William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury included—took a quarter of an hour to compile a report, which declared that his truce with O'Neill was indefensible and his flight from Ireland tantamount to the desertion of duty.

On the morning of 8 February, he marched out of Essex House with a party of nobles and gentlemen (some later involved in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot) and entered the city of London in an attempt to force an audience with the queen.

It also stated that Essex had "endeavoured to raise himself to the Crown of England, and usurp the royal dignity," and that in order to fulfill these intentions, he and others "rose and assembled themselves in open rebellion, and moved and persuaded many of the citizens of London to join them in their treason, and endeavoured to get the City of London into their possession and power, and wounded and killed many of the queen's subjects then and there assembled for the purpose of quelling such rebellion."

[29] The witness whom Essex expected to confirm this allegation, his uncle William Knollys, was called and admitted there had once been read in Cecil's presence a book treating such matters.

Previously Thomas Derrick had been convicted of rape but had been pardoned by the Earl of Essex (clearing him of the death penalty) on the condition that he become an executioner at Tyburn.

"[citation needed] In that same trial, Raleigh also denied that he had stood at a window during the execution of Essex's sentence, disdainfully puffing out tobacco smoke in sight of the condemned man.

Essex in the end shocked many by denouncing his sister Penelope, Lady Rich as his co-conspirator: the queen, who was determined to show as much clemency as possible, ignored the charge.

However, after the queen's death, King James I of England reinstated the earldom in favour of the disinherited son, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.

There is a possible reference to the legend by John Webster in his 1623 play The Devil's Law Case suggesting that it was known at this time, but the first printed version of it is in the 1695 romantic novel The Secret History of the most renowned Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex, by a Person of Quality.

Lytton Strachey states "Such a narrative is appropriate enough to the place where it was first fully elaborated—a sentimental novelette, but it does not belong to history",[citation needed] and Alison Weir calls it a fabrication.

[31] Nevertheless, this version of the story forms the basis of the plot of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux, with a further twist added to the story, in that Essex is cheating on both the queen and his best friend by having an affair with Lady Nottingham (who in the opera is given the wrong first name of Sarah rather than Catherine): and that this turns out to be (a) the reason why Lord Nottingham turns against his now former friend, when he discovers the ring in question and prevents her sending it, and (b) is the ultimate reason for Queen Elizabeth withdrawing her support for Essex at his trial.

His longest poem, "The Passion of a Discontented Mind" (beginning "From silent night..."), is a penitential lament, probably written while imprisoned awaiting execution.

They are as follows: Robert Devereux's death and confession became the subject of two popular 17th-century broadside ballads, set to the English folk tunes Essex Last Goodnight and Welladay.