On this day in history, 24th March 1619, Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick, Tudor nobleman and politician, died at his London home, Warwick House in Holborn. He was laid to rest at Felsted Church in Essex.
Rich was an incredibly wealthy man and a good catch for Penelope Devereux, sister of the Earl of Essex, but their marriage was unhappy and she had an affair. Find out more about Rich and his marriage in today's talk.
Also on this day in Tudor history, 24th March 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died and King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. Find out more about Elizabeth’s death in last year’s video:
Also on this day in Tudor history:
- 1582 – Death of Sir James Dyer, judge, law reporter and Speaker of the House of Commons during the reign of Edward VI. His other offices included King's Sergeant-at-Law, Judge of the Common Pleas and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was buried at Great Staughton Church in Huntingdonshire, next to his wife.
Transcript:
On this day in history, 24th March 1619, Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick, Tudor nobleman and politician, died at his London home, Warwick House in Holborn. He was laid to rest at Felsted Church in Essex.
Robert Rich was the second son of Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich, and his wife, Elizabeth, and grandson of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, who served King Edward VI as Lord Chancellor but is more famous for being involved in the torture of Protestant Anne Askew in Henry VIII’s reign.
Robert Rich succeeded his father as Baron Rich in 1581 as his older brother, Richard, had died without issue the previous year.
His biographer Brett Usher points out that Rich was the most eligible bachelor in England due to the fact that he owned estates worth something like £5000 per annum. William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, who were the guardians of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and his sister, Penelope Devereux, respectively, arranged a marriage match between Rich and Penelope. Penelope was the daughter of the late Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and his wife, Lettice Knollys, and she is thought to have been the inspiration or muse for Sir Philip Sidney’s “Astrophel and Stella”. Although Penelope made it clear that she did not want to marry Rich, she was forced to marry him in November 1581. It was not a happy marriage. Penelope’s second husband, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, recorded that following the marriage, Rich “did study in all things to torment her”.
Rich and his wife separated in 1590 after the birth of their second son, and Penelope began a relationship with Charles Blount, the future Lord Mountjoy. Their resulting children were brought up as Rich’s as the couple did not divorce until 1605. Even though they’d been desperately unhappy and Penelope was involved with Mountjoy, when Rich was seriously ill in 1600, it was Penelope who nursed him through it. In 1601, following her brother’s failed rebellion, Penelope was imprisoned briefly and interrogated, before being sent home to her husband. There was no loving reunion, their divorce was granted in November 1605 after Penelope admitted to adultery. Penelope married Mountjoy in December 1605 but he died in April 1606.
In 1608, Rich was appointed as a privy councillor and in 1618 he was made Earl of Warwick, after paying the exchequer £10,000 for the privilege. Rich made his will in September 1617, appointing his eldest son, Robert, as executor and leaving instructions to be buried at Felsted. He died on this day in 1619, leaving somewhere in the region of £5000 plus properties in London, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. His eldest son inherited the earldom of Warwick, and his second son, Henry, became Earl of Holland.
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