Chapter 21 Marriage to Lettice Knollys
At the end of 1575, Espés reported a frisson of great enmity between Robert and Essex. He went on to claim that while Essex was in Ireland, his wife Lettice had had two children by Robert – which was of course a complete fabrication, despite its mention in Leicester’s Commonwealth published eight years later.1 Since 1573, Essex had been engaged on a project to colonise the Great Ards in Ulster, partially financed by Elizabeth, while Lettice remained in England. Despite her now being aged 32, her auburn tresses made her stunningly attractive, just as she had been during Robert’s initial flirtation with her ten years’ earlier.
Lettice does not seem to have enjoyed domestic harmony with Essex, despite four stunningly beautiful children, and her husband’s departure abroad may have been a relief. With Essex in Ireland, she was invited with other local dignitaries to Robert’s splendid occasion at Kenilworth in 1575, and Elizabeth afterwards came with the court to Chartley, the Essexes’ principal residence. The Kenilworth game book shows that Lettice received a gift of bucks in 1573, when Essex had first gone to Ireland, and again in 1574 and 1575.2 She also visited to go hunting in 1576.3 According to Camden, it was during Essex’s visit to England from November 1575 to July 1576 that Lettice’s relationship with Robert was being talked about, causing Essex to threaten Robert.
Essex’s Irish project was under great financial pressure and he had been forced to sell large parts of his English estates to settle his debts. He now needed Council funding for it to continue. Robert seemed keen to ensure that he was safely restored to Ireland, where he was granted what Camden described as ‘the empty title of Earl Marshal’.4 Despite the failure of Essex’s earlier Irish project, Robert pressurised Sidney, now back in Ireland as Lord Deputy, to be more effusive in seeking his reappointment.5 Sidney was suddenly fulsome with praise, describing him as ‘so noble and worthy a personage’ and ‘complete a gentleman’.6 This advice encouraged Elizabeth to authorise Essex’s return. Two months later, on 22 September, Essex died of dysentery.7 There were immediate rumours that he had been poisoned. Although Sidney ordered a post-mortem, Essex’s secretary confirmed that there was no evidence of foul play. Camden has recorded: ‘The suspicion of poisoning was more readily believed “because [Robert] so quickly afterwards abandoned Douglas Sheffield by whom he had a son”.’8
There seems little doubt that Robert was already enjoying an adulterous affair with Lettice.9 In Essex’s absence, she had attended court in London, occupying Durham Place with her sons, Robert and Walter, and her daughters, Penelope and Dorothy.10 It may be significant that she was not made an executrix of Essex’s will, despite having managed his estates while he was in Ireland.11 The will seemed more concerned about the care of his children than his wife. His 13-year-old son Robert, who inherited Chartley, was left in the care of Burghley and Sussex. The younger children were to be sent ‘for maintenance’ to live with the Huntingdons, who were living at King’s Manor, York, where Huntingdon was based as president of the Council of the North. Although Robert’s sister Catherine had no children of her own, the couple were much respected as devout Puritans and oversaw the education of several children of noble families with great care. Although young Walter seems to have moved there immediately, Penelope and Dorothy remained with Lettice until the New Year of 1578 before moving to York. Under the will, Lettice was not left a jointure over Chartley, their principal home, and after some argument with the trustees, was forced to move out, even though young Robert was living with Burghley.12 With Essex’s activities in Ireland on the Queen’s behalf having left his estates heavily encumbered, Lettice persuaded Burghley to grant her a life interest in the lesser property of Benington. Although Elizabeth offered Lettice condolences at her loss, she provided no practical help.13
Lettice spent time during 1577 with her friends the Digbys at Coleshill, who had children of a similar age to Penelope and Dorothy. Perhaps conveniently, Coleshill was ten miles from Kenilworth where Lettice made several visits for buck hunting parties, sometimes with Penelope and the Digbys. In mid-1577, Robert decided to take the waters of St Anne’s spring at Buxton. As he was overweight and suffering from intermittent bouts of malaria, his need for a cure seems to have been genuine enough. Nevertheless, he may have deemed it wise to remain away from the limelight at Court. It was also convenient, in July, to have an excuse to visit Kenilworth. Camden claims that Robert ‘more openly made love to Lettice’, whom he had used ‘as his good liking before, for satisfying his own lust’14 during her husband’s lifetime. They were now firmly established as lovers and by the second half of 1577, were secretly contemplating marriage. According to Leicester’s Commonwealth, while Robert followed the court on its progress, Lettice was sent ‘up and down the country from house to house by privy ways, thereby to avoid the sight and knowledge of the Queen’s Majesty’.15
Although Lettice complained to Burghley at her ‘slender allowance’, she was able to attend court during the Christmas season of 1577. On Shrove Tuesday 1578, the Queen made a payment to the Countess of Essex’s players ‘for presenting a play before her Majesty’.16 On the same evening, ‘the Earl of Leicester’s players had also made their “repair to the court with their whole company and furniture to present a play before her Majesty”’.17 By then, when not in London, Lettice was residing at her father’s home at Grey’s Court near Henley.
The hot springs at Buxton had, since Roman times, been famous for their miraculous cures and restorative powers, particularly for gout and female ‘irregularities’. They were much frequented by Elizabeth’s courtiers, and Cecil visited as speedily and often as his ‘old creased body would allow’,18 meeting Mary Queen of Scots there in 1575. Even Elizabeth contemplated a visit in July and August 1575, but when she learned that she might meet Mary she changed her mind. On his visit in 1577, Robert was accompanied by Ambrose and later joined by Pembroke. Shrewsbury, who owned the spa, had been sent a comic menu by Elizabeth to keep Robert to his diet; he was to be allowed two ounces of meat, washed down with the twentieth part of a pint of wine and as much of ‘St Ann’s sacred water as he listeth to drink’.19 On feast days, this should be augmented with the shoulder of a wren at dinner and with the leg at supper! Ambrose, being even stouter, was to follow the same diet, except that the wren’s leg was to be omitted!20 By chance they also met Mary, but meetings with her were handled formally as Walsingham’s spy network extended to Buxton, and even Burghley and Robert needed to be circumspect. By this time, Robert had become florid and was beginning to bald, but neither his physical nor mental activity was impaired and ‘his mature handsomeness’21 remained fascinating to women. He claimed that he questioned Mary on her rumoured betrothal to Don John of Austria, but she revealed nothing.
Robert had a second purpose for coming to Buxton. The ever-ambitious Bess of Hardwick had a daughter, Elizabeth, by her earlier marriage to Sir William Cavendish. She had hatched a plan with her old friend, the equally ambitious Margaret Lennox, for Elizabeth Cavendish to marry Margaret’s second son Charles Stuart, Darnley’s brother. The couple were introduced at Chatsworth, and being left to their own devices, Charles ‘entangled himself so that he could have none other’.22 A marriage was hastily arranged, but with Charles being of Tudor blood they overlooked the requirement that this needed royal assent. Elizabeth was furious and consigned Margaret Lennox for a period to the Tower. Arbella Stuart was born in due course and, after the tragic deaths of both of her parents, was brought up by Bess in the company of Mary Queen of Scots. Robert, who had always maintained a close friendship with Margaret Lennox, was secretly invited to progress Arbella’s claim to the English throne as a more acceptable candidate than either Mary or her son James, both of whom had been born in Scotland. He immediately proposed that Arbella should marry his illegitimate son, Robert Sheffield. Arbella’s claim was unlikely to gain Elizabeth’s support and certainly did not gain that of Mary, who wrote to Castelnau that she had fallen out with Bess over the preposte
rous plan. In 1579, when Lettice provided Robert with a legitimate heir, the ‘Noble Imp’ replaced Robert Sheffield as Arbella’s prospective spouse. If Robert could not marry the English Queen, he would cover every option to ensure that his progeny might marry her prospective heirs.
Lettice did not accompany Robert to Buxton. As part of the cure, men were expected to keep chaste from all women. Elizabeth was probably aware of Robert’s growing infatuation and that his relationship with Douglas had run its course. She remained bitter at his flirtations and again decided to test his moral integrity. What would happen if she could promote him in marriage to a European Royal Princess? Would his drive for self-advancement override his passion for her wayward kinswoman? It just so happened that the Princess Cecilia had been recently widowed. At the end of 1577, Elizabeth persuaded Robert to write to the ebullient Princess, despite an absence for twelve years, to offer his hand in marriage. Elizabeth also wrote to support his suit. Robert could not resist such a prospect. On receiving his letter, Cecilia sought advice from her brother Karl, who had succeeded Eric as the Swedish King. In January 1578, Karl replied: ‘We have received our beloved sister’s letter and perceived from that, what the Queen of England has desired of our beloved sister on the Earl of Leicester’s part, in which matter our beloved sister has asked our counsel and advice.’23 He explained that after Cecilia’s previous visit to England, he would not have thought she would want to go there again! She declined the proposal, even though it would have meant her seeing Helena von Snakenborg, the widowed Marchioness of Northampton. Robert’s suit was firmly rejected and he reverted to the welcoming arms of Lettice, who seems to have been in ignorance of this lapse in his attention. If she had known, there would certainly have been fireworks!
In early 1578, Robert acquired Wanstead to provide Lettice with a home outside London. In May, Elizabeth, who was not – officially at least – aware of the relationship, paid a visit to Wanstead. Lettice kept well out of the way; Robert was again at Buxton and did not return to court until July, so asked Philip Sidney to entertain Elizabeth on his behalf. Philip wrote a masque to be played out of doors called The Lady of the May, which compared Elizabeth to the beauty of the May flowers. He ended it: ‘I will wish you good night, praying to god … that hitherto it has excellently done, so hence forward the flourishing May may long remain in you and with you.’24 He was now 23 and had already begun to show ‘promise of remarkable genius as soldier, courtier, diplomat and poet’.25 Robert did much to forward his career. ‘He had become his uncle’s principal personal representative abroad.’26 Soon after this, he toured the major Protestant states in Europe canvassing a new alliance in the face of mounting Catholic and Ottoman Muslim pressure. Essex had been anxious for Philip to marry his daughter Penelope, but when it was first mooted she was only 12. This would have forged a link with Sir Henry Sidney, with whom Essex had been so closely associated in Ireland.
Elizabeth was concerned at Robert’s absence at Buxton and fretted that he had not taken his physician, Dr Julio, with him. He was suffering from a swelling in his leg, but, on 24 June, he reported to Walsingham that he was finding the waters beneficial. He told Hatton, probably untruthfully, that he lamented that her ‘eyes’ had not been at Wanstead to welcome the Queen. Had he known of her coming in time, he would have bolted away from the sacred spring, but ‘St Ann would have had a short farewell’.27
It seems that Lettice had become pregnant and in the spring, she and Robert had entered into a secret betrothal or marriage ceremony at Kenilworth, although no details of it are known. Robert’s visit to Buxton may have been a convenient excuse for his absence from court, rather than to provide a cure. Hatton reported that Elizabeth was brooding about a marriage, which she considered to be injurious to her.28 It is not clear that Hatton was aware of Robert’s relationship with Lettice, but he took Robert’s side, saying: ‘I defend that no man can tie himself to such inconvenience as not to marry … except by mutual consent on both parts.’ He warned Robert: ‘I think you shall hear more of the matter.’29 He also reported that Elizabeth was impatient for Robert’s return to court. Life in the household had become drab, and there was a shortage of good horses. On 9 July, Robert told Hatton:
I hope ere long to be to be with you, to enjoy the blessed sight [Elizabeth] I have long been kept away from. A few of these days seem many years, and I think I shall feel a worse grief ere I go so far for a remedy again. I thank God I have found great ease by this bath.30
He caught up with the Queen’s summer progress at Audley End on the borders of Essex and Cambridge. With Burghley being Chancellor of Cambridge University, he had arranged a visit of the Vice Chancellor and the Masters of the colleges to greet the Queen. They provided her with a Latin oration, the gift of a Greek New Testament and a pair of scented gloves, which she much admired. Robert’s protégé, the young Edmund Spenser, was among the Cambridge undergraduates who attended her.
Elizabeth’s progresses always provided a means for her to be seen by the people, strengthening loyalty and affection, and there is no doubt that she enjoyed being in the countryside travelling from place to place. On 1 September, she stayed for two days with Sir Roger, 2nd Lord North, a close friend of Robert, at Kirtling. North had arranged for his home to be ‘nobly stocked’ for the occasion with every sort of meat and poultry, including ‘geese, capons, swans, mallards, cranes, snipe, plovers, pheasants, quails, curlews’, with ‘beer, ale, claret and sack’.31 Fish included ‘sturgeon, crayfish, crabs, oysters, turbots and anchovies’. Robert had sent his own cooks (who were paid £4) to Kirtling, and the Earl of Leicester’s Men received forty shillings for a theatrical performance. Robert then took leave of the royal party, retiring to Wanstead for a second secret marriage ceremony to Lettice. North had been made aware of the marriage plan, as Robert had told him:
There was nothing in this life he more desired than to be joined with some godly gentlewoman, with whom he might lead his life to the glory of God, the comfort of his soul, and to the faithful service of her Majesty, for whose sake he had hitherto forborne marriage, which long held him doubtful.32
Despite their first secret marriage Lettice still lacked security and her father, Sir Francis Knollys, who was Robert’s ally on the Council, insisted on him coming to a settlement with Douglas under which she received £700 per annum and agreed to give up custody of their son. Robert assisted her in finding a new husband, the recently widowed Edward Stafford. His mother was Mistress of the Robes and his deceased wife was a kinswoman of Amy Robsart. Sir Francis, who knew Robert only too well, also insisted on a second marriage ceremony between Robert and Lettice to be conducted before accountable witnesses. This took place at Wanstead on 21 September 1578 with Lettice, in view of her apparent pregnancy, in a loose-fitting gown. It was attended by Ambrose, Pembroke, Richard Knollys, the bride’s brother, and North; Sir Francis gave his daughter away and the ceremony was conducted by Robert’s chaplain, Humphrey Tyndall. Three years later, Tyndall was required by Sir Francis to make a sworn deposition that he had performed the rites and to provide proof of his ordination by the Bishop of Peterborough six years earlier.
Two days after this second marriage ceremony, Elizabeth, who had reached the last stage of her progress, arrived for a second time at Wanstead, by when all trace of the marriage celebration had disappeared, although Lettice was almost certainly present. Robert ‘feasted the company with a lavishness that was the theme of admiration’,33 before Elizabeth’s return to London. Even now she was not told, although if Hatton’s earlier comment is to be believed, she may have had wind of it. Robert still did not dare to risk the loss of his status, which remained dependent on his special relationship with the Queen and even Sir Francis could not persuade him to announce the marriage publicly. He did not feel indispensable.
It is extremely difficult to establish when Elizabeth came to learn of the marriage, as the various records provide conflicting stories. There is no doubt that she was desolate at the perceived
slight of losing Robert, particularly in a passionate marriage to her pregnant kinswoman. She will undoubtedly have acted petulantly on learning of his breach of faith. It is thus surprising that there is no record of any reaction among ambassadors’ correspondence. The historian Derek Wilson has argued that Robert made his peace with her on 28 April 1578 before his secret first marriage to Lettice, and while he was still untangling his relationship with Douglas. This may explain the complete absence of a public scene. The horrors of Elizabeth’s upbringing had forced her to place enormous reliance on the loyalty of a few trusted friends and she had now lost her mainstay. She expected Robert’s single-minded devotion and he had deserted her. It was not until 4 July 1579 that there is a letter, written by Mary Queen of Scots, which mentions Elizabeth’s anger at Robert’s marriage. From now on, Elizabeth’s objective was to keep Robert and Lettice separated when she could, and romance with her ‘frog’ was partly pursued out of pique.
In 1615, Camden published a document which claimed that in July 1579, Simier told her of Robert’s marriage, hoping to advance his negotiation for her to marry Anjou. The story claims that she ‘wept and fumed’, threatening to send Robert to the Tower. If she had already been aware of it for fifteen months, this seems an overreaction, but as has been seen, Elizabeth was an adept actor. The story goes on to say that she turned to Sussex, now Lord Chamberlain, and to Burghley for advice. Sussex spoke to her bluntly and honestly. If she sent Robert to the Tower, she would lose her dignity. A man should not be ‘molested for lawful marriage’. He detested Robert, but it was more important that she should maintain her self-control. In all probability, she had known of the romance all along and now listened to Sussex’s realistic advice. We know that Robert continued to attend Council meetings, even daring to oppose her marriage to Anjou in her presence, despite being secretly married himself.34
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