6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’
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Alexandra Gajda
Abstract
On 8 February 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, processed into London declaring that he was taking urgent action to prevent a ‘popish plot’ by his enemies to sell the Crown of England to Spain. Historians have dismissed these claims as fictitious or deluded – the chapter reassesses Essex’s claims. The intellectual and political contexts that framed Essex’s vision of politics provided strong foundations for the Earl’s belief that the Protestant succession was endangered by a cabal of evil counsellors, headed by Sir Robert Cecil, in the pay of Spain. The failure of the earl’s rising obscures the fact that this Elizabethan succession scare was no more ‘irrational’ than the ‘popish plots’ in the seventeenth century.
Abstract
On 8 February 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, processed into London declaring that he was taking urgent action to prevent a ‘popish plot’ by his enemies to sell the Crown of England to Spain. Historians have dismissed these claims as fictitious or deluded – the chapter reassesses Essex’s claims. The intellectual and political contexts that framed Essex’s vision of politics provided strong foundations for the Earl’s belief that the Protestant succession was endangered by a cabal of evil counsellors, headed by Sir Robert Cecil, in the pay of Spain. The failure of the earl’s rising obscures the fact that this Elizabethan succession scare was no more ‘irrational’ than the ‘popish plots’ in the seventeenth century.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
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Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
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Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
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Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
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Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
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Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
-
Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
-
Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
-
Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
-
Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
-
Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
