North by Shakespeare by Michael Blanding

Author:Michael Blanding
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2021-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

EVEN AS THOMAS and John were swirling around the edges of Leicester’s Italianate circles, Roger was further deepening his friendship with the Earl. In June 1577, Roger rode the hundred miles to Kenilworth to spend time as Leicester’s guest, hunting and losing £50 at cards. As he rode through the deer chase with the other lords and ladies, Roger must have noticed the attention Leicester lavished on one guest in particular: Lettice Knollys, the Countess of Essex. A gentlewoman of thirty-five, Lettice was possessed of a vivacious personality and flowing red curls that, it must be said, gave her a passing resemblance to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth.

A regular hunting guest at Leicester’s estate, Lettice was daughter to privy councilor Francis Knollys and the wife of Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, a prestigious lord who had spent much of the early 1570s fighting Catholics in Northern Ireland. When Essex died soon after his return to Ireland in September 1576, an official inquest by Leicester’s brother-in-law ruled out foul play (the cause was most likely dysentery); that didn’t stop Leicester’s enemies from claiming he poisoned him, adding to the long list of nefarious offenses laid at his feet since the death of his own wife. Some even whispered that Devereux’s ten-year-old son, Robert, was actually Leicester’s. Soon Leicester was courting Lettice more openly—risking the wrath of the queen if she found out.

Even as he pursued this new dalliance, Leicester’s attentions turned to the Low Countries, which had become a giant chessboard in the never-ending game of religious wars and alliances between England, France, and Spain—that would eventually pull the North brothers into its mire. Leicester and his faction on the Privy Council urged Elizabeth to intervene on behalf of the northern United Provinces, now in open revolt against Spain under the charismatic William of Orange.

Elizabeth held off, worried about breaking her fragile truce with Philip, even as the conflict deepened. After unruly Spanish troops pillaged Antwerp, Spain sent in a new governor to restore peace: Elizabeth’s one-time marriage prospect, Don John of Austria. Taking decisive control, Philip’s bastard brother captured the citadel of Namur high in the Wallonian hills, pressing his advantage against William’s troops. Around the same time, Elizabeth’s spymaster Walsingham brought her a secret cache of letters written by Don John, begging his brother for permission to invade England.

Elizabeth was shocked out of her neutrality, promising a loan of £100,000 ($56 million) to the Dutch States General, and even offering to send six thousand soldiers to fight. To lead them, she tapped her favorite courtier, Leicester, who jumped at a chance to strike a blow for Puritanism. Elizabeth suddenly thought better of the move, however, and sent an ambassador to negotiate peace instead. Leicester’s disappointment turned to frustration at the news of a crushing defeat of the Dutch Protestant army at the hands of Don John in January 1578. In desperation, the States-General now turned to one of Elizabeth’s other suitors, Hercule-François, the Duke of Alençon, promising him rulership of the Netherlands if only he let the Protestants worship freely under his protection.

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