9 - At a crossroads of the political culture: the Essex revolt, 1601

Summary

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Essex revolt is not so much the fact of its failure, as that it was the last of its kind. I shall argue below that the revolt was motivated by, and arose out of, a specific aspect of the political culture of Elizabethan England: the cult of honour and its code. The interest of the revolt is then that it was the last honour revolt: and as such the conclusion of a series and a tradition which recedes far back into the medieval period. During the last decade of Elizabeth's reign, the ideals and goals of honour tended to centre pre-eminently on one figure: the earl of Essex. His aristocratic lineage, his military career, and the tradition he inherited all helped to make the earl a paradigm of honour. At the same time, the various literary and philosophical influences which circulated in the 1590s, emphasizing the cult of the heroic, and the aristocratic megalopsyche, or great soul, added to the glamour which surrounded Essex. He was able to attract to himself a following whose influence extended to over a dozen counties, which included representatives of leading gentry families and a number of peers. Yet his revolt was not only a material but also a moral failure, which revealed itself in the behaviour of the earl and his associates when called upon to account for their treason.