Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex

CNG 91, Lot: 1595. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

temp. STUART. Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. 1591-1646. Cast Oval AR Badge – Military Reward (26x21mm, 4.54 g, 12h). Honoring the Earl of Essex. Possibly by T. Simon. Cast circa 1642. Collared and armored bust facing / Crowned and garnished coat-of-arms. MI 298/117; Eimer -. Good VF, lightly toned, minor mark in the field on the obverse. Rare.

The grandson of Francis Walsingham, the Principal Secretary and ‘spymaster’ of Elizabeth I, as well as the son Elizabeth’s favorite, Robert Devereux figured prominently in the First English Civil War. At its outset, he became the first Captain-General of Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, known as the ‘Roundheads.’ However, unable and unwilling to defeat the Royalist forces during the Lostwithiel Campaign in 1644, Devereux became overshadowed by the ascending Oliver Cromwell and, less than six months after resigning from his commission, died without an heir in 1646.