Sir Thomas Overbury (baptized 1581 – 14 September 1613) was an English
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial. His poem ''A Wife'' (also referred to as ''The Wife''), which depicted the virtues that a young man should demand of a woman, played a large role in the events that precipitated his murder.
Background
Thomas Overbury was born near
Ilmington
Ilmington is a village and civil parish about north-west of Shipston-on-Stour and south of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Cotswolds in Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 712. Ilmington is the hi ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, a son of the marriage of
Nicholas Overbury, of Bourton-on-the-Hill,
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
, and Mary Palmer. In the autumn of 1595, he became a gentleman commoner of
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
, took his degree of
BA in 1598, and came to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to study law in the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
. He soon found favour with
Sir Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, (1 June 156324 May 1612), was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury served as the ...
, travelled on the Continent, and began to enjoy a reputation for an accomplished mind and free manners.
Robert Carr
About 1601, whilst on holiday in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, he met
Robert Carr
Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later ser ...
, then an obscure page to the
Earl of Dunbar
The title Earl of Dunbar, also called Earl of Lothian or Earl of March, was the head of a comital lordship in south-eastern Scotland between the early 12th century and the early 15th century. The first man to use the title of Earl in this earldom ...
. A great friendship was struck up between the two youths, and they came up to London together. Carr's early history is obscure, and it is probable that Overbury secured an introduction to court before his young associate contrived to do so. At all events, when Carr attracted the attention of
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
in 1606 by breaking his leg in the
tilt-yard
A tiltyard (or tilt yard or tilt-yard) was an enclosed courtyard for jousting. Tiltyards were a common feature of Tudor era castles and palaces.
The Horse Guards Parade in London was formerly the tiltyard constructed by Henry VIII as an entertainm ...
, Overbury had for some time been servitor-in-ordinary to the king.
Knighted by James in June 1608, from October 1608 to August 1609, he traveled in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and France, staying in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
; he spent at least some of this time with his contemporary and
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
theologian,
Francis Rous
Francis Rous, also spelled Rouse (c. 1581 to 1659), was an English politician and Puritan religious author, who was Provost of Eton from 1644 to 1659, and briefly Speaker of the House of Commons in 1653.
Stepbrother of Parliamentary leader Joh ...
.
Upon his return he began following Carr's fortunes very closely. When the latter was made
Viscount Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
**City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
**History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison Ro ...
in 1610, the intimacy seems to have been sustained. With Overbury's aid, the young Carr caught the eye of the King, and soon became his favourite and his lover. Overbury had the wisdom and Carr had the king's ear into which to pour it. The combination took Carr swiftly up the ladder of power. Soon he was the most powerful man in England next to
Robert Cecil.
Court intrigues and death
![Sir thomas overbury](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Sir_thomas_overbury.jpg)
After the death of Cecil in 1612, the Howard party, consisting of
Henry Howard,
Thomas Howard, his son-in-law
Lord Knollys
Viscount Knollys (), of Caversham in the County of Oxford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1911 for the court official Francis Knollys, 1st Baron Knollys, Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 1901 to 191 ...
, and
Charles Howard, along with
Sir Thomas Lake
Sir Thomas Lake PC (1567 – 17 September 1630) was Secretary of State to James I of England. He was a Member of Parliament between 1593 and 1626.
Thomas Lake was baptised in Southampton on 11 October 1567, the son of Almeric Lake, a minor cus ...
, moved to take control of much of the government and its patronage. The powerful Carr, unfitted for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friend, Overbury, for assistance with government papers, fell into the Howard camp, after beginning an affair with the married
Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk.
Overbury was from the first violently opposed to the affair, pointing out to Carr that it would be hurtful to his preferment, and that Frances Howard, even at this early stage in her career, was already "noted for her injury and immodesty." But Carr was now infatuated, and he repeated to the Countess what Overbury had said. It was at this time, too, that Overbury wrote, and circulated widely in manuscript his poem ''A Wife'', which was a picture of the virtues which a young man should demand in a woman before he has the rashness to marry her. Lady Essex believed that Overbury's object in writing this poem was to open the eyes of his friend to her defects. The situation now turned into a deadly duel between the mistress and the friend. The Countess tried to manipulate Overbury into seeming to be disrespectful to the queen,
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...
who took offence. Her chamberlain,
Viscount Lisle
The title of Viscount Lisle has been created six times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, on 30 October 1451, was for John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle. Upon the death of his son Thomas at the Battle of Nibley Green in 1470, the viscount ...
, wrote in November 1612 that Overbury was allowed to come to court, but not in the queen's sight, or into her side of the royal lodgings.
James I offered Overbury an assignment as ambassador, probably to the court of
Michael of Russia
Michael I (Russian: Михаил Фёдорович Романов, ''Mikhaíl Fyódorovich Románov'') () became the first Russian tsar of the House of Romanov after the Zemskiy Sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia.
He w ...
, relations with Russia being at that time a potential issue between those who favoured a strongly pro-Protestant and anti-Catholic foreign policy, and those, centred around the Howards, who favoured accommodation with Catholic powers on the Continent; there were political reasons of international policy as well as personal ones involving the King's jealousy of Overbury's relationship with Carr, to persuade James to send the former away and also a private interest for Carr and Northampton to urge the offer upon him. Overbury declined, possibly because he felt tricked into it by Carr (precisely because refusing would ensure that Overbury would be imprisoned), possibly because Overbury sensed the urgency to remain in England and at his friend's side. James I was so irate at Overbury's arrogance in declining the offer that he had him thrown into the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
on 22 April 1613, where he died on 14 September.
Beginnings of scandal
The Howards won James's support for an annulment of Frances's marriage to
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, KB, PC (; 11 January 1591 – 14 September 1646) was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the 17th century. With the start of the Civil War in 1642, he became the first Captain ...
, on grounds of impotence, to free her to remarry. With James's assistance, the marriage was duly annulled on 25 September 1613, despite Essex's opposition to the charge of impotence. The commissioners judging the case reached a 5–5 verdict, so James quickly appointed two extra judges guaranteed to vote in favour, an intervention which aroused public censure. When, after the annulment, Thomas Bilson (son of Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester, one of the added commissioners) was knighted, he was given the nickname "Sir Nullity Bilson". There were also rumours that the commission was tricked into believing that Frances was still ''virgo intacta''.
The marriage two months later of Frances Howard and Robert Carr, now the
Earl of Somerset
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
, was the court event of the season, celebrated in verse by
John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
. The Howards' rise to power seemed complete.
Rumours of foul play in Overbury's death began circulating. Almost two years later, in September 1615, and as James was in the process of replacing Carr with new
favourite
A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...
George Villiers, the governor of the Tower sent a letter to the King, informing him that one of the warders had been bringing the prisoner "poisoned food and medicine."
James showed a disinclination to delve into the matter, but the rumours refused to go away. Eventually, they began hinting at the King's own involvement, forcing him to order an investigation. The details of the murder were uncovered by
Edward Coke
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
and Sir
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
who presided over the trial.
Trial
In the celebrated trials of the six accused in late 1615 and early 1616 that followed, evidence of a plot came to light. It was very likely that Overbury was the victim of a 'set-up' contrived by the Earls of Northampton and Suffolk, with Carr's complicity, to keep him out of the way during the annulment proceedings. Overbury knew too much of Carr's dealings with Frances and, motivated by a deep political hostility to the Howards, opposed the match with a fervour that made him dangerous. The Queen had sown discord between the friends, calling Overbury Carr's "governor".
It was not known at the time, and it is not certain now, how much Carr participated in the first crime, or if he was ignorant of it. Lady Essex, however, was not satisfied with having had Overbury shut up; she was determined that "he should return no more to this stage." She had Sir
William Wade, the honest Lord Lieutenant of the Tower, removed to make way for a new Lieutenant, Sir
Gervase Helwys
Sir Gervase Helwys (1 September 1561 – 20 November 1615), also known as Jervis Yelwys, was a Lieutenant of the Tower of London found guilty of complicity in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury and hanged in 1615. The scandal provoked much publi ...
; and a gaoler, Richard Weston, of whom it was ominously said that he was "a man well acquainted with the power of drugs," was set to attend on Overbury. Weston, afterwards aided by
Mrs Anne Turner, the widow of a physician, and by an apothecary called Franklin, plied Overbury with
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...
in the form of copper
vitriol
Vitriol is the general chemical name encompassing a class of chemical compound comprising sulfates of certain metalsoriginally, iron or copper. Those mineral substances were distinguished by their color, such as green vitriol for hydrated iron(II ...
.
It cannot have been difficult for the conspirators to secure James's compliance because he disliked Overbury's influence over Carr.
John Chamberlain (1553–1628) reported at the time that the King "hath long had a desire to remove him from about the lord of Rochester
arr as thinking it a dishonour to him that the world should have an opinion that Rochester ruled him and Overbury ruled Rochester". Overbury had been poisoned.
Frances Howard admitted a part in Overbury's murder, but her husband did not. Fearing what Carr might say about him in court, James repeatedly sent messages to the Tower pleading with him to admit his guilt in return for a pardon. "It is easy to be seen that he would threaten me with laying an aspersion upon me of being, in some sort, accessory to his crime".
In late May 1616, the couple were found guilty and sentenced to death for their parts in this conspiracy. Nevertheless, they remained prisoners in the Tower until eventually released in 1622 and pardoned.
Four accomplices – Richard Weston, Anne Turner, Gervaise Helwys, and Simon Franklin – were found guilty prior to that in 1615 and, lacking powerful connections, were hanged.
The implication of the King in such a scandal provoked much public and literary conjecture and irreparably tarnished James's court with an image of corruption and depravity.
Literary and cultural references
*Overbury's poem, ''A Wife'', was published in 1614 (see
1614 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
* May 24 – Lope de Vega becomes a priest.
Works published
Great Britain
* Anonymous, ''The Life and Death o ...
), and ran through six editions within a year, the scandal connected with the murder of the author greatly aiding its success. It was abundantly reprinted within the next sixty years, and it continued to be one of the most widely popular books of the 17th century. Combined with later editions of ''A Wife'', and gradually adding to its bulk, were ''Characters'' (first printed in the second of the 1614 editions), ''The Remedy of Love'' (1620; see
1620 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
Works published
* Thomas Dekker, ''Dekker his Dreame''Cox, Michael, editor, ''The Concise Oxford Chronology of En ...
), and ''Observations in Foreign Travels'' (1626). Later, much that must be spurious was added to the gathering snowball of Overbury's works.
*
Hic Mulier, an anonymous pamphlet published in 1620 in opposition to 'masculine' behaviour in females during the reign of
James VI and I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
, quotes from ''A Wife'', identified only through a marginal reference to ''S.T.O.''
*''The Court and Character of King James'', a gossipy and partisan memoir, published in 1650 by a longstanding courtier,
Sir Anthony Weldon
*Tragic stage play, ''
Sir Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury (baptized 1581 – 14 September 1613) was an English poet and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial. His poem ''A Wife'' (also referred to as ''The Wife''), which depicted the ...
'', by
Richard Savage 1723
*Jean Plaidy's ''Murder in the Tower'' in 1964 tells of the love triangle between Overbury, Carr and Lady Francis Howard.
*For an alternative account of the trial, see
Anne Somerset's ''Unnatural Murder'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997).
*
Marjorie Bowen
Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell; 1 November 1885 – 23 December 1952), who used the pseudonyms Marjorie Bowen and Joseph Shearing, was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and ...
wrote a fictionalised account of the case and trial in ''The King's Favourite''.
*
Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian-born British writer of romance and adventure novels.
He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: ''The Sea Hawk'' (1915), ''Scaramouche'' (1921), ''Captain Blood'' (a.k.a ...
's novel about the rise and fall of Robert Carr, ''
The King's Minion'' (1930), argues Overbury's poisoning was ordered by James I and carried out by his personal physician after the failed attempts by Lady Essex and her conspirators.
*The dramatist
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
wrote a
lost work
A lost work is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia produced some time in the past, of which no surviving copies are known to exist. It can only be known through reference. This term most commonly applies to works from the classical ...
titled ''Sir Thomas Overbury's Ghost, containing the history of his life and untimely death'' (1615). Its nature is uncertain, but Ford scholars have suggested it may have been an elegy, prose piece or pamphlet.
[Stock, L. E., et al. (eds.) ''The Nondramatic Works of John Ford'' (Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1991); p. 340.]
*
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
mentions this murder in his book ''
The Scarlet Letter
''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...
''.
*
Charles Mackay Charles (or Charlie) Mackay, McKay, or MacKay may refer to:
* Charles Mackay (author) (1814–1889), Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter
* Charles McKay (1855–1883), American naturalist and explorer
* Charles ...
devoted much of the chapter on "The Slow Poisoners" in the second volume of ''
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
''Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'' is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay (author), Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title ''Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delu ...
'' to Overbury's death and the various fates of his murderers.
*
Miriam Allen deFord
Miriam Allen deFord (August 21, 1888 – February 22, 1975) was an American writer best known for her mysteries and science fiction. During the 1920s, she wrote for a number of left-wing magazines including ''The Masses'', '' The Liberator'', a ...
wrote ''The Overbury Affair'', which involves events during the reign of
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
of Britain surrounding the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. For the latter work she received a 1961
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
from the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Award ...
for Best Fact Crime book.
*
Anne Somerset: ''Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court of James I'', London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1997.
*Brian Harris
QC offers a radical new approach to the poisoning conspiracy and suggests that Overbury may not have died at the hands of Frances Howard. See ''Passion, Poison and Power'', Wildy, Simmonds & Hill, 2010; ()
*A recent (2018) fictional treatment of the story is ''The Poison Bed'' by
Elizabeth Fremantle
Elizabeth Fremantle (born 1962) is an English novelist and teacher of Creative Writing. Her published works include ''Queen's Gambit'' (2013), ''The Girl in the Glass Tower'' (2016) and the critically acclaimed thriller ''The Poison Bed (2018)''. ...
(writing as E.C. Fremantle)
* “A Net for Small Fishes” Lucy Jago (Bloomsbury 2021) is a highly praised fictional account, focusing on Frances Howard and Anne Turner’s relationship
See also
* The
Cobbe portrait, frequently cited as one of a very few portraits of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, is believed by several scholars to instead to be a portrait of Overbury.
Notes
References
*Barroll, J. Leeds (2001) ''Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: a cultural biography''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press .
*Davies, Godfrey (
937
Year 937 ( CMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* A Hungarian army invades Burgundy, and burns the city of Tournus. Then they go southward ...
1959) ''The Early Stuarts''. Oxford: Clarendon Press .
*DeFord, Miriam Allen (1960) ''The Overbury Affair: the murder trial that rocked the court of King James I''. Philadelphia: Chilton Company.
*Harris, Brian (2010 ) ''Passion, Poison and Power: The Mysterious Death of Sir Thomas Overbury'' Wildy, Simmonds and Hill. .
*Lindley, David (1993) ''The Trials of Frances Howard: fact and fiction at the court of King James''. London: Routledge .
*
*Perry, Curtis (2006) ''Literature and Favoritism in Early Modern England''. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press .
*Stewart, Alan (2003) ''The Cradle King: a life of James VI & I.'' London: Chatto and Windus. .
*Willson, David Harris (
956
Year 956 ( CMLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Summer – Emperor Constantine VII appoints Nikephoros Phokas to commander of the ...
1963 ed) ''King James VI & I.'' London: Jonathan Cape .
*
External links
''The tryal of Mr. Richard Weston, at the Guild-Hall of the City of London, for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, Knt. October the 19th, 1615. 13 Jac. I'' 1737 (unknown author, publisher)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overbury, Thomas
17th-century English poets
17th-century male writers
English essayists
English knights
1581 births
1613 deaths
People from Stratford-on-Avon District
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
English murder victims
People murdered in England
Prisoners in the Tower of London
16th-century English poets
Male essayists
English male poets