Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, later styled Penelope Blount (''née'' Devereux; January 1563 – 7 July 1607) was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the English queen
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...
. She was the sister of
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during th ...
, and is traditionally thought to be the inspiration for "Stella" of Sir
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan age.
His works include a sonnet sequence, ' ...
's ''
Astrophel and Stella'' sonnet sequence (published posthumously in 1591).
[Stephen, p. 1007] She was married to
Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich (later 1st Earl of Warwick) and had a public liaison with
Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, whom she married in an unlicensed ceremony following her divorce from Rich. She died in 1607.
Early life and first marriage
Penelope was born in January 1563 at
Chartley Castle in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
. She was the elder daughter of
Walter Devereux, 2nd Viscount Hereford, later 1st Earl of Essex and
Lettice Knollys
Lettice Knollys ( , sometimes Latinisation of names, latinized as Laetitia, alias Lettice Devereux or Lettice Dudley), Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester (8 November 1543Adams 2008a – 25 December 1634), was an English noblewoman and ...
, daughter of
Sir Francis Knollys and
Catherine Carey, and sister of
William Knollys, later 1st Earl of Banbury. Catherine Carey was the daughter of
Lady Mary Boleyn by either her husband
Sir William Carey, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, or her lover
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...
.
Her father was created
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...
in 1572. Penelope was a child of twelve when Sir
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan age.
His works include a sonnet sequence, ' ...
accompanied her distant cousin
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
on a visit to Lady Essex in 1575, on her way from
Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District of Warwickshire, England, southwest of Coventry and north of both Warwick and Leamington Spa. Situated at the centre of t ...
, and must have been frequently thrown into the society of Sidney, in consequence of the many ties between the two families. Essex died in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in September 1576. He had sent a message to Philip Sidney from his death-bed expressing his desire that he should marry his daughter, and later his secretary wrote to the young man's father, Sir
Henry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586) was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Background
He was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst (1482 – 11 February 1553) and Anne Pakenham (1511 – 22 Oc ...
, in words which seem to point to the existence of a very definite understanding.
Penelope's brother,
Robert, Viscount Hereford, inherited the Earldom of Essex on their father's death in 1576, and Penelope, her sister
Dorothy, and younger brother Walter were entrusted to the guardianship of their kinsman
Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon.
[Duncan-Jones, p. 182] In 1578 their widowed mother married the Queen's
favourite
A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In Post-classical Europe, post-classical and Early modern Europe, early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated signifi ...
,
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Perhaps the marriage of Lady Essex with the earl of Leicester, which destroyed Philip Sidney's prospects as his uncle Leicester's heir, had something to do with the breaking off of the proposed match with Penelope.
She had a strict Puritan upbringing and quite a simple life until she was presented at Court in early 1581. In January, she arrived at court accompanied by her guardian's wife,
Catherine, Countess of Huntingdon, who was Leicester's sister and Sidney's aunt.
In March 1581 Huntingdon as her guardian secured the queen's assent through
Lord Burghley, Master of the
Court of Wards, for her marriage with
Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich (later 1st Earl of Warwick). Penelope is said to have protested in vain against the alliance with Rich.
[''Historical Dictionary of British Women'' p. 371] The marriage was unhappy from the start, and Philip Sidney continued to have an emotional attachment to her until his death in 1586.
Penelope's children by Robert Rich were:
*Lettice Rich (d. 1619), named after her maternal grandmother Lettice Knollys and known as Lucy. Married firstly
Sir George Carey and secondly
Sir Arthur Lake
*Essex Rich, married
Sir Thomas Cheek and had three sons and five daughters
*
Robert Rich (1587–1658), later 2nd Earl of Warwick
*
Henry Rich (1590–1649), later 1st Earl of Holland
Poets' muse

Penelope Rich was considered one of the beauties of Elizabeth's court. She was golden-haired with dark eyes, a gifted singer and dancer, fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish.
[Duncan-Jones, p. 188]
Penelope is traditionally thought to have inspired Philip Sidney's
sonnet sequence A sonnet sequence or sonnet cycle is a group of sonnets thematically unified to create a long work, although generally, unlike the stanza, each sonnet so connected can also be read as a meaningful separate unit.
The sonnet sequence was a very popul ...
''
Astrophel and Stella'' (sometimes spelt ''Astrophil and Stella''). Likely composed in the 1580s, it is the first of the famous English sonnet sequences, and contains 108
sonnets
A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
and 11 songs. Many of the poems were circulated in manuscript form before the first edition was printed by Thomas Newman in 1591, five years after Sidney's death.
They were set by the French lutenist
Charles Tessier and published in London in 1597.

Whether Sidney fell passionately in love with Penelope in the years between her arrival at court in 1581 and his own marriage in 1583, or whether the "Stella" sonnets were courtly amusements reflecting fashionable poetic conceits may never be known. In her essay "Sidney, Stella, and Lady Rich", Katherine Duncan-Jones writes:
Sidney died of wounds received at the
Battle of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was fought on 22 September 1586, near the village of Warnsveld and the town of Zutphen, the Netherlands, during the Eighty Years' War. It was fought between the forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided ...
in 1586. In 1590, Penelope's brother Essex married Sidney's widow
Frances
Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...
, daughter of Sir
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her " spymaster".
Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wa ...
, and Lady Rich was much cultivated by poets and musicians during her brother's ascendancy at court in the 1590s. Poet
Richard Barnfield
Richard Barnfield (baptized 29 June 1574 – 1620) was an English poet. His relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him interesting to scholars. It has been suggested that he was the " rival poet" mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnet ...
dedicated ''The Affectionate Shepherd'', his first work, which was published anonymously in November 1594, to Penelope Rich.
Bartholomew Yong dedicated his translation of Portuguese author
Jorge de Montemor's ''
The Seven Books of the Diana'' (1598) to her; and sonnets are addressed to her by
John Davies of Hereford
John Davies of Hereford (c. 1565 – July 1618) was a writing-master and an Anglo-Welsh literature, Anglo-Welsh poet. He referred to himself as ''John Davies of Hereford'' (after the city where he was born) in order to distinguish himself from ...
.
In 1586 she was a godmother to the daughter of
Nicholas Hilliard
Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...
, the queen's
miniaturist. Hilliard is known to have painted two miniatures of Lady Rich, in 1589 and 1590 for her brother, the Earl of Essex. He sent one to
James VI of Scotland
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 ...
(later James I of England), and the poet
Henry Constable wrote a sonnet about the portrait. Essex gave the second miniature to the French ambassador for
Henry IV. A miniature in the
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...
(above) may be one of these.
Queen Anne of Scotland asked for portraits of the Earl of Essex and Lady Rich in December 1595.
Charles Tessier dedicated his book of part-songs in French and Italian, ''Le premier livre de chansons'', to "Madame Riche", commending (in Italian) her musical judgement, and
John Dowland
John Dowland ( – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", " Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", " N ...
composed "My Lady Rich's Galliard" in her honour.
Affair and charge of treason
Penelope's arranged marriage to Rich had been unhappy, and by 1595 she began a secret affair with
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy. Lord Rich took no action during the lifetime of Penelope's brother, the powerful Earl of Essex, who became the ageing Queen's favourite in the years after the death of Leicester in 1588.
However Penelope became tainted by association with her brother's plotting. Essex shocked many people, after the failure of
his rebellion, by denouncing her as a traitor, and after his execution for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
in 1601, Lord Rich had Penelope and her children by Mountjoy cast out. Mountjoy, like Penelope, had been implicated in the Essex rebellion, but the Queen, who wished to show as much clemency as possible to the rebels, took no action against either of them. Lady Rich moved in with her lover, and the couple began a very public relationship. Mountjoy was created Earl of Devonshire on the accession of
James I, and Lady Rich was in high favour at court.
She was among the ladies who rode north to
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
to meet
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...
in May 1603 and escorted the new queen on her entry to London. She served Anne as a Lady of the Bedchamber.
The French ambassador the
Marquis de Rosny identified her as an influential courtier, and gave her a diamond-set miniature portrait of
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...
. She was one of the ladies in waiting "taken out" from the audience to dance during ''
The Masque of Indian and China Knights'' at
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...
on 1 January 1604. She danced as the nymph Ocyte in
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
's ''
Masque of Blackness'' on Twelfth Night 1605.

In 1605, Rich sued for a divorce, and Penelope wanted to marry Blount and legitimise their children. In the divorce proceedings, she publicly admitted to adultery. The divorce was granted, but the requests to remarry and legitimise her children were refused. She married Blount in a private ceremony conducted by his chaplain,
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
, afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, on 26 December 1605 at
Wanstead House in London. This proceeding, carried out in defiance of
canon law
Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...
, was followed by the disgrace of both parties, who were banished from court by King James. The couple continued to live together as husband and wife with their children until his death a few months later. Blount died on 3 April 1606
and Penelope on 7 July 1607.
Penelope's illegitimate children acknowledged by Charles Blount were:
* Penelope Rich, who, despite her surname, was a daughter of Penelope by Blount
*
Mountjoy Blount (c.1597–1666),
[UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current] later 1st Earl of Newport
* Charles Blount
* St. John Blount
* Isabella Blount
* another child died in infancy
Notes
References
*Duncan-Jones, Katherine. "Sidney, Stella, and Lady Rich." In ''Sir Philip Sidney: 1586 and the Creation of a Legend'', edited by J. A. van Dorsten, Dominic Baker-Smith, and Arthur F. Kinney. Brill Archive, 1986,
Google Booksretrieved 21 February 2009.
*
*''A Historical Dictionary of British Women'', Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2nd revised edition 2003,
*
*Wilson, Mona, ''Sir Philip Sidney'', London: Duckworth, 1931
External links
The Correspondence of Lady Penelope Richi
EMLO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devonshire, Penelope Blount, Countess of
1563 births
1607 deaths
English countesses
Rich
Rich may refer to:
Common uses
* Rich, an entity possessing wealth
* Rich, an intense taste, flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling
**Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting
Places United States
* Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated c ...
Daughters of English earls
16th-century English women
17th-century English women
16th-century English nobility
17th-century English nobility
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...
Date of birth unknown
People from the Borough of Stafford
Ladies of the Bedchamber
Household of Anne of Denmark
Court of Elizabeth I