Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire

Charles Blount (pr. "blunt"), 1st Earl of Devonshire and 8th Baron Mountjoy (1563 – 3 April 1606) served as Lord Deputy, then as Lord Lieutenant, of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I.

Early life

The grandson of William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, Charles became the most notable of the later holders of the barony. The favour which his youthful good looks procured for him from Queen Elizabeth I of England aroused the jealousy of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and led to a duel between the two courtiers, who later became close friends. Between 1586 and 1598 Charles spent a lot of time on the continent, serving in the Netherlands and in Brittany. He joined Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh in their expedition to the Azores in 1597, along with his distant cousin, Sir Christopher Blount (1565–1601). (Sir Christopher had married Essex's mother, Lettice Knollys, the Countess of Essex, and he was afterwards executed for complicity in Essex's treason.)

Ireland

In 1600 Mountjoy went to Ireland as lord deputy, in succession to Essex, and brought the Nine Years War to an end with ruthless scorched-earth tactics in the stronghold of the rebel Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone in Ulster. In July 1601 he had successfully ordered an amphibious landing at Lough Foyle, near Derry, which penetrated the north of the province and undermined the rebels. In the following December he defeated O'Neill's Spanish allies at Kinsale, and drove them out of the country. In 1603, O'Neill made his submission to Mountjoy at Melifont, near Dundalk, after the accession of James I. Mountjoy continued in office with the more distinguished title of Lord-Lieutenant (1603–1604). He declared an amnesty for the rebels and granted them honourable terms, which caused some severe criticism from England.

Later life

On his return to England, Lord Mountjoy served as one of Sir Walter Raleigh's judges in 1603; and in the same year James I made him master of the ordnance and created him Earl of Devon, also granting him extensive estates.

This title was granted as a recreation of the old Earldom of Devon, held by the Courtenays, which was then believed to be extinct. In 1831, the House of Lords decided that the Courtenay Earldom had existed "de jure" for the preceding two and a half centuries. To avoid making this situation more confusing, Mountjoy has usually been called the Earl of Devonshire.

Mountjoy took as his mistress the renowned beauty, Penelope, wife of Lord Rich and sister of Essex. After the execution of her brother in 1601, Lady Rich divorced her husband in the ecclesiastical courts. Mountjoy, by whom she had already had several children, married her on 26 December 1605 at Wanstead House in London, in a ceremony conducted by his chaplain, William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.

Legacy

Mountjoy left no legitimate children, and so the hereditary titles became extinct at his death.

References

*1911
*Richard Bagwell, "Ireland under the Tudors" vol. 3 (London, 1885-1890); "Calendar of State Papers: Carew MSS." i., ii., (6 vols., 1867-1873).