Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire (1562 - July 7, 1607), formerly Lady Penelope Devereux, was the elder daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and his wife Lettice Knollys, daughter of Sir Francis Knollys and Lady Catherine Carey. Catherine was daughter of Lady Mary Boleyn by either her husband Sir William Carey, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber or her lover Henry VIII of England.
Her brother Robert inherited the Earldom of Essex when their father died in 1576. Their mother Lettice, in 1580, married the Queen's favorite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who died in 1588.
In 1581, she married Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick. They were parents of the following children:
- Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
- Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland
- Charles Rich (d. 1627), died unmarried and without issue.
- Lettice Rich (d. 1619), married 1. Sir George Carey; 2. Arthur Lake.
- Penelope Rich married Gervase Clifton.
- Essex Rich married 1. Daniel Finch: 2. Thomas Cheeke.
- Isabel Rich married 1. Richard Rogers; 2. Sir John Smythe.
The marriage was unhappy and by 1595, Penelope had begun a secret affair with Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire. They were parents of the following illegimate children:
- Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport (1597-1663), married Anne Butler.
- Elizabeth Blount
- John Blount
- Ruth Blount (d. 1690), married Christopher Tilghman.
After the execution of Lady Penelope's younger brother, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1601, Lord Rich had her and her children by the Earl of Devonshire cast out. Penelope moved in with her lover, and the couple began a very public relationship. By 1605, Lord Rich sued for a divorce, and Penelope wanted to marry the Earl and legitimize their children. The divorce was granted but the request for a remarriage in order to legitimize her children was refused. She was forced to leave court and married the Earl in a ceremony conducted by his chaplain, William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, on 26 December 1605 at Wanstead House in London. The lovers continued to live together as husband and wife with their children until the Earl died a few months later. Lady Penelope followed her husband to the grave a year later.
Some critics speculate that she, in part, inspired "Stella" in the work Astrophel and Stella (1591) by Philip Sidney, her stepfather Robert's nephew.
