Government - Factional Rivalry

Rivalries between Robert Cecil and the Earl of Sussex and Leicester

• Robert Cecil and the Earl of Leicester disagreed over the queen’s potential marriage - yet remained cooperative and still able to work together

• However the coherence of government begain to decline in the 1590s - due to clashes between Cecil and the Earl of Essex (Earl of Leicester’s stepson)

• These problems came to a head in the Essex ‘rebellion’ of 1601

Downfall of the Earl of Essex and his ‘rebellion’

• Essex had been frozen out of court by Robert Cecil, and had lost his power as a faction leader

• Was in deep financial trouble - worsened when Elizabeth refused to renew his monopoly on the import of sweet wines

• He failed as a military leader in Ireland

• Essex’s response to his declining influence was to plan an armed coup which would bring down Cecil and his other enemies

Outcome of Essex’s ‘rebellion’

• Cecil was well prepared - Essex was quickly forced to surrender

• Was tried and executed in 1601

• Showed Essex sa an incompetent political figure

What these factional rivalries showed

• By the time of Essex’s decline the rule of Elizabeth and Cecil had become unpopular

• The attitudes of Essex and his associates reflected a larger discontent - tied in with the queen’s diminishing authority