Beschreibung:

Robert Devereux Third Earl of Essex Military Reward Badge 1642 AD A silver cast and chased badge of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, by Thomas Simon (or Thomas Rawlins?), bifacial with obverse portrait bust of the Earl of Essex turned slightly to left, and to the reverse an oval garnished shield of Essex, surmounted by coronet; Platt II, type G. 4.76 grams, 30mm (1 1/4"). Fine condition. Provenance Property of a Nottinghamshire collector; believed the property of Caroline Penman, before September, 1998; accompanied by two extracts from previous auctions, lots 258 and 1250. Literature See Medallic Illustration 299/119; Platt p.202. Footnotes Essex became Commander-in-Chief of the Parliamentary forces in the Civil War before being displaced in 1645. Badges of several types and varieties bearing his image were presented to various ranks in the army. The grandson of Francis Walsingham, the Principal Secretary and 'spymaster' of Elizabeth I, as well as the son of Elizabeth's favourite, Robert Devereux figured prominently in the First English Civil War. At its outset, he became the first Captain-General or Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, known as the 'Roundheads.' However, unable and unwilling to defeat the Royalist forces during the Lostwithiel Campaign in 1644, Devereux became overshadowed by the ascending Oliver Cromwell and, less than six months after resigning from his commission, died without an heir in 1646.