Born: 6 Oct 1576
Died: 26 Jun 1612
Buried: St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bottesford, Leicesterhire, England
Father: John MANNERS (4° E. Rutland)
Mother: Elizabeth CHARLTON (C. Rutland)
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Roger MANNERS
(5th E. Rutland)
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Born: 6 Oct 1576 Died: 26 Jun 1612 Buried: St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bottesford, Leicesterhire, England Father: John MANNERS (4° E. Rutland) Mother: Elizabeth CHARLTON (C. Rutland) |
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Married: Elizabeth SIDNEY (C. Rutland) 5 Mar 1598
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Tomb of the Earl and his wife at Bottesford |
03.jpg) Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland, c.1675 (oil on canvas) by Jeremias van der Eyden |
Detail of the tomb of the Earl and his wife at Bottesford |
| Born 6 Oct 1576, was son of John, fourth
Earl of
Rutland, and nephew of
Edward, third Earl. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of
Francis Charlton of Apley Castle, Shropshire. He was educated for a time at
Queen’s College, Cambridge, and had a man and a boy to look after him. On 21
Feb 1587-8 he succeeded as fifth Earl of Rutland on the death of his
father, and, passing through London on his way to Cambridge, he had an interview
with Queen Elizabeth, who spoke kindly to him and said that ‘she knew his
father for an honest man.’ In 1590 his tutor, John Jegon, removed to Corpus
Christi College, and among other of his pupils, Rutland went with him;
Burghley wrote approving of the change, and also of his going down to Belvoir for the
hunting season. Jegon took great care of him, writing many letters to his
mother. On 20 Feb 1595 he became M.A. Burghley approved of his making tour,
though he wrote that the young Earl knew very little about his estate, and in
Sep 1595 he received leave to travel abroad. For his guidance a manuscript
of ‘Profitable Instructions’ was draw up, which was printed, with two
similar essays, in 1633, and was then assigned to Robert Devereux, second
Earl
of Essex. Bacon was more probably the author. His old tutor
Jegon warned him
against the character of the French. Rutland sailed early in 1596 from
Plymounth, and passed by way of Paris to Switzerland and Italy. Fellow 1596 classmate at Padua
University with a certain Rosencrantz
& Guildenstern. In North Italy
he had a dangerous illness. He seems to have been fond of learned men, and met
Caspar Waser at Zurich. On 2 Feb 1597-8 was admitedd member of Gray’s
Inn. Very close companion to the
Earl of
Southampton. As he had announced some time before his intention of joining
Essex in his
Irish expedition, he was made a colonel of foot in 1599. Essex knighted him 30
May 1599, but he passed only a short time in Ireland, as he was in England in
Jun 1599, in some disgrace with the court. On 10 Jul 1599, he was incorporated
M.A. at Oxford. Wood describes him as ‘an eminent traveler and good
soldier’. He passed a short time on service with the Dutch in company with the
Earl of Northumberland, and 14 Jun 1600 became constable of Nottingham Castle
and stewrd of Sherwood Forest. On 8 Feb 1600-1 he took part in
Essex’s
rebellion, and was one of those who were captured at Essex House. His uncle Roger, an
old servant of the Queen, who had three nephews implicated, lamented that they
had ever been born. In the Tower, Rutland soon came to his senses, wrote very
penitently, was examined and rated by the council, and was fined 30.000£. His
fortunes recovered under James I, who stayed at Belvoir in his progress
southwards, witnessing the performance of Ben Jonson’s ‘Metamorphosed
Gypsies,’ and made him a K.B. at his coronation. On 9 Jun 1603 Rutland
received the keepership of Birkwood Park, Yorkshire, and Clipstone Castle,
Northamptonshire, and from Jun to Aug 1603 was engaged on a mission to
Christian IV, King of Denmark, to present him with the order of the Garter, and
to represent James at the christening of his son. On 20 Sep 1603 he became
lord-lieutenant of Lincolnshire, and the same year high steward of Grantham. In 1604, a report of Edward Coke says
that Isabel, dowager Countess of Rutland, sued
Roger, the 5th Earl of Rutland. At
the heart of these legal proceedings stood a manor called Eykering House and
additional land of unclear nature named the “Lady Park” – both located in the
county of Nottingham. The Countess blamed the
Earl “for breaking her house and
close”, but no further details are provided regarding this occurrence. The
Earl’s response was “not guilty”. In 1609 he received also the stewardships of Long Bennington and Mansfield. His constitution seems to have been worn out prematurely, and he died on 26 Jun 1612. He was buried at Bottesford, Leicestershire. He is noted as being engaged in two duels when the subject attracted attention in 1613. Rutland married, early in 1599, Elizabeth (b. 1584 - d. 1612), daughter of Sir Phillip Sidney and Frances Walsingham. Some reports say that Phillip's wife, Frances, visited him on his deathbed at Arnhem and was heavily pregnant at the time. If this was true then this puts into doubt the date of Elizabeth's birth of 1584 - or raises the possibility of a second child. Several sources claim Elizabeth Sidney poisoned Roger Manners to free herself from an unhappy marriage and that a short time later she was herself killed by his family or friends in revenge for his death. However, biographies of her father and grandfather, give the date 1614 for Elizabeth’s death, and the Earl of Rutland died in 1612. The Oxford DNB (under "Manners, Roger"), however, says that she died "within a fortnight of her husband's funeral, occasioning wild rumours that she had been poisoned by medicine" supplied by Sir Walter Raleigh. The entry also reports gossip that Sir Thomas Overbury was in love with her. Elizabeth was buried near her father Phillip at St. Paul's, although she shares a memorial at Bottesford with her husband. The title passed to a brother, Francis, sixth Earl of Rutland. Many of Rutland’s letters are preserved at Belvoir, Hatfield, and Longleat. |
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