Mountjoy: Elizabethan General

by Cyril Falls

Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire, was the last and most important of Elizabeth the First's many Viceroy's in Ireland. This biography provides a penetrating and revealing portrait of the greatest Elizabethan soldier of all and tells the dramatic story of his deep and enduring passion for his mistress, Penelope Devereux, later Lady Rich, finally and briefly, Countess of Devonshire, whose beauty was immortalised in the enchanting verses of Sir Philip Sidney. Mountjoy's life from 1563 to 1666 was short but rich. He was only thirty-six when appointed Viceroy of Ireland. He had seen active service in Brittany and the Low Countries and served at sea in the decisive fighting against the Invincible Armada. It was in Ireland, however, that his policy and actions revealed Mountjoy as a remarkable soldier. In three years of hard and at first indeterminate fighting, 'being a nurse to this army as well as a general', as one of his captains wrote, he pulled his force together, 'cast the coward out' of it, and brought to a victorious conclusion a war that had gone ill for the Queen's government and cost it dear in men and money. In the process he defeated a Spanish invasion.

Genres: Tudor Period, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Cyril Bentham Falls CBE was a British military historian, journalist and academic of Anglo-Irish extraction.

During World War I he joined the British Army, receiving a commission as a subaltern in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He also served as a Staff Officer in the Headquarters of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division during the course of the war. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and was discharged from the British Army with the rank of Captain.

After completing his military service, Falls wrote a history of one of the units he had served with during the war. His first book, 'The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division' was published in 1922.

From 1923 to 1939 he was employed by the Historical Section of the U.K. Government's Committee of Imperial Defence, researching and writing several volumes of the British Government's 'Official History of the War'.

During World War II he served as the military correspondent for 'The Times' of London, from 1939 to 1945.

After the war he held the post of Chichele Professor of Military History at All Souls College, Oxford University from 1946 to 1953.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good biography of Mountjoy's life, with a bit about Penelope, although the focus is, of course, on his later years. There is new research material so he doesn't just repeat sections from his 'Irish Wars'.