Sir Thomas Overbury
baptized June 18, 1581, Compton Scorpion,
Warwickshire, England
died September 15, 1613, London
English poet and essayist, victim of an infamous
intrigue at the court of James I. His poem A
Wife, thought by some to have played a role in
precipitating his murder, became widely popular
after his death, and the brief portraits added
to later editions established his reputation as
a character writer.
Overbury was educated at Oxford and entered the
Middle Temple, London, in 1598. Having traveled
in the Low Countries, in 1606 he became
secretary and close adviser to Robert Carr, the
king’s favourite who was to become earl of
Somerset. Overbury was knighted in 1608, and
Carr became Viscount Rochester in 1611.
That same year Rochester became enamoured of
Frances Howard, wife of the Earl of Essex. Lady
Essex soon secured a divorce from her husband
with the intention of marrying Rochester.
Overbury feared that Rochester’s prospective
marriage would reduce his own influence over
Rochester, however, and he tried strongly to
dissuade the latter from marrying her.
Overbury’s A Wife, which described the virtues
that a young man should demand of a woman, was
also circulating in manuscript at the court,
where it was interpreted as an indirect attack
on Lady Essex. Her powerful relatives tried to
maneuver Overbury out of the way by having him
appointed to diplomatic missions overseas, but
he refused to go and was imprisoned in the Tower
of London on a charge of treason. Rochester
acceded to Overbury’s imprisonment only until he
could marry Lady Essex, but she herself was
evidently determined to have Overbury murdered
there. She secretly arranged to have him slowly
poisoned to death, which he was.
Three months after Overbury died, Rochester,
now Earl of Somerset, married Lady Essex. Two
years passed before public suspicions were
aroused over what had taken place, but then
investigations were undertaken and the
participants in Overbury’s murder were put on
trial. Four accomplices in the murder were
convicted and executed; the Earl and Countess of
Somerset were also convicted but were pardoned
by the king.
Overbury’s A Wife was published in 1614 and
went through several editions within a year
because of the publicity aroused by Overbury’s
death. Its real literary value lies in the
Characters, ultimately 82, that were added to
the second and subsequent editions. These prose
portraits of Jacobean types, drawn with wit and
satire, give a vivid picture of contemporary
society and are important as a step in the
development of the essay. Several were by
Overbury, but most were contributed by John
Webster, Thomas Dekker, and John Donne.
