Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey

Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey (1583-1642), in armour with a blue sash,
painted in 1636 by the Dutch portraitist Paulus Moreelse (1571- 1638).

Oil on panel

68.5 x 54.6 cm

Robert was the eldest son of Peregrine, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby and his wife Mary de Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford. He succeeded his father as 14th Baron Willoughby in 1601 and married Elizabeth Montagu of Boughton in 1604.

In 1626, he was created Earl of Lindsey and was made a Knight of the Garter the following year. King Charles I appointed him First Lord of the Admiralty from 1635 to 1636 and Lindsey also established his claim, through his mother, to the hereditary office of Lord Great Chamberlain of England.

Lord Lindsey supported King Charles I in the Civil War and, as an experienced military commander, the King appointed him General of his Royalist troops in August 1542 prior to the Battle of Edgehill. Lindsey fought on foot at the head of his infantry regiment at the battle, but was shot through the thigh and captured by the Roundheads. He was taken to a nearby barn, but died of his wounds the following day on 23 October 1642.

He is buried at the church of St Michael and All Angels, Edenham.