Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire, English noblewoman (b. 1563)
Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, later styled Penelope Blount (née Devereux; January 1563 – 7 July 1607) was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the English queen Anne of Denmark. She was the sister of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and is traditionally thought to be the inspiration for "Stella" of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella sonnet sequence (published posthumously in 1591). She married Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich (later 1st Earl of Warwick) and had a public liaison with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, whom she married in an unlicensed ceremony following her divorce from Rich. She died in 1607.
1607Jul, 7
Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire
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Events on 1607
- 30Jan
Bristol Channel floods, 1607
An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths. - 24Feb
Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance. - 25Apr
Battle of Gibraltar (1607)
Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar. - 5Oct
Paolo Sarpi
Assassins sent by Pope Paul V attempt to kill Venetian statesman and scientist Paolo Sarpi, who survives fifteen stiletto thrusts.