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In half armour, dressed in ermine robes and a coronet, Roger's head is resting on a cushion
while his feet are on a, now headless, peacock. Elizabeth, also in ermine robes and coronet,
lies at
a lower level than that of her husband. Wearing a close-fitting horseshoe-type cap her head
is resting on a cushion while her feet recline on a porcupine.
The inscription, beneath a richly decorated arched soffit, on a tablet behind the figures,
reads:
The right ho'ble and noble Lo' Roger Earle of Rutland
Lo' Roos of Hamlack, Trusbutt, and Belvoir, lieth here
buried. In the yeare of Lord God 1595 he began his
first travailes into divers parts beyond the seas, as
France, Italie, Swizeland, and the Low Countries, where he
continued three yeares: after he went voluntarie the Iland
voyage. He was collonel of the Foot in the Irish warres
in anno 1598. He was made Lord Lieutenant of
Lincolnshire in anno 1603, being the first year of
the raigne of King James, in which said yeare he went
ambassador from His majtie into Denmark to the christening
of the King's first sonne, and with the Order of the Garter
to the King there. He married Elizabeth, sole
daughter to Sir Philip Sydney. he departed this life
at Cambridge the 26th day of June 1612, from whence
his corps was conveyed to Belvoir Castle, and here
interred the 22nd of Julie following. He died without
yssue, and left to succeed him in his earldom and
honours his hon'ble brother Francis, now Earle of Rutland,
Lord Roos of Hamlack, Trusbutt and Belvoir.
  At the top of the monument, which cost £150, are a winged skull, hourglass and the arms:
- Or, two bars azure, a chief quarterly of the last and gules, in the first and fourth
quarters
two fleurs-de-lis, and in the second and third a lion passant guardant all or (Manners)
- Gules, three water-bourgets argent (Roos)
- Gules, three catherine wheels argent (Espec)
- Azure, a catherine wheel or (Belvoir)
- Or, two chevronels within a bordure gules (Daubeney)
- Gules, an eagle displayed within a bordure argent (Albini ancient)
- Checky argent and gules (Vaux)
- Gules, a fess between six crosslets or (Beauchamp)
- Checky argent and azure, a chevron ermine (Newburgh)
- Gules, a chevron between ten crosses paty argent (Berkerley)
- Or, a fess between two chevrons sabel (Lisle)
- Gules, a lion passant guardant argent (Lysley)
- Argent, a saltire engrailed gules (Tiptoft)
- Argent, a fess cotised gules (Badlesmere)
- Or, two chevronels gules, a label of three points sable
- Or, a lion rampant gules (Charlton) 17. Argent, a lion rampant sable
- England with a bordure argent (Holland)
- Or, two bars gules and in chief three torteaux (Wake)
- Azure fretty argent and a chief or, a crescent gules for difference (St Leger).
In the soffit amidst the "roses and flowers and gylding w'ch cannot be expressed" are the
letters ES (Elizabeth Sydney) and RR (Roger Rutland).
On the eastmost pillar, which is surmounted by a cherub asleep with a skull at his feet,
depicting 'Rest', are the arms quarterly of eight
- Or a pheon azure (Sydney)
- Or, a lion rampant double tailed vert (Dudley)
- Argent, two bars azure in chief three torteaux (Grey)
- Or, three chevronels azure (Askeby)
- Or, on a bend gules three lozenges of the field (?)
- Quarterly or and gules, an escarbuncle sable (Mandeville)
- Azure, a chevron between three mullets or (Chetwynde)
- Gules, three lions rampant or (?).
On the westmost pillar, which is surmounted by a cherub in the attitude of digging,
depicting 'Labour', are the arms Manners impaling Sydney.
Roger, son of John, the fourth earl, was born in 1576.
In 1596, on hearing of Roger's intention
to tour Europe, his tutor, John Jegan, felt the need to
warn his charge against the 'character of the French'. On his return, in 1599, Roger was made a
colonel in the army. However, in 1601 he was imprisoned in the Tower for his part in the Earl of
Essex's insurrection but was released
on payment of a £10,000 fine.
As the inscription tells us,
Roger died at Cambridge on 26 June 1612, however,
the parish register adds the interesting fact that although he was buried on 20 July,
the funeral was not solemnised until two days later.
Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland
Text copyright Max Matthews 2002. Selected text copyright Bob Trubshaw 2025–6.
Images copyright Max Matthews 2002 or Bob Trubshaw 2002, 2025–6.
No copying or reproduction without prior written permission.
Published by Heart of Albion Press
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