William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
Sir Nicholas Bacon | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | The Lord Howard of Effingham |
Secretary of State | |
In office 22 November 1558 – 13 July 1572 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth I |
Preceded by | John Boxall |
Succeeded by | Thomas Smith |
In office 5 September 1550 – 19 July 1553 | |
Monarchs | Edward VI Jane |
Preceded by | Nicholas Wotton |
Succeeded by | John Cheke |
Personal details | |
Born | William Cecil 13 September 1520 Bourne, Lincolnshire Kingdom of England |
Died | 4 August 1598 Cecil House Westminster, London Kingdom of England | (aged 77)
Resting place | St Martin's Church Stamford, Lincolnshire United Kingdom 52°38′56″N 0°28′39″W / 52.6490°N 0.4774°W |
Spouse(s) | Mary Cheke (d. 1543) |
Children |
|
Parent(s) | Sir Richard Cecil Jane Heckington |
Residence(s) | Burghley House Cecil House Theobalds House |
Education | St John's College, Cambridge |
Signature | |
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
Cecil set as the main goal of English policy the creation of a united and Protestant British Isles. His methods were to complete the control of Ireland, and to forge an alliance with Scotland. Protection from invasion required a powerful Royal Navy. While he was not fully successful, his successors agreed with his goals.[2] In 1587, Cecil persuaded the Queen to order the execution of the Roman Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, after she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth.
He was the father of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and founder of the Cecil dynasty (marquesses of Exeter and of Salisbury), which has produced many politicians including two prime ministers.
Early life
Cecil was born in
The Lord Treasurer's grandfather,
William, the only son, was put to school at
Early career
William Cecil's early career was spent in the service of the
Cecil, according to his autobiographical notes, sat in Parliament in 1543; but his name does not occur in the imperfect parliamentary returns until 1547, when he was elected for the family borough of Stamford. In 1548, he was described as the Protector's Master of Requests, which apparently means that he was clerk or registrar of the court of requests which Somerset, possibly at Hugh Latimer's instigation, illegally set up in Somerset House to hear poor men's complaints. He also seems to have acted as private secretary to the Protector, and was in some danger at the time of the Protector's fall in October 1549. The lords opposed to Somerset ordered his detention on 10 October, and in November he was in the Tower of London.[4]
Cecil ingratiated himself with John Dudley, then Earl of Warwick, and after less than three months he was out of the Tower. On 5 September 1550 Cecil was sworn in as one of King Edward's two secretaries of state. In April 1551, Cecil became chancellor of the Order of the Garter.[8] But service under Warwick (by now the Duke of Northumberland) carried some risk, and decades later in his diary, Cecil recorded his release in the phrase "ex misero aulico factus liber et mei juris" ("I was freed from this miserable court").[4]
To protect the Protestant government from the accession of a Catholic queen, Northumberland forced King Edward's lawyers to create an instrument setting aside the Third Succession Act on 15 June 1553. (The document, which Edward titled "My Devise for the Succession", barred both Elizabeth and Mary, the remaining children of Henry VIII, from the throne, in favour of Lady Jane Grey.) Cecil resisted for a while, in a letter to his wife, he wrote: "Seeing great perils threatened upon us by the likeness of the time, I do make choice to avoid the perils of God's displeasure." However, at Edward's royal command he signed,[9] not only the devise, but also the bond among the conspirators and the letters from the council to Mary Tudor of 9 June 1553.[10]
Years afterwards, he pretended that he had only signed the devise as a witness, but in his apology to Queen
There is no doubt that Cecil saw which way the wind was blowing, and disliked Northumberland's scheme; but he had not the courage to resist the duke to his face. As soon, however, as the duke had set out to meet Mary, Cecil became the most active intriguer against him,
He was elected to Parliament as knight of the shire for Lincolnshire in 1553 (probably), 1555 and 1559 and for Northamptonshire in 1563."[13]
In January of that year he wrote to Sir Thomas Smith "The Parliament is begun and I trust will be short, for matters of moment to pass are not many, reviving of some old laws for penalties of some felonies and the grant of a subsidy. I think somewhat will be attempted to ascertain the realm of a successor to this crown, but I fear the unwillingness of her Majesty to have such a person known will stay the matter."[14]
It was rumoured in December 1554 that Cecil would succeed
Reign of Elizabeth
The Duke of Northumberland had employed Cecil in the administration of the lands of
Foreign policy
Dawson argues that Cecil's long-term goal was a united and Protestant British Isles, an objective to be achieved by completing the conquest of Ireland and by creating an Anglo-Scottish alliance. With the land border with Scotland safe, the main burden of defence would fall upon the Royal Navy, Cecil proposed to strengthen and revitalise the Navy, making it the centrepiece of English power. He did obtain a firm Anglo-Scottish alliance reflecting the common religion and shared interests of the two countries, as well as an agreement that offered the prospect of a successful conquest of Ireland. However, his strategy ultimately failed. His idea that England's safety required a united British Isles became an axiom of English policy by the 17th century.[16]
Though a Protestant, Cecil was not a religious purist; he aided the Protestant
Generally he was in favour of more decided intervention on behalf of continental Protestants than Elizabeth would have liked, but it is not always easy to ascertain the advice he gave. He left endless
Leimon and Parker argue that Cecil was the principal protector of Edward Stafford, the English ambassador to Paris and a paid spy who helped the Spanish at the time of the Spanish Armada. However, they do not claim Cecil knew of Stafford's treason.[18]
Domestic politics
Cecil's share in the
Economic policy
Cecil sought to ensure that policy was commensurate with the royal finances, which often led him advocating a cautious policy.[21] His economic ideas were influenced by the Commonwealthmen of Edward VI's reign: he believed in the necessity of safeguarding the social hierarchy, the just price and the moral duties due to labour.[22] In his economic policy he was motivated by a variety of factors, including those of national independence and self-sufficiency, as well as seeking to balance the interests of the Crown and the subject.[23] Cecil did not believe that economics and politics were separate or that there was a dichotomy between power and plenty. One of his biographers asserted that, for Burghley, "power was for defence from external enemies; plenty for security at home. Cecil pursued both power and plenty. They were the foreign and domestic aspects of his economic nationalism".[24] He deplored the reliance on "foreign corn" and during an economic depression sought to ensure employment due to his fears of "tumults".[21] Cecil used patronage to ensure the loyalty of the nobility.[24]
In Parliament
William Cecil represented
In February 1559, he was elected
On 25 February 1571, Queen Elizabeth elevated him as Baron Burghley. That Cecil continued to act as Secretary of State after his elevation illustrates the growing importance of the office, which under his son became a secretary of the ship of state.[1] In 1572 Cecil privately admonished the queen for her "doubtful dealing with the Queen of Scots". He made a strong attack on everything he thought Elizabeth had done wrong as queen. In his view, Mary had to be executed because she had become a rallying cause for Catholics and played into the hands of the Spanish and of the pope, who excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570 and sent in Jesuits to organise a Catholic underground. Following the Harleyford Conference of July 1586 these missionaries would set up a highly effective underground system for the transport and support of priests arriving from the Continent.[27][28][29] Elizabeth's indecision was maddening; finally in 1587 Elizabeth had Mary executed.[30]
Treasurer
In 1572, Lord Winchester, who had been Lord High Treasurer under Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, died. His vacant post was offered to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, who declined it and proposed Burghley, stating that the latter was the more suitable candidate because of his greater "learning and knowledge".[31] The new Lord Treasurer's hold over the queen strengthened with the years.[1]
Burghley, Cecil House and Theobalds
Burghley House, near the town of Stamford, was built for Cecil, between 1555 and 1587, and modelled on the privy lodgings of Richmond Palace.[32][33] It was subsequently the residence of his descendants, the earls and marquesses of Exeter. The house is one of the principal examples of 16th-century Elizabethan architecture, reflecting the prominence of its founder, and the lucrative wool trade of the Cecil estates.
Cecil House was built as his London residence, an expansion of an existing building.[a] Queen Elizabeth I supped with him there, in July 1561, "before my house was fully finished", Cecil recorded in his diary, calling the place "my rude new cottage."[34] Inherited by his elder son, Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, it was known as "Exeter House".
A new
Death
Burghley collapsed (possibly from a stroke or heart attack) in 1598. Before he died, Robert, his only surviving son by his second wife, was ready to step into his shoes as the Queen's principal adviser. Having survived all his children except Robert and Thomas, Burghley died at his London residence, Cecil House on 4 August 1598, and was buried in St Martin's Church, Stamford.[1]
Descendants
William Cecil first married Mary Cheke (Cheek), daughter of Peter Cheke of Cambridge and Agnes Duffield (and sister of John Cheke), and they had issue:
- Earl of Exeter.
Secondly, he married
and Anne Fitzwilliam, and they had the following issue:- Frances Cecil (born c. 1556)
- Maid of Honourto Queen Elizabeth I.
- James I of England. He was created Baron Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, and finally Earl of Salisbury.
- Elizabeth Cecil (born 1 July 1564), who married William Wentworth of Nettlestead (c. 1555–1582), eldest son of Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth.
Cecil's descendants include the
Private life
William Cecil's private life was upright; he was a faithful husband, a careful father and a dutiful master. A book-lover and antiquarian, he made a special hobby of heraldry and genealogy. It was the conscious and unconscious aim of the age to reconstruct a new landed aristocracy on the ruins of the old, Catholic order. As such, Burghley was a great builder, planter and patron. All the arts of architecture and horticulture were lavished on Burghley House and Theobalds, which his son exchanged for Hatfield.[1]
Cecil wrote more than 128 letters to his son Robert Cecil over the course of his life, containing words of guidance and perseverance. The collection of letters show the close direction and counsel he gave his son in seeking and obtaining the office of principal secretary, 1593–1598. They describe the task of receiving and crafting a wide and large array of papers on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I and her Privy Council; finance, administration, foreign policy, and religion figure prominently, as does the shift from continental war to Ireland. These letters reveal the intimate relationship between the father and son; Burghley's care for his family, his thoughts of death, and a unique record of illness and old age are framed by his political and spiritual anxieties for the future of the Queen and her realms.[37]
Public conduct
"William Cecil's public conduct does not present itself in quite so amiable a light. As his predecessor, Lord Winchester, said of himself, he was sprung "from the willow rather than the oak". Neither Cecil nor Lord Winchester were men to suffer for the sake of obstinate convictions. The interest of the state was the supreme consideration for Burghley, and to it he had no hesitation in sacrificing individual consciences. He frankly disbelieved in toleration; "that state", he said, "could never be in safety where there was a toleration of two religions. For there is no enmity so great as that for religion; and therefore they that differ in the service of their God can never agree in the service of their country".[38] With a maxim such as this, it was easy for him to maintain that Elizabeth's coercive measures were political and not religious. To say that he was Machiavellian is meaningless, for every statesman is so, more or less; especially in the 16th century men preferred efficiency to principle. On the other hand, principles are valueless without law and order; and Burghley's craft and subtlety prepared a security in which principles might find some scope."[1]
Nicholas White
The most prolonged of Cecil's surviving personal correspondences, lasting from 1566 until 1590, is with
White had been a tutor to Cecil's children during his student days in London, and the correspondence suggests that he was held in lasting affection by the family. In the end, White fell into a Dublin controversy over the confessions of an intriguing priest, which threatened the authority of the Queen's deputised government in Ireland; out of caution Cecil withdrew his longstanding protection and the judge was imprisoned in London and died soon after.
White's most remarked-upon service for Cecil is his report on his visit to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1569, during the early years of her imprisonment. It was an acrimonious encounter in which he angrily refuted Mary's contention that Elizabeth was treating her harshly. However, he admitted in his subsequent letter to Cecil that despite his hostility towards Mary, he had found her to be somewhat alluring and advised that she be kept under strict confinement for fear that she would have a similar impact on others. Elizabeth was jealous of her Scottish rival and, although he was at pains to stress that Mary in no way surpassed her in charm and beauty, White could well have forfeited his recently acquired favour had this relation been communicated to his queen; Cecil seems to have kept it from his royal mistress.[40]
In February 1581 White demonstrated his independence in council, refusing to sign a letter to the queen regarding Nicholas Malby's actions in the Munster rebellion since he was away in England during the deliberations of the meeting. Again, on 28 August 1582 White was accused of withholding his signature to conciliar deliberations on the actions of the deputy during the Pale rebellion. He continued to demonstrate his valuable insights to Burghley in regular correspondence throughout the period, including letters of December 1581 on the miseries of war, the need for temperate government, and his fear that the wild Irish were glad to see the weakness of English blood in Ireland. In a missive of 13 September 1582 White complained of the unfriendly dealings of Lucas Dillon, his erstwhile companion and fellow Irish-born councillor, stating they had been for a long time of 'contrary minds'. In spite of his sympathies for the native Irish he was apparently the author of an extraordinary trial by combat in September 1583 in which Teig MacGilpatrick O'Connor and Conor MacCormac O'Connor died. His usefulness as an Irish speaker and a nominal protestant made White an essential privy councillor for two decades.[41]
In popular culture
Cecil has been a character in many works of fiction connected with Elizabeth I's reign.
He has long been considered a likely model for the character of the King's calculating minister Polonius in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.[42]
As a stage character Cecil features in Friedrich Schiller's verse drama Mary Stuart and Robert Bolt's Vivat! Vivat Regina!. Bolt portrays him as intelligent, pragmatic, ruthless and driven by the interests of the State and the Crown.
Cecil appears as a character in the novels I, Elizabeth by
Guy Pearce portrays Cecil in the 2018 historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, directed by Josie Rourke.
William Cecil appears as a character in Deborah Harkness’ novel Shadow of Night, which is the second instalment of her “All Souls” Trilogy. Cecil is portrayed by Adrian Rawlins in the television adaptation of the triogy, A Discovery of Witches.
The 'Elizabethan class' Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZU that crashed in the 1958 Munich air disaster, was named Lord Burghley.[44][45]
See also
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Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pollard 1911, p. 817.
- ^ Jane E. A. Dawson, "William Cecil and the British Dimension of early Elizabethan foreign policy," History 74#241 (1989): 196-216.
- ^ Burghley's cousin was buried in Walterstone Church; the Cecil coat-of-arms, depicted in stained-glass, originally came from Al(l)t-yr-Ynys
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pollard 1911, p. 816.
- ^ Nichols, John, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, London 1832, vol. III p. 242
- ^ "CECIL DAVID, (c. 1460-?1540), of Stamford, Lincs". Hist of Parliament Online. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ "Cecil, William (Lord Burghley) (CCL535W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Frederick Chamberlin: Elizabeth and Leycester Dood, Mead & Co. 1939 pp.61,62
- ^ B.W. Beckingsale: Burghley Tudor Statesman (New York: Macmillan 1967) pp.45-46
- ^ Frederick Chamberlin: Elizabeth and Leycester Dood, Mead & Co. 1939 pp.63-65
- P. F. Tytler: England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary London 1839 vol.II pp.192-195
- ^ P. F. Tytler: England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary London 1839 vol.II pp.201-207
- ^ "CECIL, Sir William (1520 or 1521-98), of Little Burghley, Northants., Stamford, Lincs., Wimbledon, Surr., Westminster, Mdx. and London". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons.
- ^ "CECIL, Sir William (1520 or 1521-98), of Little Burghley, Northants., Stamford, Lincs., Wimbledon, Surr., Westminster, Mdx. and London". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons.
- ^ Francis Peck: Desiderata Curiosa 1732–1735 vol.I p.11
- ^ Jane E.A. Dawson, "William Cecil and the British Dimension of Early Elizabethan Foreign Policy," History, June 1989, Vol. 74 Issue 241, pp 196-216
- ^ Pollard 1911, pp. 816–817.
- ^ Mitchell Leimon and Geoffrey Parker, "Treason and plot in Elizabethan diplomacy: The 'fame of Sir Edward Stafford' reconsidered," English Historical Review (1996) 111#444 pp 1134-58
- ^ Stefania Tutino, Law and Conscience: Catholicism in Early Modern England, 1570-1625 (Aldershot: Ashgate 2007) pp. 61-62.
- ^ R. Verstegan and A.G. Petti (ed.), The Letters and Despatches of Richard Verstegan (c. 1550-1640) (London: Catholic Record Society 1959) p. 59.
- ^ a b Beckingsale, p. 206.
- ^ Beckingsale, p. 208.
- ^ Beckingsale, pp. 206-207.
- ^ a b Beckingsale, p. 207.
- ^ Hurstfeld, Joel (June 1973). Queens Wards: Wardship and Marriage Under Elizabeth. Frank Cass & Co.
- ^ "Former Chancellors". Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-8166-3961-8.
Queen and council shared this worry…the return of "Jesuitized" gentlemen…and developed a…system…of detection…to make manifest the treasonous practices of the Jesuit underground.
- OCLC 776882.
- OCLC 813425.
- ^ John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart (2005) p. 454
- ^ Derek Wilson: Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 (London: Hamish Hamilton 1981) p.217
- ^ Alford, Stephen (2008). Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I.
- ISBN 978-1-871569-47-6.
- ^ JSTOR 1568781.
- ^ Loades, D., The Cecils: Privilege and Power behind the throne (The National Archives, 2007). pp. 124-5.
- ^ Gabriel Heaton, 'Elizabethan Entertainments in Manuscript: The Harefield Festivities and the Dynamics of Exchange', in Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, Sarah Knight, Progresses, Pageants, and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth (Oxford, 2007), p. 229.
- ISBN 9781108424554.
- ISBN 9780415266734.
- ^ Clavin, Terry. "White, Sir Nicholas". Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- ^ Clavin, Terry. "White, Sir Nicholas". Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- required.)
- ^ French, George Russell. "Notes on Hamlet." Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine In Shakspeareana Genealogica. London: Macmillan & Co., 1869. pp. 299–310.
- ^ "Elizabeth R". IMDb. Imdb.com. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
- ^ "1958: United players killed in air disaster". 6 February 1958 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ McConnell, Paul (5 February 2015). "Munich Air Disaster". mirror.
- Sir Thomas Palmer, disgraced for his support of Lady Jane Grey and executed with John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland in 1553.[34]
References
Attribution:
- public domain: Pollard, Albert Frederick (1911). "Burghley, William Cecil, Baron". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 816–817. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Alford, Stephen. Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I (Yale University Press, 2008); sees him as power behind the throne
- Beckingsale, B. W. Burghley: Tudor statesman (1967)
- Collinson, Patrick. "The monarchical republic of Queen Elizabeth I." (1987) in Collinson, Elizabethan essays (1994); highly influential essay stressed elements of republicanism
- John F. McDiarmid, ed. (2007). The Monarchical Republic of Early Modern England: Essays in Response to Patrick Collinson. Ashgate. p. 7. ISBN 9780754654346.
- John F. McDiarmid, ed. (2007). The Monarchical Republic of Early Modern England: Essays in Response to Patrick Collinson. Ashgate. p. 7.
- Dawson, Jane E. A. "William Cecil and the British Dimension of early Elizabethan foreign policy," History 74#241 (1989): 196–216.
- Graves, M. A. R. Burghley (1998).
- Hume, Martin Andrew Sharp (1898). The great Lord Burghley: a study in Elizabethan statecraft. J. Nisbet., full text online of classic
- Jones, Norman. Governing by Virtue: Lord Burghley and the Management of Elizabethan England (Oxford UP, 2015). excerpt
- Loades, David, ed. Reader's Guide to British History (2003) 1: 239–40, historiography
- Loades, David. The Cecils: Privilege and Power behind the Throne (2007).
- Loades, David. Elizabeth I: A Life (2006).
- MacCaffrey, Wallace T. "Cecil, William, first Baron Burghley (1520/21–1598)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 Dec 2012 doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4983
- MacCaffrey, Wallace T. The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime, 1558–1572 (1968), advanced scholarly analysis
- MacCaffrey, Wallace T. Queen Elizabeth and the Making of Policy, 1572–1588. (1981), advanced scholarly analysis
- Maginn, Christopher. William Cecil, Ireland, and the Tudor State (Oxford University Press, 2012).
- Read, Conyers. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth (vol 1 1955); Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth (vol. 2 1961); highly detailed narrative
- Smith, Alan G. R. William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Minister of Elizabeth I (Bangor, Wales, 1991), short biography; sees him as power behind the throne
Primary sources
- Acres, William, Letters of Lord Burghley to Sir Robert Cecil, 1593–8, Camden Fifth Series, vol. 53, Cambridge University Press, 2018
- Burghley, William Cecil, baron, The Execution of Justice in England, 1583. Facsimile ed., 1936, ISBN 978-0-8201-1175-9.
- HMC Calendar of Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury: The Cecil Manuscripts, 1306–1595
External links
- "Archival material relating to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley". UK National Archives.
- Nare, Edward. Memoirs of the life and administration of the Right Honourable William Cecil, Lord Burghley, : containing an historical view of the times in which he lived, and of the many eminent and illustrious persons with whom he was connected; with extracts from his private and official correspondence, and other papers, now first published from the originals at the Internet Archive. Volume I (1828), Volume II (1830), Volume III (1831)
- Lord Macaulay's essay "Burleigh and His Times" Edinburgh Review, April 1832, at Online Library of Liberty
- William Cecil (1521–98) at luminarium.org, Excerpted from Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol IV.