William Cecil

English administrator and statesman

• Born: September 13, 1520
• Birthplace: Bourne, Lincolnshire, England
• Died: August 4, 1598
• Place of death: London, England

Combining his enormous capacity for work with his dedication to Queen Elizabeth I, Cecil effectively managed the affairs of the English government for forty years, from 1558 to 1598.

Early Life

William Cecil (SEE-sihl) was born in Lincolnshire. His father, Richard, was a minor officeholder (groom of the wardrobe) in the court of Henry VIII. William’s grandfather, David Cecil, was a Welshman who assisted Henry Tudor (Henry VII) in his defeat of Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. Through his rewards from Henry VII, which included Stamford, and his marriage alliance with a wealthy family, David Cecil initiated his family’s ascendancy in English society.

William Cecil attended schools in Grantham and Stamford and served as a page at court. At fifteen, Cecil entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, to study the classics. At Cambridge, he came under the influence of the renowned Humanist John Cheke. Cecil fell in love with Cheke’s sister, Mary. Despite family opposition, William married Mary in 1541. Before her untimely death in 1543, Mary bore William a son, Thomas. It was also during the early 1540’s that Cecil studied law at Gray’s Inn, London.

While at Cambridge, Cecil became a Protestant and, in 1542, was rewarded for his advocacy of Henrician policies by being granted a position within the Court of Common Pleas. In 1543, Cecil entered Parliament. During the last years of Henry VIII’s reign, Cecil associated with Protestants both politically and socially; he married Mildred Cooke, a devout Protestant, in 1545.

On the succession of Edward VI in January, 1547, Cecil served as an assistant in the regency government to Edward Seymour (known also as Lord Hertford and duke of Somerset). After Seymour’s fall from power in 1551, Cecil aligned himself with the duke of Northumberland (John Dudley). His allegiance to Northumberland, however, was short-lived; when Cecil learned of Northumberland’s plans to change the line of succession as prescribed by Henry VIII’s will, Cecil abandoned Northumberland in 1553 on the death of Edward VI. The Protestant Cecil served Catholic Mary Tudor’s (Mary I ) government in a variety of minor posts and gained considerable knowledge of and experience with the workings of the English government, and both Mary and Cardinal Reginald Pole, the papal legate, recognized his contributions and integrity. Cecil’s commitment to his Protestant faith did not prove to be a barrier to his continuing service to the government. During the Marian period (1553-1558), Cecil maintained his contact with Princess Elizabeth, and it was on her accession to the throne in 1558 that Cecil began his four decades of power in English politics.

Life’s Work

On her accession to the throne in 1558, Elizabeth named Cecil as her secretary. During the next several years, Cecil assisted his queen in resolving a long-standing conflict with the Scots (in the Treaty of Edinburgh, 1560), in implementing the Protestant Elizabethan religious settlement (1559), and in administering the recoinage scheme (1561) developed by the marquess of Winchester. The recoinage program curbed inflation and provided a sound financial basis for the government.

Throughout the early decades of Elizabeth’s reign, Cecil supported the movement to have her marry and produce an heir, although he did not support the candidacy of Robert Dudley. (Dudley was Elizabeth’s primary romantic interest during the 1560’s.) Indeed, Cecil’s position was threatened by Dudley’s popularity. In 1564, Dudley was named earl of Leicester and became a royal councillor. In response, Cecil brought Thomas Howard, the duke of Norfolk, into the council. The principal issue that dominated political concerns during the late 1560’s was the problem of Mary Stuart, the Catholic former queen of France and queen of Scotland who fled to England for protection in 1568. It was in this atmosphere that Leicester and Norfolk joined in an effort to remove Cecil, but a rebellion of northern Catholic earls (1569) resulted in a situation that strengthened Cecil’s position at court. In 1571, Elizabeth named him the first Baron Burghley and in the following year, he was named lord treasurer.

During the 1570’s and 1580’s, the primary problems confronting the queen were the tenacity of the English Catholics (the Recusants), the rebellion in the Netherlands against Spain, and the rather chaotic relations with Valois France. The English Recusant cause gained momentum and focus after the establishment of the English College at Douai (1568) by William Allen, the papal bull (Excelsis Regnans) on the excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570, and the creation of the Jesuit Mission to England in 1575. The issue was complicated further by the continuing presence of Mary Stuart: She provided a Catholic alternative to Elizabeth. Conspiracies were frequent, and Cecil responded to the threat by escalating the measured response of the government. During the early 1580’s, the Jesuit Edmund Campion was executed, and later, in 1587, Mary Stuart was beheaded as a traitor. Throughout this experience, Cecil did not seek to produce Catholic martyrs; rather, he sought to maintain the unity of church and state. In The Execution of Justice in England (1583), Cecil advanced his contention that both law and theology demanded the enforcement of the Elizabethan Settlement. A violation of the religious code was comparable to a violation of the civil code, and if serious, it constituted a treasonable offense.

In the 1570’s, Protestants in the Netherlands under William the Silent mounted a rebellion against Catholic Spain. After some initial reluctance, Cecil joined Leicester in convincing Elizabeth to support the rebels in 1576. For a decade, the issue would place an increasing strain on Anglo-Spanish relations, and ultimately it led to the Spanish Armada. By 1588, Cecil had prepared England militarily, financially, and diplomatically to defeat the Spaniards.

Political instability was the primary characteristic of French society during the 1570’s and 1580’s. From the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572) through the War of the Three Henrys (1587-1588), France was in the grip of a dynastic, political, and religious crisis, which would be resolved with the victory of the Protestant king Henry IV in 1589. When possible, Cecil manipulated the French situation to benefit England at Spain’s expense. At best, the French were unpredictable, and arrangements with them were short-lived.

Cecil’s principal rival, Leicester, died in 1589, but he was replaced soon by the earl of Essex. Cecil prevented the ambitious Essex from gaining substantive power during the mid-1590’s. Cecil’s son, Robert, became secretary to Elizabeth in 1596 as a result of his father’s efforts.

Cecil’s domestic accomplishments as secretary and lord treasurer were based on his conservatism, honesty, and dedication to his duty. He exposed and eliminated corruption, required public officeholders to work, and opposed increased taxation. When the long war against Spain threatened the solvency of the treasury, Cecil only considered the curtailment of expenditures rather than seeking innovative measures to increase income. Cecil maintained that enhanced efficiency would result in cost reductions.

Privately, Cecil led a quiet life. He possessed an extensive library and was interested especially in cartography and genealogy. From 1557, he served as chancellor of Cambridge University, but his tenure in that position did not result in any significant contributions. Cecil involved himself in the detailed design and construction of his three houses: Burghley House at Stamford, Cecil House in the Strand, and Theobalds in Hertfordshire. Cecil died on August 4, 1598, at Cecil House; he was still in office and at work on negotiations to end the war with Spain.

Significance

During an extremely volatile period in English political history, Cecil contributed competent political management and continuity of policy. Cecil’s management skills, combined with his political wisdom, enabled him to retain his position of prominence though challenged by Leicester and Essex. Cecil did not possess the charm, boldness, or personal attractiveness of these two ambitious men, but he did pursue consistent, well-formulated policies that were based on elementary tenets of English national interest. In doing so, Cecil not only retained the support of Elizabeth I but also established a model for subsequent advisers and ministers of state.

Cecil refined and manipulated the centralizing procedures that were established earlier by Thomas Cromwell, who served as Henry VIII’s principal adviser during the 1530’s. His administration of the Elizabethan Settlement and the later problems associated with the English Recusants and the Puritans serve to document his effective and, at times, restrained use of power in the interests of the state. During the turbulent days of the Rebellion of the Northern Earls (1569), the Ridolfi plot (1571), the Throckmorton plot (1583), the Babington plot (1586), and the Spanish Armada (1587-1588), Cecil’s management of the Elizabethan regime was firm, and his responses to these crises were within the law. In each of these instances, England prevailed and English interests were enhanced as a result of Cecil’s actions.

Cecil’s contributions to English politics went beyond these specific achievements. Along with Cromwell, Cecil provided a historic base for early modern political management. Cecil and Cromwell influenced the evolution of the English constitution through their use of power at the ministerial level. Cecil was a Royalist who served his monarchs and worked with, and not for, Parliament. Nevertheless, much of his substantive contribution survived not only his tenure but also the crises that dominated English political history during the seventeenth century. During the 1590’s, Cecil’s administration came under increasing criticism for not being in touch with the problems which confronted the country. Essex, among others, accused Cecil of providing uninspired and often inadequate advice to Elizabeth. Yet Cecil, not Essex, has been vindicated by later generations of national leaders and scholars.

Bibliography

Alford, Stephen. The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. In-depth study of the crisis caused by Elizabeth’s refusal to marry or to name a successor, using Cecil’s personal papers as a lens to understand Elizabeth’s court, the national and international scene, and the long-term consequences of the crisis. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Croft, Pauline, ed. Patronage, Culture, and Power: The Early Cecils. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002. Interdisciplinary anthology of essays about the patronage activities of William Cecil and his son. Discusses their effects on painting, music, architecture, and other arts, as well as the relationship between their patronage and their political goals. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, index.

Dickens, A. G. The English Reformation. 2d ed. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991. In this general review of the Anglican Reformation, Cecil emerges as an able and dedicated Protestant who provided Elizabeth with significant assistance in the establishment and maintenance of the Elizabethan Settlement. While sympathetic to Cecil, Dickens does not consider Cecil as an individual primarily motivated by religious considerations.

Erickson, Carolly. The First Elizabeth. New York: Summit Books, 1983. This biography of Elizabeth portrays Cecil as a tireless, knowledgeable, and astute public servant who conducted the bulk of governmental business personally. Cecil is also interpreted as one motivated by principles, faith, and a strong sense of duty.

Haigh, Christopher, ed. The Reign of Elizabeth I. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985. A scholarly collection of essays by such notable historians as G. R. Elton, Penry Williams, Patrick Collinson, J. D. Alsop, Norman Jones, and others. The interpretations of the impact of William Cecil on the reign and on English government are sympathetic.

Levine, Joseph M., ed. Elizabeth I. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969. This book consists of excerpts from both primary and secondary sources. Cecil’s personal relationship with Elizabeth is highlighted, and her growing dependence on Cecil is documented.

Lockyer, Roger. Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1471-1714. 2d ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. In this authoritative study of the period, Cecil’s substantive contributions as Elizabeth’s adviser and as bureaucrat are applauded and documented.

MacCaffrey, Wallace. The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1968. Cecil’s impact on English political history during the second half of the sixteenth century is considered throughout this important study. Cecil emerges as an efficient and durable administrator who was a master of court intrigue and factional politics.

Read, Conyers. Mr. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.

Read, Conyers. Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960. This two-volume biography on Cecil constitutes the most scholarly and detailed study of Elizabeth’s chief adviser. Cecil is viewed as the force of continuity within the regime an able, intelligent, and loyal servant of his queen.

Rowse, A. L. The England of Elizabeth. New York: Collier, 1966. In this volume, Cecil is interpreted as Elizabeth’s partner in running the government. While differences between them emerged on occasion, their mutual respect for each other prohibited such differences from escalating into major conflicts.

Usher, Brett. William Cecil and Episcopacy, 1559-1577. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2003. Examines Cecil’s role in the reform and restructuring of the Church of England. Details his attempts to do away with a bishopric defined by temporal wealth and power and replace it with properly humble superintendents supported by their church, but not lavished with its wealth. Includes bibliographic references and index.