Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Cecil, William, 1st Baron Burghley
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
18 September 1520 – 4 August 1598
History
Son of Richard Cecil of Stamford, Lincolnshire, and Jane Heckington of Bourne, Lincolnshire. Richard Cecil's father, David Cecil, was from a minor gentry family on the Welsh border and joined Henry Tudor's army, becoming one of his bodyguards and serjeant-at-arms. He moved to Stamford because a relative and patron, David Philips, lived there. Philips was a servant of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother and founder through her will of St John's College. David Cecil and his son Richard were both active in local affairs and held positions of authority, advancing their social standing. Richard Cecil became Lord Burghley through his wife. His son William succeeded as Lord Burghley on his father's death in 1533. William Cecil was educated at Stamford and Grantham Schools before matriculating at St John's in 1535, where he studied for six years although he did not take his degree.
He married Mary Cheke in 1541, sister of John Cheke, a fellow of St John's. They had one son, Thomas Cecil, before Mary died in February 1544. Cecil married Mildred Cooke in Dec. 1545. Mildred was one of the four daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke, governor to Prince Edward (later Edward VI).
Cecil trained as a lawyer, entering Gray's Inn in 1541. He entered royal service when his father obtained for him the office of chief clerk of the court of common pleas, and thereafter advanced rapidly. He was knighted in 1551. A convinced Protestant, he retired from office during Mary I's reign but remained in the country and on good terms with the government. Cecil sat in Parliament in the reigns of all three of Henry VIII's children.
He entered the service of the Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) when she appointed him her surveyor in 1550. He had links to her circle through men such as Roger Ascham, her tutor and a fellow of St John's (both he and John Cheke were renowned Greek scholars). He built up a close relationship with Elizabeth and on her accession she appointed him Secretary of State. One of his most significant early successes was in persuading the Queen to give assistance to Scottish Protestant lords who asked for England's aid to remove the French army that had gathered in Scotland at the invitation of Mary, Queen of Scots and consort of Francis II of France (d Dec. 1560) while she declared her claim to the English throne. Elizabeth did not want to spend the money, engage in warfare, or to be seen to be aiding rebels against an anointed monarch, whereas Cecil saw not just the immediate threat but the long-term benefit of having a Protestant regime as neighbour, which he hoped would ally with England rather than its traditional alliance with France. As Elizabeth's pre-eminent councillor he took the lead in advising her on all matters of public business, foreign and domestic. In 1570 Elizabeth gave him authority to stamp her signature on routine official documents. In February 1571 he was created Baron Burghley. In 1572 he resigned the office of Secretary of State in order to become Lord Treasurer, and was made a member of the Order of the Garter. Burghley, with Francis Walsingham (Secretary of State from 1573 until his death in 1590), continued to take the lead and manoeuvre the Queen and government through all the domestic and foreign business of Elizabeth's reign until his death in 1598. He founded a political dynasty and built up a large library and gave assistance to scholars, having a particular interest in history, cartography, geography, and contemporary science. He was Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1559 until his death.