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BURGHLEY, WILLIAM CECIL, BARON (1521-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 817 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BURGHLEY, See also:WILLIAM See also:CECIL, See also:BARON (1521-1598) , was See also:born, according to his own statement, on the 13th of See also:September 1521 at the See also:house of his See also:mother's See also:father at See also:Bourne, See also:Lincolnshire. Pedigrees, elaborated by Cecil himself with the help of See also:Camden, the See also:antiquary, associated him with the Cecils or Sitsyllts of Altyrennes in See also:Herefordshire, and traced his descent from an See also:Owen of the See also:time of See also:King Harold and a Sitsyllt•of the reign of See also:Rufus. The connexion with the Herefordshire See also:family is not so impossible as the descent from Sitsyllt; but the earliest See also:authentic ancestor of the See also:lord treasurer is his grandfather, See also:David, who, according to Burghley's enemies, " kept the best See also:inn " in See also:Stamford. David somehow secured the favour of See also:Henry VII., to whom he seems to have been See also:yeoman of the guard. He was serjeantat-arms to Henry VIII. in 1526, See also:sheriff of See also:Northamptonshire in x532, and a See also:justice of the See also:peace for See also:Rutland. His eldest son, See also:Richard, yeoman of the See also:wardrobe (d. 1554'), married Jane, daughter of William Heckington of Bourne, and was father of three daughters and Lord Burghley. William, the only son, was put to school first at See also:Grantham and then at Stamford. In May 1535, at the See also:age of fourteen, he went up to St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, where he was brought into contact with the foremost educationists of the time, See also:Roger. See also:Ascham and John See also:Cheke, and acquired an unusual knowledge of See also:Greek. He also acquired the affections of Cheke's See also:sister, See also:Mary, and was in 1541 removed by his father to See also:Gray's Inn, without, after six years' See also:residence at Cambridge, having taken a degree. The precaution proved useless, and four months later Cecil committed one of the rare rash acts of his See also:life in marrying Mary Cheke.

The only See also:

child of this See also:marriage, See also:Thomas, the future See also:earl of See also:Exeter, was born in May 1542, and in See also:February 1543 Cecil's first wife died. Three years later he married (21st of See also:December 1546) Mildred, daughter of See also:Sir See also:Anthony See also:Cooke, who was ranked by Ascham with See also:Lady Jane See also:Grey as one of the two most learned ladies in the See also:kingdom, and whose sister, See also:Anne, became the wife of Sir See also:Nicholas, and the mother of Sir See also:Francis, See also:Bacon. Cecil, meanwhile, had obtained the reversion to the See also:office of castes rotulorum brevium, and, according to his autobiographical notes, sat in See also:parliament in 1543; but his name does not occur in the imperfect See also:parliamentary returns until 1547, when he was elected for the family See also:borough of Stamford. Earlier in that See also:year he had accompanied See also:Protector See also:Somerset on his Pinkie See also:campaign, being one of the two " See also:judges of the See also:Marshalsea," i.e. in the courts-See also:martial. The other was William See also:Patten, who states that both he and Cecil began to write See also:independent accounts of the campaign, and that Cecil generously communicated his notes for Patten's narrative, which has been reprinted more than once. In 1548 he is described as the protector's See also:master of See also:requests, which apparently means that he was clerk or registrar of the See also:court of requests which the protector, possibly at See also: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 (See also:October 1549). The lords opposed to Somerset ordered his detention on the loth of October, and in See also:November he was in the See also:Tower. On the 25th of See also:January 1550 he was See also:bound over in recognizances to the value of a thousand marks. However,"he soon ingratiated himself with See also:Warwick, and on the 15thof September 155o he was sworn one of the king's two secretaries. He was knighted on the 11th of October 1551, on the See also:eve of Somerset's second fall, and was congratulated on his success in escaping his benefactor's See also:fate. In See also:April he became See also:chancellor of the See also:order of the Garter. But service under See also:Northumberland was no See also:bed of See also:roses, and in his See also:diary Cecil recorded his See also:release in the phrase ex naisero aulico factus See also:liber et mei See also:juris.

His responsibility for See also:

Edward's illegal "devise " of the See also:crown has been 'studiously minimized by Cecil himself and by his biographers. Years after-wards, he pretended that he had only signed the " devise " as a See also:witness, but in his See also:apology to QueeteMary he did not venture to allege so flimsy an excuse; he preferred to See also:lay stress on the extent to which he succeeded in shifting the responsibility on to the shoulders of his See also:brother-in-See also:law, Sir John Cheke, and other See also:friends, and on his intrigues to frustrate the See also:queen to whom he had sworn See also:allegiance. There is no doubt that he saw which way the See also:wind was blowing, and disliked Northumberland's See also:scheme; but he had not the courage to resist the See also:duke to his See also:face. As soon, however, as the duke had set out to meet Mary, Cecil became the' most active intriguer against him; and to these efforts, of which he laid a full See also:account before Queen Mary, he mainly owed' his See also:immunity. He had, moreover, had no See also:part in the See also:divorce of See also:Catherine or in the humiliation of Mary in Henry's reign, and he made no See also:scruple about conforming to the religious reaction. He went to See also:mass, confessed, and out of sheer zeal and in no See also:official capacity went to meet See also:Cardinal See also:Pole on his pious See also:mission to See also:England in December 1554, again accompanying him to See also:Calais in May 1555. It was rumoured in December 1554 that Cecil would succeed Sir William See also:Petre as secretary, an office which, with his chancellorship of the Garter, he had lost on Mary's See also:accession, Probably the queen had more to do with the falsification of this rumour than Cecil, though he is said to have opposed in the parliament of 1555—in which he represented'Lincolnshire—a See also:bill for the See also:confiscation of the estates of the See also:Protestant refugees. But the See also:story; even as told by his biographer (See also:Peck, Desiderata Cnrfosa, does not represent Cecil's conduct as having been very courageous; and it is more to his See also:credit that he found no seat in the parliament of 1558, for which Mary had directed the return of " discreet and See also:good See also:Catholic members." By that time Cecil had begun to See also:trim his sails to a' different See also:breeze. He was in See also:secret communication with See also:Elizabeth before Mary died, and from the first the new queen relied on Cecil as she relied on no one else. Her confidence was not misplaced; Cecil was exactly the See also:kind of See also:minister England then required. See also:Personal experience had ripened his rare natural See also:gift for avoiding dangers. It was no time for brilliant initiative or adventurous politics; the need was to avoid Scylla and Charybdis, and a via See also:media had to be found in See also:church and See also:state, at See also:home and abroad.

Cecil was not a See also:

political See also:genius; no See also:great ideas emanated from his See also:brain. But he was' eminently a safe See also:man, not an See also:original thinker, but a counsellor of unrivalled See also:wisdom. Caution was his supreme characteristic; he saw that above all things England required time. Like See also:Fabius, he restored the fortunes of his See also:country by deliberation. He averted open rupture until England was strong enough to stand the See also:shock. There was nothing heroic about Cecil or his policy; it involved a callous attitude towards struggling Protestants abroad. See also:Huguenots and Dutch were aided just enough to keep them going in the struggles which warded danger off from England's shores. But Cecil never See also:developed that passionate aversion from decided See also:measures which became a second nature to his See also:mistress. His intervention in See also:Scotland in 1559-156o showed that he could strike on occasion; and his See also:action over the See also:execution of Mary, queen of Scots, proved that he was willing to take responsibility from which Elizabeth shrank. Generally he was in favour of more decided intervention on behalf of See also:continental Protestants than Elizabeth would admit, but it is not always easy to ascertain the See also:advice he gave. He has See also:left endless memoranda lucidly setting forth the pros and cons of every course of action; but there are few indications of the See also:line which he actually recommended when it came to a decision. How far he was personally responsible for the See also:Anglican See also:Settlement, the Poor See also:Laws, and the See also:foreign policy of the reign, how far he was thwarted by the baleful See also:influence of See also:Leicester and the caprices of the queen, remains to a large extent a See also:matter of conjecture.

His See also:

share in the settlement of 1559 was considerable, and it coincided fairly with his own somewhat indeterminate religious views. Like the mass of the nation, he See also:grew more Protestant as time wore on; he was readier to persecute Papists than Puritans; he had no love for ecclesiastical See also:jurisdiction, and he warmly remonstrated with See also:Whitgift over his persecuting Articles of 1583. The finest encomium was passed on him by the queen herself, when she said, " This See also:judgment I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any manner, of gifts, and that you will be faithful to the state." From 1558 for See also:forty years the See also:biography. of Cecil is almost indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth and from the See also:history of England. Of personal incident, apart from his mission to Scotland in 156o, there is little. He represented Lincolnshire in the parliament of 1559, and Northamptonshire in that of 1563, and he took an active part. in the proceedings of the House of See also:Commons until his See also:elevation to the See also:peerage; but there seems no good See also:evidence for the story that he was proposed as See also:speaker in 1563. In January 1561 he was given the lucrative office of master of the court of wards in See also:succession to Sir Thomas See also:Parry, and he did something to reform that See also:instrument of tyranny and abuse. See also:Ili February 1 559 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge University in succession to Cardinal Pole; he was createdM.A. of that university on the occasion of Elizabeth's visit in 1564, and M.A. of See also:Oxford on a similar occasion in 1566. On the 25th of February 1571 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Burghley of Burghley'. (or Burleigh); the fact that he continued to See also:act as secretary after his elevation illustrates the growing importance of that office, which under his son became a secretaryship of state. In 1572, however, the See also:marquess of See also:Winchester, who had been lord high; treasurer under Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, died, and Burghley succeeded to his See also:post. It was a See also:signal See also:triumph over Leicester; and, although Burghley had still to reckon with cabals in the See also:council and at court, his hold over the queen strengthened with the See also:lapse of years. Before he died, See also:Robert, his only surviving son by his second wife, was ready to step into his shoes as the queen's See also:principal adviser.

Having survived all his rivals, and all his See also:

children except Robert and the worthless Thomas, Burghley died at his See also:London house on the 4th of See also:August 1598, and was buried in St See also:Martin's, Stamford. Burghley's private life was singularly virtuous; he was a faithful See also:husband, a careful father and a considerate master. A See also:book-See also:lover and antiquary, he made a, See also:special See also:hobby of See also:heraldry and See also:genealogy. It was the conscious and unconscious aim of the age to reconstruct a new landed See also:aristocracy on the ruins of the old, and Burghley was a great builder and planter. All the arts of See also:architecture and See also:horticulture were lavished on Burghley House and Theobalds, which his son exchanged for See also:Hatfield. His public conduct does not See also:present itself in quite so amiable a See also:light. As the marquess of Winchester said of himself, he was sprung from. the See also:willow rather than the See also:oak, and he was not the man to suffer, for convictions. ' The See also:interest of the state was the supreme See also:consideration, and to it he had no hesitation in sacrificing individual consciences— He frankly disbelieved in See also: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 See also:religion; and therefore they that differ in the service of their See also:God can never agree in the service of their country." With a See also: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 See also:century men preferred efficiency to principle. On the other See also:hand, principles 'are valueless without law and order; and Burghley's See also:craft and subtlety prepared a See also:security in which principles might find some See also:scope. The See also:sources and authorities for Burghley's life are endless.

The most important collection of documents is at Hatfield, where there are some See also:

tea thousand papers covering the See also:period down to Burghley's 1 This was the See also:form always used by Cecil himself. See also:BURGLARY 817 See also:death ; these have been calendared in 8 volumes by the Hist. See also:MSS. See also:Comm. At least as many others are in the See also:Record Office and See also:British Museum, the See also:Lansdowne MSS. especially containing a vast mass of his See also:correspondence; see the catalogues of See also:Cotton, Harleian, Royal, See also:Sloane, See also:Egerton and Additional MSS. in the British Museum, and the Calendars of Domestic, Foreign, See also:Spanish, Venetian, Scottish and Irish State Papers. Other official sources are the Acts of the' Privy Council (vols. i.-See also:xxix.) ; Lords' and Commons' See also:Journals, D'Ewes' Journals, Off. See also:Ret. M.P.'s; See also:Rymer's Foedera; See also:Collins's See also:Sydney State Papers; See also:Nichols's Progresses of Elisabeth. See also See also:Strype's See also:Works (26 vols.), See also:Parker, See also:Soc. Pahl. (56 vols.); Camden's Annales; See also:Holinshed, See also:Stow and See also:Speed's Chron.; See also:Hayward's' See also:Annals; Machyn's Diary, Leycester Corr., Egerton Papers (Camden Soc.). For Burghley's See also:early life, see See also:Cooper's.

Athenae Cantab. ; See also:

Baker's St John's See also:Coll., Camb., ed. See also:Mayor; Letters and, Papers of Henry VIII.; See also:Tytler's Edward VI.; Nichols's Lit. Remains of Edward VI.; Leadam's Court of Requests, Chron. of Queen Jane (Camden Soc.), and throughout See also:Froude's Hist. No satisfactory' life of Burghley has yet appeared; some valuable See also:anonymous notes, probably by Burghley's servant Francis See also:Alford, were printed in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa (1732), i. 1-66; other notes are in See also:Naunton's Fragmenta See also:Regalia. Lives by Collins (1732), Charlton and Melvil (1738), were followed by See also:Nares's biography in three of the most ponderous volumes (1828–1831) in the See also:language; this provoked Nlacaulay's brilliant but misleading See also:essay. M. A.. S. See also:Hume's Great Lord Burghley (1898) is largely a piecing together of the references to Burghley in the same author's See also:Calendar' of Sirnancas MSS. The life by Dr Jessopp (1904) is an expansion of his See also:article in the See also:Diet.

Nat. Biog. ; it is still only a See also:

sketch, though the See also:volume contains a mass of genealogical and other incidental See also:information by other hands. (A. F.

End of Article: BURGHLEY, WILLIAM CECIL, BARON (1521-1598)

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