William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 1521–4 August 1598), was an English politician, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign (17 November 1558–24 March 1603), and Lord High Treasurer from 1572.

Early Life

Cecil was born in Bourne in 1520, the son of Richard Cecil, owner of the Burghley estate (then in Northamptonshire), now in Cambridgeshire), and his wife Jane Heckington. The estate is today open to the public and is the setting for a popular equestrian event, the Burghley Horse Trials.

Related Topics:
Bourne - 1520 - Burghley - Estate - Northamptonshire - Cambridgeshire - Equestrian - Burghley Horse Trials

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Pedigrees, elaborated by Cecil himself with the help of William Camden, the antiquary, associated him with the Cecils or Sitsyllts of Altyrennes in Herefordshire, and traced his descent from an Owen of the time of King Harold and a Sitsyllt of the reign of King William Rufus. The connection with the Herefordshire family is not so impossible as the descent from Sitsyllt; but the earliest known authentic ancestor of the Lord Treasurer is his grandfather, David, who, according to Burghley's enemies, kept the best inn in Stamford, Lincolnshire. David somehow secured the favour of Henry VII, to whom he seems to have been Yeoman of the Guard. He was Sergeant-of-Arms to King Henry VIII in 1526, Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1532, and a Justice of the Peace for Rutland. His eldest son, Richard, Yeoman of the Wardrobe (d. 1554), married Jane, daughter of William Heckington of Bourne, and was father of three daughters and Lord Burghley.

Related Topics:
Pedigree - William Camden - Antiquary - Herefordshire - King Harold - King William Rufus - Inn - Stamford, Lincolnshire - Henry VII - Yeoman of the Guard - Sergeant-of-Arms - King Henry VIII - 1526 - Sheriff - 1532 - Justice of the Peace - Rutland - Yeoman - 1554

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William, the only son, was put to school first at Grantham and then at Stamford. In May 1535, at the age of fourteen, he went up to St John's College, Cambridge, where he was brought into contact with the foremost educationists of the time, Roger Ascham and John Cheke, and acquired an unusual knowledge of Greek. He also acquired the affections of Cheke's sister, Mary, and was in 1541 removed by his father to Gray's Inn, without, after six years' 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 life in marrying Mary Cheke. The only child of this marriage, Thomas, the future earl of Exeter, was born in May 1542, and in February 1543 Cecil's first wife died. Three years later he married (December 21 1546) Mildred, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, who was ranked by Ascham with Lady Jane Grey as one of the two most learned ladies in the kingdom, and whose sister, Anne, became the wife of Sir Nicholas (and the mother of Sir Francis) Bacon.

Related Topics:
Grantham - 1535 - St John's College, Cambridge - Education - Roger Ascham - John Cheke - Greek - 1541 - Gray's Inn - Degree - Thomas - Exeter - 1542 - 1543 - December 21 - 1546 - Lady Jane Grey - Sir Francis

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