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.

Private Life

Burghley's private life was singularly virtuous; he was a faithful husband, a careful father and a considerate master. A book-lover and antiquary, 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, and Burghley was a great builder and planter. All the arts of architecture and horticulture were lavished on Burghley House and Theobalds, which his son exchanged for Hatfield House. His public conduct does not present itself in quite so amiable a light. As the Marquess of Winchester (Burghley's predecessor as Lord High Treasurer) had said of himself, Burghley was "sprung from the willow rather than the oak" (in other words, flexible rather than unbending) and he was not the man to suffer for convictions. The interest of the State was the supreme consideration 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." 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.

Related Topics:
Hobby - Heraldry - Genealogy - Aristocracy - Architecture - Horticulture - Burghley House - Hatfield House - Marquess of Winchester - Maxim - Machiavelli - Statesman - 16th century - Law and order

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