About Me
My name is William Cecil, I am the First Baron Burghley (13 September 1520 – 4 August 1598), an English politician, and the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign (17 November 1558–24 March 1603). Not to be informal, you might like to know I was also Lord High Treasurer from 1572.
I was the grandson of David Sysill, raised at the court of Henry VIII, and educated to government. Upon Henry's death, I removed myself from court. During the troublesome successions of the late king's offspring, firstly the unhealthy young king Edward VI, and then queen Mary, I remained available to serve the crown in a skillfully impartial manner. Nevertheless, I took care not to give offence to the powerful interests who opposed Mary, Henry's catholic daughter by his first wife, the spanish Catherine of Aragon.
In fact, We saw to it that the young anglican princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry's second wife, Anne Bolyn, was safely tucked away at our country home, Hatfield House, where she could be raised in relative serenity, away from the intrigues of the palace court.
After Queen Mary died, the new queen Elizabeth relied upon me to advise her on matters of state, and she appointed me her chief minister. "This judgment I have of you," she told me, "that you will not be corrupted by any manner of gift and that you will be faithful to the State and that, without respect of my private will, you will give me that counsel which you think best." I remained her chief councellor for the rest of my life.
My relationship with his queen was predictably uneven, as from time to time the royal mood showed a human temper.
"I have found such torment with the Queen's Majesty," I exclaimed on one such occasion, "as an ague hath not in three fits so much abated."
Later I came upon this opinion, "Lord be thanked, her blast be not as storms of other princes!" adding ruefully, "they be shrewd sometimes to those she loveth best."
I did his best to avoid open disagreement with her, but if I saw it coming, I beat a tactical retreat sometimes."Good my Lord," I advised a younger man, "overcome her with yielding."
Elizabeth's reliance on, and her trust in, my commitment never failed. "No prince in Europe hath such a counsellor as I have in mine," she said. And for my part, I confessed, "She has so rare gifts, as when her Counsellors had said all they could say she would frame out a wise counsel beyond theirs."
As to his own affairs, I took care not to overspend, in spite of the profligacy of his peers, such that almost alone among them, I left my estate unhindered by any debt whatever. At one time I had been offered an earldom by Elizabeth, but I refused it on the grounds that it would oblige me to become involved in more expense that I could cope with.
As it was, I built myself a great London house,..."and two palatial residences, at Burghley in Stamford, Northampton, and at Theobalds in Hertfordshire. This required an army of dependants, chaplains, librarians, grooms," et cetera. I was not much of a sportsman at all, but, amusingly enough from the vantage point today, I enjoyed plodding around my estate grounds on a mule, a gentle enough ride for a dignified man, but not a dignified ride for a gentleman.
When I died on 4 Aug 1598, full of years and honours, the Queen received the sad news with genuine grief. It is said that she endeavoured to feed me with her own hand in my sickness. I would always remain in her words "My Spirit."
