The Earl of Salisbury | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Earl of Salisbury byJohn de Critz the Elder c. 1602 | |
| Lord High Treasurer | |
| In office 4 May 1608 – 24 May 1612 | |
| Monarch | James I |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Dorset |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Northampton(asFirst Lord) |
| Lord Privy Seal | |
| In office 1598–1608 | |
| Monarchs | Elizabeth I James I |
| Preceded by | The Lord Burghley |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Northampton |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
| In office 8 October 1597 – 1599 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth I |
| Preceded by | In commission |
| Succeeded by | In commission |
| Secretary of State | |
| In office 5 July 1596 – 24 May 1612 | |
| Monarchs | Elizabeth I James I |
| Preceded by | William Davison |
| Succeeded by | John Herbert |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 June 1563 Westminster,London, England |
| Died | 24 May 1612(1612-05-24) (aged 48) Marlborough,Wiltshire, England |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Brooke |
| Children | 2, includingWilliam |
| Parent(s) | William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley Mildred Cooke |
| Residence(s) | Hatfield House Salisbury House Cranborne Manor |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Signature |  |
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury,KG, PC (1 June 1563 – 24 May 1612) was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during theUnion of the Crowns, asTudor England gave way toStuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury served as theSecretary of State of England (1596–1612) andLord High Treasurer (1608–1612), succeeding hisfather as QueenElizabeth I'sLord Privy Seal and remaining in power during the first nine years of KingJames I's reign until his own death.[1]
The principal discoverer of theGunpowder Plot of 1605, Robert Cecil remains a controversial historic figure as it is still debated at what point he first learned of the plot and to what extent he acted as anagent provocateur.
Cecil (createdEarl of Salisbury in 1605) was the younger son ofWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley by his second wife,Mildred Cooke, eldest daughter of SirAnthony Cooke ofGidea,Essex. His elder half-brother wasThomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, and philosopherFrancis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, was his first cousin.[2]
Robert Cecil was 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) tall, hadscoliosis, and was hunchbacked.[3] Living in an age which attached much importance to physical beauty in both sexes, he endured much ridicule as a result: QueenElizabeth I called him "my pygmy", and KingJames I nicknamed him "my little beagle".[4] Nonetheless, his father recognised that it was Robert rather than his half-brother Thomas who had inherited his own political genius.
Cecil attendedSt John's College, Cambridge, in the 1580s, but did not take a degree.[5] He also attended "disputations" at theSorbonne.[6]
In 1589, Cecil married Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter ofWilliam Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham by his second wife,Frances Newton. Their son,William Cecil, was born in Westminster on 28 March 1591, and baptised inSt Clement Danes on 11 April. He was followed by a daughter, Lady Frances Cecil (1593–1644). Elizabeth died in 1597, leaving Cecil with two small children.[7] Her brothersHenry, 11th Baron Cobham, andGeorge Brooke were arrested by Cecil for their involvement in theBye andMain Plots; George, her younger brother, was executed atWinchester on 5 December 1603 forhigh treason.
In 1608, Frances Cecil caught the eye of King James I's daughterElizabeth and she made SirJohn Harington write to Salisbury to invite her to join her household.[8] She married the5th Earl of Cumberland and had one daughter but no sons.[9]
In 1584, Cecil sat for the first time in the House of Commons, representing his birthplace, the borough ofWestminster, and was re-elected in 1586. He was a back bencher, never making a speech until 1593, after having been appointed a Privy Councillor.[10] In 1588, he accompaniedLord Derby in his mission to the Netherlands to negotiate peace with Spain.[11]: 76 He was elected forHertfordshire in 1589, 1593, 1597, and 1601,[12] was made aPrivy Counsellor in 1591 and was leader of the Council by 1597.[10]
Following the death of SirFrancis Walsingham in 1590, Burghley acted asSecretary of State, while Cecil took on an increasingly heavy work-load. He was alsoknighted and subsequently appointed to thePrivy Council in 1591, and began to act as Secretary of State in 1589, although his formal appointment came later. He participated in the social life of the royal court, on 15 September 1595 he wenthawking with the queen and they caught three partridges, which they gave toElizabeth Wolley.[13]
In 1597, he was madeChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in February 1598 dispatched on a mission toHenry IV of France, to prevent the impending alliance between that country andSpain.[11]: 76 Three ambassadors, Cecil,John Herbert, andThomas Wilkes left from Dover, but Wilkes died soon after arrival at Rouen. Cecil and Herbert lodged at a house of theDuke of Montpensier in Paris, and subsequently travelled south to meet the French king atAngers in March. They had their final audiences with the king atNantes and theDuke de Bouillon gave Cecil a locket with the king's portrait. They sailed home to Portsmouth fromOuistreham, a port nearCaen, in theAdventure commanded by Sir Alexander Clifford.[14] Cecil became theleading minister after the death of his father in August 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth and KingJames as Secretary of State.[1]
Cecil fell into dispute with the2nd Earl of Essex, and only prevailed at Court upon the latter's poorcampaign against the Irish rebels during theNine Years War in 1599. He was then in a position to orchestrate the smooth succession of King James.Lord Essex's unsuccessful rebellion in 1601, which resulted in his final downfall and death, was largely aimed at Sir Robert Cecil, as he then was, who was to be removed from power andimpeached.[15] Whether Essex intended that Cecil should actually die is unclear.[16]
It is to Cecil's credit that the Queen, largely at his urging, treated the rebels with a degree of mercy, which was unusual in that age. Essex himself and four of his closest allies were executed, but the great majority of his followers were spared: even Essex's denunciation of his sisterPenelope, as the ringleader of the rebellion, was tactfully ignored. This clemency did him no good in the eyes of the public, who had loved Essex and mourned him deeply. Cecil, who had never been very popular, now became a much-hated figure. Inballads likeEssex's Last Good Night, Cecil was viciously attacked.[17]
Cecil was extensively involved in matters of state security. As the son of Queen Elizabeth's principal minister and a protégé of Francis Walsingham (Elizabeth's principal spymaster), he was trained by them in spy-craft as a matter of course. The "Rainbow Portrait" of Queen Elizabeth atHatfield, decorated with eyes and ears, may relate to this role.[citation needed]
Cecil, like his father, greatly admired the Queen, whom he famously described as being "more than a man, but less than a woman".[19] Despite his careful preparations for the succession, he clearly regarded the Queen's death as a misfortune to be postponed as long as possible. During her last illness, when Elizabeth would sit motionless on cushions for hours on end, Cecil boldly told her that she must go to bed. Elizabeth roused herself one last time to snap at him:
"Little man, little man, 'Must' is not a word to use to princes. Your father were he here durst never speak to me so"; but she added wryly "Ah, but ye know that I must die, and it makes you presumptuous".[20]
Sir Robert Cecil now promoted James as successor to Elizabeth.[21] Around 1600, he began asecret correspondence with James in Scotland, to persuade James that he favoured his claims to the English throne. An understanding was now effected by which Cecil was able to assure James of his succession, ensure his own power and predominance in the new reign against SirWalter Raleigh and other competitors, and secure the tranquillity of the last years of Elizabeth. Cecil demanded as conditions that James stop his attempts to obtain parliamentary recognition of his title, that absolute respect should be paid to the queen's feelings, and that the communications should remain a secret.[11]: 76
James took the throne without opposition, and the new monarch expressed his gratitude by elevating Cecil to the peerage.[1] Cecil also served as both the thirdchancellor of the University of Dublin,[22] and chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge,[23] between 1601 and 1612.
In 1603, his brothers-in-law,Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham and George Brooke, along with Sir Walter Raleigh, were implicated in both theBye Plot and theMain Plot, an attempt to remove King James I from the throne and replace him with his first cousin,Lady Arbella Stuart. Cecil was one of the judges who tried them fortreason: at Raleigh's trial, Cecil was the only judge who appeared to have some doubts about his guilt (which is still a matter of debate, although the prevailing view now is that Raleigh was involved in the Plot to some extent).[24] Though they were found guilty and sentenced to death, both Cobham and Raleigh were eventually reprieved; this may have been due in part to Cecil's pleas for mercy, although the King kept his intentions a secret until the last minute.[1]
King James I raised Robert Cecil to thepeerage, on 20 August 1603, asBaron Cecil of Essendon in the County of Rutland. Baron Cecil then led the English delegation at theTreaty of London that brought peace between Spain and England aftera long war. Between 1603 and 1604 difficult negotiations with the Spanish delegation took place, but through Cecil's determined statesmanship the treaty bought an "honourable and advantageous" peace for England.[25] This was a personal triumph for Cecil which reflected well on James who wanted to be styled as a European peacemaker between the Protestants and the Catholics.[26] Cecil accepted a pension of £1,000 that year, which was raised the following year to £1,500. The King also rewarded Cecil further creating himViscount Cranborne soon after the treaty had been signed and thenEarl of Salisbury the following year.[11]: 76 Cecil was appointed to theOrder of the Garter as its 401st Knight in 1606.[12] In 1607, James appointed him as Lord Treasurer, succeedingThomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.[27] As a result, the whole conduct of public affairs was solely in his hands, although the king often interfered.[11]: 76
Although King James would often speak disparagingly of Cecil as "my littlebeagle" or "youngTom Durie", he gave him his absolute trust. "Though you are but a little man, I shall shortly load your shoulders with business", the King joked to him at their first meeting. Cecil, who had endured a lifetime of jibes about his height (even Queen Elizabeth had called him "pygmy" and "little man"; he had a curvature of the spine and was barely 5 feet (1.5 m) tall), is unlikely to have found the joke funny, while the crushing weight of business with which the King duly loaded him probably hastened his death at the age of 48.[28] The Venetian ambassador,Nicolò Molin, described Cecil as short and "crook-backed", with a noble countenance and features.[29]
Cecil was the principal discoverer of theGunpowder Plot of 1605: at what point he first learned of it, and to what extent he acted as anagent provocateur, has been a subject of controversy ever since.[30][31] On balance, it seems most likely that he had heard rumors of a plot, but had no firm evidence until the Catholic peer,William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, showed him the celebrated anonymous letter, warning Monteagle to stay away from the opening of Parliament. The Gunpowder Plot itself was a belated reaction to what was seen as the King's betrayal of a pledge to repeal, or at least mitigate, thePenal Laws. Cecil was undoubtedly among those who advised King James I not to tamper with the existing laws.[32] However, his attitude toCatholics was not, for the time, especially harsh: he admitted that he was unhappy with the notoriousJesuits, etc. Act 1584, by which any Catholic priest who was found guilty of acting as a priest in England was liable to the death penalty in its most gruesome form. Like most moderate Englishmen at the time, he thought that exile, rather than death, was the appropriate penalty for the priests.[32] Cecil did hope, like his father, to make England the head of the internationalProtestant alliance, and his last energies were expended in effecting the marriage in 1612 of the princessElizabeth, James's daughter, withFrederick, the Elector Palatine.[11]: 76 Still, he was averse to prosecution for religion, and attempted to distinguish between the large body of law-abiding and loyal Catholics and those connected with plots against the throne and government.[11]: 77
TheKingdom of Ireland was a major source of concern and expense during Robert Cecil's time in government. TheNine Years' War there had ended with the leader of the rebels,Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, submitting to the Crown and being restored to his estates, following theTreaty of Mellifont (1603). Four years later, Tyrone led his followers into exile during theFlight of the Earls. The response of the government was to plan aPlantation of Ulster, to share out Tyrone's lands between the Gaelic Irish lords and the settlers from Britain. In 1608, SirCahir O'Doherty launchedO'Doherty's rebellion by attacking andburning Derry. In the wake of O'Doherty's defeat atKilmacrennan, a much larger plantation was undertaken.[citation needed]
Cecil wrote humorous letters to his friendAdam Newton the tutor ofPrince Henry. Apologizing for a minor breach of manners, he compared himself to the court jesterTom Durie.[33] In another letter he wrote that if a certain man failed to gain a place in Prince Henry's household, he should be sent to "Tom Dyrry or to me". Although the applicant was poor he could become rich by charging a fee to all the girls in England who wished to meet the Prince.[34]
In 1611 Cecil disapproved of the proposed marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain. He may have also received a pension from France.[11]: 77
AsLord Treasurer, Lord Salisbury, as he became in 1605, showed considerable financial ability. During the year preceding his acceptance of that office in 1608, the expenditure had risen to £500,000, leaving a yearlydeficit of £73,000. Lord Salisbury took advantage of the decision by the judges in theCourt of Exchequer inBates's Case in favour of the King's right to levyimpositions (importduties), and imposed new duties on articles of luxury and those of foreign manufacture which competed with English goods. By this measure, and by a more careful collection, the ordinary income was raised to £460,000, while £700,000 was paid off the debt.[11]: 77
In 1610–11, Salisbury worked hard to persuade Parliament to enact theGreat Contract, under which the King would give up all his feudal and customary sources of revenue (wardship and purveyance) in return for a fixed annual income of approximately £300,000.[35] The rationale was that the King was spending extravagantly, exceeding his income by £140,000, and putting the kingdom into debt. By 1608, the debt was £1.4 million, although the Lord Treasurer managed to get that down to £300,000 by 1610.[36] The project was one to which Salisbury attached great importance, but the House of Commons eventually lost interest in the plan,[37] and Francis Bacon argued against it, calling it humiliating.[11]: 77 King James I also did not show much enthusiasm for it, and it lapsed when the King, against Salisbury's advice, dissolved Parliament in 1611. This was a double blow to Lord Salisbury, who was sick and prematurely aged, and conscious that the King now increasingly preferred the company of his male favourites, likeThe 1st Earl of Somerset. Although it failed to be implemented, the concept of paying an annual income to the monarch was revived some five decades later as a solution to the nation's financial problems and formed the basis for the financial settlement at theRestoration of Charles II,[38] through which Charles was to receive an income of approximately £1,200,000 per annum.[39] One historian describes this annual payment as the eventual "implementation of Cecil's Great Contract".[40]
In May 1591 Cecil was involved in an entertainment for the arrival of Queen Elizabeth atTheobalds, theHertfordshire family home. TheHermit's Welcome at Theobalds made allusion to his father's potential retirement from public life.[41] In July 1593 a Scottish suitor for Cecil's favour,William Dundas of Fingask wrote to him from Edinburgh. Dundas had heard Cecil was completing a gallery in one of his houses and would like paintings with"such toys" or emblems as he had seen himself in Scotland.[42]
In 1606, Lord Salisbury, as Cecil was now, entertained King James I and his brother-in-law,King Christian IV of Denmark, at Theobalds, under the sardonic eye of Queen Elizabeth's godson, SirJohn Harrington. Both monarchs were notoriously heavy drinkers, and according to some of those present, the occasion was simply an orgy of drunkenness, as few English or Danish courtiers had their rulers' capacity to hold their drink. According to Harrington, who may have been mischievously fictionalising,[43][44] themasque put on tohonour the two kings was a drunken fiasco: "the entertainment and show went forward, and most of the players went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers".[45]
In 1607, King James took possession of Theobalds, giving Hatfield Palace to Lord Salisbury in exchange, a relatively old-fashioned property that the King disliked.[46] Salisbury had a disposition for building and tore down parts of it and used its bricks to buildHatfield House. Work continued on the house until 1612.[27] He remodelledCranborne Manor, originally a small hunting lodge, and builtSalisbury House (also referred to as Cecil House), his London residence on the Strand.[47]
The Cecil family fostered arts: they supported musicians such asWilliam Byrd,Orlando Gibbons,Thomas Robinson,[48] and the Irish harper and composerCormac MacDermott.[49] Byrd composed his famous pavaneThe Earle of Salisbury in his memory. Salisbury's motto was "Sero, sed serio", which can be translated as 'late but in earnest'.[50]
In poor health and worn out by years of overwork, Salisbury, in the spring of 1612, went on a journey to take the waters atBath in hope of a cure; but he obtained little relief. He started on the journey home but died ofcancer,[51] "in great pain and even greater wretchedness of mind",[51] atMarlborough, Wiltshire, on 24 May 1612, a week short of his 49th birthday. He was buried inSt Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield, in a tomb designed byMaximilian Colt.[6]
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Salisbury, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–77.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas acting secretary | Secretary of State 1596–1612 With:John Herbert 1600–1612 | Succeeded by |
| In commission Title last held by Sir Thomas Heneage | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1597–1599 | In commission Title next held by Sir John Fortescue |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1598–1608 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord High Treasurer 1608–1612 | In commission First Lord:The Earl of Northampton |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Dublin 1601–1612 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Vacant Title last held by The Lord Burghley | Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire 1605–1612 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Dorset 1611–1612 With:The Earl of Suffolk | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New creation | Earl of Salisbury 1605–1612 | Succeeded by |
| Viscount Cranborne 1604–1612 | ||
| Baron Cecil 1603–1612 | ||
| Head of State of theIsle of Man | ||
| Preceded by | Lord of Mann 1608–1609 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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