Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Encyclopedia
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG
, PC
(1 June 1563? – 24 May 1612) was an English administrator and politician.
and Mildred Cooke
. His half-brother was Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter and philosopher Francis Bacon
was his first cousin.
After his education at St John's College, Cambridge
, Salisbury was made Secretary of State
following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham
in 1590, and he became the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth
and King James
as Secretary of State. He fell into dispute with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
, and only prevailed upon the latter's poor campaign against the Irish rebels
during the Nine Years War in 1599. He was then in a position to orchestrate the smooth succession of King James, maintaining a 'secret correspondence
.' For most of his working life he served as spymaster for King James.
King James raised him to the peerage
on 20 August 1603 as Baron Cecil, of Essendon in the County of Rutland, before creating him Viscount Cranborne in 1604 and then Earl of Salisbury in 1605. Lord Salisbury was extensively involved in matters of state security. The son of Lord Burghley (Queen Elizabeth's principal minister) and a protégé of Sir Francis Walsingham (Elizabeth's principal spymaster), he was trained by them in matters of spycraft as a matter of course. In 1603 his brother-in-law Lord Cobham
was implicated in both the Bye Plot
and also the Main Plot
, which were an attempt to remove James from the throne and replace him with Lady Arbella Stuart
.
Salisbury served as both the third chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
and chancellor of the University of Cambridge
between 1601 and 1612. In addition, the Cecil family fostered arts: they supported musicians such as William Byrd
, Orlando Gibbons
and Thomas Robinson.
Cecil married Elizabeth, the daughter of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham
in 1589. Their son, William Cecil
was born in Westminster on 28 March 1591 and baptized in St Clement Danes on 11 April. Elizabeth died when their son was six years old. He succeeded his father as Earl of Salisbury.
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(1 June 1563? – 24 May 1612) was an English administrator and politician.
Life
He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
and Mildred Cooke
Mildred Cooke
Mildred Cooke, Lady Burghley was an English noblewoman, translator, and poet of the sixteenth century.-Life and work:Mildred was the eldest of the five daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke and Anne Fitzwilliam. She studied Latin and Greek, which she especially enjoyed translating...
. His half-brother was Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter and philosopher Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
was his first cousin.
After his education at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, Salisbury was made Secretary of State
Secretary of State (England)
In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary....
following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
in 1590, and he became the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
as Secretary of State. He fell into dispute with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, and only prevailed upon the latter's poor campaign against the Irish rebels
Essex in Ireland
Essex in Ireland refers to the military campaign pursued in Ireland in 1599 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, during the Nine Years War and the Anglo-Spanish War....
during the Nine Years War in 1599. He was then in a position to orchestrate the smooth succession of King James, maintaining a 'secret correspondence
Secret correspondence of James VI
The secret correspondence of James VI of Scotland was communication between the Scottish King and administrators of Elizabeth I of England between May 1601 and the Queen's death in March 1603. In this period it was settled that James VI would succeed Elizabeth as James I of England, but the...
.' For most of his working life he served as spymaster for King James.
King James raised him to the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
on 20 August 1603 as Baron Cecil, of Essendon in the County of Rutland, before creating him Viscount Cranborne in 1604 and then Earl of Salisbury in 1605. Lord Salisbury was extensively involved in matters of state security. The son of Lord Burghley (Queen Elizabeth's principal minister) and a protégé of Sir Francis Walsingham (Elizabeth's principal spymaster), he was trained by them in matters of spycraft as a matter of course. In 1603 his brother-in-law Lord Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham was an English peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England.- Life :...
was implicated in both the Bye Plot
Bye Plot
The Bye Plot was a conspiracy by a Roman Catholic priest, William Watson, to kidnap James I of England and to force him to repeal anti-Catholic legislation.-Background:...
and also the Main Plot
Main Plot
The Main Plot was an alleged conspiracy of July 1603 by English courtiers, to remove King James I from the English throne, replacing him with his cousin Arabella Stuart. The plot was supposedly led by Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, and funded by Spain...
, which were an attempt to remove James from the throne and replace him with Lady Arbella Stuart
Arbella Stuart
Lady Arbella Stuart was an English Renaissance noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne....
.
Salisbury served as both the third chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
University of Dublin
The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...
and chancellor of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
between 1601 and 1612. In addition, the Cecil family fostered arts: they supported musicians such as William Byrd
William Byrd
William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
, Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
and Thomas Robinson.
Cecil married Elizabeth, the daughter of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham
William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham
William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and a Member of Parliament for Hythe. Although he was viewed by some as a religious radical during the Somerset protectorate, he entertained Elizabeth at Cobham Hall in 1559, signalling his acceptance of the moderate regime.His...
in 1589. Their son, William Cecil
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, KG , known as Viscount Cranborne from 1605 to 1612, was an English peer and politician.-Early years, 1591-1612:...
was born in Westminster on 28 March 1591 and baptized in St Clement Danes on 11 April. Elizabeth died when their son was six years old. He succeeded his father as Earl of Salisbury.
Portrayals
- He appears as the character "Lord Cecil" in the opera Roberto DevereuxRoberto DevereuxRoberto Devereux is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti...
(1837) by Gaetano DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment... - In the BBC TV drama serial Elizabeth RElizabeth RElizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson in the title role. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia and broadcast in America on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.- Episodes...
(1971), "Sir Robert Cecil" is played by Hugh Dickson. - In the TV miniseries Elizabeth I, Cecil is played by Toby JonesToby JonesToby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
. - In the alternate history novel Ruled BritanniaRuled BritanniaRuled Britannia is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, first published in hardcover and paperback by Roc Books in 2002.-Plot introduction :The book is set in the year 1597, in an alternate universe where the Spanish Armada is successful...
, predicated on the victory of the Spanish ArmadaSpanish ArmadaThis article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
in 1588, he and his father organise the English resistance movement against the Spanish with the help of William Shakespeare. - Robert Cecil was portrayed as the unsympathetic, conniving antagonist of the play, EquivocationEquivocation (play)Equivocation, written by Bill Cain, is a play about telling the truth in difficult times. It proposes the question: what if the government commissioned William Shakespeare to write the definitive history of a national crisis, the Gunpowder Plot, in one of his plays.-Synopsis:Act 1London. 1605. A...
, written by Bill CainBill CainBill Cain is an American playwright.Cain founded a Shakespeare company in Boston.His play, Equivocation was produced at City Center in New York City in March, 2010.The New York Times praised Cain's "impish humor."-References:...
, which first premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2009. In the play, it is suggested that Cecil was behind the conspiracies of the gunpowder plot in order to kill King James and the royal family. Cecil was first portrayed by Jonathan Haugen. The character in the show was given a serious limp, and is said to hate the word "tomorrow" and to know every detail about everything that goes on in London. - Robert Cecil also appeared in the book Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease, where he was the head of the secret service and has a major role as to what Peter Brownrigg does.
- Robert Cecil is portrayed sympathetically in the historical mystery series featuring Joan and Matthew Stock, written by Leonard Tourney, where he is a patron to the main characters. The first novel is The Players' Boy is Dead
- Sir William Cecil features prominently in Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy's play 'The O'Neill' (1969), in which Kilroy uses Cecil to challenge the myth surrounding Gaelic Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone just after the latter's victory over the English at The Yellow Ford. Cecil's dramatic function is to demonstrate the complexity of history as opposed to simplistic pieties that would turn O'Neill into yet another victim of the English. Cecil 'obliges' O'Neill to reenact the past so the audience witnesses the moral dilemma of a man torn between two cultures and keenly aware of the advance of modernity in a troubled political, cultural and religious context.
- He is portrayed unsympathetically by Edward HoggEdward HoggEdward Hogg is an English actor, known for portraying Jesco White in White Lightnin and Stephen Turnbull in Bunny and the Bull.-Background:...
as a malevolent hunchbacked villain in Roland Emmerich'sRoland EmmerichRoland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...
movie AnonymousAnonymous (film)Anonymous is a political thriller and historical drama which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2011. Directed by Roland Emmerich and written by John Orloff, the movie is a fictionalized version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, an Elizabethan...
.
External links
- http://www.thepeerage.com/p1183.htm#i11825