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William Cecil’s Apprenticeship in Governing
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The Tudors – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 1520-98
In this course, Professor Norman Jones (Utah State University) explores the life and career of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. In the first module, we look at Cecil in the lead-up to becoming Baron Burghley, focusing on his education and early political career during the tumultuous reigns of Edward VI and Mary I. In the second module, we turn to look at Cecil’s relationship with religion, exploring his Protestantism and how this shaped his perspective on both religious and political matters. In the third module, we focus on Cecil and the ‘Handmaiden of the Lord’, looking at his relationship with Elizabeth I in both a political and personal light. In the fourth module, we focus in specifically on Cecil’s management of the state under Elizabeth I, surveying his various positions throughout her reign and looking at his membership in the group of leading men at the apex of Elizabethan government and society. In the fifth module, we switch focus to Cecil’s role in managing plague in England, before in the sixth module turning to look at his role in the Universities. In the seventh module, we look at Cecil’s family, in particular his relationship with his son Robert and how he used his family to establish himself as a leading political figure under Elizabeth I. Then, in the eighth and final module, we look at how Cecil has been treated by historians, giving particular attention to the preservation and recent digitalisation of the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House.
William Cecil’s Apprenticeship in Governing
In this lecture, we look at Cecil’s early education and career before becoming the 1st Baron Burghley, focusing in particular on: (i) Cecil’s education at St John’s College, Cambridge; (ii) Cecil’s early exposure to politics, including the succession crises, rebellion, war, foreign intervention, political failure, and rapid religious change; and (ii) Cecil’s core values, including his belief in divine providence, the philosophy of Cicero, and the importance of virtue and good conscience.
Let's talk about the apprenticeship of Sir William Cecil.
00:00:05He was born in 15 20 or 15 21. He wasn't sure which,
00:00:08but his value system that he used to run
00:00:13the state were was shaped first by his education.
00:00:15He went to Cambridge University at the age of 14,
00:00:18and he spent six years there studying the classics, especially Greek and Latin.
00:00:20He's fluent in both and learning the value system that he used to solve problems.
00:00:26So he had his education. That's one very important piece.
00:00:32The other important piece of his system is his life experience.
00:00:35He came into government as a very young man, his first government post.
00:00:39He was 29 years old,
00:00:42and he watched the succession crisis with the death of Henry.
00:00:44The eighth, the death of Edward, the sixth, the succession of Mary,
00:00:47the succession of Elizabeth.
00:00:50He learned first hand the dangers of rebellion.
00:00:52As people revolted against Henry the eighth and then
00:00:55against Edward the sixth and then against Mary.
00:00:58He learned war.
00:01:01He went on campaign in Scotland and nearly was killed
00:01:02by a cannon shot at the battle of Pinky Clu.
00:01:05He learned to be afraid of foreign intervention,
00:01:08especially the Spanish marriage of of Mary the first.
00:01:10And then
00:01:13he watched the government failures
00:01:14of Edward and of Mary,
00:01:16the way in which he thought sinful pride led
00:01:19politicians to make terrible mistakes and for God,
00:01:21then to punish those mistakes.
00:01:24And he watched the religious change,
00:01:27the rapid religious change between Edward and Mary, very Protestant,
00:01:29back to Roman Catholic.
00:01:32And of course,
00:01:34he's going to lead the religious change
00:01:35that will take Elizabeth back into Protestantism.
00:01:36He believed in in Divine Providence,
00:01:40that God ruled the universe and that he you had
00:01:42to be armed against the changes of fortune because,
00:01:46as sin was punished as fortune changed,
00:01:49the wise man stood firmly on the the spinning ball of fortune.
00:01:51So what are his values from Saint Paul from the Bible?
00:01:57He's going to learn the responsibilities of a Christian man
00:02:00that every Christian man, every Christian governor
00:02:04had to be subject under the higher powers.
00:02:08As it said in the letter to the Romans,
00:02:10subject to the higher power that the magistrate was in charge of everything.
00:02:13So you had to obey the magistrate.
00:02:16That means the King, the Queen, you must obey that person
00:02:18From his mentor, Sir John Cheek,
00:02:22he learned that the magistrate is the ordinance of God
00:02:24appointed by him with the sword of punishment and therefore that
00:02:27that is done by the magistrate is done by the ordinance
00:02:31of God because he has the execution of God's office.
00:02:34So the state is under God and to obey the monarch is to obey God.
00:02:37He also learned from Saint Paul something else that was very important that
00:02:42just because you had power didn't mean you should just use it arbitrarily.
00:02:45You had to think about it.
00:02:49And he loved to quote Saint Paul. All things are lawful.
00:02:50But not all things are expedient
00:02:54just because you can do it.
00:02:58Perhaps you shouldn't do it.
00:03:00He learned from Cicero
00:03:02that you had to act with honour at all times.
00:03:04So you had to find the balance between what
00:03:07could be done and what was honourable to do.
00:03:09You had to keep your conscience correctly guided.
00:03:11Lord Burly summed up his political value system in a letter
00:03:14that he wrote to the Earl of Bedford in 15 64
00:03:18in which he said
00:03:21to serve up rightly and truly and to do there in as you can,
00:03:24and then may you be bold of praise.
00:03:27And if you miss of that yet no dishonour for nothing, indeed is honourable
00:03:29but well, doing the wheel of your country.
00:03:35I mean,
00:03:37the quietness of such as you have authority to govern is your
00:03:38mark shoot there at guiding your purpose with the fear of God.
00:03:41And so shall you gain the love of God and man.
00:03:45So he had a set of guiding values we're going to see again and again.
00:03:49As we talk about his activities
00:03:52the
00:03:54they they come down to four things obey the Gospel of Christ.
00:03:55Very, very good Protestant.
00:03:59Secondly, to obey the magistrate, whoever the king is or the queen is,
00:04:01you must obey them.
00:04:05You must serve with honour and act with virtue. So you you can't just be arbitrary.
00:04:06You have to think about why you're doing things and what the effect is.
00:04:11And lastly, you must keep a good conscience in your governing.
00:04:15So putting all these things together, we're going to see,
00:04:19as we go through these episodes, how he uses his conscience, his Christian values,
00:04:22his classical values and his ideal that you must be loyal to the queen, uh,
00:04:27to shape the the state that Queen Elizabeth rules
00:04:33
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Jones, N. (2023, May 16). The Tudors – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 1520-98 - William Cecil’s Apprenticeship in Governing [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/the-tudors-william-cecil-1520-98/cecil-and-the-universities
MLA style
Jones, N. "The Tudors – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 1520-98 – William Cecil’s Apprenticeship in Governing." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 16 May 2023, https://massolit.io/courses/the-tudors-william-cecil-1520-98/cecil-and-the-universities