Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC (1 June 1563 – 24 May 1612), son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and half-brother of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter. After his education at St John's College, Cambridge,^[1]^[2] 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.

James I 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 ^[3]between 1601 and 1612. In addition, the Cecil family fostered arts: they supported musicians such as William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Robinson ^[4].

References

^ "Cecil, Robert (CCL581R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ http://www.britannia.com/history/r-cecil.html
^ http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/v-c/chancellors.html, "Chancellors of the University of Cambridge"
^ William Casey (pub.), Alfredo Colman (pub.), Thomas Robinson: New Citharen Lessons (1609), 1997 Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas, ISBN 0-918954-65-7

External links

"Archival material relating to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury". UK National Archives.

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Francis Walsingham	Secretary of State 1590–1612	Succeeded by Sir Ralph Winwood
Preceded by In Commission	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1597–1599	Succeeded by In Commission
Preceded by The Lord Burghley	Lord Privy Seal 1598–1608	Succeeded by The Earl of Northampton
Preceded by The Earl of Dorset	Lord High Treasurer 1608–1612	Succeeded by In Commission (First Lord: The Earl of Northampton)
Honorary titles
Vacant Title last held by The Lord Burghley	Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire 1605–1612	Succeeded by The Earl of Salisbury
Preceded by The Viscount Howard of Bindon	Lord Lieutenant of Dorset jointly with The Earl of Suffolk 1611–1612	Succeeded by The Earl of Suffolk
Peerage of England
Preceded by New Creation	Earl of Salisbury 1605–1612	Succeeded by William Cecil
Head of State of the Isle of Man
Preceded by Henry Howard	Lord of Mann 1608–1609	Succeeded by William Stanley

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[1] "Cecil, Robert (CCL581R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[2] ttp://www.britannia.com/history/r-cecil.html

[3] ttp://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/v-c/chancellors.html, "Chancellors of the University of Cambridge"

[4] William Casey (pub.), Alfredo Colman (pub.), Thomas Robinson: New Citharen Lessons (1609), 1997 Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas, ISBN 0-918954-65-7

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