William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572. In his descriptio
Portrait attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Coat of arms of William Cecil as found in John Gerard's The herball or Generall historie of plantes (1597)
Portrait of William Cecil, c. after 1570
Engraving of Queen Elizabeth I, William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham, by William Faithorne, 1655
Burghley House
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Burghley House is a grand 16th-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, built and still lived in by the senior branch of the
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
…two prime ministers. Cecil was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, at what is now the Burghley Arms, in 1520, the son of Sir Richard Cecil, owner of the Burghley estate (near Stamford, Lincolnshire), and his wife, Jane Heckington. Pedigrees, elaborated by Cecil himself with the help of William Camden the antiquary…
The façade of Burghley House
Lord Burghley was the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign.
William Cecil presiding over the Court of Wards, c. 1585
The Three Brothers Browne, by Isaac Oliver, 1598. L to R: John, Anthony, William; grandsons of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague who was implicated in the Ridolfi Plot in 1571, Burghley House Collections.