Contributions
For forty years William Cecil was the pillar of the Elizabethan state. Educated at Cambridge and in law at Gray's Inn, he had already served under Edward VI when, on Elizabeth I's accession in 1558, the queen made him principal secretary. He held office until, in 1572, he became Lord High Treasurer, wielding almost continuous authority over the policy of the realm until his death. Cautious, tireless, meticulous to the point of obsession with detail and figures, he steadied the Crown's finances, stabilised the coinage, administered justice and the Privy Council, and conducted a diplomacy of patience and balance toward Spain and France. A moderate Protestant, he worked to consolidate the Church of England and to remove the threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots, whose condemnation he pressed. A great builder, he raised Burghley House and Theobalds, among the most splendid "prodigy houses" of the age, showcases of a power grown rich and cultivated.
Significance
If Elizabeth I's reign was a golden age of relative stability in a century of religious wars, it was in large part Cecil's work. He embodies the modern minister of state: not the favourite, but the professional servant who governs through the file, the network of informers, and the patient management of the long term. His relationship with the queen - loyalty, firm counsel, and at times open disagreement - defined a model of collaboration between sovereign and chief minister. He founded a political dynasty: his son Robert would succeed him at the summit of the state. His shadow lies in that same cold calculation: a builder of the intelligence network alongside Walsingham, he manoeuvred without scruple to obtain the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587, almost forcing the hand of a reluctant queen. He is reproached too for amassing an immense estate in the service of his house. Yet none denies that, through dogged prudence, he gave England the decades of coherence that let it withstand the Armada and rise as a power. Elizabeth, who called him her "Spirit," wept at his bedside.
Influence
He set the pattern of the great minister as servant of the state, taken up by his son Robert Cecil and by the secretaries of later reigns. His financial administration and his use of intelligence shaped the practice of English government, and his "prodigy houses" left a lasting mark on the civil architecture of the English Renaissance.
Anecdote
Cecil suffered from gout, which at times forced him to be carried in a chair; he nonetheless went on writing and governing, covering his papers with close annotations. It is said that Elizabeth I, loyal to the man as to the minister, visited him in his last illness and fed him herself with a spoon - she who seldom stooped to such gestures. He died in 1598, leaving his queen a strengthened realm.