Mildred Cecil, Baroness Burghley (née Cooke; 1526 – 4 April 1589) was an English noblewoman and translator in the sixteenth century. She was the wife of
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1 ...
, the most trusted adviser of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
, and the mother of
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, adviser to
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
.
Family
Mildred Cooke, born in 1526, was the eldest of the five daughters of
Sir Anthony Cooke (d. 11 June 1576), son of John Cooke (d. 10 October 1515), esquire, of
Gidea Hall
Gidea Hall was a manor house in Gidea Park, the historic parish and Royal liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, whose former area today is part of the north-eastern extremity of Greater London.
The first record of Gidea Hall is in 1250, and by 1410 ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
, and Alice Saunders (d. 1510), daughter and coheiress of William Saunders of
Banbury
Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...
,
Oxfordshire by Jane Spencer, daughter of John Spencer, esquire, of
Hodnell,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
. Her paternal great-grandparents were Sir Philip Cooke (d. 7 December 1503) and Elizabeth Belknap (died c. 6 March 1504). Her paternal great-great-grandparents were Sir Thomas Cooke, a wealthy member of the
Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...
and
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...
in 1462–3, and Elizabeth Malpas, daughter of Philip Malpas, Master of the
Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...
and
Sheriff of London
Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...
.
Mildred Cooke's mother was Anne Fitzwilliam, the daughter of
Sir William Fitzwilliam, Master of the
Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
]
The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London.
The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...
and
Sheriff of London
Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...
, by his first wife, Anne Hawes, daughter of Sir John Hawes.
She had four brothers, Anthony,
Richard Cooke (MP for Preston), Sir Richard, Edward and
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, and four sisters, three of whom were also known for their scholarship:
Anne Cooke, who married, as his second wife,
Sir Nicholas Bacon; Katherine Cooke, who married
Sir Henry Killigrew;
Elizabeth Cooke, who married firstly
Sir Thomas Hoby and secondly John, Lord Russell (c.1553–1584), second son of
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford and first wife Margaret St John (1533–1562), daughter of Sir John St John (great-grandson of
Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso
Margaret Beauchamp (c. 1410 – before 3 June 1482) was the oldest daughter of Sir John Beauchamp, ''de jure'' 3rd Baron Beauchamp of Bletsoe, and his second wife, Edith Stourton. She was the maternal grandmother of Henry VII of England, He ...
) and Margaret Walgrave.
Career
According to Caroline Bowden, she was educated at home by her father, Sir Anthony Cooke, who provided his five daughters with an education equal to that afforded to his sons.
[Mildred Cooke (August 24, 1524-April 4, 1589), A Who’s Who of Tudor Women: Cl-Cy,compiled by Kathy Lynn Emerson to update and correct ''Wives and Daughters: The Women of Sixteenth-Century England'' (1984)]
. In 1559 William Bercher attested to their learning in his ''Nobility of Women''.
[ ]John Strype
John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and lat ...
lauded her ability to speak Greek as easily as English, and Roger Ascham
Roger Ascham (; c. 151530 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, h ...
, tutor to the future Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
, ranked Mildred Cooke and her sisters alongside Lady Jane Grey for their erudition.
She served briefly at court as a lady of the privy chamber when Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
came to the throne in 1558.[
She had charge of her children's education, as well as that of the various royal wards for whom her husband was responsible, including Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, whom her daughter Anne eventually married. ]Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following ...
was the ward of William Cecil.[ The Burghley household was one in which learning was valued:
]Unlike Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
ecilwas a scholar, a lover of books, and a man of great intellectual curiosity. He and his wife Mildred...had their children tutored to a high degree of erudition, and in their house Classical studies, philosophy and science, and at least certain kinds of poetry and music could seek refuge. Indeed, Cecil House
Cecil House refers to two historical mansions on The Strand, London, in the vicinity of the Savoy. The first was a 16th-century house on the north side, where the Strand Palace Hotel now stands. The second was built in the early 17th century on ...
was England’s nearest equivalent of a humanist salon since the days of More.
Lord Burghley went on to become Elizabeth I's most trusted adviser, and he and Lady Burghley entertained the queen on several occasions at their residences, including Theobalds
Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a r ...
. As the wife of the queen's chief adviser, Lady Burghley exercised influence in various ways, a circumstance that was recognized by the Spanish ambassador Guzman da Silva in 1567. While negotiations were ongoing for a marriage between the queen and Charles II, Archduke of Austria, Guzman wrote to Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
that:
Cecil desires this business so greatly that he does not speak about the religious point, but this may be deceit as his wife is of a contrary opinion, and thinks that great trouble may be caused to the peace of the country through it. She has great influence with her husband, and no doubt discusses the matter with him; but she appears a much more furious heretic than he is.
In 1560 three Scottish leaders corresponded with her regarding the Treaty of Edinburgh
The Treaty of Edinburgh (also known as the Treaty of Leith) was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I of England with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and the French representatives ...
then being negotiated. In 1573 she wrote in Latin to her cousin, Sir William Fitzwilliam, Lord Deputy of Ireland, offering advice. In 1580 she was given £250 for having acted as an intermediary for a suitor petitioning her husband.
Three books were dedicated to her during her lifetime:
* Thomas Drant's ''A Medicinable Moral, that is, Two Books of Horace His Satires (London, 1566)
*Ulpian Fulwell
Ulpian Fulwell (1545/6 – before 1586) was an English Renaissance theatre playwright, satirist and poet. Later as a Gloucestershire parish priest, he appears to have neglected his duties.
Church, stage and satire
Born one of the two sons of a l ...
's ''The First Part of the Eighth Liberal Science Entitled Ars Adulandi'' (London, 1576)
* Christopher Ockland's ''Eirenarchi siue Elizabetha'' (London, 1582)
Lady Burghley did not publish her own translations, however, and few survive in manuscript. One that is extant is her translation dating from about 1550, circulated in manuscript, of Basil the Great's sermon on Deuteronomy, which she dedicated to Anne, Duchess of Somerset,[Goodrich, Jamie, 'Early Modern English Women as Translators of Religious and Political Literature, 1500--1641', PhD thesis, ProQuest, 2008, p. 373]
Retrieved 25 November 2013. in whose household she had served before her marriage. She also translated a work by John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
, which has not survived.[
In his will Lady Burghley's father, Sir Anthony Cooke, left her only three books; however she built up 'an impressive library mainly in Latin and Greek', described by Bowden as 'one of the finest private libraries of the day'. More than thirty books inscribed with her name are still extant, seventeen of them at ]Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...
. Her library included works in Greek, Latin, French, and English on a wide range of topics including history, literature, medicine, and theology, many of them printed on the continent.
In 1580 she presented a polyglot
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...
Bible to St John's College, Cambridge, according to one source accompanied by a letter in her own hand written in Greek. In 1587 she presented eight volumes by Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one ...
, five in Greek and three in Latin, to Christ Church, Oxford. She later gave two books to St John's College, Oxford, and two books to Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
.
She provided an exhibition for two scholars and four quarterly sermons at St John's College, Cambridge, Lord Burghley's old college.
Lady Burghley died on 4 April 1589 after 43 years of marriage. She was buried with her daughter, Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford, in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
, where an enormous Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
tomb 24 feet high was erected. Lady Burghley is depicted lying on a sarcophagus. At her head are her three granddaughters, Elizabeth de Vere, Bridget de Vere
Bridget Norris (née de Vere), Countess of Berkshire (6 April 1584 – December 1630/March 1631) was an English noblewoman, the daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Bridget was brought up by her maternal grandfather, the powerful st ...
, and Susan de Vere, and at her feet her only son, Robert Cecil. In a recess is the recumbent figure of her daughter Anne, Countess of Oxford. In the upper story Lord Burghley is depicted kneeling in his robes. A long Latin inscription composed by Lord Burghley describes his eyes dim with tears for those who were dear to him beyond the whole race of womankind. Lord Burghley lay in state here, but was buried at St Martin's Church, Stamford.
After her death, Lord Burghley wrote a ''Meditation of the Death of His Lady'', which is among the Lansdowne manuscripts at the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
(C III 51), recounting, among other things, the charitable works which she had kept secret from him during her lifetime.
There are two known portraits of Lady Burghley, both at Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...
; one shows her during a pregnancy, probably that of 1563. The artist has been called "the Master of Mildred Cooke", but both portraits have recently been attributed to Hans Eworth
Hans Eworth (or Ewouts; ) was a Flemish painter active in England in the mid-16th century. Along with other exiled Flemings, he made a career in Tudor London, painting allegorical images as well as portraits of the gentry and nobility.''Concis ...
.[
]
Marriage and issue
In December 1545 she married William Cecil as his second wife. Their first child, a daughter, Francisca, was born in 1554, nine years after their marriage, but did not long survive.Cecil Papers - December 1594, 26-31 - British History Online
etrieved 13 August 2014 A second daughter, Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
, was born in 1556, and married, as his first wife, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Two sons, both named William,died shortly after their respective births in 1559 and 1561. In 1563 a third son was born, Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, who succeeded his father at court and was created Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
by James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
. Another daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1564, who married William Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth (August 179020 March 1872) was an Australian pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures of early colonial New South Wales.
Throug ...
, but both she and her husband died shortly afterward without issue.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Bowden, Caroline, 'The Library of Mildred Cooke Cecil, Lady Burghley'
Retrieved 25 November 2013
Croft, Pauline, ed., 'Mildred, Lady Burghley: The Matriarch', in ''Patronage, Culture and Power: The Early Cecils 1558-1612'', 2002
Retrieved 25 November 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Mildred
1526 births
1589 deaths
16th-century English nobility
16th-century English women
16th-century translators
Burials at Westminster Abbey
Mildred
English ladies-in-waiting
Burghley
Ladies of the Privy Chamber
Court of Elizabeth I
Wives of knights