William Cecil, 16th Baron Ros of Helmsley (May 1590 – 27 June 1618) was an English

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a ne ...

, whose ill-advised marriage to Anne Lake resulted in a major scandal, which dragged on for years after his early death. He was born at Newark Castle,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, only son of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter, and

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

on 4 June 1590. In 1591, he inherited the barony of de Ros from his mother, Elizabeth Cecil, 15th Baroness de Ros. On 13 February 1615 or 1616, he married Ann Lake, daughter of Sir

Thomas Lake Sir Thomas Lake PC (1567 – 17 September 1630) was Secretary of State to James I of England. He was a Member of Parliament between 1593 and 1626. Thomas Lake was baptised in Southampton on 11 October 1567, the son of Almeric Lake, a minor cus ...

, the Secretary of State, and his wife Mary Ryther, a marriage which soon ended in

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

and a bitter feud between the two families, caused in the first place by the Cecil family's refusal to transfer lands allegedly due to Anne as part of the marriage settlement. Anne, her mother and other family members made lurid and entirely false allegations against Cecil. Cecil challenged his brother-in-law Sir Arthur Lake, generally regarded as the prime mover in the affair, to a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

, but Arthur refused the challenge. The accusations, which included

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

with his grandfather's young second wife Frances Brydges, were so serious that he felt it wiser to leave the country for a time. He was sent by

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

on a special mission to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

. Eventually, a thorough investigation concluded that all the charges against Cecil had been fabricated by the Lake family, several of whom were severely punished by

Star Chamber The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the ju ...

as a result. The matter was not finally resolved until 1621, by which time William was dead. He died aged 28 without issue. Since his father and grandfather both outlived him, the Earldom of Exeter passed to his first cousin David Cecil, 3rd Earl of Exeter. His mother's barony passed separately to her next heir, Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland. Cecil's ex-wife Anne remarried George Rodney of Stoke Rodney,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, and died in 1630.

Sources

*Mosley, Charles ed. ''Burke's Peerage'' Delaware 2003 107th Edition Vol.1 p,1363 1590 births 1618 deaths People from Newark-on-Trent 16 Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century English diplomats {{England-baron-stub