William Cecil, 16th Baron Ros of Helmsley (May 1590 – 27 June 1618) was an English peer, 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 ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, only son of

William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter (1566 – 6 July 1640), known as the third Lord Burghley from 1605 to 1623, was an English nobleman, politician, and peer. Life Exeter was the son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, and Dorothy Neville, d ...

, and

baptised Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

on 4 June 1590. In 1591, he inherited the barony of de Ros from his mother, Elizabeth Cecil, 15th Baroness de Ros. In 1611, Roos embarked upon the early 17th-century version of the later Grand Tour, accompanied by a tutor. Whilst in Europe, Roos exhibited apparent Catholic sympathies: he "regularly dined and conversed with Catholic priests and visited English Catholics living in Brussels. Rumors of Roos’s potential conversion to Catholicism persisted during his educational travels".J. Luthman, 'Cosmopolitan, cad, or closeted Catholic?' (2024), https://blog.oup.com/2024/02/cosmopolitan-cad-or-closeted-catholic/. Retrieved 19 March 2024. On 13 February 1615 or 1616, he married Anne 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 reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

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 A marriage settlement in England and Wales was a historical arrangement whereby, most commonly and in its simplest form, a trust of land or other assets was established jointly by the parents of a bride and bridegroom. The trustees were establish ...

. 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. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

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

adultery Adultery 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 consequences, the concept ...

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 on a special mission to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

. 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 court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...

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 David Cecil, 3rd Earl of Exeter (c. 1600–1643) was an English peer and member of the House of Lords. Life David Cecil was the son of Sir Richard Cecil of Wakerley, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge, and admitted at ...

. His mother's barony passed separately to her next heir,

Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, KG KB (1578–1632) was an English nobleman. Despite a brief imprisonment for his involvement in the Essex Rebellion of 1601, he became prominent at the court of James I. He lived at Belvoir Castle in Le ...

. Cecil's ex-wife Anne remarried George Rodney of Stoke Rodney,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and died in 1630.

References

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