The Cecil Papers

The Cecil Papers are a privately held archive of approximately 30,000 sixteenth and seventeenth-century manuscripts, consisting principally of the correspondence of William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598) and his son Robert, the 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612). These two men dominated the administration of government during the reign of Elizabeth I and the first eight years under her successor, to the extent that critics suggested that England was becoming a regnum Cecilianum. Both Cecils held a variety of public appointments; they were both long-serving Secretaries of State who achieved even greater political power as Lord High Treasurer. The collection documents their various official roles. In addition, the collection contains documents acquired by Robert Cecil that had belonged to his rival, Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex. The papers span the period 1520-1668, from the birth of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, to the death of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury. Because of the importance of the Cecils, the materials offer crucial insights into the events of one of the most dynamic periods of history, including the marriages of Henry VIII, through the reign of Elizabeth I and the clandestine plans to facilitate James I/VI's accession, upon her death. In addition to the documents relating to English domestic politics, also covered in detail are overseas occurrences and interactions with other powers, through the reports of English ambassadors to the courts of Europe and the network of overseas agents. Among the major events in English foreign policy addressed by these documents are the clandestine plans for James' accession to the English throne, Mary Queen of Scots' imprisonment and execution, the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland, the Spanish Armada, military events in the Low Countries, the Gunpowder Plot, the Main Plot and imprisonment of Sir Walter Raleigh, and Early English settlement of America. Besides the political papers, ProQuest's The Cecil Papers database also includes selected documents from a separate collection, the Cecil Family and Estate Papers, which shed light on the rich history of three generations of the family. All the documents, which include a number of contemporary hand-drawn maps, tables and letters, have been reproduced as full-colour, high-quality images directly from original documents. These images can be examined using a dynamic viewing tool or downloaded as PDFs of JPEGs.