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Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

 
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Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG
Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom....
, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British monarchy. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of either the House of Commons of the United Kingdom or House of Lords....
 (1 June 1563 – 24 May 1612), son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , Knight_of_the_Garter was an England statesman, the chief advisor and good friend of Elizabeth I of England for most of her reign , twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572....
, and half-brother of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl After his education at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1511....
, Salisbury was made Secretary of State
Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a Cabinet of the United Kingdom Political minister in charge of a Departments of the United Kingdom Government ....
 following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham

Sir Francis Walsingham is usually remembered as the "spymaster" of Queen regnant Elizabeth I of England. Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence both for espionage and for domestic security....
 in 1590, and he became the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth and King James as Secretary of State. He fell into dispute with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero and royal favourite, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599, he defied the Queen and was executed for treason....
, and only prevailed upon the latter's poor campaign against the Irish rebels
Essex in Ireland

Essex in Ireland refers to the military campaign pursued in Ireland in 1599 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, during the Nine Years War and the Anglo-Spanish War ....
 during the Nine Years War in 1599.






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Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG
Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom....
, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British monarchy. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of either the House of Commons of the United Kingdom or House of Lords....
 (1 June 1563 – 24 May 1612), son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , Knight_of_the_Garter was an England statesman, the chief advisor and good friend of Elizabeth I of England for most of her reign , twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572....
, and half-brother of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl After his education at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1511....
, Salisbury was made Secretary of State
Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a Cabinet of the United Kingdom Political minister in charge of a Departments of the United Kingdom Government ....
 following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham

Sir Francis Walsingham is usually remembered as the "spymaster" of Queen regnant Elizabeth I of England. Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence both for espionage and for domestic security....
 in 1590, and he became the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth and King James as Secretary of State. He fell into dispute with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero and royal favourite, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599, he defied the Queen and was executed for treason....
, and only prevailed upon the latter's poor campaign against the Irish rebels
Essex in Ireland

Essex in Ireland refers to the military campaign pursued in Ireland in 1599 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, during the Nine Years War and the Anglo-Spanish War ....
 during the Nine Years War in 1599. He was then in a position to orchestrate the smooth succession of King James.

James I raised him to the peerage
Peerage

The Peerage is a system of titles of nobility in the United Kingdom, part of the British honours system. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titles, and individually to refer to a specific title....
 on 20 August 1603 as Baron Cecil, of Essendon in the County of Rutland, before creating him Viscount Cranborne in 1604 and then Earl of Salisbury in 1605. Lord Salisbury was extensively involved in matters of state security. The son of Lord Burghley (Queen Elizabeth's principal minister) and a protégé of Sir Francis Walsingham (Elizabeth's principal spymaster), he was trained by them in matters of spycraft as a matter of course. In 1603 his brother-in-law Lord Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham

Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham was an England peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England....
 was implicated in both the Bye Plot
Bye Plot

The Bye Plot was a conspiracy by a Catholic priest, William Watson , to kidnap King James I of England and force him to repeal anti-Catholic legislation....
 and also the Main Plot
Main Plot

The Main Plot was a Conspiracy by England Protestants, allegedly led by Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, to remove King James I of England from the English throne, replacing him by aid of Spain with his cousin Arbella Stuart....
, which were an attempt to remove James from the throne and replace him with Lady Arbella Stuart
Arbella Stuart

Arbella Stuart was an England Renaissance noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Elizabeth I of England on the English throne....
.

Salisbury served as both the third chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
University of Dublin

The University of Dublin, corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592, Queen Elizabeth I of England issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin as "the mother of a university" - this date making it Ireland's List of...
 and chancellor of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
 between 1601 and 1612. In addition, the Cecil family fostered arts: they supported musicians such as William Byrd
William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance music. He cultivated many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, Keyboard instrument and consort music...
, Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons

Orlando Gibbons was an England composer and organist of the late Tudor period and early Jacobean era. He was a leading composer in the England of his day....
 and Thomas Robinson
Thomas Robinson

Thomas Robinson was an England Renaissance music composer and music teacher, who flourished around 1600. He taught and wrote music for lute, cittern, orpharion, bandora, viol, and singing....
 .

Lord Salisbury and the Gunpowder Plot

In 1605 Salisbury was extensively involved in events surrounding the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was then known, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic Church against King James I of England....
. There are some who argue that he was in point of fact the éminence grise behind the plot itself. On the one hand, if King James lived through it, it would perhaps be a mechanism to move the King's position from one of relative tolerance of the Catholics to one of repression. On the other hand, if the King was assassinated, then his heir, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales was the eldest son of King James I of England and Anne of Denmark. His name comes from grandfathers Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark....
, would be made Sovereign, someone more closely associated with the 'Rosicrucianist' networks spreading through Europe, and likely a more pliable sovereign for the English parliamentary state's interests. A number of these arguments are interesting but ultimately inconclusive.

One of the arguments used to attempt to inculpate Salisbury in the plot are the death-bed allegations of Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby

Robert Catesby , born in Lapworth, Warwickshire, or possibly in Northamptonshire, to a rich strongly Roman Catholic family, was the leader of the Gunpowder Plot....
's servant stating that Salisbury and Catesby, one of the principal Gunpowder Plotters, met on three separate occasions in the period leading up to the events of the night of 5 November 1605. This allegation may of course be entirely unfounded given that the witness may well have been attempting to smear Lord Salisbury.

More interesting, however, are the circumstances of the death of another person arrested in connection with the Plot, Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham

Sir Francis Tresham , England Gunpowder Plot conspirator, was the last to join the conspiracy and was probably the means by which it became known to the authorities....
, who some argue may well have been an agent working for Salisbury. His death was officially listed as one of natural causes, although some have argued that he was poisoned in order to prevent him from making revelations which would not have been in either Salisbury or William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle
William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle

William Parker, 1st or 5th Baron Monteagle and 11th Baron Morley , was the eldest son of Edward Parker, 10th Baron Morley , and of Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Stanley, 3rd Baron Monteagle ....
's interests.

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