William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
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Biography
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572. In his description in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, A.
"Cecil had been trained as a lawyer, was associated with the Commonwealthmen, and had served as secretary to Lord Chancellor Somerset. He had proved himself an able and industrious administrator and diplomat under Elizabeth's brother and sister. Upon her accession she named him secretary of state and, in 1572, lord treasurer of England. Early in the reign he advocated foreign intervention in support of Protestant causes; but as he grew in age, experience, and responsibility, he became, like the queen herself, more prudent and cautious. From about 1570, he tended to favor diplomacy as less dangerous and more frugal than war. Consequently, he saw the need to work with, or at least avoid offending, the Catholic powers of Spain and France. His vast circle tended to attract equally cautious men interested in bureaucratic careers, like Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-79), Elizabeth's keeper of the Great Seal; Sir Francis Knollys (1511/1512-96), vice-chamberlain, then treasurer of her household; and Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex (1526/7-83), lord president of the North."
"Where Cecil was sober and careful, [Robert] Dudley was fun and exciting and brought with him a circle of soldiers and poets, including the courtly Sir Christopher Hatton (ca. 1540-91), who served her as lord chancellor and parliamentary "mouthpiece"; and the cunning Sir Francis Walsingham (ca. 1532-90), who, as secretary of state from 1573, oversaw her spies and espionage. These men tended to favor an aggressive foreign policy in support of Protestant causes abroad."
"Because many of the men in both Cecil's and Dudley's circles also held local offices ranging from lord lieutenant down to JP, theirs were truly national networks of patronage, Elizabethan counterparts to medieval affinities. Each circle tended to be linked by ties of blood and marriage as well as temperament and religious orientation, and sons succeeded fathers in their service. Usually, these two groups agreed on general aims and they got along well with each other socially. But at times of crisis, they tended to divide. Where Cecil and his allies increasingly urged caution, pacifism, and thrift, Dudley and his followers advocated bold military intervention against what they saw as a growing threat to English interests and the Protestant cause from the Catholic powers. Where Cecil and his circle appealed to the queen's head, Dudley and his group appealed to her heart. The latter attraction produced a crisis almost as soon as the reign began."