Biography

"William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Burghley also spelled Burleigh , also called (1551–71) Sir William Cecil (born Sept. 13, 1520, Bourne, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died Aug. 5, 1598, London), principal adviser to England’s Queen Elizabeth I through most of her reign. Cecil was a master of Renaissance statecraft, whose talents as a diplomat, politician, and administrator won him high office and a peerage."