Robert Cecil, 1st earl of Salisbury (born June 1, 1563, London—died May 24, 1612, Marlborough, Wiltshire, Eng.) was an English statesman who succeeded his father, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as Queen Elizabeth I’s chief minister in 1598 and skillfully directed the government during the first nine years of the reign of King James I. Cecil gave continuity to the change from Tudor to Stuart rule in England.
Trained by his father in the craft of statesmanship, he entered the House of Commons in 1584 and in 1588 was sent on his first diplomatic mission abroad. After the death of Queen Elizabeth’s secretary of state, Francis Walsingham, in 1590, Cecil gradually took over the work of secretary of state, although he was not formally appointed to the office until July 1596.
During this period Cecil’s chief rival for power was the Queen’s favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex. After Essex was executed in 1601 for rebelling against the Queen, Cecil felt free to initiate secret correspondence with King James VI of Scotland, advising the King on ways to cultivate Elizabeth’s favour. As a result of his efforts, the succession, upon Elizabeth’s death, passed without incident to James, who maintained Cecil as his secretary of state. He was made Viscount Cranborne in 1604 and earl of Salisbury in 1605.
In pursuing the policies worked out by his father and Queen Elizabeth, Cecil followed a moderately anti-Roman Catholic, anti-Spanish, and anti-Puritan line. In 1604 he negotiated a peace ending the 19-year war with Spain, but he supported the Dutch in their rebellion against the Spanish. When the 12-year truce between Spain and the Dutch was arranged in 1609, Cecil aligned his nation with France in guaranteeing that Spain would not violate the agreement.
In domestic affairs his influence was less decisive. It was not until 1608 that he gained control of the government’s finances through his appointment as lord treasurer. He then set about reducing the crown’s rising debt, but he could neither temper James’s extravagant spending nor convince him to accept his proposal—the Great Contract of 1610—that the House of Commons grant the crown a fixed yearly sum in return for the abolition of certain feudal dues. The deterioration that took place in James’s rule after Cecil’s death was presaged as early as 1611, when the incompetent Robert Carr replaced Cecil in the King’s confidence.