Cecil's Reign of Terror; Henry IV's Assassin

Just a reminder that Anna Mitchell and I will continue our discussion of Hilaire Belloc's Characters of the Reformation, looking at what he thinks of the characters of William Cecil, Lord Burghley and King Henry IV of France this morning on the Son Rise Morning Show. Listen live here about 6:50 a.m. Central time/7:50 a.m. Eastern time.

Belloc writes about the persecution of Catholic during Cecil's tenure:

Meanwhile, of course, open persecution of the Catholic Faith in England could, on the pretext of the recent rebellion, be launched. The old nobility, at the head of which was the Duke of Norfolk, were humbled, and the young Duke himself— though an ardent Protestant— was lured into a position where Cecil, feigning the deepest friendship for him, could bring him to the scaffold — which he did. From that moment, 1572, Cecil was supreme. He was at the height of his great powers, a man just over fifty, and completely dominating the sickly and chafing Queen, in whose name he acted. 

The persecution grew more intense, until it was what I have called it— a reign of terror. But all the time Cecil, working hard upon the natural patriotism of England and insisting that he was only preserving the integrity and independence of the realm, maintained that the shocking executions and universal system of suppression and secret police work were not religious in motive, but only political. He kept to his formula, "that no man suffered for religion, but only for treason."

Cecil had to know that was not true.

Belloc does not point this out, but there's a great irony that Elizabeth, against whom no plot ever came close to succeeding, reigned into her old age; she may have angered both the Catholics and the Puritans, but she died of natural causes. Henry IV may not have pleased either the Catholics nor the Huguenots with his tolerant Edict of Nantes, but he was assassinated by a madman who had been rejected by two religious orders, including the Jesuits--Francois Ravaillac, who stabbed the king in his carriage on Rue de la Ferronnerie. He was tortured and butchered even more brutally than any of the priests found guilty of being Catholic priests, hearing confessions, and saying Mass.

In the meantime:

So, while in England Catholics were persecuted to the death — though still some half of the population — in France the Protestants — though but a small minority outside the noble class — were given all these advantages. They could practice their religion, of course, but, what was much more important politically, they could and did hold these strong places independently, whence they could make war against the Crown and threaten the mass of their fellow-citizens. They had, in particular, among these strong towns that of La Rochelle, an important seaport on the Bay of Biscay, which was as though in England at that time (it was towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth) the Catholics had been allowed to hold Portsmouth and, say, Chester, York, Leicester and a number of other walled towns in the kingdom. 

William Cecil's Birthday

The History of Parliament website has a section dedicated to the English Reformation, particularly to the MPs (Members of Parliament) who engaged in the legislative battles over religion in England from Henry VIII's to Elizabeth I's reign. Here are some comments from the page on William Cecil, one of Elizabeth I's most important counselors:

Cecil served in Parliaments under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. He became Elizabeth I’s most trusted minister, and played a major role in her government and her religious settlement.

Cecil was the son of one of Henry VIII’s minor courtiers. His father made sure that Cecil was well-educated at grammar school and Cambridge University, and this education helped make Cecil an excellent scholar, administrator, and Protestant reformer.

Cecil was a member of Edward VI’s Privy Council, but when Mary came to the throne he retired from public life. He did not want to implement Catholic policies. He mostly stayed out of trouble during Mary’s reign, but did, on occasion, speak against her. During this time he entered the service of Mary’s sister, Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth became Queen she immediately made Cecil an important government official, the Secretary of State. He played a vital role in her 1st Parliament, shepherding through the major religious laws. Cecil agreed with Elizabeth that England should be Protestant, but in such a way that would not upset a country that was divided by religion and had lived through many dramatic changes.

Cecil was Elizabeth’s most trusted advisor. In 1570 he was even allowed to stamp documents with her signature without speaking to her first. Yet they did not always agree. Cecil was not afraid to use Parliament to put pressure on Elizabeth. For example he supported, and sometimes even wrote, the petitions Parliament made to Elizabeth asking her to marry. He also supported some of the Puritan attempts to further change Elizabeth’s religious settlement.

Cecil’s attitude towards Catholics hardened in later years, and he began to see them all as a threat to Elizabeth and Protestant England. This included Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, and he was instrumental in Mary’s execution after the Elizabeth's 6th Parliament. For this, he was banished from Elizabeth’s sight for four months.

This site provides some background on Cecil's birth and early life:

William Cecil was born on September 13th 1520. He was born into a minor Welsh noble family that had fought for Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Rewarded for their loyalty, the Cecil family worked for Henry VIII and Edward VI. Cecil was educated at Grantham and Stamford Grammar Schools and at St. John’s College, Cambridge University. At Cambridge, Cecil was very influenced by Humanism and Protestantism. After Cambridge, Cecil went to Gray’s Inn in London. In 1543, Cecil became a Member of Parliament and quickly developed a reputation as a fine administrator.

Morton Selten, who is "generally acknowledged" to be an illegitimate son of the future Edward VII, played William Cecil in Fire Over England (1937); Vivien Leigh plays his fictional granddaughter Cynthia. The film contains a tender scene of Flora Robson as Elizabeth feeding her Lord High Treasurer some soup!