On this day in Tudor history, 13th September, famous Tudor poet and antiquary John Leland was born; and Elizabeth I’s chief advisor and “spirit”, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was born…

On this day in Tudor history, 25th August 1526, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Mildred Cecil (née Cooke), Lady Burghley, was born.

Mildred was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, a scholar and the man who became Edward VI’s tutor, and his wife, Anne Fitzwilliam. Cooke educated his daughter himself, at home, providing her with the classical education usually reserved for boys.

Mildred is known not only for being the second wife of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Elizabeth I’s trusted minister, but for her humanist education, intelligence and fluency in Greek and Latin. Mildred also translated several works, including a Greek sermon by Basil the Great.

On this day in Tudor history, 4th August 1598, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, died in London aged seventy-six. He had been Elizabeth I’s chief advisor.

Here are a few facts about Burghley:

On this day in Tudor history, 13th September 1520, in the reign of King Henry VIII, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was born in Bourne in Lincolnshire.

William Cecil was Queen Elizabeth I’s chief advisor and a man she called her “spirit”.

Cecil is a fascinating man whose court career took him from serving King Edward VI to Queen Elizabeth I.

On 4th August 1598, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, died. He’d been Elizabeth’s chief advisor and a man she called her spirit.

Hear a few more William Cecil facts in this edition of #TudorHistoryShorts…

On this day in Tudor history, 13th September 1520, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Queen Elizabeth I’s chief advisor, was born in Bourne in Lincolnshire.

In today’s talk, Claire Ridgway, author of “On This Day in Tudor History, fleshes out William Cecil, the man Elizabeth I called her “spirit”. He’s a fascinating Tudor man, not only for his amazing court career, which took him from Edward VI’s reign to Elizabeth I’s reign, but also for his words of wisdom and the happy marriage that he had with his wife, Mildred.

Today, I pay tribute to the amazing Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley, on the anniversary of her death in 1589, by sharing some facts about her.

Mildred was not only the wife of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, she was an accomplished and influential woman in her own right. A truly fascinating Tudor personality.