Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

In 1584, Cecil sat for the first time in the House of Commons, representing his birthplace, the borough of Westminster, and was re-elected in 1586. He was a backbencher, never making a speech until 1593, after having been appointed a Privy Councillor.[10] In 1588 he accompanied Lord Derby in his mission to the Netherlands to negotiate peace with Spain.[11]^:76 He was elected for Hertfordshire in 1589, 1593, 1597 and 1601,[12] was made a Privy Councillor in 1593 and was leader of the Council by 1597.[10]

Following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham in 1590, Burghley acted as Secretary of State, while Cecil took on an increasingly heavy work-load. He was also knighted and subsequently appointed to the Privy Council in 1591, and began to act as Secretary of State in 1589, although his formal appointment came later. He participated in the social life of the royal court, on 15 September 1595 he went hawking with the queen and they caught three partridges, which they gave to Elizabeth Wolley.[13]

In 1597 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in 1598 dispatched on a mission to Henry IV of France, to prevent the impending alliance between that country and Spain.[11]^:76 He became the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598, serving both Queen Elizabeth and King James as Secretary of State.[1]

Cecil fell into dispute with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and only prevailed at Court upon the latter's poor campaign against the Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599. He was then in a position to orchestrate the smooth succession of King James. Essex's unsuccessful rebellion in 1601, which resulted in his final downfall and death, was largely aimed at Cecil, who was to be removed from power and impeached.[14] Whether Essex intended that Cecil should actually die is unclear.[15]

It is to Cecil's credit that the Queen, largely at his urging, treated the rebels with a degree of mercy which was unusual in that age. Essex himself and four of his closest allies were executed, but the great majority of his followers were spared: even Essex's denunciation of his sister Penelope, Lady Rich as the ringleader of the rebellion was tactfully ignored. This clemency did him no good in the eyes of the public, who had loved Essex and mourned him deeply. Cecil, who had never been very popular, now became a much hated figure. In ballads like Essex's Last Good Night, Cecil was viciously attacked.[16]

The Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I at Hatfield House has been seen as reflecting Cecil's role as spymaster after the death of Sir Francis Walsingham, due to the eyes and ears in the pattern of the dress.[17]

Cecil was extensively involved in matters of state security. As the son of Queen Elizabeth's principal minister and a protégé of Sir Francis Walsingham (Elizabeth's principal spymaster), he was trained by them in spycraft as a matter of course. The "Rainbow portrait" of Queen Elizabeth at Hatfield, decorated with eyes and ears, may relate to this role.

Cecil, like his father, greatly admired the Queen, whom he famously described as being "more than a man, but less than a woman".[18] Despite his careful preparations for the succession, he clearly regarded the Queen's death as a misfortune to be postponed as long as possible. During her last illness, when Elizabeth would sit motionless on cushions for hours on end, Cecil boldly told her that she must go to bed. Elizabeth roused herself one last time to snap at him:

"Little man, little man, 'Must' is not a word to use to princes. Your father were he here durst never speak to me so"; but she added wryly "Ah, but ye know that I must die, and it makes you presumptuous".[19]

Sir Robert Cecil now promoted James as successor to Elizabeth.[20] Around 1600, he began a secret correspondence with James in Scotland, to persuade James that he favoured his claims to the English throne. An understanding was now effected by which Cecil was able to assure James of his succession, ensure his own power and predominance in the new reign against Sir Walter Raleigh and other competitors, and secure the tranquillity of the last years of Elizabeth. Cecil demanded as conditions that James stop his attempts to obtain parliamentary recognition of his title, that an absolute respect should be paid to the queen's feelings, and that the communications should remain a secret.[11]^:76

James took the throne without opposition, and the new monarch expressed his gratitude by elevating Cecil to the peerage.[21] Cecil also served as both the third chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin,[22] and chancellor of the University of Cambridge,[23] between 1601 and 1612.

In 1603, his brothers-in-law, Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham and Sir George Brooke, along with Sir Walter Raleigh, were implicated in both the Bye Plot and the Main Plot, an attempt to remove King James I from the throne and replace him with his first cousin, Lady Arbella Stuart. Cecil was one of the judges who tried them for treason: at Raleigh's trial, Cecil was the only judge who appeared to have some doubts about his guilt (which is still a matter of debate, although the prevailing view now is that Raleigh was involved in the Plot to some extent).[24] Though they were found guilty and sentenced to death, both Cobham and Raleigh were eventually reprieved; this may have been due in part to Cecil's pleas for mercy, although the King kept his intentions a secret until the last minute.[21]

The Treaty of London taking place at Somerset House on 19 August 1604 - Cecil is seen sitting on the right in foreground

King James I raised Robert Cecil to the peerage, on 20 August 1603, as Baron Cecil of Essendon in the County of Rutland. Baron Cecil then led the English delegation at the Treaty of London that brought peace between Spain and England after a long war. Between 1603 to 1604 difficult negotiations with the Spanish delegation took place, but through Cecil's determined statesmanship the treaty bought an "honourable and advantageous" peace for England.[25] This was a personal triumph for Cecil which reflected well on James who wanted to be styled as a European peacemaker between the Protestants and the Catholics.[26] Cecil accepted a pension of £1,000 that year, which was raised the following year to £1,500. The King also rewarded Cecil further creating him Viscount Cranborne soon after the treaty had been signed and then Earl of Salisbury the following year.[11]^:76 Cecil was appointed to the Order of the Garter as its 401st Knight in 1606.[12] In 1607, James appointed him as Lord Treasurer, succeeding Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.[27] As a result the whole conduct of public affairs was solely in his hands, although the king often interfered.[11]^:76

Although King James I would often speak disparagingly of Cecil as "my little beagle" or "young Tom Durie", he gave him his absolute trust. "Though you are but a little man, I shall shortly load your shoulders with business", the King joked to him at their first meeting. Cecil, who had endured a lifetime of jibes about his height (even Queen Elizabeth had called him "pygmy" and "little man"; he had a curvature of the spine and was barely 5 feet (1.5 m) tall), is unlikely to have found the joke funny, while the crushing weight of business with which the King duly loaded him probably hastened his death at the age of 48.[28]

Cecil was the principal discoverer of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605: at what point he first learned of it, and to what extent he acted as an agent provocateur, has been a subject of controversy ever since.[29][30] On balance, it seems most likely that he had heard rumours of a plot, but had no firm evidence until the Catholic peer, William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, showed him the celebrated anonymous letter, warning Monteagle to stay away from the opening of Parliament. The Gunpowder Plot itself was a belated reaction to what was seen as the King's betrayal of a pledge to repeal, or at least mitigate, the Penal Laws. Cecil was undoubtedly among those who advised King James I not to tamper with the existing laws.[31] However, his attitude to Roman Catholics was not, for the time, especially harsh: he admitted that he was unhappy with the notorious Jesuits, etc. Act 1584, by which any Catholic priest who was found guilty of acting as a priest in England was liable to the death penalty in its most gruesome form. Like most moderate Englishmen at the time, he thought that exile, rather than death, was the appropriate penalty for the priests.[31] Cecil did hope, like his father, to make England the head of the international Protestant alliance, and his last energies were expended in effecting the marriage in 1612 of the princess Elizabeth, James's daughter, with Frederick, the Elector Palatine.[11]^:76 Still, he was averse to prosecution for religion, and attempted to distinguish between the large body of law-abiding and loyal Roman Catholics and those connected with plots against the throne and government.[11]^:77

Quartered arms of Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG.

The Kingdom of Ireland was a major source of concern and expense during Robert Cecil's time in government. The Nine Years' War there had ended with the leader of the rebels, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, submitting to the Crown and being restored to his estates, following the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Four years later, Tyrone had led his followers into exile during the Flight of the Earls. The response of the government was to plan a Plantation of Ulster, to share out Tyrone's lands between the Gaelic Irish lords and the settlers from Britain. In 1608, Sir Cahir O'Doherty launched O'Doherty's rebellion by attacking and burning Derry. In the wake of O'Doherty's defeat at Kilmacrennan, a much larger plantation was undertaken.

Cecil wrote humourous letters to his friend Adam Newton the tutor of Prince Henry. Apologising for a minor breach of manners, he compared himself to the court jester Tom Durie.[32] In another letter he wrote that if a certain man failed to gain a place in Prince Henry's household, he should be sent to "Tom Dyrry or to me". Although the applicant was poor he could become rich by charging a fee to all the girls in England who wished to meet the Prince.[33]

In 1611 Cecil disapproved of the proposed marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta. He may have also received a pension from France.[11]^:77