Mildred Cecil - a woman far beyond the race of womankind

Mildred Cecil

Mildred Cecil - a woman far beyond the race of womankind

They say that behind every great man is a greater woman – and never was a saying more true than that of Mildred Cecil.

Mildred is a key character in The Conjuror’s Apprentice and will come more to the fore in future novels. As ever, I try to keep to the real person and she will be kind, pious, educated and the voice of wisdom when her darling husband is not using his wit. So who was the real Mildred Cecil?

Born in 1526, she was the eldest of five daughters born to Sir Anthony Cooke and his wife, Ann FitzWilliam. It was a wealthy, comfortable household descended from merchant tailors on both sides and with several high-ranking ancestors. So young Mildred had little to struggle for in life. Instead of working for her food like the children born to poor households, she would be raised in comfort and her mind fed as well as her body.

Anthony Cooke was a progressive who believed that females should have the same education as males and so his daughters were not encouraged to focus on needlepoint, music, and dancing, but instead were schooled in the classics – Greek, Latin, history, philosophy, poetry, science and even mathematics. She was home-schooled by her father and was soon lauded as a great mind and, according to Roger Asham, the great tutor of his time was ranked alongside Lady Jane Grey for her erudition. In her adult years, she was known as a gifted translator and had books dedicated to her.

In 1546 she married a young and upcoming lawyer – William Cecil. She was his second wife. It was a clever match – combining their love of education, leaning towards Protestantism and two sharp political minds. If it started as a good social match it certainly developed into a love match and when she died in 1589, William, by then Lord Burghley, wrote that his eyes were ‘dim with tears for those who were dear to him beyond the whole race of womankind’. He went on to write a Meditation of the Death of His Lady which set out all her good works and charitable support that she had delivered without telling him.

So what do we know about this bright, educated, and much-loved wife, other than she was the wife of the Tudor period’s longest-lasting and persistently powerful advisor to kings and queens?

A loving mother. Mildred and William were married for over nine years before she became pregnant. The little girl, Fransisca survived only days. In total, the Cecils had six children but only three survived into adulthood and only one, Robert Cecil, outlived his mother. We can only assume that a woman described so warmly by her husband was racked with grief too many times. It is a strange twist of psychology that we tend to downplay emotion in people who are geographically or time distant – but losing five children could only have broken her clever heart.

Stepmother. When she married William at the age of twenty, Mildred became an instant stepmother to Thomas, her husband’s son by Mary Cheke. We know that Cecil was always disappointed and often cruel to his son. Little is known of Mildred’s attitude, though her reputation suggests she would have been more loving than her husband. She also mothered the royal wards taken in by Cecil – Edward de Vere and Robert Deveraux, so we can assume she was kind enough to give children a home.

Educator. Like her father, she educated her children. They would have grown up in a household that was the equivalent of the modern-day salon of thinking, learning, and debate. Around them, they would have seen the ever-swelling collection of books that she purchased to create one of the largest libraries in Tudor England – surpassed only by people like Doctor John Dee.

Philanthropist. In her later years, Mildred turned to charities and also lined the shelves of great universities with donated books. It seems all this was very modest, for her husband only realised after her death.

Socialite. Mildred liked the company of the educated and certainly the company of educated women. Elizabeth 1st was a frequent visitor.

Politician. We know that Mildred held great power. In the negotiations around the Treaty of Edinburgh, the Scottish nobles quickly realised that the way to Cecil’s mind was through his wife and they petitioned through her. She also acted as mediator in various petitions to her husband, earning no less than £250.00 from one woman, suggesting she was pretty powerful in getting a voice heard.

But above all else, Mildred Cecil was clever. She played the gender politics of the time, recognising that any woman who became more famous than Elizabeth would get short shrift and lose position. So Mildred stayed largely at home, visiting Court on occasion, but preferring to stay in Burghley House, being the staunch and loyal ally of her husband, the creator of the next generation of great minds and turning the wheels of power by being simply ‘useful.’