The Founding of the Family

The Founding of the Family

The House of Cecil rose into eminence in the middle of the sixteenth century, for the latter half of which Lord Burghley was the foremost statesman in England. His sons, Thomas, Earl of Exeter, and Robert, Earl of Salisbury, founded the two branches of the family which still have their seats at Burghley and Hatfield. After the death of Lord Salisbury in 1612, no Cecils with any great claims to distinction appeared in either branch until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the late Marquess of Salisbury, the " greater Cecil of a greater Queen," arose to prove that the spirit of his ancestor was only dormant.

THE FOUNDING OF THE FAMILY

TheE authentic history of the house of Cecil may be said to begin with David Cyssell, or Syssell, of Stamford, the grandfather of Lord Burghley. Unfortunately Burghley delighted in heraldry and genealogy, a dangerous hobby in those days, when even the kings-of-arms were not above anufacturing a long pedigree for a man of wealth and position. Numerous scraps of pedigrees and genealogical notes in Burghley's handwriting exist at Hatfield, which, if they prove nothing else, show at least that the pedigree which was finally accepted was the outcome of a dozen other versions which did not work out satisfactorily.

" The collections made for him," says Mr. Oswald Barron, " are suspect in their origin and untrustworthy in detail, and it might have been better for the modern genealogist had Burghley been careless of his source, for we have on this side the suspicion of documents tampered with, and on the other side the suspicion that inconvenient fact has been suppressed."

According to the official pedigree, David Cyssell was the younger son of Richard Cicell of Allt yr Ynys in Herefordshire, and his descent is traced back through fifteen generations to one Robert Sytsylt, who, in the year 1091, assisted Robert Fitz-Hamon in the conquest of Glamorganshire, and was the father of Sir James Sitsilt, baron of Beauport. In the course of four centuries the family is said to have become allied by marriage to many of the most ancient and eminent families in the county of Hereford, such as the Frenes, Pembridges, Baskervilles, De la Beres, and others, yet it is a surprising fact that throughout this long period its name does not once appear among the sheriffs of the county, nor among its representatives in Parliament, nor even in the list of the gentry of Herefordshire drawn up in the reign of Henry VI., though that list contains many of the names which are numerated among the Cecil alliances.

To add further verisimilitude to the record, a picturesque story is told of a great contention between Sir John Sitsilt and Sir William Fakenham, which took place in 1333 at Halidon Hill, near Berwick. Each disputant claimed a certain coat of arms, Barry of ten, argent and azure, over all six escutcheons, each charged with a lion rampant of the field, the present arms of the Cecils. as his right, and offered to maintain the same by force of arms. Edward III., however, referred the dispute to the heralds, who solemnly adjudged the right of bearing these arms to Sir John Sitsilt, as heir of the blood, lineally descended from Sir James Sitsilt, Lord of Beauport, who was killed at the siege of Wallingford in 1139. In his Workes of Armorie (1597) Bossewell gives transcripts of these proceedings, adding that he has himself seen in the possession of Lord Burghley the original writing, " being written in parchment, according to the antiquity of the time."

Here again it is surprising to find that the names of neither of these distinguished disputants occur in any of the rolls of arms ; and although such disputes did undoubtedly occur in the middle ages, yet, to sum up the matter in the words of Blore, " the evidence should be very decisive indeed, which would induce one to credit such a dispute having been maintained by a member of a family, concerning at least eleven generations of which there does not seem to be a single public record, or another private document, even if those noticed by Bossewell really existed "—or rather, we may say, if they were really authentic. In fact, as Mr. Oswald Barron points out, the whole proceedings are based on the famous suit of Scrope against Grosvenor.

This version of the ancestry of the family may therefore be dismissed. Two other theories must be mentioned before we pass on to surer ground. One of these was propounded by an ingenious Frenchman in the seventeenth century, who proved to his own satisfaction that the family was descended from the Ceciles of Frasne in Burgundy, and that David Cecil of Stamford was the first who settled in England. The other suggestion is that of Richard Verstegan, who, speaking of the Welsh people, says, " it is not to be doubted but that during the space of about 500 years that they were subject unto the Romans, divers of the Romans settled and mixed themselves among them; whose posterity hath since remained in account as being of the ancient families of Wales; and I do find very probable reason to enduce me to think, that among others, the honourable family of the Cecils, being issued from Wales, is originally descended from the Romans." Mr. Andrew Lang consldered that the name of Cecil was derived from the Roman Cecilius, which may very likely be the case. He also stated that Russell Lowell thought the original form of the name was " Sieile," and that the family were Jews from Sicily.

Returning to reasonable probabilities, it may be said that although the pedigrees which assign a long lineage to the Cicelts or Seycelds of Allt yr Ynys are entirely untrustworthy, there seems no reason to doubt that a connection did exist between them and the Cecils of Stamford.

The Herefordshire family, " a race of yeomen or small gentry," certainly claimed kinship with the Northamptonshire Cecils, and made frequent requests for preferment and help on the strength of the connection. The Cecils on their side admitted the relationship and Burghley adopted the arms of the Seycelds, quartered with Winston and Carlyon. Mr. A. C Fox-Davies has pointed out that the fact that Lord Burghley adopted these arms with quartering of Winston only (for Carlyon was brought in by Winston) " would seem to indicate the probability that that much of the pedigree was within his own knowledge which it may well have been." The mother of the first Philip Seyceld, mentioned below, is said to have been a Winston. See The Genealogy of the Cecils, in Jack's Historical Monograph on Lord Burghley (1904).

A pedigree, apparently genuine, at Hatfield, shows that Philip Seyceld of Allt yr Ynys had a son Richard, whose will, October 8th, 1508, is also extant. Richard had two sons, Philip, of Allt yr Ynys, who seems to have died in his father's lifetime, and David, who in all probability is identical with the grandfather of Lord Burghley.

Philip had a son John, who died in 1551; and John had three sons, the eldest of whom, William, died in March, 1598, leaving one son and eight daughters. One of his sons-in-law, Paul de la Hay, sends Burghley an account of the funeral, from which we see that the family looked up to the Lord Treasurer as their patron and protector. He describes how the eight sons-in-law of the deceased and three of his nephews followed the coffin, and after them his son Matthew's wife, the eight daughters, and William's sister Alice in mourning attire. " His wife refused to be present, albeit requested and a gown's cloth sent her." Afterwards a distribution of bread and money was made to the poor, " and so," he continues, " in worshipful manner was the funeral celebrated to your Lordship's commend-ations, for that to the credit of the house of Alterinis, I gave out the charge to be yours, which amounted to £100." The details that follow are also obtained from the Hatfield papers.

Matthew, William's only son, was dangerously ill at the time and died soon afterwards, not without having tried to oppose his father's will. Two of the sons-in-law also appealed to Lord Burghley, on the ground that William, " wishing to continue the name of Cecil in that house," had conveyed the property to Sir Robert Cecil and his heirs, " to the disherison of his own issue." They also accused Paul de la Hay and another of the sons-in-law of having seized all William's valuable personal property " under a disorderly will which was written by a servant of the said De la Hay."

Nor did the altercations and dissensions in the family end here. Matthew's widow, Catherine, caused great trouble, and De la Hay charges her with " playing a lewd part of purpose to raise seed to disinherit Sir Robert: with waste of goods, with harbouring Lloyd a murderer, of purpose to murder him [De la Hay], and with beating and starving Alice the aged sister of William Cecil." De la Hay, by arrangement with Sir Robert, assumed control of the property, which however he found so hampered with debts, dowries, heriots and legacies that he says, " I shall have as good a bargain as an egg for a penny."

Finally the estate was sold and came into the possession of Guy's Hospital. And so we may take leave of the Herefordshire Cecils.

The history of David Cecil, the younger son of Richard, is of greater interest, as he was the founder of his family's fortunes. Through his grandmother he was related to Sir David Philipp, who accompanied Henry VII. out of Wales and fought at Bosworth Field, after-wards settling at Thornhaugh in Northamptonshire. Burghleystates that David Cecil followed Sir David Philipp in the campaign, and " Davy Scisseld " proved his will in 1506 as one of his executors. Further proof of the identity of Burghley's grandfather with the Welsh David is afforded by the fact that the former was one of the yeomen of the guard, who were chiefly composed of Henry's Welsh followers, a fact discovered by Mr. Oswald Barron.

As for the differences in the spelling of the name, a letter written by Burghley's son, the first Earl of Exeter, to his uncle, Hugh Allington (November 13th, 1605), is of interest. Some libel having been published reflecting on the origin of the family, he asks his uncle to search in his study at Burghley for documents, and adds: "Likewise my Lord my father's altering the writing of his name maketh many that are not well affected to our house to doubt whether we are rightly descended of the house of Wales, because they write their name Sitselt and our name is written Cecyll; my grandfather wrote it Syssell;

and so in autography [sic] all the three names differ. Whereof I marvel what moved my Lord my father to alter it."

To this it may be added that in the Patent Rolls David's name is spelt: Scisseld, Cecille, Cecill, Cecile, Sicile, Ceyssell, and the variants Cicyll and Cecyll occur in connection with his son Richard.

David Cecil, then, settled in Stamford, and soon established himself as a worthy citizen. He was admitted to the freedom of the borough in 1494, and was a common councillor and one of " the twelve " in the following year. He was alderman, or mayor of the borough in 1504, 1515, and 1526, and represented it in three Parliaments. In 1507 he founded a chantry in St. George's Church, and in 1509 his name occurs in the list of the yeomen of the King's guard at the funeral of Henry VII. The same year he was made Bailiff of Preston, Uppingham, and Essendine, in Rutland, and of Skellingthorpe, in Lincolnshire;

and in June, 1511, he received the appointment of Water-bailiff of Wittlesea Mere, Huntingdon, and Keeper of the Swans there and throughout the waters and fens in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, and Northampton, for the term of thirty years. Two years later he was made one of the King's Serjeants-at-Arms, and in 1517 he secured for his son Richard the office of a King's page. He also obtained the Keepership of Clyff Park, Northamptonshire, jointly with his son, and afterwards received the further appointment of Steward of the King'smanor of Colly-Weston in the same county and Escheator for the county of Lincoln. In 1532 and 1533 he was Sheriff of the county of Northampton," which," says Fuller, " proves him a person of birth, brains, and estate ; seeing, in that age, in this county, so plentiful of capable persons, none were advanced to that office except esquires at least of much merit."

This long list of appointments and offices proves also that David Cecil was a man of much more than average energy and perseverance, as well as uncommon ability. The old territorial nobility, whose ranks had been depleted by the Wars of the Roses, were giving place to a new nobility, dependent on the favour of the King; and the large landed proprietors began to be recruited from the ranks of yeomen and smaller gentry. Both David Cecil and his son were quick to take advantage of the situation, assiduously courting the King's favour and acquiring lands, property and influence.

Lord Burghley has recorded in his MS. Diary that his grandfather died in 1536.- But there is evidence that he was still a yeoman of the guard in December of that year, and though his will is dated January 25th, 1536, which may have given rise to the mistake, it was not proved till March, 1542. We may conclude therefore that he died shortly before the later date. He was twice married, first to Alice Dicons, daughter and heir of John Dicons, alder-man of Stamford, who was also connected by marriage with Sir David Philipp, and secondly to Joan Roos, daughter and heir of Thomas Roos, of Dowsby, Lincolnshire, who had twice previously been married. By his first wife he had two sons, Richard and David, and by his second, one daughter, Joan.

Among the various properties which came into his hands was the manor of Burghley, near Stamford, which he bought in 1526—1528 from Margaret Chambers and Thomas Williams junior. Earlier authorities state that the old and new Manors of Burghley were bought

by Richard Cecil,, and a memorandum exists in Lord Burghley's handwriting, in which he gives a history of the manors, and adds "" Ista Margarita veiidid.it ennm.es snas terras Ricardo Cecill, patri imeo." From this estate his grandson took his title, after erecting the mansion which still remains the seat of the senior branch of the family.

By his will David left to his wife all his lands for the term of her life (she died in 1537) and after her death to his son Richard; among other things he left her " twenty kye and a bull," three beds and several pieces of silver, to one of which, "a piece gilt with the wheat-sheaf in the bottom, the which I gave her before our marriage," interest attaches since the wheatsheaf is still the crest of the Exeter branch of the Cecils.

.He left to his eldest son, Richard, two complete feather beds and his best gown; to his second son, David, two more complete feather beds and one other bed, a black gown lined with damask, a doublet of satin and his green coat; and to his daughter Joan he left £20 to be delivered to her mother for her marriage and half of his household goods at Dowsby. The residue of his goods he left to Richard, against whom David afterwards

brought an unsuccessful action on the ground that his brother had fraudulently deprived him of certain lands that were rightfully his.

Among the bequests made by David Cecil to his son Richard was his interest in the Tabard Inn, which had come to him from his father-in-law, John Dicons. This suggests an explanation of a story which obtained a wide circulation in later years, to the effect that Lord Burghley's grandfather "kept the best inn in Stamford." Such an imputation, which first appeared in a scurrilous Latin pamphlet issued in the Low Countries under the title of Philofiatris, touched Burghley in his most sensitive part, as its originators no doubt knew. It has hitherto been regarded as a mere slander, but it now appears that it may have had some foundation in fact. As Mr. Barron points out, David was probably only a trustee

of the Tabard Inn, yet " the inn-keeper's trade was then a good one, and it is at least possible that he mended his fortunes by following for a while his father-in-law's calling." However this may be, Fuller's words remain true : " No credit is to be given to their pens who tax him with meanness of birth, and whose malice is so general against all goodness that it had been a slander if this worthy man had not been slandered by them."

Richard Cecil entered into his father's inheritance and still further increased the position and the property of the family. As already noticed, he was a King's page in 1517, and in this capacity he attended the King at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. He was after-wards appointed Groom of the Wardrobe, "a place," says the earliest biographer of Lord Burghley, " though now esteemed but mean, yet at that time of good account. For then the King did ordinarily make himself ready in the robes, where Mr. Cecil being chief and a wise discreet man, was in great favour with the King, who gave him both countenance and living." He profited by the Royal favour, and was appointed in turn Bailiff of the manors and woods of Torpell, Maxey and Bourne, Constable of Maxey Castle, Constable of Warwick Castle, and Steward of the manors of Nassington, Yarwell and Upton, all in Northamptonshire. He received the reversion of his father's office of Bailiff of Wittlesea Mere and Keeper of the Swans for a term of thirty years, and in 1539-1540 he was

Sheriff of Rutland.

In addition to these appointments, he received very numerous grants of lands, the most important of which, dated July 9th, 1540, included the site of St. Michael's Priory, near Stamford, the church, and 229 acres of land in the parish of St. Martin's Stamford, with the advowson, the convent house in Easton, Northants, and the manor and advowson of the vicarage of Wothorpe. He also purchased various estates in Rutland, as well as in Kent and Lincolnshire.

Henry VIII. showed Richard Cecil a last mark of favour by leaving him £100 in his will, but it is doubtful whether he profited by this generosity, as the legacy was not payable until the King's debts had been discharged. He continued to act as Groom of the Wardrobe to Edward VI., and died at his house in Cannon Row in March, 1553, being buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. He married Jane, daughter and heir of William Heckington, of Lincolnshire, by whom he had one son, William, afterwards Lord Burghley, and three

daughters Anne (or Agnes), who married Thomas White of Tuxford, Notts: Margaret, who married Roger Cave, and afterwards Ambrose Smith; and Elizabeth, who married Robert Wingfield, and afterwards Hugh Allington. William was also twice married, so that Richard's four children between them underwent matrimony seven times. But second marriages were much more common then than now.