Burghley: Tudor Statesman 1520–1598

William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley, was the leading statesman of Elizabeth I's reign. He has been represented as wily Machiavellian and pious Puritan, as miser and spendthrift, as the enemy and champion of the nobility, as the patriotic master and corrupt servant of the Queen. B.W. Beckingsale's study seeks to resolve and explain the contradictions of traditional interpretations by setting Burghley in the real predicament of the Tudor age.

The construction of the book provides a new technique in historical biography. While the first part offers a picture of William Cecil's development in his career, the second part allows the reader to see him in a variety of contexts which provide a sense of perspective and a fuller appreciation of the texture of his life and of the contemporary setting. This new technique overcomes the danger of clogging the narrative of his life and does not lose the man in the welter of events. It brings out clearly Cecil's position and achievement in government, politics and administration and in the intellectual, artistic and social milieu. The author's plan is particularly suited to capture such an elusive character as that of William Cecil and to show with clarity the many-sided life of a busy statesman, giving substance to the man who was said to walk invisible.