Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley, was the wife of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most trusted adviser of Elizabeth I, and the mother of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, adviser to James I.
She was born in 1526, the eldest of the five daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Essex, and his wife, Lady Alice, formerly Anne FitzWilliam. She was educated at home by her father, who provided his daughters with an education equal to that of his sons. She was married on December 21, 1545 at Gidea Hall to William Cecil, as his second wife. The Dictionary of National Biography, volume 9 (1887), page 407, states:
"As his first wife was the sister of the greatest English scholar of his time, so his second was the daughter of a man hardly less eminent for his profound learning. This was Mildred, eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall, Essex, to whom he was married on 21 Dec. 1545. Sir Anthony was preceptor, or governor, to Edward VI. Cheke was the king's tutor, to which office he was appointed in July 1544. Roger Ascham pronounced Lady Mildred and Lady Jane Grey the two most learned women in England; but Sir Anthony's second daughter, Ann, became eventually even more celebrated than her sister, and, by her marriage with Sir Nicholas Bacon, was the mother of the illustrious Sir Francis."
Mildred was an accomplished and well-published author on Greek language, literature, history and philosophy, and she presided over a salon at Oxford where ambitious students vied with each other for her favor. By all accounts she possessed a formidable mind and an intimidating personality-- but was known for her generosity and patience with scholars.
Three books were dedicated to her during her lifetime and following her death Lord Burghley wrote a Meditation of the Death of His Lady, which recounts, among other things, the charitable works she kept secret from him during her lifetime.
Lady Burghley was buried in Westminster Abbey. She is depicted lying on a sarcophagus with her three granddaughters, Elizabeth de Vere, Bridget de Vere, and Susan de Vere at her head and her only son, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, at her feet. The figure of her daughter Anne, Countess of Oxford, is found in a recess. Lord Burghley is depicted kneeling, but was buried at St Martin's Church, Stamford.
She was born in 1526, the eldest of the five daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Essex, and his wife, Lady Alice, formerly Anne FitzWilliam. She was educated at home by her father, who provided his daughters with an education equal to that of his sons. She was married on December 21, 1545 at Gidea Hall to William Cecil, as his second wife. The Dictionary of National Biography, volume 9 (1887), page 407, states:
"As his first wife was the sister of the greatest English scholar of his time, so his second was the daughter of a man hardly less eminent for his profound learning. This was Mildred, eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall, Essex, to whom he was married on 21 Dec. 1545. Sir Anthony was preceptor, or governor, to Edward VI. Cheke was the king's tutor, to which office he was appointed in July 1544. Roger Ascham pronounced Lady Mildred and Lady Jane Grey the two most learned women in England; but Sir Anthony's second daughter, Ann, became eventually even more celebrated than her sister, and, by her marriage with Sir Nicholas Bacon, was the mother of the illustrious Sir Francis."
Mildred was an accomplished and well-published author on Greek language, literature, history and philosophy, and she presided over a salon at Oxford where ambitious students vied with each other for her favor. By all accounts she possessed a formidable mind and an intimidating personality-- but was known for her generosity and patience with scholars.
Three books were dedicated to her during her lifetime and following her death Lord Burghley wrote a Meditation of the Death of His Lady, which recounts, among other things, the charitable works she kept secret from him during her lifetime.
Lady Burghley was buried in Westminster Abbey. She is depicted lying on a sarcophagus with her three granddaughters, Elizabeth de Vere, Bridget de Vere, and Susan de Vere at her head and her only son, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, at her feet. The figure of her daughter Anne, Countess of Oxford, is found in a recess. Lord Burghley is depicted kneeling, but was buried at St Martin's Church, Stamford.
Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley, was the wife of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most trusted adviser of Elizabeth I, and the mother of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, adviser to James I.
She was born in 1526, the eldest of the five daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Essex, and his wife, Lady Alice, formerly Anne FitzWilliam. She was educated at home by her father, who provided his daughters with an education equal to that of his sons. She was married on December 21, 1545 at Gidea Hall to William Cecil, as his second wife. The Dictionary of National Biography, volume 9 (1887), page 407, states:
"As his first wife was the sister of the greatest English scholar of his time, so his second was the daughter of a man hardly less eminent for his profound learning. This was Mildred, eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall, Essex, to whom he was married on 21 Dec. 1545. Sir Anthony was preceptor, or governor, to Edward VI. Cheke was the king's tutor, to which office he was appointed in July 1544. Roger Ascham pronounced Lady Mildred and Lady Jane Grey the two most learned women in England; but Sir Anthony's second daughter, Ann, became eventually even more celebrated than her sister, and, by her marriage with Sir Nicholas Bacon, was the mother of the illustrious Sir Francis."
Mildred was an accomplished and well-published author on Greek language, literature, history and philosophy, and she presided over a salon at Oxford where ambitious students vied with each other for her favor. By all accounts she possessed a formidable mind and an intimidating personality-- but was known for her generosity and patience with scholars.
Three books were dedicated to her during her lifetime and following her death Lord Burghley wrote a Meditation of the Death of His Lady, which recounts, among other things, the charitable works she kept secret from him during her lifetime.
Lady Burghley was buried in Westminster Abbey. She is depicted lying on a sarcophagus with her three granddaughters, Elizabeth de Vere, Bridget de Vere, and Susan de Vere at her head and her only son, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, at her feet. The figure of her daughter Anne, Countess of Oxford, is found in a recess. Lord Burghley is depicted kneeling, but was buried at St Martin's Church, Stamford.
She was born in 1526, the eldest of the five daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Essex, and his wife, Lady Alice, formerly Anne FitzWilliam. She was educated at home by her father, who provided his daughters with an education equal to that of his sons. She was married on December 21, 1545 at Gidea Hall to William Cecil, as his second wife. The Dictionary of National Biography, volume 9 (1887), page 407, states:
"As his first wife was the sister of the greatest English scholar of his time, so his second was the daughter of a man hardly less eminent for his profound learning. This was Mildred, eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall, Essex, to whom he was married on 21 Dec. 1545. Sir Anthony was preceptor, or governor, to Edward VI. Cheke was the king's tutor, to which office he was appointed in July 1544. Roger Ascham pronounced Lady Mildred and Lady Jane Grey the two most learned women in England; but Sir Anthony's second daughter, Ann, became eventually even more celebrated than her sister, and, by her marriage with Sir Nicholas Bacon, was the mother of the illustrious Sir Francis."
Mildred was an accomplished and well-published author on Greek language, literature, history and philosophy, and she presided over a salon at Oxford where ambitious students vied with each other for her favor. By all accounts she possessed a formidable mind and an intimidating personality-- but was known for her generosity and patience with scholars.
Three books were dedicated to her during her lifetime and following her death Lord Burghley wrote a Meditation of the Death of His Lady, which recounts, among other things, the charitable works she kept secret from him during her lifetime.
Lady Burghley was buried in Westminster Abbey. She is depicted lying on a sarcophagus with her three granddaughters, Elizabeth de Vere, Bridget de Vere, and Susan de Vere at her head and her only son, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, at her feet. The figure of her daughter Anne, Countess of Oxford, is found in a recess. Lord Burghley is depicted kneeling, but was buried at St Martin's Church, Stamford.
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