William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC (28 March 1591 – 3 December 1668), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1605 to 1612, was an English peer, nobleman, and politician.
James I raised Cecil's father to the Peerage of England, creating him Baron Cecil in 1603; Viscount Cranborne in 1604; and Earl of Salisbury in 1605.[1] As a result, in 1605, William received the courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne. In 1608, aged 17, Cranborne's father sent him to France, but quickly recalled him to England to marry Catherine, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk in December 1608.[1] His father was determined that Cranborne should spend two years living abroad, and instructed him to return to France following his marriage.[5] However, in mid-1610, James I determined to have his son Henry installed as Prince of Wales and Salisbury (who was currently serving as Lord High Treasurer) instructed his son to return for the ceremony: Cranborne subsequently held the king's train for the ceremony.[1] Following this ceremony, Cranborne returned to Europe, this time to Italy, travelling first to Venice, then to Padua. At Padua, he fell ill, and returned to England resolving never to go abroad again.[1]
Early years as Earl of Salisbury, 1612–1640
Arms of Sir William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, KG
Cranborne's father died in 1612, making him the 2nd Earl of Salisbury. He was soon named Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, where he gained a reputation for punctilious service to the king. James I made him a Knight of the Garter in 1624.[1]
In the wake of the Bishops' Wars, Salisbury leaned towards the moderate party in the House of Lords which supported the House of Commons in its attempt to remove the elements of arbitrary government introduced into England during the Personal Rule.[1] However, Salisbury resisted throwing in his lot with any of the political factions, and thus remained vulnerable. When the First English Civil War broke out in 1642, Salisbury's estates at Cranborne in Dorset suffered depredations.[1]
In 1648, Salisbury served as a member of a deputation charged with negotiating with Charles at the Isle of Wight.[1] These negotiations (Treaty of Newport) resulted in failure.[1] However, Salisbury refused to approve of the regicide of Charles I.[1]
His mental faculties apparently failed in his last years: Samuel Pepys, observing him at church in October 1664, called him "my simple Lord Salisbury".[6] Harsher critics doubted whether he had any faculties to fail in the first place, describing him as a man who never spoke of anything but hunting and hawking.
Salisbury died at Hatfield House on 3 December 1668.[1]
Banks, Thomas Christopher (1808), The Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England: Or, An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Lives, Public Employments, and Most Memorable Actions of the English Nobility who Have Flourished from the Norman Conquest, J. White, p. 456
