LORD BURGHLEY AND IL CORTEGIANO: CIVIL AND MARTIAL MODELS OF COURTLINESS IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

Abstract

ABSTRACTWilliam Cecil, Lord Burghley, is not usually characterised as a courtier. He has traditionally been cast as a grave, hard-working statesman. Historians today recognise that almost every Elizabethan politician of national stature was, to a certain extent, a courtier. However, the epithet ‘courtly’ is still largely reserved for the self-styled chevaliers of Elizabeth's entourage. The courtliness of men such as Burghley, whose public persona was based predominantly on ‘civil’ rather than chivalric values, is rarely acknowledged. Yet Balthazar Castiglione's celebrated dialogue, Il libro del cortegiano, explored civil and martial ideals of courtly conduct. Burghley can be (and was) depicted as a model Castiglionean courtier. His friends and early biographers credited him with il Cortegiano's signature characteristic, sprezzatura. They also emphasised his social versatility – another attribute associated with il Cortegiano. Moreover, Burghley shared Castiglione's monarchocentric political agenda. He served his commonwealth by cultivating a personal relationship with his prince. This relationship licensed him to counsel Elizabeth, encouraging her to rule wisely and virtuously. He thus embraced the Castiglionean paradigm whereby public service was identified with personal service to a particular monarch. Burghley's adoption of this paradigm has arguably been overlooked as a result of the historiographical climate of the past twenty years. Patrick Collinson's enormously influential concept of monarchical republicanism has encouraged historians to conceptualise Burghley as a republican who happened to live in a monarchy. This may have obscured his approximation to Castiglione's ideal courtier, who was specifically designed to operate in a monarchical context.