Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon

Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon ( February 29, 1572 - November 16, 1638 ) was an English officer and member of parliament. In 1625, during the war with Spain, he commanded the failed expedition to Cádiz .

Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (painting by Michiel van Mierevelt)

family

He came from one of the most politically influential families in England. His grandfather William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and his uncle Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury , played a leading role for a long time. He was the third son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter and his first wife Dorothy Neville, a daughter of Lord Latimer of Belvoir Castle.

He himself married Theodosia Noel, a daughter of Sir Andrew Noel, in 1601. The couple had four daughters. In 1617 he married Diana Drury, daughter of Sir William Drury, in his second marriage. For the third time, he married Sophia Zouche, a daughter of Sir Edward Zouche, in 1635. Since he had no son, his nobility titles expired with his death.

Life

After his initial training, he made a cavalier tour to Italy with his brother Richard Cecil between 1594 and 1596 , where he attended the University of Padua in 1595 . During this time he learned the Italian language.

After his return he served as a soldier in support of the insurgents in the Netherlands during the Spanish-English war . In 1599 he became a captain in a regiment of foot soldiers. A year later he took command of a cavalry unit and took part with this in the battle of Nieuwpoort .

In 1601 he commanded a force in support of Ostend, which was besieged by the Spaniards . After his return he was beaten by Elizabeth I to the Knight Bachelor . In the same year he became a member of the House of Commons for Aldeburgh . From 1602 he served again with the English troops who fought on the side of the rebellious Dutch. Under Moritz of Orange he took part in an advance to Brabant and the siege of Grave . He was in England when Elizabeth I died in 1603. William Cecil sent him to James I to assure him of his loyalty. The king received Edward with honor and gave him court offices. In 1604 he returned to the troops in the Netherlands. He was made a colonel in 1604 and commanded an infantry regiment. He returned to England in 1609.

It was thanks to his father's influence that he was again a Member of Parliament in 1610 as the successor to his late cousin Sir Robert Wingfield. With the rank of captain-general , he commanded the English support troops for the Dutch during the siege of Jülich .

He accompanied the newly wed Elisabeth Stuart and the Elector Friedrich V from the Palatinate to Heidelberg . He then returned to his troops near Utrecht . The king sent him back to Heidelberg in 1614 when the electoral couple had their first child.

He lived mainly in Utrecht until 1616 and returned to England after the death of his wife. The marriage of his second wife made him a considerable fortune. He tried in vain to hold various offices around 1618 and then returned to the Netherlands. After the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, Edward Cecil was under discussion as commander of a planned expeditionary force in support of the Bohemians. This was prevented by the Bohemian ambassador Dohna. There was a violent dispute between Cecil and the ambassador.

In 1621 he was re-elected to the House of Commons. He was a member of numerous committees and was very much involved in the debates. Among other things, he campaigned for the defense of the threatened Palatinate. Edward Cecil was re-elected to the House of Commons in 1624. This time he represented Dover . He distinguished himself by advocating support for the Dutch and anti-Spanish politics.

He had a longstanding relationship with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham . During the Anglo-Spanish War from 1625 to 1630 he was given actual command of the military expedition to Cadiz at Buckingham's instigation, while Buckingham - who did not take part in the expedition - had the nominal high command. The expedition was poorly prepared and organized. Much of the fleet consisted of merchant ships, many soldiers had hardly any military training and were poorly equipped. Edward Cecil had never before commanded such a large independent command and was completely inexperienced in naval matters. Before the departure of the fleet, Charles I announced that he wanted to make him Viscount .

At first it was not possible to destroy the enemy ships anchored in the harbor. After the English troops landed, the march on Cadiz turned into a disaster. Thousands of drunken English soldiers were later captured by the Spanish. The troops had to withdraw. The attempt to intercept the silver fleet was just as unsuccessful . Many ships leaked, supplies were low, diseases spread on board and in some cases the crew was very small. The very costly and loss-making project failed.

When he returned there was an investigation. But Charles I did not drop it. During his absence, the King had granted him the title of nobility Viscount Wimbledon and Baron Cecil of Putney with letters patent of November 9, 1625 , and in 1627 appointed him Lord Lieutenant of Surrey . He became a member of the Privy Council . He fought against the Spaniards in the Netherlands between 1627 and 1629. He took part in the siege of Groenlo in 1627 and the siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629. Most recently he was Governor of Portsmouth.

literature

• Alan Palmer, Veronica Palmer: Who's Who in Shakespeare's England. New York, 1999 p. 42
• Paula Watson: CECIL, Sir Edward (1572-1638), of Cecil House, The Strand, Westminster; The Farm, Chelsea, Mdx. and Wimbledon, Surr. In: The History of Parliament. The House of Commons 1604-1629. Cambridge 2010, historyofparliamentonline.org
• John Knox Laughton: Cecil, Sir Edward, Viscount Wimbledon (1572-1638) In: Dictionary of National Biography , Volume 3, London, 1908, pp. 1304-1306.

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 99.
2. ^ Wimbledon, Viscount (E, 1625-1638) at Cracroft's Peerage