Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

The 14th September 1520 was probably the birthday of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Some sources give it as the 13th, but there are two letters from Cecil, the first dated 12th September, referring to his birthday the next day, and the second, saying he had mistaken the previous day’s date, thinking it the 13th. The location of his birth is not in doubt – Bourne in Lincolnshire. He was the oldest child of Richard Cecil, a page in Henry VIII’s Chamber, who earlier that year had accompanied the King to the Field of Cloth of Gold. Cecil’s education was designed to fit him for a role in the King’s service. It was certainly effective, as he served both Edward VI and Elizabeth I as Secretary, and remained in post longer than any other minister of the era. Follow Cecil’s footsteps as he rose from country childhood to the role of Queen’s Lord Treasurer and closest advisor.

On 13th September 1598, Philip II, King of Spain, and one-time King of England, died. He was 71 years old and worn out by the merciless workload he took on. Son of the Emperor Charles V, Philip took on half of his father’s vast territories in 1556 when Charles retired. Philip took on the mantle of King of Spain and Duke of Burgundy, as well as the territories in the New World. He was already King of Naples and King of England as the consort of Mary I. It was Philip’s destiny to rule in a time of ever-deepening divisions between Catholics and Protestants. Less pragmatic than his father, he saw his role as Catholic champion of Europe, a position that, apart from the sheer impossibility of undoing the Reformation, was never going to be supported by the French kings.

Philip scored some successes – he finally defeated the French in the Italian Wars, establishing a Spanish dominance of Italy that would last for another two hundred years. He also made possible the defeat of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, and incorporated Portugal under his rule. He failed, however, to maintain control of the Netherlands, or reimpose Catholicism in England. He died in his enormous palace of the Escorial, and was succeed by his son from his fourth marriage (to his niece!). His daughter by his third marriage, the Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, was named as a possible successor to her distant cousin, Elizabeth I of England.

On 12th September 1494 a son was born to the Count of Angouleme. Named François, he succeeded to the throne of France in 1515, on the death of his distant cousin and father-in-law, Louis XII. For the next thirty-two years, François would wage war against the armies of Charles, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, whose territory surrounded France on all sides. Despite a notable early success at the Battle of Marignano, France was generally the loser.

At the Battle of Pavia in 1525, Francois was captured by Charles and ransomed, for an enormous sum. During François’ reign, he presided over a Renaissance flowering in art and architecture, building and renovating some of the most beautiful chateaux on the Loire. He even patronised Leonardo da Vinci. Whilst he was fond of his first wife, Claude de Valois, he never hesitated to parade a string of mistresses. His second wife, Eleanora, the Emperor’s sister, was forced upon him and although she was treated with respect as his Queen, he had no warmth for her. As well as rivalry with the Emperor, François had a more personal relationship with Henry VIII of England. The two men, of a similar age, constantly sought to out-do each other, most spectacularly at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.