CECIL
of
Allt-yr-ynys
(
Herefords.
),
Burghley
(
Northampton
)
, and
Hatfield (Herts.)
.
The claim that this distinguished
English
political family is of
Welsh
origin calls for some clarification. The ancestral name, which appears in the family pedigrees as ‘Sitsyllt’ and was softened down to ‘Sissild,’ ‘Cyssel,’ ‘Cecild,’ and ‘Cecil’ in the course of the
15th and 16th cent.
, is presumably the
Welsh
Seisyll; but the founder of the family,
ROBERT
SITSYLTT
, first appears in history as a follower of the
Norman
Robert
Fitzhamon
(see under
Robert
of
Gloucester
) in his conquest of the lordship of
Glamorgan
in the
11th cent.
; he acquired the family seat of
Allt-yr-ynys
(now in
Herefords.
, though the estate extends into
Mon.
) by marriage into the family of the dispossessed
Welsh
owners. From this time on the ‘Sitsyllts’ generally married into
Norman
families and are frequently found fighting against the
Welsh
. Towards the end of the
15th cent.
, however,
RICHARD
CECIL
, the first to use the modern form of the name, m. into the
Brecknock
family of
Vaughan
of
Tyle-glas
. His younger son
DAVID
CECIL
(d.
1541
) migrated, with some of his
Brecknock
‘cousins,’ to
Lincolnshire
, where he entered the service of
Henry
VII
, became a
Yeoman of the Chamber
,
1507
,
acquired the stewardship of several Crown manors
, and served as
sheriff of Northampton
in
1529-30
. His son
RICHARD
CECIL
of
Burghley
(d.
1552
) m. into one of the
Brecknock
families that had settled in
Lincolnshire
in his grandfather's time, was a
royal page
at the
Field of Cloth of Gold
(
1520
), further enriched his family by monastic spoils, and became the father of
WILLIAM
CECIL
(
1520
-
1598
),
baron Burghley
(
1571
),
Secretary of State 1550-3 and 1558-72, and Lord Treasurer 1572-98
.
Burghley
's continued interest in
Wales
appears in the pains he took to establish his
Welsh
pedigree, his introduction into
princess Elizabeth
's household of one of his
Brecknock
connections,
Thomas
Parry
(
1560
) (q.v.)
, who became her
Comptroller
, his
investment in trials for copper
in
Anglesey
, and by his association with
Morys
Clynnog
(q.v.)
who wrote to
Burghley
from
Rome
a letter in
Welsh
(
May 1567
), warning him of the
queen
's impending excommunication.
Burghley
's elder son
THOMAS
CECIL
(
1542
-
1623
),
earl of Exeter
, was equally anxious to establish his
Welsh
descent and deplored the change in spelling that obscured it; but his second son
ROBERT
CECIL
(
1563?
-
1612
),
earl of Salisbury
,
James
I
's
Secretary of State
, snubbed a
Welsh
correspondent bent on tracing the
Cecils
back through the
Vaughans
to the
princes of Wales
by disclaiming all interest in ‘these vain toys’ or desire to hear of ‘such absurdities.’ The parent stem at
Allt-yr-ynys
was still in friendly contact with its more distinguished offshoot as late as
1603
, but soon afterwards came to an end, though the family mansion survives.
Bibliography:
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1901-2
, 114-9;
-
Bradney
,
A History of Monmouthshire
, i, 244-5, ii, 14;
-
Reports of the ‘Historical
Manuscripts Commission
,
Reports of the ‘Historical
Manuscripts Commission
, i, 67, 72-3, viii, 287-8, xii, 667, xiv, 75, xvii, 595;
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
, ix, 395-412;
-
M. A. S. Hume
,
The Great Lord Burghley, a study in
Elizabethan Statecraft
, London, 1898
,
1898
, ch. i;
-
William Davies
,
General view of the agriculture and domestic
economy of North Wales containing the counties of Anglesey,
Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirionydd, Montgomery. Drawn
up and published by order of the Board of Agriculture and
Internal Improvement
, London, 1810
,
1811
, 485-6;
-
J. Bridges
,
The History and Antiquities of
Northamptonshire
, London, 1791
,
1791
, ii, 588-90;
-
The National Library of Wales Journal
, iii, 11-14;
-
Llyfr Baglan, or the Book of Baglan.
Compiled between the years 1600 and 1607 by John Williams.
Transcribed from the original manuscript preserved in the
Public Library at Cardiff…
, Llundain, 1910
, ed.
Bradney
,
1910
, 275-6.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
