| Anne Cecil | |
|---|---|
Effigies of Anne Cecil and her mother. Anne's is on the raised shelf |
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| Born | 5 December 1556 England |
| Died | 5 June 1588 (aged 31) |
| Occupation | Maid of Honour |
| Known for | poet peer's wife |
| Title | Countess of Oxford |
| Religion | Anglican |
| Spouse | Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford |
| Children | Lady Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derby Lord Bulbecke Lady Bridget de Vere Lady Frances de Vere Lady Susan de Vere |
| Parents | William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley Mildred Cooke |
Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford (5 December 1556 – 5 June 1588) was the daughter of statesman William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the translator Mildred Cooke. In 1571, she became the first wife of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. She served as a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth before her marriage.
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Anne was born on 5 December 1556, the eldest and favourite daughter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the leading member of Queen Elizabeth's Privy Council, by his second wife, Mildred Cooke, a woman noted for her learning and Greek translations. Anne was an intelligent, well-educated child, tutored alongside her brothers by William Lewin. She knew French, Latin, and possibly Italian.[1] Her father affectionately called her Tannakin.[2]
In 1569, Anne was engaged to marry Sir Philip Sidney. When marriage negotiations failed, she married instead Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford on 19 December 1571 at London's Westminster Abbey in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp.[3] According to some accounts, Anne genuinely loved the Earl, who as her father's ward, had partly grown up in the Burghley household, his reasons for marrying Anne were entirely mercenary as he had hoped Baron Burghley would pay his many outstanding debts and spare his cousin, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk from execution.[4]
Following their marriage, Anne continued to live at Theobalds House with her parents. When she gave birth to her first child, Elizabeth on 2 July 1575, Oxford was abroad touring the Continent. Upon his return, goaded by his cousin Lord Henry Howard, he accused Anne of adultery and declared the baby to have been fathered by another man.[5] In April 1576 he separated from Anne, after rumours of her infidelity, and refused to sleep with her, recognise her or countenance her presence at court, despite Burghley's threats, and public admonitions from Anne's mother.[6]
During his separation from Anne, Oxford began an affair with the Queen's Lady of the Bedchamber, Anne Vavasour. When the latter gave birth to his illegitimate son Edward in March 1581, both he and his mistress were sent to the Tower of London by the Queen's command. He was soon released, and in December 1581 Anne began a correspondence with him; and by January 1582, he was reconciled with Anne, acknowledging paternity of his daughter, Elizabeth. He continued his affair with Anne Vavasour, which led to open skirmishes in the streets of London between Oxford and Anne Vavasour's uncle Sir Thomas Knyvet, 1st Baron Knyvet.
The harpist and poetaster John Southern in his Pandora (1584), dedicated to her husband, credited Anne with writing six elegiac poems memorialising her infant son, Lord Bulbecke, after his premature death as an infant in May 1583. However, the poems are written in Southern's style and draw heavily on his favourite poet, Philippe Desportes, and were most likely written by him from her point of view.[7]
Together Oxford and Anne Cecil had a total of five children:
Anne died 5 June 1588 at the age of 31 of unknown causes. She was buried in Westminster Abbey in a tomb which she shares with her mother, who died in 1589, and upon which is Anne's effigy. Her daughters were also later buried in the tomb. Her father was so stricken with grief at her death that he was unable to carry out his ministerial duties in the Privy Council. Her three young daughters remained in her father's household where they received excellent educations and eventually married into the peerage.
Her husband remarried in 1591 Elizabeth Trentham, by whom he had his heir Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford.
Lady Anne was portrayed in the movie Anonymous (2011) by actresses Amy Kwolek (young Anne de Vere) and Helen Baxendale. The role is based on Lady Anne Cecil, but is heavily fictionalized.