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PREFACE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2017

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I would like to thank the many people who helped in the preparation of this volume. I must thank Dr Patrick Zutshi, Cambridge University Archivist, for his kind permission to edit the volume for publication as well as the staff in the Cambridge University Library Manuscripts Room, Rare Books Room and Official Publications Room, the Seeley History Library at Cambridge, the British Library Manuscripts Room staff, and the staffs of the old Public Record Office at Chancery Lane and the National Archives at Kew. My doctoral supervisor, the late Sir Geoffrey Elton, was a great source of encouragement in plumbing the vast Cecil archives and related state papers, and the administration of the Principal Secretariat. The late Wallace MacCaffrey, a great friend and examiner, was always willing to discuss finer points on Burghley at the tea room of the Library and I miss him very much. The late Patrick Collinson was, in a real sense, the inspiration behind this publication. He saw that the manuscript materials relating to the Cecils’ transfer of power could be better worked through in an edition of these papers than by a traditional monograph. He called the volume the ‘spine’ of the work of father and son.

Type
Prelims
Information
Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series , Volume 53: THE LETTERS OF LORD BURGHLEY, WILLIAM CECIL, TO HIS SON SIR ROBERT CECIL, 1593–1598 , December 2017 , pp. vii - viii
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 2017 

I would like to thank the many people who helped in the preparation of this volume. I must thank Dr Patrick Zutshi, Cambridge University Archivist, for his kind permission to edit the volume for publication as well as the staff in the Cambridge University Library Manuscripts Room, Rare Books Room and Official Publications Room, the Seeley History Library at Cambridge, the British Library Manuscripts Room staff, and the staffs of the old Public Record Office at Chancery Lane and the National Archives at Kew. My doctoral supervisor, the late Sir Geoffrey Elton, was a great source of encouragement in plumbing the vast Cecil archives and related state papers, and the administration of the Principal Secretariat. The late Wallace MacCaffrey, a great friend and examiner, was always willing to discuss finer points on Burghley at the tea room of the Library and I miss him very much. The late Patrick Collinson was, in a real sense, the inspiration behind this publication. He saw that the manuscript materials relating to the Cecils’ transfer of power could be better worked through in an edition of these papers than by a traditional monograph. He called the volume the ‘spine’ of the work of father and son.

I met John Morrill by happy fortune at Paul Christianson's house after a special lecture in Kingston, Ontario, where Paul and Daniel Woolf had mentored me. John ensured my Commonwealth Scholarship would be at Cambridge and Selwyn College. John read parts of the volume in draft and encouraged the seemingly endless hours of transcribing and noting. He and David Smith provided and continue to provide a most congenial academic home at Selwyn. Dr Smith has been the recipient of many thoughts and ideas about William Cecil, and he has borne these in his extraordinarily busy life with great patience and kindness when I took up the task of editing in 2012. A great debt of gratitude is due to him.

I must also thank Paul Hammer for his cognate work on the earl of Essex for ploughing the historiographical field into the heart of the 1590s in his work on the ‘polarization’ of politics during that decade, and for his many learned and delightful conversations on this material. Charlotte Merton was also a source of much information and discussion on the court. Peter Cunich was a patient tutor in the mysterious ways of the Exchequer. Richard Serjeantson gave me assistance with looking at the material structure of the volume. I would be remiss in not acknowledging the scholarly work of Pauline Croft, Hiram Morgan, James D. Alsop, Alexandra Gajda and Stephen Alford all of whom were important influences; Scott Schofield kindly read drafts.

Andrew Rampton, Abdi Olat Ibrahim, and Jonathan Eeuwes were excellent assistants. Ian Archer and Andrew Spicer have been patient and diligent Literary Directors of the Royal Historical Society whose editing of complicated drafts has been invaluable. A large debt of gratitude is owed to the production team headed by Daniel Pearce and Melanie Howe at Cambridge University Press. Miranda Bethell's meticulous copy-editing and artistry with the texts was an inspiration. The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Dean's Alumni Research Award at Western University, and Huron University College, Faculty of Theology Research Fund provided financial support for many short trips to consult the manuscripts. I must thank my colleagues at Huron for their kindness and friendship especially Bishop Bill Cliff. Alison Wood and Julian Cooling have been most hospitable; Kira von Ostenfeld, Jon Webster, and the late Joan Fitzgerald Thomas have been great friends and scholarly galvanizers. Kitty Stidworthy has always been a source of love and strength in this and so many other projects.