Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I by Stephen Alford (review)

REVIEWS 260 laity and ecclesiastics, nor take into account the creative abilities of hagiographers . Thus, his hagiographers in the final chapters appear more concerned with suppressing ‘popular’ belief than with any cultural or ecclesiastical agenda. Alexander’s readings are without question his greatest strength. Through his analysis, utilizing the skills of both a cultural historian and folklorist, he is able to convincingly argue the existence of a stock of European folklore from which hagiographical elements were drawn. His wide scope in both geography and time lends his study value as a synthetic compilation of vitae featuring saints and animals; few studies so thoroughly explore a single hagiographical trend throughout the Middle Ages. His bibliography, particularly of vitae, is extensive and useful. Despite these strengths, Alexander’s tendency towards excessive qualification undercuts many of his arguments in Saints and Animals. While his study raises tantalizing questions for cultural and religious historians, Alexander addresses them with so much hedging that even his most compelling arguments lose their force. This tendency towards vagueness is exacerbated by a lack of clear contextualization. The reader is presented with a binary model of Europe which contrasts a monolithic Christian Church, with a literate elite and social control agenda, against an illiterate, rural (and largely by implication, non-Christian), peasant culture. By systematically defining the church and society against each other, Alexander is unable to reconcile the role of the church as a mediator of belief, culture, and folklore. Thus, he is left concluding that his vitae “marked a certain level of engagement between the church and popular belief and concerns” (179) without addressing the nature or impact of this engagement . Cultural historians will find many useful arguments here, so long as they can read past Alexander’s hedging. Religious historians may cringe at the idea of a church completely apart from society, but will benefit from Alexander’s insightful readings of the vitae. Saints and Animals is a useful volume for hagiography specialists, but the background knowledge required to contextualize Alexander’s arguments will limit its appeal to a broader audience. JUSTIN HAAR, History, University of Southern California Stephen Alford, Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I (New Haven: Yale University Press 2008) 432 pp., 16 b/w ill. Stephen Alford’s most recent volume on William Cecil, as suggested by its title, is chiefly an account of the advisor’s service at the Elizabethan court. Structurally, the work is broader than this temporal focus, comprising a birth to death narrative of Cecil’s life, and relaying the advisor’s experiences in the Henrician, Edwardian, and Marian reigns. Thematically, too, the scope of this study offers more than a political description of the early modern court, as Alford highlights Cecil’s familial and cultural interests, and addresses such issues as his numerous building projects, and his concerns regarding his son’s prodigality . Despite these inclusions, and the assertion of attending to Burghley’s life in general, Alford’s work is ultimately an analysis of Elizabethan administration . Cecil’s pre-Elizabethan years entailed his “apprenticeships”: they were a means for him to study the operations of politics, and a time in which to formulate his own tactics. Furthermore, details about his personal life only empha- REVIEWS 261 size the advisor’s dedication to his work, for even during his time in Stamford with his family, he was unable to escape the affairs and lure of courtly business. The Elizabethan court therefore features, thematically and structurally, as the venue for the cumulative development and implementation of Burghley’s statecraft . According to Alford, the most significant impetus for Burghley’s policy was the preservation of religious stability. This agenda was not merely a shrewd political strategy, but was also of personal consequence to a man who believed “to the core of his being that the Protestant England he had helped to build was engaged in a great war against the Antichrist of the Roman Catholic Church” (xii). Alford’s preoccupations throughout the work revolve around this initial appraisal of Burghley’s character. The advisor’s first major achievement in Elizabeth I’s reign was to obtain the Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy in the 1559 parliament, establishing...