W illiam C ecil, Lord Burghley, and Managing with the Men‐of‐Business

M ichael G raves taught us to think of parliamentary management done through the parliamentary ‘men‐of‐business’, gentlemen with close ties to powerful men in the privy council. This article asks how ‘men‐of‐business’ were managed by E lizabeth's head manager, L ord B urghley. Choosing justices of the peace was a complex, fraught activity, and one which L ord B urghley did with a great deal of care. However, despite his best efforts to have only men of probity and proper religious inclinations, he was hampered by local concerns. Managing the men‐of‐business meant careful awareness of their places, their connections, and their independence. Burghley was managing shared governance, each magistrate within his degree, for common causes, which is what made it a common weal. It was a system that required management, rather than fiats, but it had to be managed with a gentle touch. What B urghley and the men‐of‐business were running was a semi‐bureaucratised late feudal monarchy, taking the form of a ‘monarchical commonwealth’. Mutual need kept the local elites working with the crown's managers.