INDEX
Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne Bacon
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Lady Anne Bacon, painted terra-cotta bust, Sir Nicholas Bacon painted terra cotta bust, 1568 History of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne BaconFrancis Bacon's Foster Parents
Sir Nicholas studied at Cambridge University's Corpus Christi College. From there he went on to Gray's Inn, one of the Inns of Court where talented and aspiring young gentlemen from Oxford and Cambridge learned law. It was also a sort of preparatory school for service in the royal court and in the administration of the government. He would go on to become Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, the highest legal postion of the land, an office that Francis would someday hold himself. Lady Anne Bacon was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to Queen Elizabeth's half-brother before he became Edward VI. She was a woman of keen intellect with strong Puritan views, although at all times a member of the Church of England. She was well trained in Latin and Greek and as the daughter of a royal tutor, she likely received the education he would have given a princess. This stimulating environment fostered the young Francis who would become a fluent genuis of languages. *******
Sir Nicholas Bacon, The Foster- Father
of Francis Bacon He is the reputed father of Francis Bacon but there is abundant evidence to prove that he was a foster-father only. He was the Lord Keeper to Queen Elizabeth, a sound lawyer and a witty man, revelling in classic literature. He was also a writer. A book he published had the result of excluding him from the Privy Council. Henceforth he wrote anonymously. He not only saw the joy of writing a book but he learned the value of anonymity.....the use of a pen-name. Sir Nicholas left an elaborate Will. All his children were well provided for, but Francis was left out entirely, thus indicating that his expectations lay elsewhere, which indeed they did, for he became a Gentleman-Pensioner of the Queen. Judging by the portraits of Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas and Lady Bacon, it is quite impossible for Sir Nicholas to have been the blood father of Francis. He is cast in an entirely different mould from his foster-parents. Lady Bacon Lady Anne Bacon was Sir Nicholas Bacon's second wife. She was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, governor of Edward VI. The Cooke family were connected with Stratford, being large landowners. She was a perfect housewife, as well as being a very clever woman. She had been the tutor to the young King Edward. She had a strong character and her accomplishments were many and varied. She was familiar with classical languages. In her private letters she quotes Latin freely. In her twenty-second year she translated and published Ochines Sermons from the Italian. When Francis was two years old she translated from the original Latin, Bishop Jewels Apology for the Church of England. Her fame as a literary woman was such that Theodore Beza, years after this, dedicated to her his Meditations. She was a deeply religious woman, strictly puritanical...."A very saint of God," says Francis Bacon in after years. The day started with family prayers and ended with stories of Classical Adventures, Morality Tales and the Ancient Myths. Her home shone with the beauty of holiness like a sanctuary in those dark days of intrigue, hypocrisy, corruption and vulgar debauchery. Lady Bacon died in 1610, over eighty, "being a little better than frantic in her old age" says Bishop Goodman. She had been for years under the care of Francis Bacon. Her goodness to him cannot be over-estimated. Her intellect and life were reflected in him in a variety of ways. She was his staunch friend and ally. She spent her money to assist him in his literary enterprises. She maintained the Queen's secret and acted the part of foster-mother with tact and discretion. She was the head Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth when Francis was born. This is amply proved by a letter written by Lady Bacon to
Anthony. Francis had apparently been by something she had said
or done or written, and so she writes to the elder (foster)
brother, who apparently knows the real relationsip, to mollify
Francis by explaining that he has misunderstood. In writing
to Anthony she makes this remarkable statement. "it is not my meaning to treat him as a ward: Such a word is far from my Motherly feeling for him. I mean to do him good." Such a significant phrase reveals the real relationship of the parties. He was the ward of Lady and Sir Nicholas Bacon, not their son. It is therefore quite consistent that Francis Bacon should write to Sir Toby Matthew, and refer to Anthony as his friend, not as his brother. He is speaking of having lost two dear friends. One he has lost "by absence." That was Matthew. The other by "death." He names him "Mr. Anthony Bacon." He did not call him "brother", but a friend in whom he could confide." Similiarly in the Northumberland Manuscript he writes, "Anthony comfort and consort" but he did not write "brother." (A note by J. Edward Morgan, California) True, he signs the dedication of his Essays to Anthony, "Your entire loving brother," for they were brother-masons as well as foster brothers. *****
Sometime in February, 1579, Francis Bacon dreamt that Sir
Nicholas Bacon's house was plastered over with black mortar,
and he awoke with a feeling that something had happened to a
member of the family. A few days later he learned that Sir Nicholas
had died suddenly on the 20th of February. The psychic premonition
is recalled years afterwards in the Sylva Sylvarum (1627) as
worthy of record, an out-of-the-way fact of Nature demanding
an explanation. A month later (20th of March) he is recalled
to England from France bearing despatches and a letter from
Sir Amyas Paulet in which Francis is spoken of as being
in good hope, endued with many and singular parts, and one who,
if God gave him life, would prove a very able and sufficient
subject to do her Highness good and acceptable service.(State
Paper Office; French Correspondence). Sir Nicholas Bacon had died a very wealthy man. The Queen had loaded him with money and presents. In December, only a few weeks prior to his death, he had made an elaborate Will, which, when read, disclosed that he had left large sums to his children by a first wife, and a sufficient income for Lady Anne and her son Anthony; but the name of Francis was not even mentioned. He was not left a solitary penny. Why? Because Francis was not his child. This significant and deliberate omission by a careful and astute lawyer tells the truth of the real parentage of Francis with more deadly emphasis than even his registration of birth as "MR. Franciscus Bacon." Sir Nicholas knew that the lad's prospects lay elsewhere, with the Queen herself, and he was not going to do anything to allow her to shirk her parental responsibility. She must provide for him. Sir Nicholas puposely left the lad nothing so as to force the Queen's hand and to leave her without an excuse for providing for him and recognizing her own son. On this very point, Parker Woodward, a solicitor, writes : On the 12th December, 1578, Sir Nicholas Bacon who had been
much enriched by the Queen had made an elaborate Will wherein
he made full provision for his first family, his widow and his
child Anthony, but left nothing whatever to Francis. He had
three sons and three daughters. The Will may be seen at Somerset
House. - Early Life, p. 18. Imagine the feelings that swept over him as he crossed the threshold of York House for the first time after his three years' Continental travel; and his thoughts as he waited night after night for some message from the Queen....the message that would announce his recognition......the message that never came. Sir Nicholas death and his lack of a monetary allowance had created a crisis in his affairs. His thoughts would race on: the Queen must acknowledge him, must provide for him, he must be allowed to take up his proper position in the state. He had the right to stand next to the Throne. Why shouldn't he? How could he enforce his claim? He was in a situation of grave perplexity. Later he was to cry out to the Queen in his agony of mind: I see you withdraw your favour from me, and now I have lost many friends for your sake: I shall lose you, too. You have put me like one of those that the Frenchmen call Enfans perdu...(lost children); so have you put me into matters of envy without Place or without Strength.--Francis Bacon to Queen Elizabeth, "Apologia." Perplexity and bewilderment that had dogged him like silent ghosts through the joyous days of Paris and Navarre, now stood before him waiting like mendicants for his decision. They waited and they would not go away nor be gainsaid. At last they bred within him that fierce irresolution that found so powerful an expression in Hamlet.....the Prince who could not succeed to his father's Throne, any more than Francis could succeed to Elizabeth's .....Hamlet who lived on the sword-edge of a balance not knowing what to do for the best....to wait, wait, or to act. More on the mystery of Francis Bacon's Birth
Articles and History Related to Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne Baconfrom The Marriage of Elizabeth Tudor by Alfred Dodd (pp.38-42) At this time the chief Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth was Lady Anne Bacon, wife to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. If such a child were about to be born to the Queen, and such a birth had to be kept for the moment secret , would it not be natural for her to turn to Lady Bacon, her closest, intimate and greatest friend, for counsel and advice? To save the Queen's honor would it not be the proper and only way of escape for Lady Bacon to mother the child? It would be the most natural thing for her to assume the role of foster-mother with the active connivance of Sir Nicholas. The full dresses of the period would conceal the physical truth regarding Lady Anne no less than the Queen. In any case, some time in January, about four months after the alleged marriage to Dudley, Lady Bacon is supposed to have given birth to a child, afterwards known to history as Francis Bacon. Was she actually the mother? Was he really the child of Sir Nicholas and Lady Bacon? The open facts seem to indicate that he was not flesh of
their flesh and bone of their bone; and that they simply served
in the capacity of foster-parents. "Francis Bacon, the Glory of his Age and Nation, the
Adorner and Ornament of Learning, was born in York-House or
York-Place in the Strand."
Dr. Rawley's opening statement that Francis Bacon "was born in York House or York Place ( he uses italics to draw attention to the phrase) is intended to provoke the reader to ascertain WHERE he was born and who were his parents : For "York House" was the residence of Sir Nicholas Bacon, but York Place was the Queen's Palace, afterwards known as Whitehall. The first sentence, then, raises at once the question acutely : Was Francis a Bacon or a Tudor? Was he born at York House or York Place? If anyone knew the truth, Dr. Rawley did. He writes openly as near the truth as he dare. There would have been no point in framing such a deliberately cryptic sentence, unless he knew positively that Francis was something other than he seemed---a Prince in hiding and not a commoner. He knew better than anyone else that York House was not York Place and was never known as York Place. York Place was the name of Queen Elizabeth's Palace in the old days. So our investigations begin with a mysterious uncertainty regarding his birth. What we know is that he was born either at the home of Sir Nicholas Bacon or at Queen Elizabeth's Palace. This is the plain statement of his confidential friend and chaplain. We could not wish for higher authority. There seems to be some uncertainty regarding the actual date of his birth. Dr. Rawley gives it as the 22nd January 1560. As the year then closed on the 25th March, the year was actually 1561, and the actual date the 11th January, "the 22nd being arrived at by altering eleven days to make it new style", says P. Woodward. (The Strange Case of Francis Tidir, p. 41) Basil Montague's Life of Bacon gives the 11th of January 1561. There does not seem to be any real evidence at all of the exact date of birth, though biographers usually assume it to be the 22nd January 1561. On this date there are some formal documents signed by the Queen, but the date on a legal document is not necessarily the day of the signature. Signed documents of this kind about this period do not negative a birth. The known facts are, that she was in residence in York Place and had no public engagements or interviews. 1631 was published in France the first biography of Francis Bacon by one named Pierre Amboise. It contains many enigmatical asides. The following sentences can be construed as covertly suggesting a Royal connection : "He was born to the Purple and brought up with the
expectation of a great career. He employed several years of
his youth in travelling France, Italy, and Spain. He saw himself
destined one day to hold in his hand, the Helm of the Kingdom." "He was his Father's First Chi..." James Spedding thinks that "Chi..." must mean "Choice", a guess that is obviously wrong, for Francis was not Sir Nicholas Bacon's "First Choice." He actually left all his money to others. The fragment "Chi..." is palpably the beginning of the word "CHI LD." Lady Bacon is thus leaving a record that Francis was not her son nor her husband's. Sir Nicholas had children by a previous wife, and her own son, Anthony Bacon, was older than Francis : so Lady Bacon is simply stating enigmatically by the phrase, "He was his Father's First CHILD" that the Father of Francis was not Sir Nicholas but someone else... and that he is not a Bacon at all. If he were not the First Child of Sir Nicholas, and was the First-Born of someone else, we know that it was not at YORK HOUSE where he was born, and that we must look at Dr. Rawley's alternative "YORK PLACE", the Queen's Residence as the place of his birth. He was therefore a Tudor, "Born to the Purple", with the expectation of holding the Helm of the Kingdom, the FIRST Child of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, which carries the corallary that there was more than one child, at least a second one, for Francis was the "First" or eldest, and not the only one.
An equally significant fact now comes to light. The child is registered as "MR. Franciscus Bacon" in the Church at St.-Martin-in-the-Fields, London. The actual entry is on the first page in the book and runs : "1560, 25 Januarie Baptizatus fuit Mr. Franciscus Bacon." "filius Dm Nicho : Bacon Magni Anglie Sigilli Custodis." It is equally significant that the entry is made, apparently, in the first instance, without the name of the parent being declared. It is only later in the day, and by a different hand, that someone had added, "son of Nicholas Bacon." The "Mr." was deliberately interpolated for a purpose....for some good reason, and no historian has hitherto arisen to tell us the why an the wherefore. SIR NICHOLAS BACON AS A FOSTER-FATHER "He (Sir Nicholas Bacon) was the Lord Keeper of England
and a Father to Francis Bacon." A further piece of evidence is given by Mme. D von Kunow in her work, p.13 : "In the family Genealogy of Nicholas Bacon, Francis
was never entered." "He is not our child....He is not of our Line...We
were foster-parents only." Is not this act very direct proof that he did not regard the boy as his physical child? Why should Sir Nicholas have left his "SON" (?) penniless? There is no clear answer save one : Sir Nicholas believed that the young aristocrat would naturally succeed to riches from another source, and that hs expectations lay elsewhere. Right throughout, the facts shape themselves exactly as we should expect them to do, if Francis Bacon were, in reality, a Tudor Prince placed with foster parents as a concealed love-child. Two years after Francis was born, Sir Nicholas Bacon was commanded by the Queen to build a mansion in Gorhambury, St. Albans......... Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 1509–79, English jurist. Called to the bar in 1533, he was made attorney of the court of wards and liveries in 1546 and, although a staunch Protestant, held this office through the reign of Mary I. On the accession (1558) of Elizabeth I, he was appointed lord keeper of the privy seal, possibly through the influence of William Cecil, later Lord Burghley (whose wife's sister Bacon married). In 1559 he was authorized to exercise the jurisdiction of the lord chancellor. He regarded Mary Queen of Scots as a menace to English peace and opposed any measure of compromise with her. He was the father of Francis Bacon.
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