Anthony Bacon | |
|---|---|
 Anthony Bacon in 1594 | |
| Born | 1558 London,Kingdom of England |
| Died | 1601 (aged 42–43) |
| Resting place | St Olave Hart Street |
| Education | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Parent(s) | Sir Nicholas Bacon Anne Cooke |
Anthony Bacon (1558–1601) was a member of the powerfulEnglish Bacon family and was aspy during theElizabethan era. He wasFrancis Bacon's elder brother.
Anthony Bacon was born in 1558, the same year that his father,Sir Nicholas Bacon, was appointedLord Keeper of the Great Seal byElizabeth I of England. His mother,Anne, was the daughter of notedhumanistAnthony Cooke. His mother's sister was married toWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, making Burghley Anthony Bacon's uncle. Anthony Bacon's more famous younger brother,Francis Bacon, was born three years after him, in 1561.
Anthony and his brother spent their early years atYork House in theStrand, London. Their mother (who was one of the most educated women of her day, speakingFrench,Latin,Greek,Spanish,Hebrew andItalian) oversaw their early education. In April 1573, the Bacon brothers enrolled inTrinity College, Cambridge,[1] where they lived in the household of theMaster of Trinity College,John Whitgift. The boys' father died in February 1579 after having been one of the most powerful men in England for the past twenty years.
Bacon travelled toFrance in 1580. While there, he served as anintelligencer reporting to EnglishspymasterSir Francis Walsingham. He initially settled inMontauban. In 1586, he was charged withsodomy for having sex with hispage Isaac Burgades, who had sodomised other pages in the household, and they in turn having let the practice become known in the town.[2] Although the theoretical punishment was stillburning at the stake, as the result of intervention in 1587 ofHenry, thenKing of Navarre, Bacon never suffered any consequence, but left Montauban because of the scandal.
He was friends withMontaigne and spent two years at Bordeaux at the time Montaigne was preparing the fourth edition of hisEssays.[3] In 1590, Bacon helpedAnthony Standen, another spy, who was in prison in Bordeaux and paid his debts and made his return to England possible.[4]
Anthony lived in France until 1592, and was a friend of Henry after his coronation as Henry IV.
Bacon returned to England in February 1592. He initially stayed with his brother Francis in Francis' chambers atGray's Inn. Together, they established ascrivenery employing scriveners who acted as secretaries, writers, translators, copyists and cryptographers, dealing with correspondence, translations, copying, ciphers, essays, books, plays, entertainments and masques.
In 1593, Bacon paid for his friendAntonio Pérez to come to England. Pérez may have been the model for the character of Don Adriana de Armado inShakespeare'sLove's Labour's Lost. In 1593 Bacon was also electedmember of Parliament forWallingford, Berkshire.[5]
In April 1594, Bacon established his own residence inBishopsgate near the Black Bull Inn and theatre.[6] Bacon cultivated the friendship of a Scottish diplomatDavid Foulis to gain the favour ofJames VI of Scotland.[7] He joked with another Scottish envoyJames Colville, laird of Wemyss about the height ofSir Robert Cecil, a political opponent of the Earl of Essex.[8]
The next year, he became Secretary of State forRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and moved intoEssex House. During this time, Essex House was the centre of the so-called "Shakespeare circle", a literary circle that involved the Earl of Essex,Sir Thomas Walsingham, andHenry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.Sir Henry Cuffe andSir Henry Wotton were also among the Earl of Essex's supporters at this time.
In 1595 theChancellor of Scotland,John Maitland ofThirlestane, wrote to the Earl of Essex, trying to establish a correspondence, a future "diligent intercourse of intelligence" involving Bacon and the Scottish diplomatRichard Cockburn of Clerkington. Essex replied that he wrote only with the queen's knowledge, and they would be happy to receive letters from Maitland or Cockburn.[9] Bacon met another Scottish envoy,William Keith of Delny, who wrote to him in November 1595 offering his services to Elizabeth against Spain.[10] Bacon wrote toJohn Bothwell, stressing secrecy.[11]
Anne of Denmark asked for the portraits of the Earl of Essex andLady Rich, and James Hudson passed this request to Bacon on 5 December 1595.[12] In 1596 Queen Elizabeth, via Bacon, sent her miniature portrait byNicholas Hilliard toPrince Henry, and this was received by theEarl of Mar atStirling Castle.[13]
According to the Scottish diplomat and intriguerArchibald Douglas, James VI gave Bacon a valuable ring. The ring was selected from a goldsmith in London by the financierThomas Foulis who gave it to Douglas to present to Bacon. Foulis accounted for the ring from thesubsidy money the king received. Bacon later tried to pawn the ring with the same London goldsmith, who said it was worth only half the amount that Foulis had claimed.[14]
In 1597 Bacon was MP forOxford.
In 1601, Essex was accused, and then convicted, ofhigh treason, with Bacon's brother Francis playing a role in Essex's prosecution. Anthony Bacon died shortly thereafter, at the home of Essex's widowFrances Walsingham. He is buried atSt Olave Hart Street.
After Anthony's death, Francis Bacon collected his correspondence, bequeathing it to his literary executorWilliam Rawley, who in turn bequeathed it toThomas Tenison, who in turn bequeathed it to theLambeth Palace library, where it remains.
The 1975 biography byDaphne du Maurier,Golden Lads, located the archival records in Montauban; no English records had existed.
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