Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk, 1550-1640
Scope and Content
This collection contains the call numbers L.d.1-1036.
The Bacon papers, which compose approximately two-thirds of the papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk, were generated by Sir Nathaniel Bacon and are concerned with local administration, estate management, and household affairs. Many of his official letters were drafted by his clerk, Martin Man, who took over the writing office and muniment room at Stiffkey in 1580, and who also endorsed many of Bacon's incoming letters. As justice of the peace, Bacon arbitrates property and financial disputes between his neighbors, prosecutes petty offenders, and takes depositions (in particular, regarding bastardy cases, as well as a piracy case in August and September 1576). Other papers deal with family and estates, including accounts, letters to Nathaniel from his brother Edward, and negotiations for the marriage of his daughter Anne Bacon to Sir John Townshend (1593-94). A few provide insight into his commercial activites, including what appears to be a part ownership of a vessel trading in the Low Countries, the master of which, Francis Johnson, sends him reports (1577-79). There are a considerable number of letters from one member of the family to another; those written by Anne, Sir Nathaniel's first wife and the natural daughter of Sir Thomas Gresham, are of special interest because they reveal something of her character and her position as a young wife. Letters and papers connected with assistance which Sir Nathaniel rendered to his father, the lord keeper, in the building of Gorhambury House form an important but small class. His career in Parliament and his activities as sheriff play no conspicuous role in the papers.
The Townshend papers cover three generations, and deal with estates, agriculture, and private family business. There are numerous bonds and deeds concerning the property of Sir Roger Townshend, a few letters from Horatio, 1st Viscount Townshend, son of Sir Roger Townshend, 1st bart., as well as approximately fifty tradesmen's bills, mostly receipted, originating in the household of Lady Jane (Stanhope) Townshend, grandmother to Sir Roger Townshend, 1st bart., both after she was widowed and after she remarried and became Jane, Lady Berkeley.
More than forty letters were written by women, including Lady Anne (Gresham) Bacon, Lady Anne (Cooke) Bacon, Lady Elizabeth (Bacon) Doyly Neville Peryam, Lady Anne Woodhouse, Elizabeth Knyvett, Lady Anne Townshend, Lady Jane Townshend, Margaret Berney, Jane Bowes, Elinor Breton, Jane Bullock, Anne Caesar, Jane Coningsby, Anne Corbet, Elizabeth Gauden, Barbara Godsalve, Mary Hasset, Anne Heydon, E. Honor, Rachel Hopton, Ann Penning, Margaret Stone, and Jane Tuttoft. The letters from Lady Anne (Gresham) Bacon have been drafted in her husband's hand, and in four of them, she practices her signature multiple times (L.d.18-21).
The miscellaneous items include a contemporary copy of the first Duke of Buckingham's "Rodomontados," "sent by his servant the Lord Gryme to the Lower House of Commons," from "Nonesuch," on June 21, 1628 (L.d.889; printed in Poems and Songs relating to George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, and his assassination by John Felton, ed. Frederick W. Fairholt (London: The Percy Society, 1851): 28-31, from BL Sloane MS 826); notes in French and Italian on contemporary and ancient historians, including Camden, Bacon, Tacitus, and Suetonius (L.d.890); a detailed account of Gervase Markham's challenges on behalf of his brother Robert, in a dispute with Thomas Cooper and Nicholas Sutton in 1583 (L.d.922); a copy of a Latin letter to Sigsmund II, the king of Poland, ca.1600 (L.d.934); and an account of a disputation between a Protestant and a Catholic, n.d. (L.d.980).
Dates
- 1550-1640
Availability
Collection is open for research.
Biographical Note
Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1546?-1622) was the second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Elizabeth I, and Jane, daughter of William Fernley. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in Michaelmas term, 1561, and was admitted to Gray's Inn on December 16, 1562. In 1569, he married Anne Gresham, natural daughter of Sir Thomas Gresham, Royal Agent in the Netherlands, and Winifred Dutton, wife of Thomas Dutton. They had three daughters (Anne, Winifred, and Elizabeth), and two sons, both of whom died in infancy. Anne died in 1595, and in 1597 Bacon married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Arthur Hopton. Sir Nathaniel's three daughters were his joint heirs, and to the eldest, Lady Anne Townshend, and to her descendants went, among other properties, the manor of Stiffkey, which had been Sir Nathaniel's principal seat. Soon after his death in June 1622, his grandson Sir Roger Townshend, then head of the family, occupied Stiffkey.
Bacon served as a justice of the peace for nearly fifty years, beginning in 1574, and was sheriff of Norfolk in 1586 and 1599. He was an M.P. for Tavistock in 1571 and 1572, was returned as knight of the shire for Norfolk for three parliaments (1584, 1593, 1604), and as burgess for King's Lynn for one parliament (1597). He was a subsidy commissioner, and served on numerous other special commissions. He was knighted in 1604.
Bacon was related to numerous court figures. His father-in-law was Sir Thomas Gresham, and his half-brothers were Francis Bacon and Anthony Bacon (through his father's second marriage, to Anne Cooke). Through his father's second marriage, he became a kinsman of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Sir Henry Killigrew, Lord John Russell, and Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. Through his sister's marriages, he was a brother-in-law to Sir Robert Doyly, Sir Henry Neville, Sir William Peryam, Sir Francis Wyndham, and Sir Robert Mansell.
For a biographical pedigree, see the typescript finding aid (Z6621.F61 B3), compiled ca. 1958.
Extent
1036.0 items (17 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Letters and documents concerned with family, business, estate, financial, legal, and governmental affairs of Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1547-1622), Sir Nicholas Bacon (1509-1579), and members of the Townshend family, all of Norfolk. A few items are earlier than 1550 or later than 1640.
Arrangement
The Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk are divided into two series: Letters (L.d.1-636) and Documents and unsigned letters (L.d.637-1036).
In series 1 (L.d.1-636), most of the letters are signed, and many are autograph. In general, letters are arranged chronologically by person, undated ones first, followed by dated and conjecturally dated items. The letters of Sir Nathaniel Bacon and those of Anne, his wife, tend to be copies or drafts and are thus unsigned. The letters of Sir Nathaniel's youngest sister, Elizabeth are incorrectly arranged because she wrote under the three surnames of her three successive husbands. Letters signed by two or more persons are placed under the name of the first signer.
The organization of series 2 is, in retrospect, more arbitrary, since recent scholarship has allowed many of these documents and letters to be more accurately identified. Documents which were presumed to have had either a Bacon or a Townshend origin were divided into two subseries, 2.1 (L.d.637-785) and 2.2 (L.d.786-878). Documents (including letters) of questionable origin (because they were unsigned, defective, or illegible) were placed in 2.3 (L.d.879-1012), while 2.4 (L.d.1013-1036) was a supplement to 2.1 and 2.2, the family connection of the documents becoming apparent too late for correct assignment. The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey vols. 1-3 has been indispensable for dating many of the Bacon documents in series 2.
Provenance
Henry Clay Folger purchased the papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk in October 1925 from Mr. Frank Marcham, a London rare book and manuscript dealer. Marcham had purchased them from the Sotheby's auction of Townshend papers on July 14-16, 1924 (lots 5, 13, 20, 24 (see V.a.273), 68, 86, 92-5). Marcham also might have purchased some of the papers from Hodgson & Co. (July 3 1924, lot 449, according to The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, vol. 1, eds. A. Hassell Smith, Gillian Baker, and R.W. Kenny (Norwich: Centre for East Anglian Studies, 1979): xxvi, n. 67).
The Bacon and Townshend papers originally came together as a result of the marriage of Lady Anne (Bacon) Townshend, eldest daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey (Norfolk), to Sir John Townshend. The bulk of Sir Nathaniel Bacon's property passed to his grandson, Sir Roger Townshend, 1st baronet, after Bacon's death in June 1622, and the manuscripts in the muniment room at Stiffkey were transferred to Townshend's newly-built seat, Raynham Hall (Norfolk). The papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk at Raynham remained mostly intact until two large sales at Sotheby's in 1911 and 1924. For an extensive account of the disbursement of the Stiffkey archive, see The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, vol. 1: xx-xxxvii.
Other Formats
We are in the process of updating links in this finding aid. Until all links have been updated, please go to Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk, 1550-1640 to view digital images of select items.
Available in microfilm (Film Fo. 1712-1714).
Transcriptions of most of the manuscripts appear in The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey (Norfolk Record Society), 46- (1979-) (in progress).
Cited in De Ricci, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, p. 408, no. 1472.2-1472.1023.
Digital image(s) of Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk - portions only
Transcriptions of L.d.669-675 included in "'And one of them slayne, but by whom ... he Cannot judge': The pirate depositions taken by Nathaniel Bacon (1576) at the Folger Shakespeare Library"
Separated Materials
A manuscript by Sir Robert Naunton, Fragmenta regalia, or, Observations on the late Queene Elizabeth, her times and favourites, ca. 1635, was acquired with this collection but cataloged separately: G.b.1
Processing Information
Processed by Folger Shakespeare Library staff.
Physical aspects of individual documents may occasionally be added to this finding aid.
- Title
- Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk, 1550-1640 Folger MS L.d.1-1036
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- January 17, 2017: This finding aid was edited by Emily Wahl to update the Title Proper from "Bacon-Townshend collection" to "Papers of the Bacon-Townshend family of Stiffkey, Norfolk"
Repository Details
Part of the Folger Shakespeare Library Repository
201 E. Capitol St. SE
Washington DC 20003 USA