Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC (/ˈbeɪkən/; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of natural philosophy, guided by the scientific method, and his works remained influential throughout the Scientific Revolution.
Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. He argued
for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning
and careful observation of events in nature. He believed that science could be
achieved by the use of a skeptical and methodical approach whereby scientists
aim to avoid misleading themselves. Although his most specific proposals about
such a method, the Baconian method, did not have a long-lasting influence, the
general idea of the importance and possibility of a skeptical methodology makes
Bacon one of the later founders of the scientific method. His portion of the
method based in skepticism was a new rhetorical and theoretical framework for
science, whose practical details are still central to debates on science and
methodology. He is famous for his role in the scientific revolution, promoting
scientific experimentation as a way of glorifying God and fulfilling scripture.
Bacon was a patron of libraries and developed a system for
cataloguing books under three categories – history, poetry, and philosophy –
which could further be divided into specific subjects and subheadings. About
books he wrote: "Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and
some few to be chewed and digested." The Baconian theory of
Shakespeare authorship, a fringe theory which was first proposed in the
mid-19th century, contends that Bacon wrote at least some and possibly all of
the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare.
Bacon was educated at Trinity College at the University of
Cambridge, where he rigorously followed the medieval curriculum, which was
presented largely in Latin. He was the first recipient of the Queen's counsel
designation, conferred in 1597 when Elizabeth I appointed him as her legal
advisor. After the accession of James I in 1603, Bacon was knighted, then
created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St Alban in 1621. He had no heirs,
and so both titles became extinct on his death from pneumonia in 1626 at the
age of 65. He is buried at St Michael's Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Biography
Early life and education
Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near
Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal)
by his second wife, Anne (Cooke) Bacon, the daughter of the noted Renaissance
humanist Anthony Cooke. His mother's sister was married to William Cecil, 1st
Baron Burghley, making Burghley Bacon's uncle.
Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his
early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life.
He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong
leaning toward Puritanism. He attended Trinity College at the University of
Cambridge on 5 April 1573 at the age of 12, living there for three years along
with his older brother Anthony Bacon (1558–1601) under the personal tutelage of
John Whitgift, future Archbishop of Canterbury. Bacon's education was conducted
largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. It was at Cambridge that
Bacon first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect
and was accustomed to calling him "The young lord keeper".
His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and
results of science as then practiced were erroneous. His reverence for
Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, which
seemed to him barren, argumentative, and wrong in its objectives.
On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate
magistrorum at Gray's Inn. A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir
Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony continued his
studies at home. The state of government and society in France under Henry III
afforded him valuable political instruction. For the next three years, he
visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain. There is no evidence that he
studied at the University of Poitiers. During his travels, Bacon studied
language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks.
On at least one occasion, he delivered diplomatic letters to England for
Walsingham, Burghley, Leicester, and the queen.
The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted
Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of
money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so,
and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money. Having borrowed money,
Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he took up his residence in law at
Gray's Inn in 1579, his income being supplemented by a grant from his mother,
Lady Anne, of the manor of Marks near Romford in Essex, which generated a rent
of £46.
Parliamentarian
Bacon stated that he had three goals: to uncover truth, to
serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to achieve these goals by
seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he
applied for a post at court that might enable him to pursue a life of learning,
but his application failed. For two years, he worked quietly at Gray's Inn
until he was admitted as an outer barrister in 1582.
His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for
Bossiney, Cornwall, in a by-election in 1581. In 1584, he took his seat in
Parliament for Melcombe in Dorset and in 1586 for Taunton. At this time, he
began to write on the condition of parties in the church, as well as on the
topic of philosophical reform in the lost tract Temporis Partus Maximus. Yet he
failed to gain a position that he thought would lead him to success. He showed
signs of sympathy to Puritanism, attending the sermons of the Puritan chaplain
of Gray's Inn and accompanying his mother to the Temple Church to hear Walter
Travers. This led to the publication of his earliest surviving tract, which
criticized the English church's suppression of the Puritan clergy. In the
Parliament of 1586, he openly urged execution for the Catholic Mary, Queen of
Scots.
About this time, he again approached his powerful uncle for
help; this move was followed by his rapid progress at the bar. He became a
bencher in 1586 and was elected a Reader in 1587, delivering his first set of
lectures in Lent the following year. In 1589, he received the valuable
appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber, although he did
not formally take office until 1608; the post was worth £1,600 a year.
In 1588, he became MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex
in 1593. He later sat three times for Ipswich (1597, 1601, 1604) and once for
Cambridge University (1614).
He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend
and simplify the law. Though a friend of the crown, he opposed feudal
privileges and dictatorial powers. He spoke against religious persecution. He
struck at the House of Lords in its usurpation of the Money Bills. He advocated
for the union of England and Scotland, which made him a significant influence
toward the consolidation of the United Kingdom, and he later would advocate for
the integration of Ireland into the Union. Closer constitutional ties, he
believed, would bring greater peace and strength to these countries.
Final years of Elizabeth's reign
Bacon soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, the 2nd
Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favorite. By 1591, he acted as the earl's
confidential adviser. In 1592, he was commissioned to write a tract in response
to the Jesuit Robert Parsons' anti-government polemic, which he titled Certain
Observations Made upon a Libel, identifying England with the ideals of
democratic Athens against the belligerence of Spain. Bacon took his third
parliamentary seat for Middlesex when, in February 1593, Elizabeth summoned
Parliament to investigate a Roman Catholic plot against her. Bacon's opposition
to a bill that would levy triple subsidies in half the usual time offended the
Queen: opponents accused him of seeking popularity, and for a time, the Court
excluded him from favor.
When the office of Attorney General fell vacant in 1594,
Lord Essex's influence was not enough to secure the position for Bacon, and it
was given to Sir Edward Coke. Likewise, Bacon failed to secure the lesser
office of Solicitor General in 1595, the Queen pointedly snubbing him by
appointing Sir Thomas Fleming instead. To console him for these
disappointments, Essex presented him with a property at Twickenham, which Bacon
subsequently sold for £1,800.
In 1597, Bacon became the first Queen's Counsel designate,
when Queen Elizabeth reserved him as her legal counsel. In 1597, he was also
given a patent, giving him precedence at the Bar. Despite his designations, he
was unable to gain the status and notoriety of others. In a plan to revive his
position, he unsuccessfully courted the wealthy young widow Lady Elizabeth
Hatton. His courtship failed after she broke off their relationship upon
accepting marriage to Sir Edward Coke, a further spark of enmity between the
men. In 1598, Bacon was arrested for debt. Afterward, however, his standing in
the Queen's eyes improved. Gradually, Bacon earned the standing of one of the
learned counsels. His relationship with the Queen further improved when he
severed ties with Essex – a shrewd move, as Essex would be executed for treason
in 1601.
With others, Bacon was appointed to investigate the charges
against Essex. Several of Essex's followers confessed that Essex had planned a
rebellion against the Queen. Bacon was subsequently a part of the legal team
headed by the Attorney General Sir Edward Coke at Essex's treason trial. After
the execution, the Queen ordered Bacon to write the official government account
of the trial, which was later published as A DECLARATION of the Practices and
Treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his
Complices, against her Majestie and her Kingdoms ... After Bacon's first draft
was heavily edited by the Queen and her ministers.
According to his personal secretary and chaplain, William
Rawley, as a judge, Bacon was always tender-hearted, "looking upon the
examples with the eye of severity, but upon the person with the eye of pity and
compassion". And also, that "he was free from malice",
"no revenger of injuries", and "no defamer of any
man".
The succession of James I brought Bacon into greater favor.
He was knighted in 1603. In another shrewd move, Bacon wrote his Apologies in defense
of his proceedings in the case of Essex, as Essex had favored James to succeed
to the throne. The following year, during the course of the uneventful first
parliamentary session, Bacon married Alice Barnham. In June 1607, he was at
last rewarded with the office of Solicitor General, and in 1608, he began
working as the Clerk of the Star Chamber. Despite a generous income, old debts
still could not be paid. He sought further promotion and wealth by supporting
King James and his arbitrary policies. In 1610, the fourth session of James's
first Parliament met. Despite Bacon's advice to him, James and the Commons
found themselves at odds over royal prerogatives and the King's embarrassing
extravagance. The House was finally dissolved in February 1611. Throughout this
period, Bacon managed to stay in favor with the King while retaining the
confidence of the Commons.
In 1613, Bacon was finally appointed Attorney General, after
advising the King to shuffle judicial appointments. As Attorney General, Bacon,
by his zealous efforts – which included torture – to obtain the conviction of
Edmund Peacham for treason, raised legal controversies of high constitutional
importance. Bacon and Gray's Inn produced The Masque of Flowers to celebrate
the wedding of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, and his wife, Frances Howard,
Countess of Somerset, and he successfully prosecuted them for murder in 1616.
The so-called Prince's Parliament of April 1614 objected to
Bacon's presence in the seat for Cambridge and to the various royal plans that
Bacon had supported. Although he was allowed to stay, Parliament passed a law
that forbade the Attorney General from sitting in Parliament. His influence
over the King had evidently inspired resentment or apprehension in many of his
peers. Bacon, however, continued to receive the King's favor, which led to his
appointment in March 1617 as temporary Regent of England (for a period of a
month), and in 1618 as Lord Chancellor. On 12 July 1618, the King created Bacon
Baron Verulam of Verulam in the Peerage of England; he then became known as
Francis, Lord Verulam.
Bacon continued to use his influence with the King to
mediate between the throne and Parliament, and in this capacity, he was further
elevated in the same peerage as Viscount St Alban on 27 January 1621.
Lord Chancellor and public disgrace
Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After he
fell into debt, a parliamentary committee on the administration of the law
charged him with 23 separate counts of corruption. His lifelong enemy, Sir
Edward Coke, who had instigated these accusations, was one of those appointed
to prepare the charges against the chancellor. To the lords, who sent a
committee to enquire whether a confession was really his, he replied, "My
lords, it is my act, my hand, and my heart; I beseech your lordships to be
merciful to a broken reed." He was sentenced to a fine of £40,000 and
committed to the Tower of London at the king's pleasure; the imprisonment
lasted only a few days, and the fine was remitted by the king. More seriously,
parliament declared Bacon incapable of holding future office or sitting in
parliament. He narrowly escaped undergoing degradation, which would have
stripped him of his titles of nobility. Subsequently, the disgraced viscount
devoted himself to study and writing.
There seems little doubt that Bacon had accepted gifts from
litigants, but this was an accepted custom of the time and not necessarily
evidence of deeply corrupt behavior. While acknowledging that his conduct had
been lax, he countered that he had never allowed gifts to influence his judgment
and, indeed, he had on occasion given a verdict against those who had paid him.
He even had an interview with King James in which he assured:
The law of nature teaches me to speak in my own defense:
With respect to this charge of bribery, I am as innocent as any man born on St.
Innocents Day. I never had a bribe or reward in my eye or thought when
pronouncing judgment or order... I am ready to make an oblation of myself to
the King— 17
April 1621
He also wrote the following to George Villiers, 1st Duke of
Buckingham:
My mind is calm, for my fortune is not my felicity. I
know I have clean hands and a clean heart, and I hope a clean house for friends
or servants; but Job himself, or whoever was the justest judge, by such hunting
for matters against him as hath been used against me, may for a time seem foul,
especially in a time when greatness is the mark and accusation is the game.
As the conduct of accepting gifts was ubiquitous and common
practice, and the Commons was zealously inquiring into judicial corruption and
malfeasance, it has been suggested that Bacon served as a scapegoat to divert
attention from Buckingham's own ill practice and alleged corruption.
The true reason for his acknowledgement of guilt is the
subject of debate, but some authors speculate that it may have been prompted by
his sickness, or by a view that through his fame and the greatness of his
office, he would be spared harsh punishment. He may even have been blackmailed,
with a threat to charge him with sodomy, into confession.
The British jurist Basil Montagu wrote in Bacon's defense,
concerning the episode of his public disgrace:
Bacon has been accused of servility, of dissimulation, of
various base motives, and their filthy brood of base actions, all unworthy of
his high birth, and incompatible with his great wisdom, and the estimation in
which he was held by the noblest spirits of the age. It is true that there were
men in his own time, and will be men in all times, who are better pleased to
count spots in the sun than to rejoice in its glorious brightness. Such men
have openly libeled him, like Dewes and Weldon, whose falsehoods were detected
as soon as uttered, or have fastened upon certain ceremonious compliments and
dedications, the fashion of his day, as a sample of his servility, passing over
his noble letters to the Queen, his lofty contempt for the Lord Keeper
Puckering, his open dealing with Sir Robert Cecil, and with others, who,
powerful when he was nothing, might have blighted his opening fortunes forever,
forgetting his advocacy of the rights of the people in the face of the court,
and the true and honest counsels, always given by him, in times of great
difficulty, both to Elizabeth and her successor. When was a "base
sycophant" loved and honored by piety such as that of Herbert, Tennison,
and Rawley, by noble spirits like Hobbes, Ben Jonson, and Selden, or followed
to the grave, and beyond it, with devoted affection such as that of Sir Thomas
Meautys?
Personal life
Religious beliefs
Bacon was a devout Anglican. He believed that philosophy and
the natural world must be studied inductively, but argued that we can only
study arguments for the existence of God. Information about God's attributes
(such as nature, action, and purposes) can only come from special revelation.
Bacon also held that knowledge was cumulative, that study encompassed more than
a simple preservation of the past. "Knowledge is the rich storehouse
for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate," he
wrote. In his Essays, he affirms that "a little philosophy inclineth
man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to
religion."
Bacon's idea of idols of the mind may have self-consciously
represented an attempt to Christianize science at the same time as developing a
new, reliable scientific method; Bacon gave worship of Neptune as an example of
the idola tribus fallacy, hinting at the religious dimensions of his critique
of the idols.
Bacon was against the splintering within Christianity,
believing that it would ultimately lead to the creation of atheism as a
dominant worldview, as indicated by his quote that "The causes of
atheism are: divisions in religion, if they be many; for any one main division,
addeth zeal to both sides; but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is,
scandal of priests; when it comes to that which St. Bernard saith, "One
cannot now say the priest is as the people, for the truth is that the people
are not so bad as the priest". A third is, custom of profane scoffing in
holy matters, which doth by little and little deface the reverence of religion.
And lastly, learned times, especially with peace and prosperity; for troubles
and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion."
Architectural projects
Bacon built Verulam House in St Albans to his own designs.
It has been suggested that this building was derivative from Sir Rowland Hill's
building at Soulton Hall.
Marriage to Alice Barnham
When he was 36, Bacon courted Elizabeth Hatton, a young
widow of 20. Reportedly, she broke off their relationship upon accepting
marriage to a wealthier man, Bacon's rival, Sir Edward Coke. Years later, Bacon
still wrote of his regret that the marriage to Hatton had not taken place.
At the age of 45, Bacon married Alice Barnham, the
13-year-old daughter of a well-connected London alderman and MP. Bacon wrote
two sonnets proclaiming his love for Alice. The first was written during his
courtship and the second on his wedding day, 10 May 1606. When Bacon was
appointed lord chancellor, "by special Warrant of the King",
Lady Bacon was given precedence over all other Court ladies. Bacon's personal
secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, wrote in his biography of Bacon that
his marriage was one of "much conjugal love and respect",
mentioning a robe of honor that he gave to Alice and which "she wore
unto her dying day, being twenty years and more after his death".
However, an increasing number of reports circulated about
friction in the marriage, with speculation that this may have been due to
Alice's making do with less money than she had once been accustomed to. It was
said that she was strongly interested in fame and fortune, and when household
finances dwindled, she complained bitterly. Bunten wrote in her Life of Alice
Barnham that, upon their descent into debt, she went on trips to ask for
financial favors and assistance from their circle of friends. Bacon
disinherited her upon discovering her secret romantic relationship with Sir
John Underhill, rewriting his will (which had generously planned to leave her
lands, goods, and income) and revoking her entirely as a beneficiary.
Sexuality
Several authors believe that, despite his marriage, Bacon
was primarily attracted to men. Forker, for example, has explored the "historically
documentable sexual preferences" of both Francis Bacon and King James I
and concluded they were both oriented to "masculine love", a
contemporary term that "seems to have been used exclusively to refer to
the sexual preference of men for members of their own gender." Bacon's
sexuality has been disputed by others, who point to a lack of consistent
evidence and consider the sources to be more open to interpretation.
The Jacobean antiquary and Bacon's fellow parliament member,
Sir Simonds D'Ewes, implied there had been a question of bringing Bacon to
trial for buggery, with which his brother Anthony Bacon had also been charged.
(Bacon's brother "apparently also was homosexual", according
to literature and sexuality scholar Joseph Cady.) In his Autobiography and
Correspondence diary entry for 3 May 1621, the date of Bacon's censure by
Parliament, D'Ewes describes Bacon's love for his Welsh serving-men, in
particular his servant Mr. Henry Godrick or Goodrick, a "very
effeminate-faced youth" whom he calls "his catamite and
bedfellow". Bacon's own mother complained to Anthony about Bacon's
affection for another servant of his, named Percy, whom she wrote Bacon kept as
"a coach companion and bed companion."
In his Brief Lives sketches (likely composed during
1665–1690 and published as a book in 1813), the antiquary John Aubrey wrote
that Bacon was a pederast "whose Ganimeds and Favorites took
Bribes". While pederast strictly denoted "boy-lover"
in earlier times, Cady wrote that Aubrey deployed the term discreetly in the
original Greek to signify "male homosexual". The figure of
Ganymede, he continued, was another of many common ways of referring obliquely
to homosexuality.
In New Atlantis, Bacon described his utopian island as being
"the chastest nation under heaven", with "no
touch" of "masculine love". Cady argued that Bacon's
reference to male homosexuality in the New Atlantis deliberately gave the
appearance of coming from "outside the phenomenon" due to
prevalent opposition. It contrasted deliberately with "veiled"
praise of the topic elsewhere in Bacon's work, he asserted. Cady offered
several examples, including that Bacon discussed only male beauty in his short
essay "Of Beauty". He also noted that Bacon ended his
monologue The Masculine Birth of Time with an older man asking a younger one
(from his "inmost heart") to "give yourself to me so
that I may restore you to yourself" and "secure [you] an
increase beyond all hopes and prayers of ordinary marriages".
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