*Ø* Blogmanac January 22, 1561 | Mysteries of Francis Bacon
Was he Elizabeth I's bastard son? Did he write Shakespeare?
1561 Francis Bacon, early English philosopher, who shares a birthday with Lord Byron – Bacon on January 22, 1561, and Byron on that day in 1788 (d. April 9, 1626). Some allege that he was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Bacon was Lord Chancellor of the realm, and man of letters, author of the Rosicrucian-inspired utopian New Atlantis (1627). The English poet Alexander Pope called him "The wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind". Pope also wrote, in 1741, “Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any country, ever produced.”
Many respectable scholars believe that it was actually Bacon who wrote the plays of William Shakespeare, claiming that the supposedly uneducated Shakespeare could not possibly have done so. While the theory is perhaps fanciful (we can deduce a little about Shakespeare’s probable education), it certainly has persisted for a long time.
In 1621 Lord Bacon was accused of accepting bribes as Lord Chancellor. To this, he pleaded guilty and was fined £40,000, banished from the court and disqualified from holding office. He was also sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London. The banishment, fine, and imprisonment were remitted, but his career as a public servant was finished. However, such was his popularity and the public perception of his relative innocence, his disfavour with the Crown, the Lords and the people did not last long.
When he was 21, Bacon met the alchemist and original 007, John Dee ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Was he Elizabeth I's bastard son? Did he write Shakespeare?
1561 Francis Bacon, early English philosopher, who shares a birthday with Lord Byron – Bacon on January 22, 1561, and Byron on that day in 1788 (d. April 9, 1626). Some allege that he was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Bacon was Lord Chancellor of the realm, and man of letters, author of the Rosicrucian-inspired utopian New Atlantis (1627). The English poet Alexander Pope called him "The wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind". Pope also wrote, in 1741, “Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any country, ever produced.”
Many respectable scholars believe that it was actually Bacon who wrote the plays of William Shakespeare, claiming that the supposedly uneducated Shakespeare could not possibly have done so. While the theory is perhaps fanciful (we can deduce a little about Shakespeare’s probable education), it certainly has persisted for a long time.
In 1621 Lord Bacon was accused of accepting bribes as Lord Chancellor. To this, he pleaded guilty and was fined £40,000, banished from the court and disqualified from holding office. He was also sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London. The banishment, fine, and imprisonment were remitted, but his career as a public servant was finished. However, such was his popularity and the public perception of his relative innocence, his disfavour with the Crown, the Lords and the people did not last long.
When he was 21, Bacon met the alchemist and original 007, John Dee ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 11:03 PM | Permalink
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