1 Testimonies of affection and dispatches of intelligence: The letters of Anthony Bacon, 1558-1601 William Patrick Tosh Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen Mary, University of London 2013 2 Statement of originality I, William Patrick Tosh, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: William Tosh Date: 20.12.2013 3 Abstract This thesis explores the affective and professional relationships that sustained the intelligence network of Anthony Bacon (1558-1601), a gentleman-traveller and spymaster for the earl of Essex. Through a series of interventions in the extensive Bacon papers in Lambeth Palace Library, I present four manuscript-based case studies that cast light on a host of relationship-paradigms particular to early modern English culture that are today poorly understood. Chapter 1 focuses on Anthony Bacon’s relationship with the Puritan Nicholas Faunt, and argues for a new understanding of the language of ardent affection between men that acknowledges the influence on such language of Reformed theology. Chapter 2 explores the correspondence of Bacon with Anthony Standen, an imprisoned Catholic spy, and suggests that the early modern prison may have been a facilitating institution in the creation of instrumental friendship between men. Chapter 3 examines the Inns of Court. I argue that the Inns’ concern for the values of friendship was reflected in the widespread political patronage system that operated out of the four societies, a system that was recognised and manipulated by powerful men. In Chapter 4 I explore a context in which the influence of friendship networks was deleterious: the unstable and unhappy political secretariat of the earl of Essex. I argue that the earl’s outmoded concept of ardent service was as damaging to his own household as it was to his relationship with the queen. Taken as a whole, this thesis argues for a new awareness of the place of feeling and the role of friendship in our understanding of relationships between men in the sixteenth century. 4 Table of contents Acknowledgments 5 Abbreviations 7 List of illustrations 9 Note on transcription policy, dates and names 10 Introduction 11 The Uses of Friendship Chapter 1 46 Intimacy: Nicholas Faunt, faith and the consolations of friendship Chapter 2 97 Instrumentality: The prison, liberty and writing friendship in the space in between Chapter 3 151 Institutionality: Nicholas Trott, the Inns of Court and the value of friendship Chapter 4 207 Instability: Service, love and jealousy in the Essex circle Conclusion 263 Appendix 267 Sample letters from Nicholas Faunt, Anthony Standen, Nicholas Trott and Edward Reynolds Bibliography 278 5 Acknowledgments I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Lisa Jardine and Dr David Colclough. From the outset, Lisa has been a visionary mentor, and my work would never have left the ground were it not for her insight and encouragement. David was an exemplary co-parent, offering reassurance, wit and razor-sharp commentary. Professor Alan Stewart, my unofficial third supervisor, read the thesis in its entirety at the climactic point. This thesis was funded by an AHRC studentship, and I acknowledge that body’s contribution with thanks. I also thank the Queen Mary Postgraduate Research Fund for supporting a trip to the United States. The School of English and Drama provided assistance in a variety of ways: thanks to Dr Ruth Ahnert, Dr Warren Boutcher, Professor Jerry Brotton, Jenny Gault, Dr Huw Marsh, Daphne Rayment, Professor Joad Raymond, Professor Bill Schwarz and Beverley Stewart. Professor Michèle Barrett and Professor Paul Hamilton helped to make the final months of my research considerably less painful than they might otherwise have been. The faculty and students at the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, late of QM and now established at University College London, constituted a very happy research community. I thank Dr Robyn Adams, James Everest, Helen Graham-Matheson, Dr Pete Mitchell, Nydia Pineda, Kirsty Rolfe, Dr Matthew Symonds, Clare Whitehead and Dr Elizabeth Williamson for their friendship and conversation. Special nods go to Matt for his IT interventions, and to Nydia and James for coming to my aid when faced with scribbly Renaissance French. Dr Daisy Hildyard has been an unfailing source of good humour and wise counsel. 6 Staff at Lambeth Palace Library, the British Library, the National Archives, Edinburgh University Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library responded to my requests with patience. Gisèle Benitez and Dr Amalia Signorelli helped me from afar. My research has been stimulated by audiences at the QM Department of English postgraduate conference, the CELL Director’s seminar, UCL’s ‘One Day in the City’ conference, the Freiburg-QM exchange conference, the Perse school, Birkbeck’s ‘Renaissance Men of the Middle Temple’ conference and the Renaissance Society of America annual conference. Friends and family kept things in proportion. Loving thanks to Timothy Allsop, Rebecca Barr, Mark Belcher, Samuel Bibby, Jonathan and Zoe Elkington, Andrew Fallaize, Annalisa Gordon, Rachel Hewitt, Blanche McIntyre, Johnnie Ormond, Jane Torday and Tommy Bates, Nick and Clare Torday, Paul and Penelope Torday, Nick Tosh, Caroline White and Tom Wicker. My grandmother Rena Clarke, wise beyond her ninety years, is just glad her grandson is finally leaving school. My mother Norma Clarke, stepmother Barbara Taylor and father John Tosh have helped more than they can know. Not every PhD student is lucky enough to enjoy such wellsprings of parental love and support. Fewer still are cheered on from the sidelines by scholars of such calibre. If I couldn’t have started this project without my parents, I would never have finished it without my husband Piers Torday, about whom my feelings are – as Nicholas Faunt would say – suiscerata and smisurata affato. This thesis is dedicated to John, Norma, Barb and Piers. 7 Abbreviations BL British Library, London EUL Edinburgh University Library GL Daphne du Maurier, Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis, and their Friends (London: Victor Gollancz, 1975) HMCS Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G. […] preserved at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, 24 vols (London: HMSO, 1883- 1976) HF Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart, Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon, 1561-1626 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1998) LL James Spedding (ed.), The Letters and Life of Francis Bacon, 7 vols (London: Longman, 1861-72) LPL Lambeth Palace Library, London ODNB H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com PP Paul E.J. Hammer, The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585-1597 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) TNA The National Archives, Kew Personal abbreviations AB Anthony Bacon ACB Anne, Lady Bacon (née Cooke) AS Anthony Standen EE Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex ER Edward Reynolds FB Francis Bacon 8 NF Nicholas Faunt NT Nicholas Trott WC William Cecil, Lord Burghley 9 List of illustrations Fig 1. 149 Anthony Standen to Anthony Bacon, 24 May 1591 (LPL MS 648 fol.33r) Fig 2. 150 William Herle to Lord Burghley, 24 April 1571 (TNA SP 53/6 fol.48r) 10 Note on transcription policy, dates and names In quoting from manuscripts, I have silently expanded contractions, lowered superscriptions and smoothed over scribal corrections or deletions. In other respects, I have kept editorial interference to a minimum, and I have retained original spelling and punctuation (although I have modernised the fossil thorn). Where it has been necessary to insert a punctuation mark to make sense of the text, I have done so within square brackets, which is also where I keep other editorial interventions. By contrast, the transcriptions which make up the Appendix at the end of this thesis are presented in semi-diplomatic form, with compositional habits rendered visible. Early modern printed texts are cited as seen, although I have modernised usage of the long ‘s’. In foliation and signature references, I have not placed recto or verso indications in superscript. On the rare occasions where there is a risk of confusion between roman numerals and the recto/verso contraction, I have supplied a period between the signature reference and the recto/verso indication, as follows: ‘sig.Civ.v’. I have not attempted to regularise Old and New Style dating. Anthony Bacon and his correspondents used both; I date letters as they appear in the manuscript. The exception is the start of the year, which for Elizabethan Englishmen started on 25 March. Throughout the main text, I have silently amended dates in January, February and March to accord with modern usage, although I indicate this in my footnotes, for example ‘20 January 1596/7’. I refer to the Bacon brothers by their first names, Anthony and Francis.