The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey - Volumes I, II, IV, V, VI
A. Hassell Smith, Gillian M. Baker and R. W. Kenny, Victor Morgan; Elizabeth Rutledge; Barry Taylor
Published by Norfolk Record Society, 1979-2017. All volumes hardcover, jackets present on all bar the first volume. Bound in the publisher's hardcover boards. Volume 2 inscribed by Hassall (Smith) and Jill (Gillian Baker) to 'Paul'. Conditions are generally Good+ to Near fine with the latter volumes. Some spotting to the closed edges on volume 2. Publication dates of 1979, 1983, 2000, 2010 and 2017 - covering the periods 1566-1577, 1578-1585, 1596-1602, 1603-1607 and 1608-1613. The papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey (c.1546-1622) provide a lively picture of life in north Norfolk in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and have long been recognised as a major source not only for the pre-occupations of a leading member of the Norfolk gentry but also for the interplay between local and national affairs.
Volume I of the letters and other papers of this Puritan Norfolk squire and JP, who was also a member of the great East Anglian Bacon family, covers Nathaniel’s first marriage, to Anne Gresham, and his attempts (in the shadow of his forceful father Sir Nicholas Bacon) to establish himself as a Norfolk landowner.
Volume II includes the superb documentation of Sir Nicholas Bacon’s funeral and his son Nathaniel’s increasing involvement in local administration and farming.
Volume IV covers Nathaniel’s second marriage, to the masterful Dorothy Smith, his service as MP for King’s Lynn, his continued involvement in county government and his role as a mediator in local disputes.
Volume V - This volume covers the early years of the new Stuart monarch, James VI of Scotland and the first of England, with all the adjustments to both national and local affairs that this highly significant change of dynasty involved. Bacon’s own family life was evolving too, as he tried to accommodate himself to the needs, and wants, of his second wife and her two sons (from her first marriage). He began the construction of a second mansion, at Irmingland, and the building up of a new estate around it. Meanwhile, his work as an assiduous justice of the peace continued apace and its ramifications continue to be fully illustrated in Bacon’s outstanding archive.
Volume VI - The themes covered in the previous volume of Bacon’s voluminous papers continue into this one. His family life began to turn rather sour, at least as far as his second wife and his stepsons were concerned, and other events had an adverse impact on the lives of all and sundry. A number of natural disasters, particularly an appallingly cold winter, major fires at Holkham and Cley, and a tidal surge that flooded parts of Marshland illustrate the dangers that ordinary folk had to endure. There is also much detail about taxation, the workings of the militia and the obligations it produced for local people, and the importance of mediation and arbitration in the justices’ work.
Sir Nathaniel Bacon; 1546-1622; politician, magistrate, Sheriff of Norfolk; Stiffkey, Norfolk. Bacon was the second son of Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon and first wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Ferneley. Had two brothers Nicholas and Edward and two half-brothers Anthony and Francis, sons of Sir Nicholas and second wife Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. In 1569 married Anne, illegitimate daughter of Sir Thomas Gresham and Mistress Dutton. Children: Anne, Winifred and Elizabeth and two sons who died in infancy. Wife Anne died in 1595. Married in 1597 second wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir Arthur Hopton. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and Gray's Inn, London. He lived at Norwich from 1569, Cockthorpe from 1573 and Stiffkey Hall, from 1578. He was JP in Norfolk from 1574, MP successively for Tavistock (Devon), 1571-1572, Norfolk, 1584, 1593 and 1604, and Lynn, 1597. Sheriff of Norfolk, 1599 and another unknown year, knighted, 1604. Puritan and close connections through his family with leading figures at Court.
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