Editing Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper) (section)

==Life==
He was born at [[Chislehurst]], Kent, the second son of Robert Bacon (1479–1548) of [[Drinkstone]], Suffolk, by his wife Eleanor (Isabel) Cage.

He graduated from [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] in 1527.<ref>{{acad|id=BCN523N|name=Bacon, Nicholas}}</ref> The college law society at Corpus, the [[Nicholas Bacon Law Society]], founded in 1972, is named after him.<ref> [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] (Easter term, 2006) {{Cite journal |author=Liz Winter |title=Nicholas Bacon Bursary Fund |url=https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/Development%20Files/Pelicans%203/Pelican-easter%202006.pdf |journal=The Pelican}} Retrieved 17 May 2024</ref>

There is a story that he evaded [[ordination]] by going into hiding "with the help of a rich uncle", and he seems to have entered an [[Inns of Chancery|Inn of Chancery]] before being admitted to [[Gray's Inn]] five years later after a period in Paris; he was [[called to the Bar]] in 1533.<ref name=":1" />

Following the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], [[Henry VIII]] gave him a grant of the manors of [[Redgrave, Suffolk|Redgrave]], [[Botesdale]] and [[Gislingham]] in Suffolk,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/redgravehistory/bacon/baconpark.htm |title=redgravehistory |access-date=18 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708213003/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/redgravehistory/bacon/baconpark.htm |archive-date=8 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Gorhambury]], Hertfordshire. Gorhambury belonged to [[St Albans Abbey]] and lay near the site of the vanished Roman city of [[Verulamium]] (modern day [[St Albans]]). From 1563 to 1568 he built a new house, [[Old Gorhambury House]] (now a ruin), which later became the a property of [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]], his youngest son, who also built a nearby property, [[Verulam House, St Albans (17th century)|Verulam House]], to his own designs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Gorhambury Water Gardens |url=https://www.gardenvisit.com/gardens/old_gorhambury_water_gardens |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=www.gardenvisit.com}}</ref>
[[File:South west view of Gorhambury 9th March, 1827 (BM 1922,0410.140).jpg|thumb|Gorhambury House, remaining]]

In 1545 he became a Member of Parliament, representing [[Dartmouth (UK Parliament constituency)|Dartmouth]].<ref name=":0">A.D.K. Hawkyard, 'Bacon, Nicholas (1510-79), of Gray's Inn and York House, London; Redgrave, Suff. Gorhambury, Herts.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558'' (from Boydell and Brewer, 1982), [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/bacon-nicholas-1510-79 History of Parliament Online] (accessed June 2018).</ref> The following year, he was made Attorney of the [[Court of Wards and Liveries]], a prestigious and lucrative post, and by 1552 he had risen to become treasurer of Gray's Inn.

As a Protestant, he lost preferment under Queen [[Mary I of England]]. However, on the accession of her younger sister Elizabeth in 1558, he was appointed [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal]], largely owing to the influence of his brother-in-law [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]]. Shortly afterwards, Bacon was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]].
[[File:Portret van Mathew Parker, RP-P-1940-584.jpg|thumb|Mathew Parker, a close friend of Bacon's]]
Bacon helped secure the position of [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] for his friend [[Matthew Parker]], and in his official capacity presided over the [[House of Lords]] when Elizabeth opened her first parliament. Though an implacable enemy of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], he opposed Cecil's policy of war against France, on financial grounds; but he favoured closer links with foreign Protestants, and was aware of the threat to England from the alliance between France and [[Scotland]]. In 1559 he was authorized to exercise the full jurisdiction of [[Lord Chancellor]]. In 1564 he fell temporarily into the royal disfavour and was dismissed from court, because Elizabeth suspected he was concerned in the publication of a pamphlet, ''A Declaration of the Succession of the Crowne Imperial of Ingland,'' by [[John Hales (d.1571)|John Hales]], which favoured the claim of [[Lady Katherine Grey]] (sister of [[Lady Jane Grey]]) to the English throne.

Bacon's innocence having been admitted, he was restored to favour, and replied to a writing{{clarify|date=July 2023}} by Sir [[Anthony Browne (justice)|Anthony Browne]], who had again asserted the rights of the [[Duke of Suffolk#Dukes of Suffolk, second Creation (1514)|House of Suffolk]], to which Lady Katherine belonged. He thoroughly distrusted Mary, Queen of Scots; objected to the proposal to marry her to [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk]]; and warned Elizabeth that serious consequences for England would follow her restoration. He seems to have disliked the proposed marriage between the English queen and [[François, Duke of Anjou]], and his distrust of the Roman Catholics and the French was increased by the [[St Bartholomew's Day massacre]]. As a loyal English churchman he was ceaselessly interested in ecclesiastical matters, and made suggestions for the better observation of doctrine and discipline in the church.