Bacon-Townshend collection
The Bacon-Townshend collection contains letters and documents concerned with family, business, estate, financial, legal, and governmental affairs of Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1547-1622), Sir Nicholas Bacon (1509-1579), and members of the Townshend family, all of Norfolk. Most items date to between 1550 and 1640, though a few items are earlier or later. For a brief collection-level description, see its Hamnet record. For a detailed description and full contents list, see its online Finding Aid.
While using this collection, you are likely to encounter Martin Man's small, distinctive secretary hand script. Man served as Nathaniel Bacon’s trusted clerk for a number of years during which he documented events that shed light on virtually every aspect of life in the county of Norfolk during the early 17th century. A guide to Martin Man's hand can be found here.
Transcriptions
Items from the collection are being transcribed as part of Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) at the Folger. Selected items are also transcribed in Folgerpedia or as PDF files, and are listed here:
- L.d.18: Letter from Anne (Gresham) Bacon to Lady Anne Gresham, in Nathaniel Bacon's hand, 1572/3
- L.d.477: Letter from Sir John Popham to Robert Redmayne, copy, 1599 June 20
- L.d.636: Letter from William Yelverton to Nathaniel Bacon, 1604 April 9
- L.d.639: Petition Against Lady Bacon and Sir Owen Smith, ca. 1630
- L.d.669-L.d.675: “And one of them slayne, but by whom … he Cannot judge”: The pirate depositions taken by Nathaniel Bacon (1576) at the Folger Shakespeare Library, edited by Scott Bevill, Caroline Carpenter, Lauren Griffin, John Kuhn, James Lambert, Nate Probasco, Marten Stromberg (Folger Shakespeare Library, 2013).
- L.d.739: Order to Sir Nathaniel Bacon in the Case of Edwards, Plaintiff v. Grigges, Defendant, 14 November 1604
- L.d.807: 'To Lady Jane Stanhope (Townshend)'. Fol. 1r only.
- L.d.839: Tenants' petition to Sir Roger Townshend, January 20, ca. 1550–1600
- L.d.856: List of bonds at Sir Roger Townshend's death, ca.1591
- More coming soon!