Bacon, Sir Francis

Quitclaim indenture between Bacon and "Weston Shawe late servant to willyam Cooke esquire deceased" on the one part and William Cooke's widow, Frances, and son William on the other part, renouncing rights to the tithes of Harteshill, Warwickshire, which had been granted to Bacon and Shaw by Henry Goodere of Polesworth and his daughter Frances, in favour of Frances Cooke, signed at the foot by Bacon and Shaw, with witness signatures on the dorse by FULKE GREVILLE and two others, one parchment membrane, two parchment seal tags, (330 x 585 mm), 13 June 1589; light staining. Mounted and housed in a green morocco-backed folding-case.

acquisition: John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller, 1991

A fine document signed by Francis Bacon. It deals with the reassignment of rights and titles following the death of William Cooke (d.1589), Francis Bacon's maternal uncle, and reveals the complex interrelationships within the Elizabethan elite. Cooke's widow, Frances, the beneficiary of this quitclaim deed, was the daughter of Lord John Grey (and the niece, therefore, of Lady Jane Grey). Sir Henry Goodere, who also had family connections to Bacon, was the uncle of the man of the same name who was John Donne's confidante. Fulke Greville, who was one of the witnesses, was a great landowner in Warwickshire but is best remembered as Sir Philip Sidney's close friend. Documents signed by Bacon from before 1600 are exceptionally rare.