Elizabeth Bacon — Lady Nevell / Lady Peryam

Topic: Elizabeth Bacon — Lady Nevell / Lady Peryam

1. Verified Sourced Facts

Identity

• Elizabeth Bacon was the eldest child of Sir Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal) by his first wife Jane Ferneley (married 5 April 1540; Elizabeth probably born c. 1541).
• Francis Bacon was Nicholas Bacon's son by his second wife Ann Cooke — making Elizabeth and Francis half-siblings, not full siblings. Elizabeth was approximately twenty years older than Francis.
• Nathaniel Bacon was also a half-sibling (older, by the first wife); so was Edward Bacon.
• Source: Harley, John, "'My Ladye Nevell' Revealed," Music & Letters 86.1 (2005), pp. 1–15, citing Tittler, Robert, Nicholas Bacon: The Making of a Tudor Statesman (London, 1976), genealogies at pp. 151 and 153.

Marriages

First marriage: Sir Robert Doyley, of Chislehampton, Oxfordshire. He died July 1577 after contracting a "strange sickness" at the Oxford assizes. Elizabeth was left independently wealthy. Francis Bacon was elected to Doyley's parliamentary seat. Source: Harley 2005, pp. 3–4.

Second marriage: Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere (c.1518–93), as his third wife. Marriage probably took place c. May 1578. Sir Henry Nevell was the father of Henry Neville the author candidate; his second wife (Henry Neville's mother) was Elizabeth Gresham, who died November 1573. Elizabeth Bacon therefore became Henry Neville's stepmother. She was "Lady Nevell" during this marriage. Sir Henry died 13 January 1592/3 and was buried at Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire. Source: Harley 2005, pp. 4–5.

Third marriage: Sir William Peryam (also spelled "Periam" — Elizabeth's preferred spelling), born Exeter 1534, died 9 October 1604. Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Marriage took place before the end of September 1595. Elizabeth became "Lady Peryam" or "Lady Periam." Note: Peryam had known the Bacon and Doyley families long before this marriage, and had played a part in getting Francis Bacon elected to Sir Robert Doyley's parliamentary seat. Source: Harley 2005, pp. 5–6, n. 47.

Lady Nevell / Lady Peryam — name usage

• Elizabeth is referenced in documents and scholarship under three surnames: Bacon (birth), Nevell (second marriage), and Peryam/Periam (third marriage).
• A letter from 1604 is identified as being by "Elizabeth Bacon aka Lady Nevell aka Lady Periam — the stepmother of Henry Neville" (Feinstein, Ken, X post, twitter_Robert_Cecil.md research note).
• After Sir Henry's death in January 1593, the correct title was "Lady Nevell" as a widow until her remarriage to Peryam before September 1595.

2. My Ladye Nevells Booke

• Full title: My Ladye Nevells Booke (also "MLNB" in scholarship).
• A manuscript of keyboard music entirely by William Byrd, copied by scribe John Baldwin of Windsor.
• Completed 11 September 1591, during Elizabeth's marriage to Sir Henry Nevell. The colophon reads: "ffinished & ended the leventh of september: in the yeare of our lorde God ·1591· & in the ·33· yeare of the raigne of our sofferaine ladie Elizabeth ... By me Jo: baldwine of windsore."
• The book remained continuously in the Nevill family from c. 1830, kept at Eridge Park near Tunbridge Wells; in 2000 inherited by the 6th Marquess of Abergavenny.
• The manuscript's arms (painted on a separate leaf bound into the book) have been confirmed at the College of Arms as those of a male descendant of Edward Nevill, 3rd (bis) Lord Bergavenny — consistent with Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere's entitlement. Arms formerly appeared in a window at Billingbere.
• Christopher Foley's research (reported in Harley 2005) demonstrated conclusively that Lady Nevell = Elizabeth Bacon, third wife of Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere. Alan Brown had previously suggested she was "the one most likely to have been the original owner."
• The manuscript is described as "the most beautifully written of all virginal manuscripts" (Alan Brown) and likely copied from Byrd's own autographs.
• Date significance for Neville authorship argument: the book was completed in 1591 at Billingbere, when Henry Neville was approximately 28 years old and part of the household. The same 1780 Billingbear book catalogue referenced in the authorship argument is mentioned in the Harley article.
• Source: Harley 2005 throughout.

3. Relevance to the Northumberland Manuscript

• The Northumberland Manuscript (generally dated 1594–97) bears the name "Francis Bacon" several times and the name "Nevill" twice on the top left.
• Elizabeth Bacon is the documented link between the Bacon family and the Nevell family of Billingbere — Francis Bacon's half-sister was Henry Neville's stepmother.
• This explains why Francis Bacon materials and the Neville name appear on the same cover sheet without requiring any theory of collaboration or concealment: they were family.
• See topic: northumberland_manuscript.md

4. Relevance to Francis Bacon / "Concealed Poets"

The Two Bacon–Neville Connections

Elizabeth's existence as Francis Bacon's half-sister is only one of two documented connections between Bacon and Neville. The second runs through Francis Bacon's mother, Ann Cooke, and the wider Cooke sisters family:

• Francis Bacon's mother was Ann Cooke; Henry Neville's wife Anne Killigrew's mother was Katherine Cooke. Both were connected to Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall's family, making Bacon and Anne Killigrew Neville cousins. The Allen editorial note records: "Henry Neville was married to Anne Killigrew, daughter of Katherine Cooke Killigrew... cousin to Anthony and Francis Bacon" (Allen, Letters of Lady Anne Bacon, 2014).
• The Cooke family also included Mildred Cooke, who married William Cecil, Lord Burghley, connecting Robert Cecil to the same family network. Source: Prior, Mary. "Cecil [née Cooke], Mildred, Lady Burghley (1525/6–1589)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4988.

Elizabeth Bacon sits at the intersection of both documented connections: she is the half-sister of Francis Bacon (whose mother Ann Cooke was a Cooke sister), and she is the stepmother of Henry Neville (via her marriage to Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere). Together, these two connections make the co-presence of the Bacon and Neville names on the Northumberland Manuscript entirely explicable without any theory of concealment.

• Bacon's March 1603 "concealed poets" letter to "Mr. Davies" was written four days after Elizabeth I's death and thirteen days before Neville's release from the Tower. The "Mr. Davies" of that letter is Sir John Davies (1569–1626) — the lawyer and poet who served as Attorney General for Ireland under James I — not John Davies of Hereford (c.1565–1618), who was a separate person. John Davies of Hereford is the poet who dedicated a sonnet to Neville in Microcosmos (1603); he is a distinct individual and should not be conflated with the letter's recipient.
• Elizabeth's third husband Sir William Peryam had played a role in getting Francis Bacon elected to Sir Robert Doyley's (Elizabeth's first husband's) parliamentary seat — showing the family networks were active across generations.
• See topic: francis_bacon.md

5. Quoted Source Text

Harley 2005 — identification

"Lady Nevell's true identity has now been clearly demonstrated by Christopher Foley... It should be added that this article owes much to the stimulus of discussion with him."

"the older Sir Henry Nevell's second wife, Elizabeth Bacon ... may perhaps be regarded as the one most likely to have been the original owner of My Lady Nevell's Book. This has proved to be correct." [quoting Brown, then confirming]

Harley 2005 — Elizabeth's birth and family

"Elizabeth Nevell was born Elizabeth Bacon, the eldest child of Nicholas Bacon, who became Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and was knighted in 1558. He married Jane Ferneley in 1540, and Elizabeth was probably born the next year."

Harley 2005 — second marriage to Sir Henry Nevell

"Elizabeth quickly became the third wife of Sir Henry Nevell. Sir Henry was getting on for sixty years of age... His second wife... Elizabeth Gresham... they had two daughters and four sons, the eldest and most eminent of whom was Henry."

Harley 2005 — third marriage to Peryam

"At some time before the end of September 1595, Lady Elizabeth married Sir William Peryam (or Periam, as she chose to spell the name)... it was a third marriage for each of them, and Peryam had known the Bacons and the Doyleys long before the question of marriage to Elizabeth arose."

Harley 2005 — manuscript colophon

"ffinished & ended the leventh of september: in the yeare of our lorde God ·1591· & in the ·33· yeare of the raigne of our sofferaine ladie Elizabeth by the grace ^ of God queene of Englande: &c / By me Jo: baldwine of windsore"

Twitter note (Feinstein, twitter_Robert_Cecil.md)

"Ok, this letter from 1604 is by Elizabeth Bacon aka Lady Nevell aka Lady Periam - the stepmother of Henry Neville."

"Most people think that Elizabeth Bacon was the Lady Nevell of Lady Nevell's songbook. I haven't studied it myself but probably true? She was Francis Bacon's older half-sister."

Note: The second tweet expresses uncertainty ("probably true?") — this is now confirmed by Harley 2005.

6. Citations

• Harley, John. "'My Ladye Nevell' Revealed." Music & Letters 86.1 (2005): 1–15. doi:10.1093/ml/gci001. Local PDF: /Users/kenf/Neville Book/19_Neville_Connections_Network/Harley_My_Ladye_Nevell_Revealed_2005.pdf
• Harley, John. “‘My Ladye Nevell’ Revealed.” Music & Letters, vol. 86, no. 1, 2005, pp. 1-15. Oxford Academic, https://academic.oup.com/ml/article/86/1/1/1092011.
• My Ladye Nevells Booke. British Library digitized manuscript, IIIF viewer, https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100054718159.0x000001.
• Allen, Gemma, ed. The Letters of Lady Anne Bacon. Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society, 2014. Camden Fifth Series, vol. 44. [For the Anne Killigrew / Bacon cousin connection.]
• Tittler, Robert. Nicholas Bacon: The Making of a Tudor Statesman. London, 1976. [Genealogies cited in Harley 2005.]
• Feinstein, Ken. X post (twitter_Robert_Cecil.md research note). [Lady Periam letter identification.]

7. Notes on Access

• The Harley 2005 article is the primary scholarly source for all claims in this packet. It is fully text-searchable as a local PDF.
• The identification of Elizabeth Bacon as Lady Nevell is now settled scholarship, not hypothesis.
• The Oxford Academic abstract gives the key control statement: in 1591 the title Lady Nevell correctly applied to Elizabeth, wife of Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere, and fresh examination of the arms confirmed Sir Henry's arms. The British Library digitized manuscript is the preferred visual witness for the manuscript itself.
• The "Ralph Neville" error that appeared in earlier project drafts (bacon_concealed_poets_letter.md, NOTES_chapter_plan.md) has been corrected. Elizabeth married Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere (Henry Neville's father), not anyone called "Ralph Neville."