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Northumberland Manuscript

TBD Draft evidence packet

Topic: Northumberland Manuscript

1. Verified Sourced Facts

“The page contains a reference link”

“A discussion link referencing "Discussion of Henry Neville" via an archive.org source”

“The flyleaf seems to have been written between 1594-1597.”

“The name "Nevill" appears to be written twice on the top left”

“the Neville family motto "ne vile velis" is also written twice”

“The flyleaf has the word "honorificabiletudine" written on it.”

“The name "Francis Bacon" is also written several times.”

“The flyleaf has the name of William Shakespeare written on it several times as well as the names of two Shakespeare plays (Richard II and Richard III) and a quote from Rape of Lucrece.”

“On the left we have "To the right" and then "ho ho the the".”

“Henry Neville often wrote "To the right honorable"”

“Sir Henry Nevell's complaint to Lord Burghley, that he is rigidly used by Lord Warwick for casting iron ordnance, 1590”

“Reference: Lansdowne MS 65/22”

“This is the earliest letter we currently have from Henry Neville.”

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

3. Quoted Source Text

Local Northumberland wiki page

Northumberland Part 1

Northumberland Part 2

Northumberland Part 3

4. The Bacon–Neville Family Connections

The co-presence of the Bacon and Neville names on the manuscript sheet is explained by two documented family connections:

Connection 1: The Cooke Sisters (first cousins)

Two of the daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall are directly documented in connection with Neville:

Francis Bacon and Anne Killigrew Neville were therefore first cousins — their mothers Ann Cooke and Katherine Cooke were sisters, both daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall.

Sourced: Allen, Gemma, ed., The Letters of Lady Anne Bacon (2014), editorial note: "Henry Neville was married to Anne Killigrew, daughter of Katherine Cooke Killigrew... cousin to Anthony and Francis Bacon." (The word "niece" in Allen reflects loose early modern usage for a female relative; the standard genealogy of the Cooke daughters identifies Ann and Katherine as sisters.) Gristwood, Sarah, The Elizabethan Court Day by Day: 1584 (Folgerpedia), p. 45, for Anne Killigrew's parentage (Katherine Cooke).

A third Cooke sister, Mildred Cooke, married William Cecil, Lord Burghley → making Robert Cecil a first cousin of both Bacon and Anne Killigrew Neville. 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.

Connection 2: Step-family (Francis Bacon's half-sister was Neville's stepmother)

Francis Bacon's older half-sister, Elizabeth Bacon, was Henry Neville's stepmother. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon by his first wife Jane Ferneley; Francis was by the second wife Ann Cooke. Elizabeth married Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere (Henry Neville's father) as his third wife c. 1578. My Ladye Nevells Booke (William Byrd keyboard MS, completed 11 September 1591) was made for her during this marriage. After Sir Henry's death in January 1593 she married Sir William Peryam — hence "Lady Peryam."

Source: Harley, John, "'My Ladye Nevell' Revealed," Music & Letters 86.1 (2005), pp. 1–15.

Significance for the Manuscript

These two connections explain why the names of both Bacon and Neville appear on the same cover sheet without requiring any theory of direct collaboration or concealment between them. The bundle was organized at the intersection of men who were family — connected through the Cooke sisters network that linked the Bacons, the Nevilles, and the Cecils across the whole of the Elizabethan political world.

5. Citations

5. Notes on Access