SAHAAS Press Notice, 28 Sep 2021
Bringing Gorhambury’s past to life: the story of Lady Anne Bacon
Mistress of Gorhambury: Lady Anne Bacon, Tudor courtier and scholar, by Deborah Spring, SAHAAS Concise Histories, No 1
www.stalbanshistory.org/store price £6.50 plus p&p.
A new publication from the St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society reveals the life of a remarkable Tudor woman, and her place in the story of the sixteenth century.
Lady Anne Bacon was mistress of the estate of Gorhambury, St Albans, from 1561 until her death in 1610. Educated, connected and astute, she lived through the upheavals andreverses of four Tudor reigns and served both Mary I and Elizabeth I at court. Committed to religious reform, she was a translator of key works of the English Reformation.
As a widow, she ran Gorhambury alone for thirty years and supported the radical puritan preachers of St Michael’s and Redbourn. Her opinion of the townsfolk of St Albans was typically forthright: ‘tippling, taverning and drunken idleness and gaming… is almost this town’s profession’.
Married to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Elizabeth I’s Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, she was the mother of Francis Bacon, statesman under James I and a leading English philosopher.
SAHAAS president, Dr John Morewood, says ‘I am delighted we are publishing this book by Deborah Spring in our new Concise Histories series. This series will present new research on the history of St Albans and its surrounding areas in a form that is professional, appealing, and a pleasure to read’.
To be published on 30 September 2021 and available from our online bookshop
www.stalbanshistory.org/store
About the author:
Deborah Spring lives in Hertfordshire. Formerly a publisher, she now researches and writes about sixteenth century history and garden history.
Note to editors:
St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society has a membership of over 600 and is joint publisher of the journal Hertfordshire Archaeology and History. For further information visit www.stalbanshistory.org
For further press information please contact Patricia Broad at
publications@stalbanshistory.org or tel 01727 863340
