Lady Anne Bacon (1528–1610)

Anne Cooke Bacon was born around 1528 in Essex, England, one of the five daughters of Anthony Cooke, later tutor to the young King Edward VI. He gave all his own children, both boys and girls, a thorough humanist education that included the classics. Anne and her four sisters became renowned for their learning and intelligence, quite unusual for women of the 16th century. Anne was a gifted linguist, fluent in Italian, Latin, and Greek, and knew some Hebrew. She translated An Apology or Answer in Defense of the Church of England by Bishop John Jewel from Latin into English, a work highly regarded throughout Protestant Europe. In 1553, she married Sir Nicholas Bacon, Keeper of the Great Seal for Queen Elizabeth I, with whom she had two sons, Anthony and Francis Bacon. The latter became the celebrated philosopher and pioneer of the Scientific Revolution. For a while, she served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth. Lady Bacon maintained a voluminous correspondence with her sons and Protestant clergymen, often quoting classic Greek and Latin.