Game of Gay Thrones 5: Byzantium, England, Scotland, Quito and Thurn und Taxis

Here’s another collection of lgbt pretenders, claimants, usurpers and heirs of some royal thrones. Again, these are listed in chronological order of each claim.

1) Olympius of Ravenna (d.652): self-proclaimed Emperor of Byzantium.

In my previous “Game of Gay Thrones” article I included Eleutherius, a eunuch who proclaimed himself Emperor of Byzantium in 620. A generation later another eunuch called Olympius did the same thing in similar circumstances.

Both Eleutherius and Olympius had been a cubicularius, an imperial court chamberlain, an office usually held by a eunuch. As with his predecessor we don’t know which type of eunuch Olympius was. He may have been a natural eunuch, a castrated eunuch, or intersex.

In 649 Emperor Constans II sent Olympius to Rome to arrest the pope because Constans had not approved the pope’s election. At the same time Olympius was appointed Exarch (the Byzantine-appointed governor) of Ravenna in central Italy. On his arrival in Rome Olympius tried to whip up support from the bishops and citizens but found them firmly behind the pope. Olympius eventually realised he was wasting his time and switched to the pope’s side. He then declared himself Emperor of Byzantium, with the backing of his new papal friend.

Olympius marched south to fight his Byzantine opponents, but he and his army were struck down by a mysterious plague and Olympius died even before he could defend his claim to the throne.

2) Sir Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545-1567): heir to the thrones of England and Scotland.

ir Henry has several senior titles but is usually known by the one he used as heir to his father the Earl of Lennox. For this claimant I need to show his family tree (below - sorry if its a bit big and goes over the edge). It only includes the royal lines of people who were living in the years Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I of England ascended to their thrones (1542 and 1547 respectively). The fact that Darnley was created King Consort on his marriage to Mary doesn’t mean he reigned as a king, even though he fought for the right to do so.

Lord Darnley was probably bisexual. A recent fictionalised film about Mary, Queen of Scots, implies Darnley was the lover of her secretary. He wasn’t, though Darnley is believed to have been the lover of a distant older relative.

England during Queen Elizabeth’s reign was dominated by the question of succession. Mary, Queen of Scots, her most well-known heir, was Elizabeth’s closest living heir through Princess Margaret Tudor. The second in line was Princess Margaret’s only other living descendant, Lord Darnley.

Darnley’s Scottish claim is much more complicated. Mary, Queen of Scots’ heir is found way out on the family tree. When she became queen at the age of 6 days old in 1542 Regents were appointed to rule Scotland. The first was James, 2nd Earl of Arran, who was also declared heir to the throne as Mary’s closest bloodline heir (by primogeniture – male-preferred succession). However, Matthew, 4th Earl of Lennox, objected and claimed that Arran’s father was bigamous making the Regent illegitimate and ineligible for the throne. Lennox, as the next closest bloodline heir to Queen Mary, claimed himself to be first in line to the throne, and he had enough support from some of the bishops and nobles to make his claim valid. This made Darnley second in line to the Scottish throne through his father, as well as second in line to the English throne through his mother.

Now, here’s where it gets weird. Queen Mary and Lord Darnley only had one son, who became King James VI of Scotland when his mother abdicated. If we agree that the Arran family were illegitimate, the first person in line of succession to James’s throne would still have been the Earl of Lennox, his own grandfather. With Darnley dead, this made King James second in line to his own throne! Lennox did manage to get as near as he could get to becoming king – for a while he was one of the Regents who governed for his young grandson.

3) Carlos de Montúfar (1780-1816): heir presumptive to the throne of Quinto.

Back in November I wrote about the independence struggle in Ecuador and the role played by Carlos de Montúfar and his father Juan Pio, Marquis de Selve Alegre. When the Marquis was appointed President of the Government of Quinto in 1809 he assumed the title of His Most Serene Highness (HMSH). Historians are of the opinion that the Quinto government intended to form a monarchy with the Marquis becoming HMSH Juan, 1st Prince of Quinto. His sons would have become princes also. The eldest son would have become the heir apparent. However, this son had no children, so Carlos, the second surviving son, would have become second in line of succession – the heir presumptive.

Unfortunately, troops loyal to imperial Spanish rule forced the Quinto government and the de Montúfar family to flee into exile just a few months later.

4) Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis (1926-1990): heir to the sovereign principality of Thurn and Taxis.

Even though Johannes is usually referred to as the 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis the title refers more to his status as head of the family rather than of the former sovereign principality of the same name. German law does not recognise aristocratic titles. However, like a lot of European ex-royals Johannes still lived like a prince. He was once called he wealthiest man in Germany.

Thurn and Taxis was one of almost two thousand sovereign kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, lordships and bishoprics within the Holy Roman Empire. When the Empire was abolished in 1805 the principality of Thurn and Taxis, like the other sovereign states, became a non-sovereign state within the Austrian Empire, and later the German Empire.

Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, was a colourful character. He was openly bisexual and frequented the gay clubs in Munich. He virtually squandered his wealth away on luxuries and extravagant parties. On his 60th birthday his wife, the equally colourful and homophobic “Punk Princess” Gloria spent $20 million on a party, which included a birthday cake with candles shaped like penises.

I’ll leave you with that image in your mind! The next, and probable final, instalment of “Game of Gay Thrones” will appear in the summer.

Queer Achievement : We See More Seymours

[Achievement – the name given in heraldry to the full pictorial representation of a coat of arms.]

Following on from my article which included the sculptor and political campaigner Anne Seymour Damer we look today at something she shares with two other lgbt members of her family, the Seymour coat of arms. Here they are –

These arms have been borne by all three of our queer Seymours:
Mrs. Anne Seymour Damer (1748-1796),
George Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (1871-1940), and
George Seymour of Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire (1924-1994).
This chart shows how they are related –

Let’s take a tour of the coat of arms (below). The shield is divided into four quarters (in heraldry you can actually have more than four; they’re called quarters because four is the minimum). In the top left quarter (the senior quarter) is a design known as an augmentation of honour. We came across another of these last time in the coat of arms of Lady Eleanor Butler. In the case of the Seymours the augmentation was granted to the family to recognise a royal wedding of a certain royal called Harry. Not that one, I refer to King Henry VIII (I can’t wait to find out if Meghan Markle gets a coat of arms for her family next month, as is customary).

In 1536 Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. As with his other non-royal-born wives he granted augmentations of honour to them and their families. The first quarter is the augmentation granted to Jane Seymour and her family. If you have a basic knowledge of national symbolism you might be able to work out what the lions and fleurs-de-lys refer to. The lions refer to the coat of arms of England, and the fleurs-de-lys to the coat of arms of France (Henry VIII claimed the throne of France). The colours were reversed from the familiar gold fleurs-de-lys on a blue background because it is bad heraldry to have blue next to the red of the lions on the same quarter. It makes the design easier to recognise, especially from a distance (soccer teams wear contrasting colours for the same reason). To confuse matters there are exceptions, which are too complicated to go into today!

The duplicated design in the second and third quarters, the wings, are the Seymour’s family coat of arms, relegated to second place by the augmentation. They look like those strap-on wings you see young people wearing at a Pride march, don’t they? But they actually represent a falconry lure. Falconry was a major activity the medieval aristocracy. You can see modern lures at some modern country fairs where they have falconry displays. The bird handler whirls a cord around with a lump of meat on the end of it. This is the lure. The falcon or other bird of prey, will swoop down and grab the meat as if it were some prey. In medieval times the lure was often made up of two bird wings, just like you see in the Seymour arms.

It’s not certain why the Seymours adopted the lure. It is possible that they were using it on family seals as far back as 1299.

The last quarter on the shield is the coat of arms of the Conway family. In 1683 Popham Seymour inherited the estates of the Earl of Conway, on condition that he adopted the Conway name and coat of arms. He died unmarried but the name, arms and estates passed to his younger brother Francis (see family tree above), who was created 1st Baron Conway in 1703. His descendants have often dropped the Conway name, as all three of our queer Seymours did, though the Conway arms have often been retained.

Finally, the crest. The phoenix is another royal addition to honour the marriage of Jane Seymour to Henry VIII. Jane adopted it as her personal badge and symbolised the rebirth of love following the king’s previous two marriages. Jane’s brother, the Duke of Somerset, was granted the phoenix as his crest issuing from a coronet (not a crown, a crown has arches over the top).

No doubt there are other lgbt Seymours descended from Queen Jane Seymour’s brother who are equally entitled to bear these arms. How ironic it is that the crest and augmentation of honour were granted by the king who introduced the first English law against homosexual acts.

Out of Her Tree : Margaret Damer Dawson

On 29th September 2015 I wrote about the pioneers of the women’s police force. One of them was Margaret Damer Dawson (1873-1920). Today I’m going to look at her family tree to find ancestors who represent each of the 5 categories in my Law and Citizenship series.

Margaret could represent 3 of the 5 categories herself. As a pioneer of the women’s police force she instantly represents the “Police and Law Enforcement” category. She can also be included in the “Campaigns and Activism” category not only for her work to create the police force but also because she was an active anti-vivisection campaigner. In 1914 Margaret was a member of the Criminal Law Amendment Committee, giving her a place in the “Parliament and Legislation” category. Margaret’s nearest police connection before she began to fight for the creation of the women’s police force came with her step-uncle who was a Metropolitan Police magistrate from 1905 to 1919. Perhaps that was the biggest influence on Margaret’s own interest in the police force.

If we have Margaret representing the “Police and Law Enforcement” category let’s have a look at her ancestry to see who can represent the other four and see how much influence they had on her family.

The nearest connection to a significant court case in Margaret’s ancestry comes with her maternal grandfather, Frederick Shand Hemming (1825-1872). In 1865 at the Divorce Court Frederick was cited as committing adultery with Rebecca, the wife of Col. Gustavus Pollard. Polland was granted a divorce and Rebecca went on to become Frederick’s second wife after the death of his first, Margaret Damer Dawson’s grandmother.

There are several lawyers and judges in Margaret’s ancestry. The nearest senior judge in the direct line is Sir Roger Cholmeley (c.1485-1656). He rose from being called to the bench in Lincoln’s Inn in 1520 to Lord Chief Justice in 1552. Roger’s career is remarkable in that he was knighted and appointed a Chief Baron of the Exchequer before being appointed a judge, a very rare distinction.

Sir Roger Cholmeley sat in the House of Commons as Recorder of London. A good number of Margaret’s ancestors were elected to parliament rather by virtue of their appointment. The most recent of them is her stepfather, Thomas de Grey (1843-1919), who married her widowed mother and sat as an MP before succeeding to the tittle of Baron Walsingham and moving to the House of Lords (it was his brother who was Metropolitan Police magistrate).

The nearest bloodline ancestor to be elected as an MP was Sir John Hotham (1632-1689). He sat in 6 parliaments from 1660 to his death. His career is dominated by campaigns to ban Catholics from standing for parliament and for the disbandment of the standing army. Sir John was a very active parliamentarian and was appointed to many committees. His political career appeared to end when he was defeated in the 1685 general election after being implicated in a Jacobite plot, but he joined Prince William of Orange in his “invasion” in 1688 in the so-called Glorious Revolution. He was re-elected to parliament in 1689 and died two months later after catching a chill that winter.

When it comes to “Campaigns and Activism” in Margaret’s ancestry there are several related campaigns which are the most significant. These are the anti-Protestant campaigns of the Tudor period known as the Northern (or Earl’s) Rebellion and the Pilgrimage of Grace. This is where Margaret’s ancestry bumps into my own.

My direct ancestor Richard Norton was the 71-year-old High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1569 when a group of Catholic aristocrats and opponents of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I gathered to rebel against her in the Northern Rebellion. Norton led an attack on Durham Cathedral before joining his nephew Thomas Markenfield to attack Ripon Cathedral. Markenfield was Margaret Dames Dawson’s ancestral cousin. The rebellion was defeated and both Norton and Markenfield fled to Flanders where they died.

Markenfield’s aunt married Robert Aske, the nephew and namesake of the leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, another attempt to depose Queen Elizabeth in favour of the Catholic Duke of Norfolk.

Having taken arms against the monarch both Robert Aske (Margaret’s ancestral uncle) and Thomas Markenfield (her ancestral cousin) were found guilty of the ultimate crime of treason. Even though Markenfield managed to escape Robert Aske was hanged. Several members of both families were imprisoned for their parts in both rebellions. Even Lord Chief Justice Sir Roger Cholmeley I mentioned earlier didn’t escape the prison cell for opposing a Tudor monarch. In 1553 he added his signature to the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey’s succession to the throne, leading the Catholic Queen Mary I to imprison him and not reappoint him.

All these examples of law, crime and campaigning in Margaret Damer Dawson’s ancestry may not have had much of an effect on her decision to become a pioneering female police officer. Whoever may have influenced her the most it is certain that Margaret herself was an inspiration to many hundreds of women in the first half of the 20th century who fought for their place in the modern police force.

Around the World in 80 Gays : Part 17 - A Spy

LAST TIME : 48) Keith Tomlinson (b.1980) climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia, one of the 7 highest continental mountains (the Seven Summits), a mountaineering challenge completed by 49) Cason Crane (b.1992). A parallel challenge of running a marathon on each continent has been completed by 50) Todd J. Henry, an astronomer who searched for extra-terrestrial intelligence, a subject speculated upon in the 16^th century by 51) Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).

51) Giordano Bruno was one of the leading mathematicians of his age, though his controversial views on the multiple existence of Christ on alien worlds put him in the black books of scientists and the Church alike and led to his execution for heresy.

In 1591 he applied for the vacant professorship of mathematics at Padua University. He was unsuccessful. Instead the position went to an up-and-coming mathematician by the name of Galileo. But then Galileo had influential patrons who campaigned on his behalf him to the university, though they denied it. These patrons were the Del Monte brothers, one of whom was 52) Cardinal Francesco del Monte (1549-1627).

Cardinal del Monte was also an amateur mathematician like his brothers, and it was his eldest brother, the Marchese del Monte, who influenced Galileo’s work on trajectories. The Cardinal is most famous (apart from being the first recorded owner of the Portland vase) as the patron of another rising young star of the Renaissance, the artist Caravaggio, under his patronage he painted “The Cardsharps”.

After failing to get the professorship at Padua Giordano Bruno found himself increasingly at odds with both the Church and the authorities over his views. Very shortly afterwards he became the subject of the heresy trial that led to his execution.

It is Bruno’s two-year stay in England that leads us on to the most intriguing (in more ways than one) period of his life. In 1583 he arrived in London as a guest of the French ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The ambassador had made many friends in London, a few of them from the world of the theatre as well as politics. It was probably at one of his many dinners that the ambassador introduced Giordano Bruno to 53) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).

I cannot bring Marlowe into the story without mentioning two things about him. The first is his role as a spy, the other we’ll come to later. The French ambassador was no stranger to espionage himself. As ambassador he was able to place French Catholic spies at Elizabeth’s Protestant court and, no doubt, knew who some of Elizabeth’s spies were. Perhaps he knew that Christopher Marlowe was a spy.

Marlowe was just one of many in the pay of Elizabeth’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. He was employed for many years to spy on Catholic sympathisers and plotters. But the French ambassador probably didn’t know there was another spy living under his very nose.

When Giordano Bruno arrived there was a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, invade England from Spain, and put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. Plans for this were rather carelessly revealed during the after-dinner chat at the French ambassador’s residence. Walsingham was informed and the plotter executed for treason. Walsingham had a double agent working in the ambassador’s house called Henry Fagot. It has been revealed in recent years that Fagot was actually 51) Giordano Bruno.

The other thing to mention about 53) Christopher Marlowe is his often alleged authorship of some (or all) of the works of Shakespeare. While this is a subject of constant discussion and speculation there is evidence that one of Marlowe’s works influenced one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays.

Another famous writer often alleged to have written Shakespeare’s plays, or at least the ones written after Marlowe’s death was Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). He makes just a cameo appearance today because his brother, 54) Anthony Bacon (1558-1601), also worked in Walsingham’s spy ring. One intriguing theory put forward recently is that Christopher Marlowe faked his own death and that Anthony Bacon helped him to escape to France.

Back to Marlowe’s influence on Shakespeare. “Titus Andronicus” is one of the Bard’s early plays whose authorship has been questioned the most. It isn’t considered one of his best. T. S. Eliot called it “one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written”. In that respect it can be said to have inspired a genre of film that is popular purely because it is just that.

“Titus Andronicus” was partly inspired by several Elizabethan revenge tragedies, one of which was called “Tambourline”, written by Christopher Marlowe. What marks “Titus” out is its violence and gore. It was very popular with Elizabethan audiences, and it still is. A recent production by The Globe even had people fainting in the audience because of the graphic nature of the modern stage effects of rape and mutilation. It’s all very reminiscent of the reports of audience reactions when “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was first released. And that’s the next connection in the chain (pardon the pun).

Modern slasher films and splatter movies are deliberately made to highlight the gore and horror and are not known for their strength of script or depth of character. Most characters are there purely to be disposed of in the most gruesome and entertaining manner possible. T. S. Eliot could have used his above-quoted remark to describe any slasher film. However, it is a genre with a distinguished history going back to “Titus Andronicus” and beyond and remains one of the greatest contributors to modern culture.

Even though there have been many lgbt characters in horror and slasher films over the years (the most famous being Norman Bates in “Psycho”), and there have been many lgbt horror writers, the genre didn’t really get a specifically gay slasher film until 2004 when “Hellbent” was released. The writer and director of that film was 55) Paul Etheredge.

When “80 Gays” returns in a couple of weeks we’ll discover what slasher films have in common with Wimbledon.

Out of Their Trees : The "Queen" of Maryland

To mark today’s International Women’s Day we concentrate on one woman who has conquered the American entertainment industry – Ellen DeGeneres. In 2010 Lisa Kudrow revealed some of Ellen’s French-Canadian ancestry and cousinship to Madonna on her tv show. What I’d like to do today is look at Ellen’s other ancestors. Her ancestry reveals her DNA has been inherited from some influential woman in British and American history.

Ellen is descended from a network of close family relationships and is descended from people who not only founded America (Mayflower ancestors included) but also founded Maryland, Baltimore and Capitol Hill. In fact, Ellen’s ancestors WERE Maryland.

Let’s begin in the 16^th century and the heart of England where we find Ellen’s most influential female ancestor of the Elizabethan age. No, not the Virgin Queen herself but a woman known as the Queen of the Midlands, and popularly known as Bess of Hardwick.

My own family has a distant genealogical link to Bess, but a closer link comes through some of the properties her children inherited – Clumber Park, Nottingham Castle and Welbeck Abbey. My sister, myself and my eldest brother have worked in those respective properties.

Elizabeth “Bess” Hardwicke (1520-1608) was born into the minor gentry of Derbyshire. By a fortunate string of four marriages Bess rose to become one of the richest women in England owning more estates than most men. Her first marriage was when she was a teenager and she was widowed soon after. It is her second marriage in 1547 which has the biggest impact on genealogy. Her second husband was Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth. They had 8 children. One son became the 1^st Earl of Devonshire (ancestor of the later Dukes) and is ancestor of many UK Prime Ministers (including David Cameron) and the Queen. Incidentally, there’s no such place as Devonshire – Devon is a county not a shire, the 1^st Earl invented the name to stop being confused with already existing Earl of Devon. It is from Bess and Sir William’s eldest son Henry Cavendish (1550-1616) that Ellen DeGeneres descends.

After Sir William’s death Bess remarried in 1559 to Sir William St. Loe, another wealthy landowner. He died in suspicious circumstances in 1565, probably poisoned by his brother – and this isn’t the last murder in Ellen’s ancestry, as we’ll see later.

By 1565 Bess of Hardwick was the wealthiest woman in England after the Queen, whom she knew personally and acted as Lady of the Bedchamber. Bess’s final marriage to the Earl of Shrewsbury brings Mary, Queen of Scots, into the story. When Mary was arrested and awaiting execution she was placed under house arrest in the custody of Bess and the Earl.

Henry Cavendish (mentioned above) had several illegitimate children. One daughter, Anne, married Vincent Lowe of Derbyshire and they were the parents of Jane Lowe (1633-1700), our second influential female in Ellen’s ancestry.

Jane Lowe and two brothers settled in Maryland in the early 1660s (Ellen is also descended from one of these brothers). Jane followed her great-grandmother by marrying well. First she married Col. Henry Sewall who became Secretary of Maryland. He was given lots of land in the colony by the governor, Hon. Charles Calvert.

A brief word on the Calverts. They “owned” Maryland. The family held the title of Lord Baltimore, and the present city is named after them. Also, as their colonial flag the Calverts used their family standard (coat of arms in flag form) and this is still the flag of Maryland (pictured).

In 1665 Col. Sewall died, leaving Jane a wealthy woman and owner of over 9,000 acres of land. Not long afterwards she married the aforementioned Governor Calvert. He moved in with her on her Sewall estates and Jane became First Lady of Baltimore. Nine years later Calvert inherited his father’s title and Jane became Lady Baltimore. Jane has many descendants by both Col. Sewall and Lord Baltimore, including Charles Carroll, one of the Signatories of the Declaration of Independence, all cousins of Ellen DeGeneres.

In 1681 Lady Baltimore’s brother, Vincent Lowe, accused one Christopher Rousby of treacherous words against Lord Baltimore and the king. Accusations flew around for a couple of years until 1684 when Rousby was stabbed to death by Lord Baltimore’s cousin. The king gave him a pardon! However, that’s not the end of it. In 1691 Rousby’s successor as the king’s tax collector was murdered by Nicholas Sewall, Lady Baltimore’s son! So that’s 3 murderers in Ellen’s ancestry!

Let’s leave all this law-breaking and look at some law-making. The murderous Nicholas’s sister Elizabeth followed her mother’s example and married colonial governors, Jesse Wharton followed by William Digges. Elizabeth’s children by Digges gives Ellen DeGeneres a descent from King Edward III. Lady Baltimore’s grandson Notley Rozier (1673-1727) (Ellen’s direct ancestor) inherited the Duddington manor in Maryland. In 1791 Notley’s grandson sold the estate to the US government who were looking for a site for their parliament building. Today, that Duddington manor (Ellen’s ancestral estate) is known as Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.

Finally, another lawful, if not crusading, connection comes in Lady Baltimore’s more distant ancestors. Through her father Jane is descended from the Willoughby’s of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. This stately home became a film star in 2012 when it was turned into Bruce Wayne’s stately mansion for the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” (seen near the start of this official trailer). Also, most of the properties inherited from Bess of Hardwick have been used for tv and film locations.

Spy Wednesday

Everyone has heard of Good Friday. Most people have heard of Maundy Thursday. But how many have heard of Spy Wednesday? In medieval Ireland, today, the Wednesday before Easter Day, was called Spy Wednesday. It is named after incident in the Bible where Judas makes his bargain with the Sanhedrin to betray Christ.

For this and no other reason today I’m concentrating on espionage. In the 1960s homosexuality and spying was almost never out of the press, and tv, films and books were full of spies – James Bond, The Avengers, The Man from UNCLE. The Cambridge spy circle of Burgess, Philby and Maclean shocked the UK. What shocked the UK even more occurred in the 1980s when the “Fourth Man” was revealed as Anthony Blunt, the Keeper of the Queen’s Picture collection.

For as long as there’s been civilisation there’s been spies. Each generation finds a new rival to spy on. Way back in Tudor times it was Catholic versus Protestant. One Elizabethan spy was another Anthony – Anthony Bacon.

Anthony Bacon began his espionage career at the age of 21 providing intelligence reports from Paris to Queen Elizabeth I’s spy-master Sir Francis Walsingham. Elizabeth used Bacon as her unofficial contact with King Henri IV of Navarre, who was leader of the French Protestants, called Huguenots, during the Wars of Religion. France was a Catholic country, and Henri was the heir to the French throne.

Although welcomed at Navarre’s court, Bacon earned enemies such as the wife of Navarre’s chief counsellor. The reason? Well, apparently, it wasn’t the done thing for a woman to wear her wig in church, which the counsellor’s wife wanted to. Bacon refused to support her, though why she needed his support isn’t clear. Not only that, but he turned down the woman’s offer of her daughter’s hand in marriage.

It was at about this time that Bacon was accused of having sex with his page boys. This carried the death penalty if Bacon was found guilty. His page-boys made no secret to the fact amongst themselves, though one former servant claimed Bacon bribed the boys into keeping quiet by giving them with “sweatmeats”. Sounds more like they were little “thank you” gifts to me, certainly not much of a bribe. As it happened King Henri of Navarre interceded on Bacon’s behalf and the death sentence was never passed. All of this was kept secret from the spy-masters back in England.

Despite several requests from Queen Elizabeth to return home Anthony Bacon remained in France. When he did eventually return home in 1592 after more than 12 years Bacon’s reluctance to return earlier meant he was not well received. Even his own mother criticised him.

Hoping to benefit financially and politically from his spy connections Bacon found himself left with the unpaid job of co-ordinating England’s enormous European intelligence network and contacts for the Earl of Essex. Bacon would spend the rest of his life in debt and virtually living off Essex’s friendship with his former principal informer and lover Tom Lawson.

When Essex was convicted of high treason in 1601 Bacon disappeared from the records, except for one. On 17^th May 1601 Anthony Bacon was buried in London.

Until recently Anthony Bacon had existed in the shadow of his more famous (and undeniably much more interesting) younger brother Francis. The first biography of him was written in 1975 by Daphne du Maurier, and even then it was a shared biography with his brother. It was this biography that revealed Anthony Bacon’s intimate involvement with his page-boys. A lot of documents about him, including some from his trial, have disappeared. Most of what we know of him comes from the writings of people who knew him. Perhaps as a diligent spy Anthony Bacon destroyed anything that would lead a paper trail straight to him.