This is a list of decades from the beginning of the 17th century BC to the end of the 22nd Century AD, including links to corresponding articles with more information about them.

During the 20th century, it became common to consider individual decades as historical entities in themselves. Particular trends, styles, and attitudes would be associated with and regarded as defining particular decades (which became known as "The Twenties", "The Sixties" and so on).

Look up list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

List or lists may refer to:

Enumerations[link]

• Any enumeration of a set of items
• A list of comma separated values, a common way of listing in everyday life and computing. (British usage: Comma-separated values)
• A mailing list
• An electronic mailing list
• An electoral list
• List (computing)
• Task lists, a list of tasks to be completed
• Listicle, an article in list format
• Watchlist
• Ranker

Other meanings[link]

• List (watercraft), the leaning to either port or starboard of a ship
• List, an alternative term for roll in flight dynamics
• Lists (jousting), a roped-off enclosure where medieval knights jousted
• SC Germania List, German rugby union club
• List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

People[link]

• Friedrich List, German economist
• Guido von List, Austrian Armanist
• John List, murderer
• Liesbeth List, Dutch singer
• Maximilian List, SS officer and Commandant of Lager Sylt, a labour camp on Alderney
• Paul List, chess player
• Peyton List, the name of two American actresses:
  • Peyton List (actress born 1986), American actress in the TV series Mad Men
  • Peyton List (actress born 1998), American actress in the Disney Channel TV series Jessie
• Siegmund Wilhelm List, WWII German field marshal

Places[link]

• List, Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost village in Germany, on the island Sylt

Work titles[link]

The List may refer to:

• The List (magazine), a Scottish magazine
• The List (South Park), an episode of the television show South Park
• The List (The X-Files), an episode of the television show The X-Files
• The List (2007 film), a film based on the novel by Robert Whitlow
• The List (album), an album by Rosanne Cash

See also[link]

• Liszt (surname)
• Listing (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Glenn Greenwald
Born	(1967-03-06) March 6, 1967 (age 45) Queens, New York
Nationality	United States
Citizenship	United States
Education	B.A., 1990 J.D., 1994
Alma mater	George Washington University New York University Law School
Genres	non-fiction, political and legal commentary
Subjects	US politics, law
Notable work(s)	How Would a Patriot Act? A Tragic Legacy
salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

Glenn Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor (columnist and blogger) to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics.^[1] He has also contributed to other newspapers and political news magazines, including The New York Times,^[2][3][4] The Los Angeles Times,^[5] The Guardian,^[6][7][8] The American Conservative,^[9] The National Interest,^[10] and In These Times.^[11][12]

Greenwald has written four books, three of which have been New York Times bestsellers: How Would a Patriot Act? (2006); A Tragic Legacy (2007), and With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, released in October 2011. He also wrote Great American Hypocrites (2008).

In March 2009, he was selected, along with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, as the recipient of the first annual Izzy Award by the Park Center for Independent Media, an award named after independent journalist I.F. "Izzy" Stone and devoted to rewarding excellence in independent journalism. The selection panel cited Greenwald's "pathbreaking journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom, official deception and controversial issues."^[13]

In October 2010, he won the Online Journalism Award for Best Commentary, for his investigative article on the arrest of U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning as the alleged leaker to WikiLeaks.^[14] The same year, he was a Finalist for the National Magazine Awards category of "excellence in online reporting and commentary published as a blog."^[15]

His commentaries "on surveillance issues and separation of powers" have been cited in The New York Times, in The Washington Post, in United States Senate floor debates, and in House "official ... reports on executive power abuses,"^[16] and he appears on various radio and television programs as a guest political pundit.^[17]

Background[link]

Greenwald was born on March 6, 1967, in Queens, New York City, the son of Arlene and Daniel Greenwald.^[18] Shortly after his birth Greenwald moved with his family to South Florida.^[1][19] He earned a B.A. from George Washington University in 1990 and a J.D. from New York University Law School in 1994.^[1] During law school, he worked as an intern and Summer Associate at the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and after graduation, he practiced law in the Litigation Department at Wachtell, Lipton (1994–1995); in 1996 he co-founded his own litigation firm, called Greenwald Christoph & Holland (later renamed Greenwald Christoph PC), where he litigated cases concerning issues of U.S. constitutional law and civil rights.^[1][19]

One of Greenwald's most notable First Amendment clients was Matthew Hale, a leader of the organization now known as the Creativity Movement. On April 6, 2005, Hale was sentenced to a 40-year prison term for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill federal judge Joan Lefkow.^[20] and was incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado.^[21] Although he "represented Hale and his organization in several civil cases" and was not involved in Hale's criminal defense case, after the subsequent killing of Judge Lefkow's mother and husband while Hale was incarcerated for the earlier conviction, Greenwald was approached by Hale's mother, Evelyn Hutcheson. She asked Greenwald to deliver a purportedly "encoded message" from the imprisoned Hale to one of his supporters on the outside; Greenwald declined to do so.^[22][23]

In his entry in Unclaimed Territory for July 10, 2006, Greenwald states, "I decided voluntarily to wind down my practice in 2005 because I could, and because, after ten years, I was bored with litigating full-time and wanted to do other things which I thought were more engaging and could make more of an impact, including political writing."^[19]

In the same entry, Greenwald observes that he has been openly gay for 20 years and that, while he has lived in the United States all his life, he divides his time between New York City and Rio de Janeiro, the hometown of his partner:

Revealingly, American law prevents the recognition of our relationship as a ground for him to live in the United States, while Brazilian law recognizes same-sex relationships for visa and immigration purposes. As a result, for the past year [2006], I have spent substantial time in Brazil while also having a residence in New York. Spending substantial time in another country does not make one an 'expatriate.' And even those American citizens who do give up American residence and live abroad retain full rights of citizenship, including voting rights. But I have not done so.^[19]

An April, 2011 Out Magazine profile describes Greenwald's six-year relationship with his Brazilian partner, David Michael Miranda, and explains that "he lives in Rio de Janeiro" because he is "barred from moving to the United States" with Miranda^[24]. Another profile of Greenwald, from a New Zealand political magazine in 2012, says the interview with Greenwald was conducted from "Rio de Janeiro, where he lives with his husband and 10 dogs, which they keep rescuing from the streets^[25].

According to Ken Silverstein's interview with Greenwald published in Harper's Magazine on February 22, 2008, conducted by telephone while Greenwald was in Brazil, he lives there "much of the time."^[26] On July 22, 2008, when Greenwald participated in a debate with Cass Sunstein, an adviser to then Senator Barack Obama, moderated by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, their exchange was also conducted by telephone from Brazil.^[27]

In a May 2008 interview, Greenwald explained that "even though Brazil has the largest Catholic population of any country in the world" and "was a military dictatorship until 1985": "I’m able to obtain from the Brazilian government a permanent visa because my Brazilian partner's government recognizes our relationship for immigration purposes, while the government of my supposedly 'free,' liberty-loving country enacted a law explicitly barring such recognition."^[28]

Political views[link]

Greenwald is critical of actions that have the support of both Democrats and Republicans, writing: "the worst and most tyrannical government actions in Washington are equally supported on a fully bipartisan basis."^[29]

In the preface to his first book, How Would a Patriot Act? (2006), Greenwald begins by giving some of his own personal political history, describing himself as at first neither liberal nor conservative but as one who had taken positions that can be ascribed to both liberals and conservatives, voting neither for George W. Bush nor for any of his rivals, indeed not voting at all.^[30] Bush's ascendancy to the U.S. Presidency "changed" Greenwald's previous uninvolved political attitude toward the electoral process "completely":

Over the past five years, a creeping extremism has taken hold of our federal government, and it is threatening to radically alter our system of government and who we are as a nation. This extremism is neither conservative nor liberal in nature, but is instead driven by theories of unlimited presidential power that are wholly alien, and antithetical, to the core political values that have governed this country since its founding"; for, "the fact that this seizure of ever-expanding presidential power is largely justified through endless, rank fear-mongering—fear of terrorists, specifically—means that not only our system of government is radically changing, but so, too, are our national character, our national identity, and what it means to be American."^[30]

Believing that "It is incumbent upon all Americans who believe in that system, bequeathed to us by the founders, to defend it when it is under assault and in jeopardy. And today it is", he stresses: "I did not arrive at these conclusions eagerly or because I was predisposed by any previous partisan viewpoint. Quite the contrary."^[30]

Resistant to applying ideological labels to himself, he emphasizes repeatedly that he is a strong advocate for U.S. constitutional "balance of powers"^[12] and for constitutionally-protected civil and political rights in his writings and public appearances.^[1]

Throughout them he has relentlessly criticized the policies of the George W. Bush administration and those who support or enable it, arguing that most of the American "Corporate News Media" excuse Bush's policies and echo administration talking points rather than asking hard questions.^[26][31]

Entitling his Unclaimed Territory blog entry for January 16, 2006, "Bush Followers Are Not Conservatives", Greenwald explains this position:

It has long been clear that there is nothing remotely "conservative" about this Administration, at least in the sense that conservative ideology has stood for a restrained Federal Government which was to be distrusted. There has been a long line of decidedly un-conservative actions by this Administration – from exploding discretionary domestic spending to record deficits to an emergency convening of the Federal Government to intervene in one woman's end-of-life decisions to attempts to federalize, even constitutionalize, marriage laws – all of which could not be any more alien to what has been meant by "conservatism" for the past 40 years.^[32]

The New York Times describes Greenwald as a liberal.^[33][34]

In his various media guest appearances and publications, Greenwald elaborates his political views, which he also summarizes succinctly in responding to "six questions ... about political campaign coverage and the media" that Ken Silverstein posed to him in an article published in Harper's Magazine on February 21, 2008.^[26]

Greenwald holds a favourable view of drug liberalization. He conducted research, commissioned by the Cato Institute, on the effect of the abolition of all criminal penalties for personal drug possession in Portugal, which occurred in 2001. According to Greenwald, "decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success... It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does".^[35]

He also opposes capital punishment on the ground that it is "unjust."^[36]

In a discussion about civil liberties in the age of Obama, he elaborated on his conception of change when he said, "I think the only means of true political change will come from people working outside of that [two-party electoral] system to undermine it, and subvert it, and weaken it, and destroy it; not try to work within it to change it."^[37] He did, however, raise money for Russ Feingold's 2010 Senate re-election bid ^[38], Bill Halter's 2010 primary challenge to Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln ^[39], as well as several Congressional candidates in 2012 he described as "unique"^[40].

[edit] Unclaimed Territory

Greenwald started his blog Unclaimed Territory in October 2005, focusing initially on the investigation pertaining to the Plame affair, the CIA leak grand jury investigation, and the federal indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Two months later, when the National Security Agency warrantless surveillance controversy became news, he began to focus primarily on that issue. In January 2006 Greenwald attracted national media attention after he wrote in Unclaimed Territory that U.S. Senator Mike DeWine had proposed an easier standard for domestic eavesdropping by federal agents in 2002 but that the administration had declined any interest in the legislation and advised him that it would probably be unconstitutional, a direct contradiction of much of the later rationale for the NSA warrantless domestic spying program once it was known; Dan Eggen, of The Washington Post, for example, observed that "The DeWine amendment" — "the latest point of contention in a fierce political and legal battle over the NSA monitoring program" — was "first highlighted ... by Internet blogger Glenn Greenwald and widely publicized yesterday by the Project on Government Secrecy, an arm of the Federation of American Scientists...."^[41]

In March 2006, Senator Russ Feingold quoted Greenwald's comments in Unclaimed Territory on the floor of the U.S. Senate when he introduced Senate Resolution 398, to censure President Bush.^[42]

In April 2006, Unclaimed Territory received the 2005 Koufax Award for "Best New Blog".^[1]

In February 2008, during a debate over the FISA and Telecom Immunity bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate broadcast on C-Span, Senator Chris Dodd quoted Greenwald's comments posted in Unclaimed Territory.^[43]

Salon.com[link]

In February 2007, Greenwald became a contributing writer at Salon.com, and the new column and blog superseded Unclaimed Territory, though Salon.com prominently features hyperlinks to it in Greenwald's dedicated biographical section.^[44][45]

Joe Klein[link]

In his Salon.com column of November 21, 2007, Greenwald documented factual errors in a national column written by Joe Klein in Time magazine.^[46][47][48] In response to such criticism, Time subsequently added an intended clarification (or quasi-retraction) in an online version of Klein's disputed column — "In the original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would allow a court review of individual foreign surveillance targets. Republicans believe the bill can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't." — but Greenwald observed that the text of the legislation does not require court review of individual targets, and Time's response repeating "what each side says" disregards that point.^[49][50] Pertaining to this controversy, Time published letters from U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and others in its later issues of the magazine.^[51][52]

Anthrax reporting[link]

In August 2008, following the apparent suicide of terror suspect Bruce Ivins, Greenwald wrote a series of long entries, detailing the evidence that there has been a cover-up by individuals in the US government and ABC News in the 2001 anthrax attacks, calling for "a full-scale Congressional hearing or even an external Commission of the type that investigated the 9/11 attacks – endowed with full subpoena power – to examine all of the unresolved issues here."^[53] Greenwald also expressed interest in the identity of the individual who allegedly told ABC News' Brian Ross falsely in 2001 that the anthrax contained bentonite and falsely linking the anthrax attack to Saddam Hussein and argued that the broadcasting of this claim by ABC News was instrumental in guiding the US media and public opinion towards war with Iraq; subsequently, according to Dan Gillmor, who prominently cites and links to Greenwald in an article published in the guardian.co.uk, Brian Ross refused to divulge the identity of the individual who purportedly misled him.^[54]

John O. Brennan[link]

After U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's victory in November 2008, the media reported that former CIA official John O. Brennan, who had served as Senator Obama's top intelligence adviser during his 2008 election campaign, was the leading candidate to be named by Obama as either the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) or the next Director of National Intelligence (DNI).^[55] In a lengthy essay published in Salon.com, Greenwald argued that Brennan had supported many controversial detention and interrogation policies of the Bush administration, including "enhanced interrogation tactics" and extraordinary rendition.^[56] Other notable writers such as Andrew Sullivan credited Greenwald's Salon.com essay as the impetus for their opposition to Brennan's nomination.^[57] On November 24, Brennan wrote a letter to President-elect Obama withdrawing his name from consideration for any top intelligence posts, citing "strong criticism in some quarters."^[57] Media reports and other political pundits cited the "firestorm in liberal blogs" as the cause of Brennan's withdrawal.^[58][59]

Bradley Manning[link]

On December 15, 2010, Greenwald wrote of the detention conditions in which U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks leaker, was being held. Based on interviews with Manning's visitors and officials at the Marine brig where he was being held, Greenwald reported that the Army Private was being held "under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture": specifically, that he "has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions."^[60]

Greenwald's reporting ultimately led to a formal investigation by the U.N. high official on torture,^[61] denunciations by Amnesty International,^[62] and the resignation of State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley after he publicly criticized Manning's detention conditions.^[63] Since then, Greenwald has been a strong supporter of Manning. He calls Manning "a whistle-blower acting with the noblest of motives", and "a national hero similar to Daniel Ellsberg."^[64]

Hacking of security company HBGary's email servers by Anonymous revealed that as a result of his advocacy on behalf of Manning and WikiLeaks, Greenwald has been targeted in "[a] bizarre plan" — outlined in a report by Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies — "saying that his 'level of support' for WikiLeaks 'needs to be disrupted.'"^[65] The report "was developed following a request from Hunton and Williams, a law firm that represents Bank of America, as well as others", and claims that "[w]ithout the support of people like Glenn wikileaks would fold."^[65]

Greenwald said his "initial reaction to all of this was to scoff at its absurdity. . . . But after learning a lot more over the last couple of days, I now take this more seriously -- not in terms of my involvement but the broader implications this story highlights."^[66] Salon.com editor-in-chief Kerry Lauerman wrote:

We have no reason not to take the report seriously. As a result, I've asked both Hunton and Williams and Bank of America to explain any role they played and address whether HB Gary (or any of the firms) were being paid, or promised payment, for its development. . . . As bumbling as this whole saga sounds — Internet security firm can't keep its shadowy dirty tricks campaign from being hacked — what's outlined in these sets of proposals, as Glenn points out, "quite possibly constitutes serious crimes." And as it relates to Glenn and the others, it constitutes an unconscionable attempt to silence journalists doing their jobs.^[65]

Books[link]

Greenwald's first book, How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values From a President Run Amok, published by Working Assets, in 2006, was a New York Times bestseller^[67] and ranked number one on Amazon.com both before its publication due to pre-orders based on attention from other bloggers and for several days after its release, ending its first week at number 293.^[68]

A Tragic Legacy, his second book, aims to examine the presidency of George W. Bush "with an emphasis on his personality traits and beliefs that drove the presidency (along with an emphasis on how and why those personality traits have led to a presidency that has failed to historic proportions)."^[69] Published in hardback by Crown, a division of Random House, on June 26, 2007, and later reprinted in a paperback edition by Three Rivers Press on April 8, 2008, it also appeared on "The New York Times Best Seller List" after its original release and was ranked number one for a day on Amazon.com's "Non-Fiction Best Seller List", before becoming number two the next day, also due to heavy "discussions and promotions by blogs – a campaign catalyzed by Jane Hamsher [at FireDogLake]", according to Greenwald.^[70]

His third book, entitled Great American Hypocrites, was published by Random House in April 2008, the same month that Three Rivers Press reissued A Tragic Legacy in paperback.^[71]

His fourth book, entitled With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful. Metropolitan Books (Div. of Henry Holt and Company), 2011

Media appearances[link]

Greenwald has appeared as a roundtable guest on ABC's Sunday morning news show "This Week", NPR's "All Things Considered", as well as numerous times on C-SPAN's Washington Journal; Pacifica Radio's syndicated series Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman;^[31] on Public Radio International's To the Point; MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, "Morning Joe" and Dylan Ratigan's "Morning Meeting"; Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume;^[72] and The Colbert Report.^[73] Greenwald has also become a regular guest on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal.,^[74][75] and is a regular guest on the Hugh Hewitt Show, and was a friend and favorite guest of Hewitt's frequent guest host, Dean Barnett.

Popularity[link]

On August 24, 2008, the day before the start of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Denver, Colorado, Dan Amira of New York magazine ranked Greenwald as number 36 in his list of "top 40" most popular American political pundits.^[76]

On January 22, 2009, Forbes named Greenwald one of the "25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media". The magazine placed him at number eighteen, just below Hendrik Hertzberg and just ahead of Andrew Sullivan.^[77]

On July 6, 2009, former MSNBC host Dan Abrams launched a new site, Mediaite, reporting on media figures. The site ranked all print and online columnists in America by influence. Greenwald was ranked # 9, immediately behind Charles Krauthammer.^[78][79]

In August 2009, the Web search engine Technorati ranked Glenn Greenwald's Salon.com blog as number 45 in its "Top 100" list of "the most popular 100 blogs based on Technorati Authority" (in its case, 2,056 blog links in the past six months).^[80][81]

In November 2009, The Atlantic launched a new site, TheAtlanticWire.com, and named America's 50 most influential political pundits ("The Atlantic 50"). Greenwald was ranked #22 on the list.^[82]

In December, 2011, Business Insider named him one of the Politix 50: The Only Pundits You Need To Pay Attention To Between Now And The Election.^[83]

In January, 2012, the British political journal New Statesman named Greenwald one of America's Top 20 Progressives^[84]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

• "Glenn Greenwald" – Glenn Greenwald's column and blog hosted on Salon.com.
• Unclaimed Territory, by Glenn Greenwald – Previous personal blog hosted on Blogspot.com; superseded by and moved to Greenwald's Salon.com column and blog on February 12, 2007
• Glenn Greenwald at the Internet Movie Database

Francis Bacon

Portrait of Francis Bacon, by John Vanderbank (ca. 1731), after a portrait by an unknown artist (circa 1618).
Born	(1561-01-22)22 January 1561 Strand, London, England
Died	9 April 1626(1626-04-09) (aged 65) Highgate, London, England
Era	English Renaissance, The Scientific Revolution
Region	Western philosophy
School	Renaissance Philosophy, Empiricism
Influenced by Presocratics (Democritus, Empedocles, Parmenides), Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Niccolò Machiavelli, Michel de Montaigne, Vanoccio Biringuccio, Bernard Palissy, Bernardino Telesio, William Gilbert, Roger Bacon
Influenced Thomas Hobbes, Isaac Newton, John Locke, Encyclopédistes, Basil Montagu, Thomas Jefferson
Signature

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban(s),^[1] KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution.

Bacon has been called the creator of empiricism.^[2] His works established and popularised inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today.

Bacon was knighted in 1603, and created both the Baron Verulam in 1618, and the Viscount St Alban in 1621;^[3] as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death. He famously died by contracting pneumonia while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

The 18-year old Francis Bacon. Inscription around head reads: "If one could but paint his mind". National Portrait Gallery, London

Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne (Cooke) Bacon, the daughter of noted humanist Anthony Cooke. His mother's sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, making Burghley Francis Bacon's uncle. Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health (which plagued him throughout his life), receiving tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning towards Puritanism. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, on 5 April 1573 at the age of twelve,^[4] living for three years there together with his older brother Anthony Bacon under the personal tutelage of Dr John Whitgift, future Archbishop of Canterbury. Bacon's education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. He was also educated at the University of Poitiers. It was at Cambridge that he first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him "the young Lord Keeper".^[5]

His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his loathing of Aristotelian philosophy, which seemed to him barren, disputatious, and wrong in its objectives.

The Italianate York Water Gate – the entry to York House, built about 1626 after Bacon's death

On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Gray's Inn. A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony continued his studies at home. The state of government and society in France under Henry III afforded him valuable political instruction. For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain. During his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to England for Walsingham, Burghley, and Leicester, as well as for the queen.

The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money. Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he took up his residence in law at Gray's Inn in 1579.

Parliamentarian[link]

Bacon's threefold goals were to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to further these ends by seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he applied for a post at court, which might enable him to pursue a life of learning. His application failed. For two years he worked quietly at Gray's Inn, until he was admitted as an outer barrister in 1582.

Francis Bacon's statue at Gray's Inn Hall

His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for Bossiney, Devon in a 1581 by-election. In 1584, he took his seat in parliament for Melcombe in Dorset, and subsequently for Taunton (1586). At this time, he began to write on the condition of parties in the church, as well as on the topic of philosophical reform in the lost tract, Temporis Partus Maximus. Yet, he failed to gain a position he thought would lead him to success. He showed signs of sympathy to Puritanism, attending the sermons of the Puritan chaplain of Gray's Inn and accompanying his mother to the Temple chapel to hear Walter Travers. This led to the publication of his earliest surviving tract, which criticised the English church's suppression of the Puritan clergy. In the Parliament of 1586, he openly urged execution for Mary, Queen of Scots.

About this time, he again approached his powerful uncle for help; this move was followed by his rapid progress at the bar. He became Bencher in 1586, and he was elected a reader in 1587, delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year. In 1589, he received the valuable appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber, although he did not formally take office until 1608 – a post which was worth £16,000 a year.^[6]

In 1588 he was returned as MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex in 1593. He later sat three times for Ipswich (1597, 1601, 1604) and once for Cambridge University (1614).^[7]

He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. He opposed feudal privileges and dictatorial powers, though a friend of the crown. He was against religious persecution. He struck at the House of Lords in their usurpation of the Money Bills. He advocated for the union of England and Scotland, thus being one of the influences behind the consolidation of the United Kingdom; and also advocated, later on, for the integration of Ireland into the Union. These, he believed, would bring greater peace and strength to these countries.^[8][9]

Attorney General[link]

Memorial to Francis Bacon, in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge

Bacon soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favourite. By 1591, he acted as the earl's confidential adviser.

In 1592, he was commissioned to write a tract in response to the Jesuit Robert Parson's anti-government polemic, which he titled Certain observations made upon a libel, identifying England with the ideals of democratic Athens against the belligerence of Spain.

Bacon took his third parliamentary seat for Middlesex when in February 1593 Elizabeth summoned Parliament to investigate a Roman Catholic plot against her. Bacon's opposition to a bill that would levy triple subsidies in half the usual time offended many people.^{[clarification needed]} Opponents accused him of seeking popularity. For a time, the royal court excluded him.

When the Attorney-Generalship fell vacant in 1594, Lord Essex's influence was not enough to secure Bacon that office. Likewise, Bacon failed to secure the lesser office of Solicitor-General in 1595.^[6] To console him for these disappointments, Essex presented him with a property at Twickenham, which he sold subsequently for £1,800.

In 1596, Bacon became Queen's Counsel, but missed the appointment of Master of the Rolls. During the next few years, his financial situation remained bad. His friends could find no public office for him, and a scheme for retrieving his position by a marriage with the wealthy and young widow Lady Elizabeth Hatton failed after she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to a wealthier man. In 1598 Bacon was arrested for debt. Afterwards however, his standing in the Queen's eyes improved. Gradually, Bacon earned the standing of one of the learned counsels, though he had no commission or warrant and received no salary. His relationship with the Queen further improved when he severed ties with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, a shrewd move because Essex was executed for treason in 1601.

With others, Bacon was appointed to investigate the charges against Essex, his former friend and benefactor. A number of Essex's followers confessed that Essex had planned a rebellion against the Queen.^[10] Bacon was subsequently a part of the legal team headed by Attorney General Sir Edward Coke at Essex's treason trial.^[10] After the execution, the Queen ordered Bacon to write the official government account of the trial, which was later published as A DECLARATION of the Practices and Treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his Complices, against her Majestie and her Kingdoms ... after Bacon's first draft was heavily edited by the Queen and her ministers.^[11]

According to his personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, as a judge Bacon was always tender-hearted, "looking upon the examples with the eye of severity, but upon the person with the eye of pity and compassion". And also that "he was free from malice", "no revenger of injuries", and "no defamer of any man".^[12]

James I comes to the throne[link]

The succession of James I brought Bacon into greater favour. He was knighted in 1603. In another shrewd move, Bacon wrote his Apologie in defence of his proceedings in the case of Essex, as Essex had favoured James to succeed to the throne.

The following year, during the course of the uneventful first parliament session, Bacon married Alice Barnham. In June 1607 he was at last rewarded with the office of Solicitor-General.^[6] The following year, he began working as the Clerkship of the Star Chamber. In spite of a generous income, old debts still couldn't be paid. He sought further promotion and wealth by supporting King James and his arbitrary policies.

In 1610 the fourth session of James' first parliament met. Despite Bacon's advice to him, James and the Commons found themselves at odds over royal prerogatives and the king's embarrassing extravagance. The House was finally dissolved in February 1611. Throughout this period Bacon managed to stay in the favour of the king while retaining the confidence of the Commons.

In 1613, Bacon was finally appointed attorney general, after advising the king to shuffle judicial appointments. As attorney general, Bacon prosecuted Somerset in 1616. The so-called "Prince's Parliament" of April 1614 objected to Bacon's presence in the seat for Cambridge and to the various royal plans which Bacon had supported. Although he was allowed to stay, parliament passed a law that forbade the attorney-general to sit in parliament. His influence over the king had evidently inspired resentment or apprehension in many of his peers. Bacon, however, continued to receive the King's favour, which led to his appointment in March 1617 as the temporary Regent of England (for a period of a month), and in 1618 as Lord Chancellor. On 12 July 1618 the king created Bacon Baron Verulam, of Verulam, in the Peerage of England. As a new peer he then styled himself as "Francis, Lord Verulam".^[6]

Bacon continued to use his influence with the king to mediate between the throne and Parliament and in this capacity he was further elevated in the same peerage, as Viscount St Alban, on 27 January 1621.^[13]

Lord Chancellor and public disgrace[link]

Francis Bacon and the members of the Parliament in the day of his political fall

Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After he fell into debt, a Parliamentary Committee on the administration of the law charged him with twenty-three separate counts of corruption. To the lords, who sent a committee to enquire whether a confession was really his, he replied, "My lords, it is my act, my hand, and my heart; I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." He was sentenced to a fine of £40,000 and committed to the Tower of London during the king's pleasure; the imprisonment lasted only a few days and the fine was remitted by the king.^[14] More seriously, parliament declared Bacon incapable of holding future office or sitting in parliament. He narrowly escaped undergoing degradation, which would have stripped him of his titles of nobility. Subsequently the disgraced viscount devoted himself to study and writing.

There seems little doubt that Bacon had accepted gifts from litigants, but this was an accepted custom of the time and not necessarily evidence of deeply corrupt behaviour.^[15] While acknowledging that his conduct had been lax, he countered that he had never allowed gifts to influence his judgement and, indeed, he had on occasion given a verdict against those who had paid him. The true reason for his acknowledgement of guilt is the subject of debate, but it may have been prompted by his poor state of health, or by a view that through his fame and the greatness of his office he would be spared harsh punishment. He may even have been blackmailed, with a threat to charge him with sodomy, into confession.^[15][16]

The British jurist Basil Montagu wrote in Bacon's defense, concerning the episode of his public disgrace:

Bacon has been accused of servility, of dissimulation, of various base motives, and their filthy brood of base actions, all unworthy of his high birth, and incompatible with his great wisdom, and the estimation in which he was held by the noblest spirits of the age. It is true that there were men in his own time, and will be men in all times, who are better pleased to count spots in the sun than to rejoice in its glorious brightness. Such men have openly libelled him, like Dewes and Weldon, whose falsehoods were detected as soon as uttered, or have fastened upon certain ceremonious compliments and dedications, the fashion of his day, as a sample of his servility, passing over his noble letters to the Queen, his lofty contempt for the Lord Keeper Puckering, his open dealing with Sir Robert Cecil, and with others, who, powerful when he was nothing, might have blighted his opening fortunes for ever, forgetting his advocacy of the rights of the people in the face of the court, and the true and honest counsels, always given by him, in times of great difficulty, both to Elizabeth and her successor. When was a "base sycophant" loved and honoured by piety such as that of Herbert, Tennison, and Rawley, by noble spirits like Hobbes, Ben Jonson, and Selden, or followed to the grave, and beyond it, with devoted affection such as that of Sir Thomas Meautys.
^[17]

Personal life[link]

Francis Bacon

When he was 36, Bacon engaged in the courtship of Elizabeth Hatton, a young widow of 20. Reportedly, she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to a wealthier man—Edward Coke. Years later, Bacon still wrote of his regret that the marriage to Hatton had not taken place.^[18]

At the age of forty-five, Bacon married Alice Barnham, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a well-connected London alderman and MP. Bacon wrote two sonnets proclaiming his love for Alice. The first was written during his courtship and the second on his wedding day, 10 May 1606. When Bacon was appointed Lord Chancellor, "by special Warrant of the King", Lady Bacon was given precedence over all other Court ladies.

Engraving of Alice Barnham

Reports of increasing friction in his marriage to Alice appeared, with speculation that some of this may have been due to financial resources not being as readily available to her as she was accustomed to having in the past. Alice was reportedly interested in fame and fortune, and when reserves of money were no longer available, there were complaints about where all the money was going. Alice Chambers Bunten wrote in her Life of Alice Barnham^[19] that, upon their descent into debt, she actually went on trips to ask for financial favours and assistance from their circle of friends. Bacon disinherited her upon discovering her secret romantic relationship with John Underhill. He rewrote his will, which had previously been very generous to her (leaving her lands, goods, and income), revoking it all.

Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, however, wrote in his biography of Bacon that his inter-marriage with Alice Barnham was one of "much conjugal love and respect", mentioning a robe of honour that he gave to her, and which "she wore unto her dying day, being twenty years and more after his death".^[12]

The well-connected antiquary John Aubrey noted in his Brief Lives concerning Bacon, "He was a Pederast. His Ganimeds and Favourites tooke Bribes",^[20] biographers continue to debate about Bacon's sexual inclinations and the precise nature of his personal relationships.^[21] Several authors^[22][23] believe that despite his marriage Bacon was primarily attracted to the same sex. Professor Forker^[24] for example has explored the "historically documentable sexual preferences" of both King James and Bacon – and concluded they were all oriented to "masculine love", a contemporary term that "seems to have been used exclusively to refer to the sexual preference of men for members of their own gender."^[25] The Jacobean antiquarian, Sir Simonds D'Ewes implied there had been a question of bringing him to trial for buggery.^[26]

This conclusion has been disputed by others,^{[10][27][28][29][30]} who point to lack of consistent evidence, and consider the sources to be more open to interpretation. In his "New Atlantis", Bacon describes his utopian island as being "the chastest nation under heaven", in which there was no prostitution or adultery, and further saying that "as for masculine love, they have no touch of it".^[31]

Death[link]

Monument to Bacon at his burial place, St Michael's Church in St Albans

On 9 April 1626 Bacon died of pneumonia while at Arundel mansion at Highgate outside London. An influential account of the circumstances of his death was given by John Aubrey's Brief Lives. Aubrey has been criticised for his evident credulousness in this and other works; on the other hand, he knew Thomas Hobbes, Bacon's fellow-philosopher and friend. Aubrey's vivid account, which portrays Bacon as a martyr to experimental scientific method, had him journeying to Highgate through the snow with the King's physician when he is suddenly inspired by the possibility of using the snow to preserve meat: "They were resolved they would try the experiment presently. They alighted out of the coach and went into a poor woman's house at the bottom of Highgate hill, and bought a fowl, and made the woman exenterate it".

After stuffing the fowl with snow, Bacon contracted a fatal case of pneumonia. Some people, including Aubrey, consider these two contiguous, possibly coincidental events as related and causative of his death: "The Snow so chilled him that he immediately fell so extremely ill, that he could not return to his Lodging ... but went to the Earle of Arundel's house at Highgate, where they put him into ... a damp bed that had not been layn-in ... which gave him such a cold that in 2 or 3 days as I remember Mr Hobbes told me, he died of Suffocation."

Being unwittingly on his deathbed, the philosopher wrote his last letter to his absent host and friend Lord Arundel:

My very good Lord,—I was likely to have had the fortune of Caius Plinius the elder, who lost his life by trying an experiment about the burning of Mount Vesuvius; for I was also desirous to try an experiment or two touching the conservation and induration of bodies. As for the experiment itself, it succeeded excellently well; but in the journey between London and Highgate, I was taken with such a fit of casting as I know not whether it were the Stone, or some surfeit or cold, or indeed a touch of them all three. But when I came to your Lordship's House, I was not able to go back, and therefore was forced to take up my lodging here, where your housekeeper is very careful and diligent about me, which I assure myself your Lordship will not only pardon towards him, but think the better of him for it. For indeed your Lordship's House was happy to me, and I kiss your noble hands for the welcome which I am sure you give me to it. I know how unfit it is for me to write with any other hand than mine own, but by my troth my fingers are so disjointed with sickness that I cannot steadily hold a pen."^[32]

Another account appears in a biography by William Rawley, Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain:

He died on the ninth day of April in the year 1626, in the early morning of the day then celebrated for our Saviour's resurrection, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, at the Earl of Arundel's house in Highgate, near London, to which place he casually repaired about a week before; God so ordaining that he should die there of a gentle fever, accidentally accompanied with a great cold, whereby the defluxion of rheum fell so plentifully upon his breast, that he died by suffocation.^[33]

At the news of his death, over thirty great minds collected together their eulogies of him, which was then later published in Latin.^[34]

He left personal assets of about £7,000 and lands that realised £6,000 when sold.^[35] His debts amounted to more than £23,000, equivalent to more than £3m at current value.^[35][36]

Philosophy and Works[link]

Francis Bacon's Philosophy is displayed in the vast and varied writings he left, which might be divided in three great branches:

• Scientifical works - in which his ideas for an universal reform of knowledge, scientific method and the improvement of mankind's state are presented.

• Religious/literary works - in which he presents his moral philosophy and theological meditations.

• Juridical works - in which his reforms in Law are proposed.

(See main article)

Influence[link]

"Frontspiece to 'The History of Royal-Society of London', picturing Bacon (in the right) among the founding influences of the Society. National Portrait Gallery, London

Science[link]

Bacon's ideas were influential in the 1630s and 1650s among scholars, in particular Sir Thomas Browne, who in his encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–1672) frequently adheres to a Baconian approach to his scientific enquiries. During the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of the Royal Society founded under Charles II in 1660.^[37][38] In the nineteenth century his emphasis on induction was revived and developed by William Whewell, among others. He has been reputed as the "Father of Experimental Science".^[39]

Bacon is also considered to be the philosophical influence behind the dawning of the Industrial age. In his works, Bacon called for a "spring of a progeny of inventions, which shall overcome, to some extent, and subdue our needs and miseries",^[40] always proposing that all scientific work should be done for charitable purposes, as matter of alleviating mankind's misery, and that therefore science should be practical and have as purpose the inventing of useful things for the improvement of mankind's estate. This changed the course of science in history, from a merely contemplative state, as it was found in ancient and medieval ages, to a practical, inventive state - that would have eventually led to the inventions that made possible the Industrial Revolutions of the following centuries.^[41]

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over tenfold, while the world's population increased over sixfold.^[42] In the words of Nobel Prize winner Robert E. Lucas, Jr., "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth ... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before”.^[43]

He also wrote a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death,^[44] with natural and experimental observations for the prolongation of life.

For one of his biographers, Hepworth Dixon, Bacon's influence in modern world is so great that every man who rides in a train, sends a telegram, follows a steam plough, sits in an easy chair, crosses the channel or the Atlantic, eats a good dinner, enjoys a beautiful garden, or undergoes a painless surgical operation, owes him something.^[45]

North America[link]

Some authors^[who?] believe that Bacon's vision for a Utopian New World in North America was laid out in his novel New Atlantis, which depicts a mythical island, Bensalem, located somewhere between Peru and Japan. In this work he depicted a land where there would be freedom of religion - showing a Jew treated fairly and equally in an island of Christians, but it has been debated whether this work had influenced others reforms, such as greater rights for women, the abolition of slavery, elimination of debtors' prisons, separation of church and state, and freedom of political expression,^{[46][47][48][49]} although there is no hint of these reforms in The New Atlantis itself. His propositions of legal reform (which were not established in his life time), though, are considered to have been one of the influences behind the Napoleonic Code,^[50] and therefore could show some resemblance with or influence in the drafting of others liberal constitutions that came in the centuries after Bacon's lifetime, such as the American.

A Newfoundland stamp which reads "Lord Bacon - the guiding spirit in colonization scheme

Francis Bacon played a leading role in creating the British colonies, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. His government report on “The Virginia Colony” was submitted in 1609. In 1610 Bacon and his associates received a charter from the king to form the Tresurer and the Companye of Adventurers and planter of the Cittye of London and Bristoll for the Collonye or plantacon in Newfoundland^[51] and sent John Guy to found a colony there. In 1910 Newfoundland issued a postage stamp to commemorate Bacon's role in establishing the province. The stamp describes Bacon as, "the guiding spirit in Colonization Schemes in 1610."^[18] Moreover, some scholars believe he was largely responsible for the drafting, in 1609 and 1612, of two charters of government for the Virginia Colony.^[52] Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".^[53] Historian and biographer William Hepworth Dixon considered that Bacon's name could be included in the list of Founders of the United States of America.^[54]

It is also believed by the Rosicrucian organization AMORC, that Bacon would have influenced a settlement of mystics in North America, stating that his work "The New Atlantis" inspired a colony of Rosicrucians led by Johannes Kelpius, to journey across the Atlantic Ocean in a chartered vessel called Sarah Mariah, and move on to Pennsylvania in late XVII Century. According to their claims, these rosicrucian communities "made valuable contributions to the newly emerging American culture in the fields of printing, philosophy, the sciences and arts".^[55]

Johannes Kelpius and his fellows moved to Wissahickon Creek, in Pennsylvania, and became known as "Hermits of Mystics of the Wissahickon"^[56] or simply "Monks of the Wissahickon".^[57][58]

Law[link]

Statue of Francis Bacon in the Library of Congress of the United States of America

Although much of his legal reform proposals were not established in his life time, his legal legacy was considered by the magazine New Scientist, in a publication of 1961, as having influenced the drafting of the Code Napoleon, and the law reforms introduced by Sir Robert Peel.^[59]

The historian William Hepworth Dixon referred to the Code Napoleon as "the sole embodiment of Bacon's thought", saying that Bacon's legal work "has had more success abroad than it has found at home", and that in France "it has blossomed and come into fruit".^[50]

The scholar Harvey Wheeler attributed to Bacon, in his work "Francis Bacon’s Verulamium - the Common Law Template of The Modern in English Science and Culture", the creation of these distinguishing features of the modern common law system:

• Using cases as repositories of evidence about the "unwritten law”;
• Determining the relevance of precedents by exclusionary principles of evidence and logic;
• Treating opposing legal briefs as adversarial hypotheses about the application of the "unwritten law" to a new set of facts.

As late as the eighteenth-century some juries still declared the law rather than the fact, but already before the end of the seventeenth century Sir Matthew Hale explained modern common law adjudication procedure and acknowledged Bacon as the inventor of the process of discovering unwritten laws from the evidences of their applications. The method combined empiricism and inductivism in a new way that was to imprint its signature on many of the distinctive features of modern English society.^[60]

In brief, Bacon is considered by some jurists^[who?] to be the father of modern Jurisprudence.^[61]

Political scientist James McClellan, from the University of Virginia, considered Bacon to have had "a great following" in the American colonies.^[62]

Historical debates[link]

Bacon and Shakespeare[link]

The Baconian theory of Shakespearean authorship, first proposed in the mid-19th century, contends that Sir Francis Bacon wrote the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare, in opposition to the scholarly consensus that William Shakespeare of Stratford was the author.

Occult theories[link]

Francis Bacon often gathered with the men at Gray's Inn to discuss politics and philosophy, and to try out various theatrical scenes that he admitted writing.^[63] Bacon's alleged connection to the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons has been widely discussed by authors and scholars in many books.^[64] However others, including Daphne du Maurier (in her biography of Bacon), have argued there is no substantive evidence to support claims of involvement with the Rosicrucians.^[65] Frances Yates^[66] does not make the claim that Bacon was a Rosicrucian, but presents evidence that he was nevertheless involved in some of the more closed intellectual movements of his day. She argues that Bacon's movement for the advancement of learning was closely connected with the German Rosicrucian movement, while Bacon's New Atlantis portrays a land ruled by Rosicrucians. He apparently saw his own movement for the advancement of learning to be in conformity with Rosicrucian ideals.^[67]

An old volume of Francis Bacon and a rose

The link between Bacon's work and the Rosicrucians ideals which Yates allegedly found, was the conformity of the purposes expressed by the Rosicrucian Manifestos and Bacon's plan of a "Great Instauration",^[67] for the two were calling for a reformation of both "divine and human understanding",^[68][69] as well as both had in view the purpose of mankind's return to the "state before the Fall".^[70][71]
Another major link is said to be the resemblance between Bacon's "New Atlantis" and the German Rosicrucian Johann Valentin Andreae's "Description of the Republic of Christianopolis (1619)".^[72] In his book, Andreae shows an utopic island in which Christian theosophy and applied science ruled, and in which the spiritual fulfillment and intellectual activity constituted the primary goals of each individual, the scientific pursuits being the highest intellectual calling – linked to the achievement of spiritual perfection. Andreae's island also depicts a great advancement in technology, with many industries separated in different zones which supplied the population's needs – which shows great resemblance to Bacon's scientific methods and purposes.^[41][73]

The Rosicrucian organization AMORC claims that Francis Bacon was the "Imperator" (leader) of the Rosicrucian Order in both England and the European continent, and would have directed it at that time of the Renaissance.^[55]

Francis Bacon's influence can also be seen on a variety of religious and spiritual authors, and on groups that have utilised his writings in their own belief systems.^{[74][75][76][77][78]}

See also[link]

• The works of Francis Bacon
• Baconian method
• Scientific method
• Novum Organum Scientiarum
• Pseudodoxia Epidemica
• Francis Bacon School
• Cestui que (Defense and Comment on Chudleigh's Case)
• New Atlantis
• Essays (Francis Bacon)
• Bacon's cipher
• Code Napoleon
• Occult theories about Francis Bacon

Bibliography[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Francis Bacon

A complete chronological Bibliography of Francis Bacon. (Many of Bacon's writings were only published after his death in 1626).

• Notes on the State of Christendom (1582)
• Letter of Advice to the Queen (1585-6)
• An Advertisement Touching the Controversies of the Church of England (1586-9)
• Dumb show in the Gray’s Inn Christmas Revels (1587-8)
• Misfortunes of Arthur (1588)
• A Conference of Pleasure : In Praise of Knowledge, In Praise of Fortitude, In Praise of Love, In Praise of Truth. (1592)
• Certain Observations made upon a Libel (1592)
• Temporis Partus Maximus (‘The Greatest Birth of Time’) (1593)
• A True Report of the Detestable Treason intended by Dr Roderigo Lopez (1594)
• The Device of the Indian Prince : Squire, Hermit, Soldier, Statesman. (1594)
• Gray’s Inn Christmas/New Year Revels: The High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole ( 1594-5) (See Gesta Grayorum)
• The Honourable Order of the Knights of the Helmet (1595)(See Gesta Grayorum)
• The Sussex Speech (1595)
• The Philautia Device (1595)
• Maxims of the Law (1596)
• Essays (1st ed.) (1597)
• The Colours of Good and Evil (1597)
• Meditationes Sacrae (1597)
• Declaration of the Practices and Treasons attempted and Committed by the late Earl of Essex (1601)
• Valerius Terminus of the Interpretation of Nature (1603)
• A Brief Discourse touching the Happy Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland (1603)
• Cogitations de Natura Rerum (‘Thoughts on the Nature of Things’) (1604)
• Apologie concerning the late Earl of Essex (1604)
• Certain Considerations touching the better pacification and Edification of the Church of England (1604)
• The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Human (1605)
• Temporis Masculus Partus (‘The Masculine Birth of Time’) (1605)
• Filium Labyrinthi sive Formula Inquisitionis (1606)
• In Felicem Memoriam Elizabethae (‘In Happy Memory of Queen Elizabeth’) (1606)
• Cogitata et Visa de Interpetatione Naturae (‘Thoughts and Conclusions on the Interpretation of Nature’) (1607)
• Redargiutio Philosophiarum (‘The Refutation of Philosophies’) (1608)
• The Plantation of Ireland (1608-9)
• De Sapientia Veterum (‘Wisdom of the Ancients’) (1609)
• Descriptio Globi Intellectualis (‘A Description of the Intellectual Globe’) (1612)
• Thema Coeli (‘Theory of the Heavens’) (1612)
• Essays (2nd edition –38 essays) (1612)
• Marriage of the River Thames to the Rhine (masque performed by Gray's Inn and Inner Temple lawyers on the river and in Westminster Hall in celebration of the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Frederick, Elector Palatine) (1613)
• Charge…touching Duels (1614)
• The Masque of Flowers (performed by Gray's Inn before the King at Whitehall to honour the marriage of the Earl of Somerset to Frances Howard, Countess of Essex) (1614)
• Instauratio Magna ('Great Instauration') (1620)
• Novum Organum Scientiarum (‘New Method’) (1620)
• Historia Naturalis (‘Natural History’) (1622)
• Introduction to six Natural Histories (1622)
• Historia Ventorum (‘History of Winds’) (1622)
• History of the Reign of King Henry VII (1622)
• Abcedarium Naturae (1622)
• De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623)
• Historia Vitae et Mortis (‘History of Life and Death’) (1623)
• Historia Densi et Rari (‘History of Density and Rarity’) (1623)
• Historia Gravis et Levis (‘History of Gravity and Levity’) (1623)
• History of the Sympathy and Antipathy of Things (1623)
• History of Sulphur, Salt and Mercury (1623)
• A Discourse of a War with Spain (1623)
• An Advertisement touching an Holy War (1623)
• A Digest of the Laws of England (1623)
• Cogitationes de Natura Rerum (‘Thoughts on the Nature of Things’) (1624)
• De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris (‘Of the Ebb and Flow of the Sea’) (1624)
• Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral (3rd/final edition – 58 essays) (1625)
• Apothegms New and Old (1625)
• Translation of Certain Psalms into English Verse (1625)
• Revision of De Sapientia Veterum (‘Wisdom of the Ancients’) (1625)
• Inquisitio de Magnete (‘Enquiries into Magnetism’) (1625)
• Topica Inquisitionis de Luce et Lumine (‘Topical Inquisitions into Light and Luminosity’) (1625)

All the following works were published only after his death (1626):

• New Atlantis (1627)
• Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History (1627)
• Certain Miscellany Works (1629)
• Use of the Law (1629)
• Elements of the Common Laws (1629)
• Operum Moralium et Civilium (1638)
• Dialogum de Bello Sacro (1638)
• Cases of Treason (1641)
• Confession of Faith (1641)
• Speech concerning Naturalisation (1641)
• Office of Constables (1641)
• Discourse concerning Church Affairs (1641)
• An Essay of a King (1642)
• The Learned Reading of Sir Francis Bacon (to Gray’s Inn) (1642)
• Ordinances (1642)
• Relation of the Poisoning of Overbury. (1651)
• Scripta in Naturali et Universali Philosophia (1653)
• Scala Intellectus sive Filum Labyrinthi (1653)
• Prodromi sive Anticipationes Philosophiae Secundae (1653)
• Cogitationes de Natura Rerum (1653)
• De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris (1653)
• The Mirror of State and Eloquence (1656)
• Opuscula Varia Posthuma, Philosophica, Civilia et Theologia (1658)
• Letter of Advice to the Duke of Buckingham (1661)
• Charge given for the Verge (1662)
• Baconiana, Or Certain Genuine Remains Of Sr. Francis Bacon (1679)
• Abcedarium Naturae, or a Metaphysical piece (1679)
• Letters and Remains (1734)
• Promus (1861)

Notes[link]