Life

Nathaniel Bacon was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

.

In 1617 he was called to the bar. A Parliamentarian

Roundhead

"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...

, active in support of the New Model Army

New Model Army

The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...

 from 1644, Bacon became M.P. for Cambridge University

Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.-Boundaries, Electorate and Election Systems:...

 in 1645, during the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. Excluded after Pride's Purge

Pride's Purge

Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

, he returned to the Protectorate Parliament.

He was elected member of parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Ipswich

Ipswich (UK Parliament constituency)

Ipswich is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

 in 1654, along with his brother Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (Ipswich MP)

Francis Bacon was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1645 and 1660. He supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.-Life:...

 and the two represented Ipswich together until his death. He also served as an Admiralty Judge and Master of Requests

Master of Requests

The Master of Requests was a Great Officer of State in Scotland.The office first appeared in the reign of James V. Its functions in Scotland included that of receiving petitions from subjects and presenting them for consideration by the Privy Council...

.

Works

His Historicall Discourse has been described as the first historical work on Norman England to argue closely from sources, and as "the classical statement of the thesis of Anglo-Saxon liberties". He "presented the ... Saxons as a free people governed by laws made by themselves". Glenn Burgess describes it as "a work of considerable scholarship as well as a piece of political propaganda". It argued continuity of the kingship of William the Conqueror with that of previous kings. It was generally aristocratic and republican in tone, strongly anti-clerical, favouring government by an elected council.

The remark

Man knows the beginning of sin, but who bounds the issues thereof?

cited by John Bunyan

John Bunyan

John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...

 in Grace Abounding, as on Francesco Spiera

Francesco Spiera

Francesco Spiera was a Protestant Italian jurist. The manner of his death was the subject of numerous religious tracts.-Life:He was born at Cittadella, 20 km north of Padua, then part of the Republic of Venice...

, is misattributed, and is really Bacon's, from his work on Speira.

Publications

• The Fearefull Estate of Francis Spira (1638)
• An Historical Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England (1647-51)

Family

He was the third son of Edward Bacon, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon. His brother was Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (Ipswich MP)

Francis Bacon was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1645 and 1660. He supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.-Life:...

, the Ipswich MP.

He married twice: firstly Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Maydston of Boxted, Essex, and widow of Edward Glascock of Great Horkesley, Essex (no children) and secondly Susan, daughter of William Holloway, clothier, of East Bergholt, Suffolk, and widow of Matthew Alefounder, clothier, of Dedham, Essex with whom he had four sons and five daughters.