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Peacham was admirably suited to the art of emblem composition. About Peacham's Work
The most famous emblem book of Henry Peacham’s is the Minerva Britanna, 1612; his other works that are closely related to the 1612 Minerva Britanna are the following four manuscripts where only a few emblems connected with Francis Bacon will be presented here:
~ Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson Poetry, 146, created in 1603, derived from the first part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron [King’s Gift]
~ British Library, MS Harl. 6855. Art 13, created in 1604, derived from the second part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron
~ British Library, MS Royal, 12A, LXVI, created in 1610, derived from the third and final part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron
~ Folger Shakespeare Library, MS v.b45, created in 1621/22
The manuscripts are of Peacham’s early work when he was seeking a name for himself and earn patronage by the creation of manuscripts designed to be presented to specific individuals, in this instance King James I., and his son Prince Henry.
Peacham's most memorable works to literature eyes are Titus Andronicus, 1595; The Art of Drawing, 1606; Graphice, 1612; The Gentleman’s Exercise, 1612; Minerva Britanna, 1612; The Complete Gentleman, 1622. He also published books of poetry and essays, political pamphlets, a news book reporting on events in the Low Countries, and several works that may be loosely categorized as social commentary. On the final page of Minerva Britanna, he promises a further collection of emblems, but in The Complete Gentleman, he subsequently explained that he abandoned this project because of the high costs involved; there has been no trace of the manuscript for this projected emblem book.
His individual works of emblems consisted of a comical element depicting the shoes of the famous traveller Thomas Coryate, printed in 1611 under the title of Coryat’s Crudities; his four heraldic emblems to accompany The Period of Mourning; his 1613 elegy on the death of Prince Henry; his prefatory emblems for his A true Relation of the Affaires of Cleve and Gulick, 1615; and The Valley of Varietie, 1638 which closes his career of emblematic poems to accompany the engravings by Wenceslaus Hollar.
Click on the above Minerva Britanna image to see full size!
Peacham was familiar with the works of iconographers such as Pierio Valeriano and Cesare Ripa; with collections of devises and imprese by such authors as Paolo Giovio, Claude Paradin, and Jacobus Typotius; with treatises on blazonry by such authors as Gerard Legh, John Guillim, and Peacham’s friend Augustine Vincent; with important artistic treatises by Lomazzo and Horapollo; and with the emblems of Alciato, Whitney, Sambucus, Hadrianus Junius, Reusner, Camerarius, and de la Parrière.
Click on the image to see some portraits of these iconographers!
The Peacham emblems from four manuscripts
connected with Francis Bacon in the Minerva Britanna!
Minerva Britanna 34:
Emblem dedicated to Sir Francis Bacon, Knight. It is also found in the Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson Poetry, 146, created in 1603; in the British Library, MS Harl. 6855. Art 13, created in 1604, and in the British Library, MS Royal, 12A, LXVI, created in 1610. It does not appear in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS v.b45, created in 1621/22.
Click above emblem image to see the differences!
Minerva Britanna 171:
Emblem showing Bacon's Hat settled over the Crown. It is also found in the Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson Poetry, 146, created in 1603; British Library, MS Harl. 6855. Art 13, created in 1604 and in the British Library, MS Royal, 12A, LXVI, created in 1610. It does not appear in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS v.b45, created in 1621/22.
Click above emblem image to see the differences!
Minerva Britanna 137:
An emblem depicting Bacon's Masonic Pillars. It is also found in the British Library, MS Harl. 6855. Art 13, created in 1604 and in the British Library, MS Royal, 12A, LXVI, created in 1610. It does not appear in the Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson Poetry, 146, created in 1603 nor in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS v.b45, created in 1621/22.
Click above emblem image to see the differences!
Bibliography:
- Farmer: Tudor Facsimile Texts, 1819
- Young: The English Emblem Tradition, vol. v, 1988
- Birch: The Life of Prince Henry of Wales, 1760
- Manningham: Diary of John Manningham, 1868
Web site links of interest:
THE FOUR PEACHAM MSS.
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Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson Poetry, 146, created in 1603, derived from the first part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron [King’s Gift].
March 1603, Peacham was a schoolmaster at Kimbolton when Queen Elizabeth I., died and King James I., began his progress south to be crowned James I., of England. His journey progressed; he stayed at Sir Oliver Cromwell’s residence in Huntingdon under an extravagant welcome. Those present cannot be confirmed; the Cromwell documents were destroyed by fire in 1830. Peacham dedicated this manuscript to the King with the intention of presenting it to him, the heraldic emblems that he added to those based on James’s Basilikon Doron. -
British Library, MS Harl. 6855. Art 13, created in 1604, derived from the second part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron.
Peacham dedicates this manuscript to King James I., whom he addresses on the title-page as Piissimo ac Serenissimo IACOBI Magnae huius BRITANNIAE Monarchae primo. [To his most pious and serene highness James I of Great Britain.] -
British Library, MS Royal, 12A, LXVI, created in 1610, derived from the third and final part of King James I’s Basilikon Doron.
This dedication manuscript to King James I., was made in colour rather than pen and ink and it’s an actual copy presented to its dedicatee. -
Folger Shakespeare Library, MS v.b45, created in 1621/22.
This manuscript bears no relation to the previous work Minerva Britanna published in 1612 and contains only twenty emblems. It is difficult to obtain any reference on the source he based these particular emblems. It is dedicated to Sir Julius Caesar who in January 1615, was one of the commissioners who examined Edmond Peacham, the Rector of Hinton St George in Somerset, a man suspected of being involved in a conspiracy against King James’s life. During a subsequent examination on 10 March 1615, the desperate accused man attempted to implicate his namesake. In a letter to the King two days later, Francis Bacon suggested, “further inquiry be made of this other Peacham,” but what action was taken we do not know. Sir Julius Caesar may have intervened on Henry Peacham’s behalf, but if he did, Peacham never mentions it.