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Golden Lads
Prior to the publication of this biography, the elusive Anthony Bacon was merely glimpsed in the shadow of his famous younger brother, Francis. A fascinating historical figure, Anthony Bacon was a contemporary of the brilliant band of gallants who clustered round the court of Elizabeth I, and he was closely connected with the Queen's favourite, the Earl of Essex. He also worked as an agent for Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen's spymaster, living in France where he became acquainted with Henri IV and the famous essayist Michel de Montaigne. It was in France that du Maurier discovered a secret that, if disclosed during Bacon's lifetime, could have put an end to his political career ...Du Maurier did much to shed light on matters that had long puzzled historians, and, as well as a consummate exercise in research, this biography is also a strange and fascinating tale.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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About the author
Daphne du Maurier
430 books10.1k followersDaphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 at 24 Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, London, the middle of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel, née Beaumont. In many ways her life resembles a fairy tale. Born into a family with a rich artistic and historical background, her paternal grandfather was author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the 1894 novel Trilby, and her mother was a maternal niece of journalist, author, and lecturer Comyns Beaumont. She and her sisters were indulged as a children and grew up enjoying enormous freedom from financial and parental restraint. Her elder sister, Angela du Maurier, also became a writer, and her younger sister Jeanne was a painter.
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story.
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 31, 2024
Scandals, spies, and friendship in Early Modern Europe
The review contains spoilers.
Golden Lads by Daphne du Maurier is not fiction, but an attempt to explore, with the help of letters and primary sources, the life of the two Bacon brothers, Anthony and Francis. Both are complex and somewhat enigmatic persons of the early modern period, each in his own way. My feelings about the outcome are ambivalent: there are several points that I did like, but in certain respects, the book’s approach to distant history is rather outdated and clichéd. We should, however, keep in mind that it was written around 1975 when historical events were treated in a different way than they are now. Today, a more pragmatic and context-relevant approach dominates historical research.
The main advantage of this book is that the author draws attention to Anthony as a character playing a certain role in European politics at the time. He is much less known than his younger brother Francis, philosopher, scientist and politician. Most have never even heard of him, I believe.
Du Maurier often cites authentic letters written by Anthony, Francis, their formidable mother Lady Ann Bacon, and other characters of this captivating story.
Another strong point is her showing that European events were correlated with each other even in the 16th century due to the exchange of ideas and thoughts. Letters constantly travelled between countries. Books published in one country could be translated and read in another. This exchange of ideas meant that sociocultural fields in different countries were not isolated but, on the contrary, could affect each other, even if very few people were literate compared to the literacy rate today. This may seem obvious, but it is not clear when one reads different biographies, where authors often focus on their subject significantly underplaying the role of the historical and socio-cultural context.
The book starts with a description of the married life of the parents of the Bacon brothers. The mother, a highly educated and stern woman, and the father, Sir Nicolas Bacon, Lord Keeper, both were committed Protestants. The boys grow up, study together, read Plato and Aristotle, and learn to play the lute... Then Anthony leaves England for the continent.
He spent about 12 years in France, most of them in the south of the country, where he developed a friendly relationship with Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre (future Henry IV of France), his sister princess Catherine, and philosopher Michel de Montaigne. During these years, he served as an agent to Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary to Queen Elizabeth, to whom he was sending letters about European affairs.
Anthony corresponded with intelligencers in France, Spain, and Italy and sent information to Sir Francis. Bacon apparently enjoyed staying in the south of France but the pleasant time he was having was to come abruptly to an end.
Bacon found himself embroiled in a sex scandal that threatened to have dangerous consequences. While staying in Montauban, he was accused of sodomy with his male servants, a charge that could have resulted in the death penalty under the law of the time. Some of his pages testified against him, claiming that their master had been abusing them. Anthony was imprisoned, but soon after regained his freedom with the help of Henry of Navarre. The King intervened and brought the process against Anthony to an end.
It is not possible to say whether these accusations were true or rather to what extent they might reflect the complex reality. Historians nowadays reckon that back then attacks on sexual manners and behavior were an ordinary thing and may have represented either calumny or a serious exaggeration. Whether or not the charges against Anthony were grounded, they did enough harm to Anthony who the rest of his life feared that someone in England could hear about this affair, and therefore avoided meeting French envoys coming to London. This is briefly the version presented by du Maurier.
According to many modern scholars, it is largely anachronistic to apply strict homo- or heterosexual terms to people who lived in the pre-modern era. Daphne du Maurier places the sexual scandal in Montauban at the forefront of the story, but this may not be a good approach to describing the events. It would perhaps be more appropriate to integrate the whole affair into the political and domestic context. This would show us that the scandal occurred at a time when Anthony was involved in a number of confessional and diplomatic disputes in war-torn France, which made him vulnerable to slander. In other words, there is not enough evidence to make any definitive conclusion about his having sexual relations with men (which is likely, but his accusation does not prove it).
After returning to England, Anthony became one of the confidants of the Earl of Essex to whom he was very attached. Having fragile health, he spent most of the time in his chambers working with correspondence coming from all over Europe. Anthony also wrote poetry. The author notes that for some unknown reason he had never appeared at the English court and never met Queen Elizabeth.
Francis, the younger brother (the one who wrote Essays which he dedicated to his elder brother), was more successful in his career. He participated in the process against the Earl of Essex and, it is thought, contributed greatly to his having been found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Some historians have tended to blame Francis Bacon for betraying his patron Essex, who, while in a position of power, had always supported Francis. However, the author suggests that the younger Bacon was obliged to do this. First, such was the order from the monarch herself. Second, he wanted to spare brother Anthony who closely collaborated with the Earl and lived at Essex House. Indeed, he had never been questioned about the controversial Essex affair.
Anthony, whom Daphne calls a bird in the cage, died in 1601, soon after the Earl’s execution, and there perhaps was some mystery about his death.
More up-to-date and scientific research on Anthony has been done since du Maurier published her book. For example, Male Friendship and Testimonies of Love in Shakespeare's England. In this work, a number of letters have been brought to light and examined, including his correspondence with a man called Faunt, with whom Anthony shared intelligence and a kind of epistolary friendship.
It is interesting to note that in cultured letter exchanges “accusing each other of cruel disregard in elegant, self-pitying clauses inspired by classical models was part of the enjoyment and drama of an epistolary relationship”.
That being said, du Maurier was the first who drew attention to Anthony and dedicated a book to him.
To sum up, those who love the Elizabethan era and the history of the 16th century would most likely find this book worth reading.
The review contains spoilers.
Golden Lads by Daphne du Maurier is not fiction, but an attempt to explore, with the help of letters and primary sources, the life of the two Bacon brothers, Anthony and Francis. Both are complex and somewhat enigmatic persons of the early modern period, each in his own way. My feelings about the outcome are ambivalent: there are several points that I did like, but in certain respects, the book’s approach to distant history is rather outdated and clichéd. We should, however, keep in mind that it was written around 1975 when historical events were treated in a different way than they are now. Today, a more pragmatic and context-relevant approach dominates historical research.
The main advantage of this book is that the author draws attention to Anthony as a character playing a certain role in European politics at the time. He is much less known than his younger brother Francis, philosopher, scientist and politician. Most have never even heard of him, I believe.
Du Maurier often cites authentic letters written by Anthony, Francis, their formidable mother Lady Ann Bacon, and other characters of this captivating story.
Another strong point is her showing that European events were correlated with each other even in the 16th century due to the exchange of ideas and thoughts. Letters constantly travelled between countries. Books published in one country could be translated and read in another. This exchange of ideas meant that sociocultural fields in different countries were not isolated but, on the contrary, could affect each other, even if very few people were literate compared to the literacy rate today. This may seem obvious, but it is not clear when one reads different biographies, where authors often focus on their subject significantly underplaying the role of the historical and socio-cultural context.
The book starts with a description of the married life of the parents of the Bacon brothers. The mother, a highly educated and stern woman, and the father, Sir Nicolas Bacon, Lord Keeper, both were committed Protestants. The boys grow up, study together, read Plato and Aristotle, and learn to play the lute... Then Anthony leaves England for the continent.
He spent about 12 years in France, most of them in the south of the country, where he developed a friendly relationship with Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre (future Henry IV of France), his sister princess Catherine, and philosopher Michel de Montaigne. During these years, he served as an agent to Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary to Queen Elizabeth, to whom he was sending letters about European affairs.
Anthony corresponded with intelligencers in France, Spain, and Italy and sent information to Sir Francis. Bacon apparently enjoyed staying in the south of France but the pleasant time he was having was to come abruptly to an end.
Bacon found himself embroiled in a sex scandal that threatened to have dangerous consequences. While staying in Montauban, he was accused of sodomy with his male servants, a charge that could have resulted in the death penalty under the law of the time. Some of his pages testified against him, claiming that their master had been abusing them. Anthony was imprisoned, but soon after regained his freedom with the help of Henry of Navarre. The King intervened and brought the process against Anthony to an end.
It is not possible to say whether these accusations were true or rather to what extent they might reflect the complex reality. Historians nowadays reckon that back then attacks on sexual manners and behavior were an ordinary thing and may have represented either calumny or a serious exaggeration. Whether or not the charges against Anthony were grounded, they did enough harm to Anthony who the rest of his life feared that someone in England could hear about this affair, and therefore avoided meeting French envoys coming to London. This is briefly the version presented by du Maurier.
According to many modern scholars, it is largely anachronistic to apply strict homo- or heterosexual terms to people who lived in the pre-modern era. Daphne du Maurier places the sexual scandal in Montauban at the forefront of the story, but this may not be a good approach to describing the events. It would perhaps be more appropriate to integrate the whole affair into the political and domestic context. This would show us that the scandal occurred at a time when Anthony was involved in a number of confessional and diplomatic disputes in war-torn France, which made him vulnerable to slander. In other words, there is not enough evidence to make any definitive conclusion about his having sexual relations with men (which is likely, but his accusation does not prove it).
After returning to England, Anthony became one of the confidants of the Earl of Essex to whom he was very attached. Having fragile health, he spent most of the time in his chambers working with correspondence coming from all over Europe. Anthony also wrote poetry. The author notes that for some unknown reason he had never appeared at the English court and never met Queen Elizabeth.
Francis, the younger brother (the one who wrote Essays which he dedicated to his elder brother), was more successful in his career. He participated in the process against the Earl of Essex and, it is thought, contributed greatly to his having been found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Some historians have tended to blame Francis Bacon for betraying his patron Essex, who, while in a position of power, had always supported Francis. However, the author suggests that the younger Bacon was obliged to do this. First, such was the order from the monarch herself. Second, he wanted to spare brother Anthony who closely collaborated with the Earl and lived at Essex House. Indeed, he had never been questioned about the controversial Essex affair.
Anthony, whom Daphne calls a bird in the cage, died in 1601, soon after the Earl’s execution, and there perhaps was some mystery about his death.
More up-to-date and scientific research on Anthony has been done since du Maurier published her book. For example, Male Friendship and Testimonies of Love in Shakespeare's England. In this work, a number of letters have been brought to light and examined, including his correspondence with a man called Faunt, with whom Anthony shared intelligence and a kind of epistolary friendship.
It is interesting to note that in cultured letter exchanges “accusing each other of cruel disregard in elegant, self-pitying clauses inspired by classical models was part of the enjoyment and drama of an epistolary relationship”.
That being said, du Maurier was the first who drew attention to Anthony and dedicated a book to him.
To sum up, those who love the Elizabethan era and the history of the 16th century would most likely find this book worth reading.
November 6, 2014
The principal reason I picked up ‘Golden Lads’ was that I was familiar with Ms. du Maurier’s justly esteemed novel, Rebecca. I wanted to see if the author was as gifted at writing history as at the novel form. It’s not an easy feat to pull off but Ms. du Maurier accomplishes it effortlessly. The book recounts the story of the Bacon brothers, Francis and Anthony, with a wealth of information and correspondence unusual for the period. It is a quick, enjoyable read, not without wit and humor.
One caveat: this is a tale for those with a passion for English history, more particularly Elizabethan history. It provides a portrait on an intimate scale, reflecting the manners and modes of expression of the period. It is unlikely to capture the imagination of the reader whose interests are more general in nature.
That said, Ms. du Maurier is a gifted writer, with an eye for detail and a felicity of expression matched by few. She more than does justice by her subject matter.
One caveat: this is a tale for those with a passion for English history, more particularly Elizabethan history. It provides a portrait on an intimate scale, reflecting the manners and modes of expression of the period. It is unlikely to capture the imagination of the reader whose interests are more general in nature.
That said, Ms. du Maurier is a gifted writer, with an eye for detail and a felicity of expression matched by few. She more than does justice by her subject matter.
November 15, 2024
Enjoyable read for anyone interested in the goings on of Tudor England. Was disappointed the ending didn’t provide any information as to what Francis Bacon did with the remainder of his life after the deaths of Anthony and Robert Deveraux, even if something brief. There were some vague references but not knowing the details I had to go look it up on my own.
November 21, 2025
From the review on Amazon: Prior to the publication of Golden Lads, Anthony Bacon was viewed as a footnote in the history of his younger brother, Francis. A fascinating historical figure in his own right, Anthony Bacon was a contemporary of the brilliant band of gallants who gathered around the court of Elizabeth I, was closely connected to the Earl of Essex, and worked in France as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham. While living in France he became acquainted with Henri IV and the essayist Michel de Montaigne, and it was there that Daphne du Maurier discovered a secret that, if disclosed during Bacon's lifetime, could have put an end to his political career. Du Maurier did much to uncover the truth behind matters that had long puzzled Elizabethan historians, while telling a strange and fascinating tale. "Daphne du Maurier has no equal."-Sunday Telegraph
A landmark book on a much-neglected figure, containing ground-breaking research . . . Vintage du Maurier - a page-turner, and a thundering good read!―Lisa Jardine
I expected more on Francis Bacon and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, but the book is primarily focused on Anthony Bacon. This is not a bad thing by any means as it fills in a ton of history other books leave out.
Took a while to finish because we were on a Viking cruise to Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia and there was very little 'reading time' either on board ship or during the land portions of the trip. Not one of my favorite cruises as I hate bouncing from one hotel to another and packing and unpacking multiple times. Seemed I could only read 15 - 30 minutes a day and finally finished during a 3-hour layover in Taiwan. Interesting book but pretty dry but that might be because I could never read enough of it at a time to really 'get into it'.
Didn't buy this one as it was part of my mom's library and I'd been meaning to read it for years. Finally found it again in a box we'd had in storage since we moved to AZ from CA in 2011.
A landmark book on a much-neglected figure, containing ground-breaking research . . . Vintage du Maurier - a page-turner, and a thundering good read!―Lisa Jardine
I expected more on Francis Bacon and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, but the book is primarily focused on Anthony Bacon. This is not a bad thing by any means as it fills in a ton of history other books leave out.
Took a while to finish because we were on a Viking cruise to Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia and there was very little 'reading time' either on board ship or during the land portions of the trip. Not one of my favorite cruises as I hate bouncing from one hotel to another and packing and unpacking multiple times. Seemed I could only read 15 - 30 minutes a day and finally finished during a 3-hour layover in Taiwan. Interesting book but pretty dry but that might be because I could never read enough of it at a time to really 'get into it'.
Didn't buy this one as it was part of my mom's library and I'd been meaning to read it for years. Finally found it again in a box we'd had in storage since we moved to AZ from CA in 2011.
May 19, 2019
The biography of an overlooked Elizabethan, Mr Anthony Bacon, who seemed to have had a significant contribution to the affairs of the time. Playfully and engagingly written with quite a bit of extrapolation (perhaps to be expected from an author whose primary occupation is as a novelist?) I did enjoy this book and would recommend to those who are interested in people from Tudor times.
April 13, 2024
Du Maurier’s writing-craft is good but the subject matter is too obscure/specialized for this to be a pop history book and I fear the speculation and lack of notes likely make it an awkward fit for historians.
September 18, 2019
As much as I love Daphne du Maurier, I just could not get hooked on this book.
October 16, 2010
For me this was a really hard book to get into. I love the Tudor period, I am fascinated with the polymaths of the period but I found the approach dry and tedious. Learned heaps about the relationship between the Cecils and the Bacons (cousins) and the Duke of Essex's involvement with both brothers, but overall it took more effort to read than I got out of it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews