Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we are talking about Francis Scott Key. He was born in 1779 and he died in 1843. He was born in Frederick County, Maryland. He studied at St. John's College in Annapolis, and he had a very distinguished

career as a lawyer and served for several years as the United States District Attorney.

He married Mary Tyler Lloyd and together they had 11 children and he is most famous for penning

the lyrics to the national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

It was during the War of 1812 and Francis Scott Key was called upon to be involved in a prisoner exchange negotiation.

And he was in the Baltimore Harbor, this was the year 1814, and he successfully negotiated

the exchange and he was making his way back and he got caught in the battle of Fort McHenry in 1814.

Major George Armistad was the commander of Fort McHenry and prior to the battle he had ordered a flag all of 24 by 30 feet to fly above Fort McHenry.

He said he wanted it to be the first thing that the British saw when they pulled

into the Baltimore Harbor.

Well as the fort and the flag were under attack, Francis Scott Key watched it all, and during the attack he penned the lines of a poem.

He filled out that poem a little later, and it was published widely, in its full form,

it's four stanzas, but typically only the first. widely in its full form,

its four stanzas, but typically only the first is usually sung

and it is indeed the Star Spangled Banner.

Francis Scott Key was a devout Episcopalian in addition to being a lawyer and he was also quite the poet.

In fact, he wrote many poems and mostly were of a biblical and religious nature.

In 1857, after his death, these poems were all gathered together and published under

the simple title poems.

A number of those poems were turned to hymns, probably about 12 or so during his life,

were given a tune and were published in various hymnals.

Two have sort of emerged and are widely found in hymnals.

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