The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

By March 1589 Dee had left Bohemia for Saxony, hoping ―to mete Mr. Edward
Kelley at Stade, going also into England‖. 103 However, Kelley showed no willingness to
return to the ―earthly paradise‖, leaving Dee to travel to England alone on 19 November. 104
While Dee‘s reception was favourable—the Queen visited his house in December 1590—
without Kelley at his side his Court career stalled. 105 Many of Dee‘s former patrons, such
as Leicester and his brother the Earl of Warwick, had died, and an increasingly conservative
Court, influenced by Archbishop John Whitgift, had little enthusiasm for occult
philosophy.
Back in Bohemia, Kelley‘s alchemical process had attracted considerable attention.
News of his alchemical success had reached Rudolf, who quickly abandoned his previous
indifference to the alchemist. The Emperor knighted Kelley, granting him a patent to
nobility and lands that Kelley claimed yielded £1,500 a year. 106 Moreover, Kelley moved to
Prague, where he received a prestigious position as manager of the Emperor‘s alchemical
works. 107 Such was Kelley‘s new found status within the Holy Roman Empire that Rudolf
appointed him to his Privy Council. Kelley also claimed to be ―Chief Regent in and over
all the lands and affayres of the Prynce Rosenberg‖ who exercised an authority in Bohemia
that rivalled the Emperor himself. 108
In June 1589, a dispute between Kelley and an English agent in Prague may have
prejudiced some at the Elizabethan Court‘s belief in Kelley‘s alchemy. Kelley charged the
former Jesuit Dr. Francis Parkins with being the ―right hande or cheeffe man to the kinge
of Spayn and the Pope in all their trencherious enterprises against Englande‖ intending
―the murtheringe of oure Queene‖. 109 However, it seems that this may have been cover for
103 Dee, The Private Diary, p. 32.
104 Ibid.
105 Ibid.
106 Edward Kelley to Cecil, 24 July 1590, TNA, SP 81/6 f.57r.
107 Ibid.
108 Ibid.
109 Edward Kelley, June 1589, BL, Harley MS 6994 f.182r.
93