The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Kelley‘s demise. 148 Wotton reported that on 30 April the Emperor had ordered the town
guard to apprehend Kelley, only to find that the alchemist had fled. Rudolf, furious at
Kelley‘s escape, ―cursed in the Dutch manner‖, and threatening his patron the Earl of
Rosenburg ―that if [Kelley] came unto him, he shoold deliver him upon his alleageance to
the Crowne of Bohemia‖. 149 Rosenburg‘s allegiance was not tested, as the authorities
arrested Kelley a few days later in the nearby town of Sobeslav. 150 Kelley‘s star had waned
dramatically to incur such wrath.
Wotton assumed that Kelley‘s crime had been ―waighty and hayneus...bicause it is
contrary to the Emporers humor and course of the house of Austria to proceed in Criminal
matters either so violently or so generally‖. 151 He had heard several reasons for Kelley‘s
demise, although he dismissed rumours of debt as the cause, as Kelley owed nothing to the
Emperor himself. Some thought that Kelley had insulted either the Emperor or one of the
prominent families of Bohemia; others had heard that Rudolf had become convinced that a
medicine Kelley made for his heart was in fact a poison. Still other reports detailed either a
commercial dispute with an Italian named Scotto, or that Kelley had been in league with a
recently executed Venetian alchemist. Wotton told his half brother that
Till certainer advise i wil hould this opinion that Sir Edward Kelley hath at
some tyme or other vaunted at his table or in his conversation with others,
that the queen hath sent for him (as he is a man who takes as I heer a
pleasure in speaking that princes desire him). Howsoever it be, it is likely in
this cause much to hurt him, the Emperor being assurdly informed that he
is sent for 152
The notoriously unstable Rudolf‘s jealousy, augmented by the anti-English whisperings of
Court Catholics, would certainly have been enough to warrant Kelley‘s forcible detainment.
Wotton thought Kelley would avoid execution, as the ―Erle of Rosenburg wil
ernestly interpose himself and in Bohemia it is a rule that his majetie dare doo nothing
148 Henry Wotton to Edward Wotton, 15 may 1591, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 68, no. 85.
149 Ibid.
150 Ibid.
151 Ibid.
152 Ibid.
101