The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

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Cecil ―had clear general aims in his desire to strengthen and stabilize the realm and make it more wealthy‖. 2 This chapter argues that, whilst Heal and Holmes‘ conclusions are convincing, they did not accord sufficient importance to Cecil‘s patronage of alchemical schemes. To do so it examines the role of alchemy in two of Cecil‘s economic projects. Firstly it considers the role of two alchemists in promoting the Frobisher Voyages, and Cecil and the Elizabethan Court‘s responses to their alchemical methods. Secondly it examines in depth Cecil‘s lengthy patronage of the industrial alchemist William Medley, including an analysis of the Society of the New Art‘s attempts to establish an English copper industry using transmutation. Neither of these episodes has been properly explained by historians. The Frobisher Ores The curious alchemical connotations of the Frobisher voyages between 1576 and 1578 provide a significant example of the link between alchemy and state sponsored industrial development. On his first voyage to the far north of the New World, Martin Frobisher‘s discovery of ore supposedly rich in gold and silver created a frenzy of speculation at the English Court. Two alchemists, Giovanni Baptista Agnello and Burchard Kranich, were integral to the promotion of Frobisher‘s speculative second voyage, the first to attract substantial Court investment. The evidence shows that not only was Cecil, one of the lead investors, aware of the alchemical practices of the project‘s two lead chemists, but that their alchemical skills would have made the economics of the scheme more palatable for the Lord Treasurer. Historians have not previously understood the connection between alchemy and the assaying of the Frobisher ore. It has only been in the last fifty years that the project has garnered any scholarly attention. Much recent work, such as the two-volume collection of 2 Heal and Holmes, ‗The Economic Patronage of William Cecil‘, p. 223. 118
essays Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery: Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expedition (1999), has focussed on Frobisher‘s voyages, with only a passing reference to the metallurgical work carried out in England. 3 James McDermott‘s otherwise comprehensive biography of Frobisher makes no mention of any of the assayer‘s alchemical interests, referring to Agnello only as a goldsmith and Kranich as a physician. 4 Others, notably the geologist D. D. Hogarth, have examined the voyages primarily from a scientific viewpoint, examining both the ore remaining in England and the mining sites in Canada. 5 Through an examination of the related manuscripts, details of the processes used by the assayers have also been revealed. 6 Whilst these studies, especially D. D. Hogarth, P. W. Boreham and J. G. Mitchell‘s Martin Frobisher’s Northwest Venture, 1576–1581: Mines, Minerals & Metallurgy (1994), give some historical background and a clear description of the actions of those involved, their analysis of the project‘s historical significance is limited, and they fail to appreciate the importance of alchemy for the scheme. 7 To date, Deborah Harkness‘ The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution (2007) is the only work that puts the Frobisher Voyages in the context of Cecil‘s penchant for alchemical patronage. For Harkness, the project was one of many demonstrating Cecil‘s use of London‘s proto-scientific community for large scale industrial projects. However, in forming her argument she utilised some dubious evidence. Much of Harkness‘ argument hinged on her identification of an Italian, Giovanni Battista da Trento, as Giovanni Baptista Angello. A state paper written in Italian and signed by Cecil on 15 January 1577, records that da Trento met Cecil and offered to reveal many important secrets. 8 Harkness interprets this meeting, immediately after Agnello‘ first alchemical assay 3 Thomas Symons (ed.), Meta Incognita: a Discourse of Discovery: Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expedition, Hull (PQ), 1999. 4 James McDermott, Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer, New Haven, 2001, pp. 153-154, 199. 5 D. D. Hogarth, P. W. Boreham and J. G. Mitchell, Mines, Minerals & Metallurgy: Martin Frobisher’s Northwest Venture, 1576-1581, Hull (PQ), 1994; D. D. Hogarth and John Loop, ‗Precious Metals in Martin Frobisher‘s ―Black Ores‖ From Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories‘, Canadian Mineralogist, Vol. 24, 1986. 6 Hogarth, Boreham and Mitchell, Mines, Minerals & Metallurgy, 1994, pp. 73-100. 7 Ibid. 8 Harkness, The Jewel House, pp. 143, 282n. 119
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The Alchemical Patronage of Sir Wil
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Abstract This thesis examines the a
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Acknowledgements Thanks must first
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List of Abbreviations APC Acts of t
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Introduction William Cecil, through
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late seventeenth and early eighteen
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economic policy, only cursory exami
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otherwise. The dull, elderly, burea
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y such prolific authors as A. E. Wa
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marginalised the importance of alch
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Many of the distortions in the hist
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difficult to access with microfilm
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Chapter 1: Cecil and Alchemical Phi
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other aspects of medieval knowledge
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explain why alchemy made sense in t
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accuracy of the Aristotelian texts.
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short-sighted match. 44 There is ev
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University in the period. 56 A high
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some tentative conclusions about Ce
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Cecil tended to favour more practic
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Actes and Monuments (1563), ―fata
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Dee and Cecil‘s relationship over
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symbolism, seems tenuous. It ignore
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great pleasure in the workes of Nat
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demonstrated the divine spirit of l
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alchemical knowledge than his geogr
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eports to Cecil are almost exclusiv
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Thynne also affirmed the importance
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From Longleat Thynne wrote for Ceci
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his desperate financial situation.
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no significant records of their pra
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such as John Dee and country gentle
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The late 1560s saw the first signif
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eminently qualified to deal with th
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the patronage of James Blount, Lord
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medicines. Amongst the collection o
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gold into France to fund Catholic e
Page 75 and 76: in distayne‖. 98 However, it is n
Page 77 and 78: of a dedicatory epistle to Cecil, f
Page 79 and 80: home I have not seen‖. 120 Where
Page 81 and 82: of yeeres before Paracelsus time‖
Page 83 and 84: Henry Bossevyle suggested practical
Page 85 and 86: metal and European currencies, furt
Page 87 and 88: De Lannoy first came to the attenti
Page 89 and 90: god send it her majesty as trouly a
Page 91 and 92: perform alchemy. Rather, Waad belie
Page 93 and 94: and Leicester. 56 De Lannoy promise
Page 95 and 96: Cecil could not convince the Queen,
Page 97 and 98: the accounts of Elias Ashmole and S
Page 99 and 100: context of Dee‘s failed English C
Page 101 and 102: By March 1589 Dee had left Bohemia
Page 103 and 104: entirely self centred‖. 117 Cecil
Page 105 and 106: Cecil and the Queen‘s demands tha
Page 107 and 108: love and honor vertue and knolledge
Page 109 and 110: Kelley‘s demise. 148 Wotton repor
Page 111 and 112: depryved of his libertye and frends
Page 113 and 114: According to Page, Kelley had not i
Page 115 and 116: a number of attempts to convince Ke
Page 117 and 118: For the Queen and Cecil, Smith‘s
Page 119 and 120: £500 from the company, they were t
Page 121 and 122: payment. Peterson refused them; he
Page 123 and 124: Smith‘s plan, they must have been
Page 125: Chapter Four: Alchemy and Economic
Page 129 and 130: y chance she threw and burned in th
Page 131 and 132: y others without trewthe‖. 25 Wal
Page 133 and 134: work did not make this link, and ne
Page 135 and 136: linked. It is, however, significant
Page 137 and 138: laming betrayal, setbacks and decep
Page 139 and 140: to involve cementation rather than
Page 141 and 142: Clearly aware of Cecil‘s rising i
Page 143 and 144: certainly the practical expert, who
Page 145 and 146: new process which ―my Lord Burghl
Page 147 and 148: Image 3: An Elizabethan Map of the
Page 149 and 150: was the potential benefit for the C
Page 151 and 152: Medley ―by commaundement mencyone
Page 153 and 154: thanked Wotton for his letter detai
Page 155 and 156: intention to have medled with any c
Page 157 and 158: and to have received through his fa
Page 159 and 160: again imprisoned, this time almost
Page 161 and 162: was a key investor, attempted to ut
Page 163 and 164: understanding of nature. John Dee,
Page 165 and 166: promised ―an ounce or so of powde
Page 167 and 168: conviction regarding the reality of
Page 169 and 170: ———, Calendar of Patent Rolls
Page 171 and 172: Bennet, Henry, A Famous and Godly H
Page 173 and 174: Szulakowska, Urszula, ‗The Pseudo
Page 175 and 176: Fiddler, Paul A., and Thomas J. May
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Matthews, John, (ed.), The Rosicruc
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———, The Life of the Learned
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The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

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