The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

were written in Latin by German authors. 84 Such was the German monopoly on working
with more difficult metals that the Company of Mines Royal in Cumbria relied almost
completely on German mining experts for their copper extraction in the mid 1560s. 85
Medley could certainly read Latin, and probably had access to some of the major
metallurgical works produced in Europe, but he also possessed a degree of practical
expertise. 86 Though there is no evidence to prove it, Medley may have gained experience
working alongside the Germans in English mines; alternatively his expertise may have been
acquired through travel in Europe.
Sometime in early 1571 Medley was given the opportunity to demonstrate his
alchemical skills to Sir Thomas Smith and the soldier and explorer Sir Humfrey Gilbert.
Possibly Cecil introduced his relative to the pair, or perhaps Humfrey‘s brother Adrian,
who had studied law at the Middle Temple at the same time as Medley, recognised his
abilities. 87 Adrian Gilbert‘s alchemical expertise was well known. He created ―many
admirable cures with his chemical medicines‖ and later worked closely with John Dee. 88
Medley conducted a trial experiment of his alchemical method of transforming iron into
copper by boiling copper ores in vitriol (sulphuric acid) and throwing in scrap iron to
attract the copper by cementation. The process left Smith and Gilbert convinced. Smith‘s
later comment that it could be ―better otherwise to be done than as I gave instructions‖
suggests that he had some practical input on the process. 89 Similar methods were outlined
in Agricola‘s De Re Metallica (1556), of which Smith owned a copy. 90 Medley, however, was
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid.
86 There is a curious reference to George Medley seizing control of an iron mine in Muchland, Cumbria in
1523–24. Whether George Medley had any actual experience with the iron mine that he may have passed on
to his son his unclear, and I have been unable to uncover any more evidence about the incident. See Alfred
Fell, The Early Iron Industry of Furness and District, London, 1968, pp. 52-57.
87 Hopwood and Martin (eds.), Middle Temple Records, Volume 1, p. 144.
88 John Aubrey, Natural History of Wiltshire, London, 1847, p. 90.
89 Thomas Smith to William Medley, 20 May 1572, TNA, SP 70/146 f.56r.
90 Strype, The Life of the Learned Sir Thomas Smith, p. 278.
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