The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
intention to have medled with any coining or forging‖. 165 Certainly by this time Medley had<br />
restored his standing with the <strong>Lord</strong> Treasurer.<br />
<strong>Cecil</strong>‘s influence enabled Medley to become an important member <strong>of</strong> the local<br />
gentry in Ely, Cambridgeshire, where he had inherited land from his father. 166 Medley‘s<br />
Catholic critics claimed that he received through <strong>Cecil</strong>‘s ―favour and patronage some kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> civil preferment‖, becoming a justice <strong>of</strong> gaol delivery (an important type <strong>of</strong><br />
magistrate). 167 By December 1580, George Shirley, attempting to purchase a wardship<br />
from <strong>Cecil</strong>, considered Medley important enough to be bribed £3, the same as one <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Cecil</strong>‘s secretaries, if he would further his case. 168 Medley‘s re-established social status<br />
allowed him to marry a wealthy widow, Anne Wren, the daughter <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sir</strong> Robert Payton, a<br />
prominent local landowner, in 1582. 169 This marriage, along with a modest bequest in his<br />
brother‘s will in 1585, seems to have alleviated Medley‘s financial situation for a time and in<br />
turn reduced his need for alchemical schemes. 170 Medley demonstrated his renewed<br />
prosperity and favour with the generous bequest <strong>of</strong> twenty acres <strong>of</strong> land to the nearby<br />
parish <strong>of</strong> Tydd St. Mary in 1588. 171<br />
Throughout Medley‘s career as a magistrate in Ely he received a number <strong>of</strong> rewards<br />
from his patron. <strong>Cecil</strong>, as always, valued clients with alchemical ability. Indeed, despite his<br />
local <strong>of</strong>fices, Medley claimed to have been in ―daily attendance‖ on the <strong>Lord</strong> Treasurer,<br />
possibly as a practitioner <strong>of</strong> alchemical medicine. 172 For his services Medley ―received<br />
divers favours‖, including Crown leases. 173 In June 1588, <strong>Cecil</strong> wrote to <strong>Lord</strong> North, <strong>Lord</strong><br />
Lieutenant <strong>of</strong> Cambridgeshire, and ordered him to spare Medley from his previous<br />
165 Beale to <strong>Cecil</strong>, SP 12/141/43.<br />
166 ‗Will <strong>of</strong> George Medley, PROB 11/46; Louise J. Wilkinson (ed.), CPR (1589-1590), C 66-1337-1361,<br />
London, 2004, p. 242.<br />
167 <strong>William</strong> Weston, Philip Caraman (ed.), <strong>William</strong> Weston: <strong>The</strong> Autobiography <strong>of</strong> an Elizabethan, Philip Caraman<br />
(trans.), London, 1955, p. 192.<br />
168 Joel Hurstfield, <strong>The</strong> Queen’s Wards: Wardship and Marriage under Eilzabeth I, London, 1973, pp. 265-266.<br />
169 Robert Edmond Chester Waters, Genealogical Memoirs <strong>of</strong> the Extinct Family <strong>of</strong> Chester <strong>of</strong> Chicheley: their Ancestors<br />
and Descendants, London, 1878, pp. 211-212.<br />
170 ‗Will <strong>of</strong> Henry Medley <strong>of</strong> Tilty, Essex‘, TNA, PROB 11/68, proved 8 May 1585.<br />
171 Anon., Abstract <strong>of</strong> the Returns <strong>of</strong> Charitable Donations for the Benefit <strong>of</strong> Poor Persons, Made by the Ministers and<br />
Churchwardens <strong>of</strong> the Several Parishes and Townships in England and Wales, London, 1816, p. 672.<br />
172 Roberts (ed.), CMS, Vol.8, p. 421.<br />
173 Ibid.; Christine Leighton (ed.), CPR, Part I to Part X: C 66/1395-1404, London, 2000, p. 75.<br />
147