The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

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commitment to act as the captain of the men of Ely. Medley again evidently enjoyed Cecil‘s special protection as Lord North quickly consented. 174 In October 1588 Cecil pressured the Dean of Ely to renew Medley‘s lucrative lease on Wentworth manor ―for three lives, wherof he hathe two in being‖. 175 These were not three successive lives or generations—rather Medley would be able to choose three living people and the lease would expire upon the death of the last person. The Dean of Ely replied that although Medley was ―your Lords servant‖, he had already taken advantage of his position with Cecil four or five years previously, extending his other leases belonging to the church to three lives. So disadvantageous had the arrangement proved for the church that they altered their charter, prohibiting leases longer than twenty-one years. The Dean and Prebendaries of Ely pleaded with Cecil that, as their patron, he would not require them to break with this limit. 176 When John Strype described the incident, the eighteenth century historian acknowledged the reputation of Medley, whom he had left imprisoned for debt in his earlier book, as a ―famous chymist, and retainer to that lord[Cecil]‖. 177 The strongest demonstration of Cecil‘s continued favour towards Medley came in May 1594, when Medley became keeper of the Catholic recusant Priests and Jesuits in Wisbech Castle, ahead of the nominees of Lord North. 178 The exact circumstances of his appointment are not clear, as the Privy Council records for that year have been lost. According to William Weston, an imprisoned Catholic at Wisbech, their first keeper, Thomas Grey, was removed from the scene by a most ghastly death, and in his place we had another man who was anxious to be considered a gentleman. He claimed to have served for a time in the household of the Treasurer, William Cecil, 174 Roger North to Cecil, 25 June 1588, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 57, No. 43. 175 The Dean and Prebendaries of Ely to Cecil, 29 October 1588, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 58, No. 4. 176 Ibid. 177 Strype, Annals of the Reformation, Vol. 3, p. 72. 178 William Medley to Robert Cecil, 8 May 1594, Hatfield House, The Cecil Papers, M485/6; The Privy Council to Roger North, 26 October 1592 in John Roche Dasent (ed.), APC, Volume 23: A.D. 1592, London, 1901, p. 263. 148
and to have received through his favour and patronage [the position of] magistrate or keeper of the public peace. 179 This concurs with his fellow prisoner Christopher Bagshaw‘s account, in which Medley claims the authority to deal with ecclesiastical disputes as I[Medley] am a justice of peace, qualifyed to take notice of such crimes ... Why (sayd maister Medlye) what crymes are those so horrible, that the Queenes authority cannot reach to take knowledge of? 180 Cecil‘s support for Medley and his alchemical abilities had stood the new keeper in good stead, as ―he had of his side ... men who favoured, yes, even encouraged his pretensions‖. 181 Medley‘s confidence in ―the authority which he was used to exercise over layfolk‖ further confirms his status as one of Cecil‘s foremost servants in Cambridgeshire. 182 While Weston assessed Medley‘s new position as ―an office that carried with it large annual revenues and emoluments with a minimum of work‖, it proved anything but. 183 A dispute over the Jesuit administration of the Catholic mission in England strained relations between the prisoners. Moreover, starved and sickly, they were attempting to escape in increasing numbers. 184 Medley‘s attempts to simultaneously keep control of his prisoners and keep the Privy Council contented met with mixed success. In late 1595 the Council commended Medley‘s ―good zeale to the service of her majesty‖ in his handling of ―the seditious speeches of one Edward Haule[Hall], a servant of yours.‖ 185 Medley‘s other servants accused Hall of implying that the coming year would bring some relief to the imprisoned Catholics. 186 As the aging William Cecil‘s influence and health began to wane, Medley attempted to cultivate the patronage of his younger son Robert. In 1594 Medley attempted to impress 179 Weston, Caraman (ed.), William Weston, p. 192. 180 Christopher Bagshaw, ‗A True Relation of the Faction Begun at Wisbech‘ in Thomas Law(ed.), A Historical Sketch of the Conflicts Between Jesuits and Seculars in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, London, 1889, p. 23. 181 Weston, Caraman (ed.), William Weston, p. 192. 182 Ibid. 183 Ibid. 184 William Medley to Sir Robert Cecil, 1 March 1595, in R. A. Roberts (ed.), CMS, Vol. 6: 1596, London, 1895, p. 77. 185 The Privy Council to William Medley, 26 December 1595, in John Roche Dasent (ed.), APC, Volume 25: A.D. 1595-1596, London, 1901, p. 131. 186 William Medley‘s examination of John Foxly, 21 December 1595, TNA, SP 12/255/14. 149
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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
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in distayne‖. 98 However, it is n
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of a dedicatory epistle to Cecil, f
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home I have not seen‖. 120 Where
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of yeeres before Paracelsus time‖
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Henry Bossevyle suggested practical
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metal and European currencies, furt
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De Lannoy first came to the attenti
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god send it her majesty as trouly a
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perform alchemy. Rather, Waad belie
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and Leicester. 56 De Lannoy promise
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Cecil could not convince the Queen,
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the accounts of Elias Ashmole and S
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context of Dee‘s failed English C
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By March 1589 Dee had left Bohemia
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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 and 126: Chapter Four: Alchemy and Economic
Page 127 and 128: essays Meta Incognita: A Discourse
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: intention to have medled with any c
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
Page 177 and 178: Matthews, John, (ed.), The Rosicruc
Page 179 and 180: ———, The Life of the Learned
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The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

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