The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ecause their appeals aimed ―at understanding how to manipulate nature in order to make it more prolific‖. 197 Medley, like his German counterparts, isolated his alchemical process from its theoretical background, presenting it simply as a process based on an understanding of nature assumed by all involved. Likewise Cecil‘s patronage of Medley can be seen as analogous to the central European princes who understood alchemy to be ―a solution to the financial and mining crises afflicting their territories‖. 198 Bred up under Cecil, Medley anticipated that the Lord Treasurer‘s alchemical view of nature and desire to improve England‘s economic security would induce him to back his process. When threatened by controversy and intrigue, Medley would repeatedly turn to his relative, with generally successful results. In the same way, Medley‘s rapid demise after Cecil‘s death in 1598 had nothing to do with his alchemical reputation and everything to do with his dependence on his relative for the maintenance of his position and status. It is difficult to establish exactly how Medley served Cecil during his later life, but it seems likely that his chemical proficiency encouraged Cecil‘s continued patronage. Morrison argues that while Cecil received a variety of requests for favour from his ‗greater kin‘, ―Burghley‘s political practicality precluded his advancing the career of anyone who claimed as his primary qualification the fact that he was a kinsman‖. 199 Medley needed to prove useful to the Lord Treasurer in order to justify his continued ―favour and patronage‖. 200 No doubt he did so to some extent as a qualified and practising magistrate, but his previous service and hints of a continued chemical interest suggest he also provided alchemical expertise. * The Frobisher voyages and the Society of the New Art were not the only attempts to apply alchemical knowledge for the benefit of economic projects. There is some evidence that the Company of Mines Royal, a major copper mining project in which Cecil 197 Nummedal, ‗Practical Alchemy and Commercial Exchange‘, p. 211. 198 Ibid., p. 210. 199 Ibid., p. 97. 200 Weston, Caraman (ed.), William Weston, p. 192. 152
was a key investor, attempted to utilise alchemical techniques. 201 In the years prior to the Company‘s incorporation, the supervisor of the project, Thomas Thurland, corresponded frequently with Richard Eden regarding his alchemical experiments and the arrangement of the Company‘s royal patent. 202 It is clear that Thurland considered Eden‘s alchemical knowledge practically useful. Likewise, in 1583 John Dee and the alchemist Adrian Gilbert leased from the Company the right to search for gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver in the Devonshire mines for fifteen years. 203 Whilst the project never went ahead due to Dee‘s travels in Europe, Cecil certainly saw Dee and Gilbert‘s largely theoretical alchemical knowledge as applicable to practical endeavours. Cecil, through his patronage of industrial alchemical projects, attempted to aid the English economy by implementing alchemical concepts on a practical level. Ignored by Heal and Holmes, the projects examined in this chapter reveal that Cecil‘s attitude towards alchemy mirrored that of the German princes examined by Nummedal. 204 Both the assays of the Frobisher ore and the Society of the New Art relied on supposedly alchemical knowledge and techniques. Given Cecil‘s understanding of the manner in which metals generated, utilising alchemical techniques to extract gold from the Frobisher ore would have seemed imminently sensible, and certainly did not dissuade Cecil from taking a leading role in the project. Likewise, Cecil invested a significant amount of his own money in the Society of the New Art, based entirely on the understanding that William Medley was performing alchemy. The role of alchemical experts in both of these industrial projects supports Nummedal‘s contention that sixteenth century patrons saw alchemical expertise as particularly relevant to practical ventures. 205 Moreover, it demonstrates the fallacy of the historical distinction between alchemy and utilitarian patronage. 201 Ash, Power, Knowledge and Expertise, pp. 19-23 202 Ibid; Eden to Cecil, Lansdowne, Vol 101, No. 5. 203 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror, chapter 43. 204 Nummedal, Alchemy and Authority. 205 Tara Nummedal, ‗Practical Alchemy and Commercial Exchange‘, p. 210. 153
Page 1 and 2:
The Alchemical Patronage of Sir Wil
Page 3 and 4:
Abstract This thesis examines the a
Page 5 and 6:
Acknowledgements Thanks must first
Page 7 and 8:
List of Abbreviations APC Acts of t
Page 9 and 10:
Introduction William Cecil, through
Page 11 and 12:
late seventeenth and early eighteen
Page 13 and 14:
economic policy, only cursory exami
Page 15 and 16:
otherwise. The dull, elderly, burea
Page 17 and 18:
y such prolific authors as A. E. Wa
Page 19 and 20:
marginalised the importance of alch
Page 21 and 22:
Many of the distortions in the hist
Page 23 and 24:
difficult to access with microfilm
Page 25 and 26:
Chapter 1: Cecil and Alchemical Phi
Page 27 and 28:
other aspects of medieval knowledge
Page 29 and 30:
explain why alchemy made sense in t
Page 31 and 32:
accuracy of the Aristotelian texts.
Page 33 and 34:
short-sighted match. 44 There is ev
Page 35 and 36:
University in the period. 56 A high
Page 37 and 38:
some tentative conclusions about Ce
Page 39 and 40:
Cecil tended to favour more practic
Page 41 and 42:
Actes and Monuments (1563), ―fata
Page 43 and 44:
Dee and Cecil‘s relationship over
Page 45 and 46:
symbolism, seems tenuous. It ignore
Page 47 and 48:
great pleasure in the workes of Nat
Page 49 and 50:
demonstrated the divine spirit of l
Page 51 and 52:
alchemical knowledge than his geogr
Page 53 and 54:
eports to Cecil are almost exclusiv
Page 55 and 56:
Thynne also affirmed the importance
Page 57 and 58:
From Longleat Thynne wrote for Ceci
Page 59 and 60:
his desperate financial situation.
Page 61 and 62:
no significant records of their pra
Page 63 and 64:
such as John Dee and country gentle
Page 65 and 66:
The late 1560s saw the first signif
Page 67 and 68:
eminently qualified to deal with th
Page 69 and 70:
the patronage of James Blount, Lord
Page 71 and 72:
medicines. Amongst the collection o
Page 73 and 74:
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 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 and 156: intention to have medled with any c
Page 157 and 158: and to have received through his fa
Page 159: again imprisoned, this time almost
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
show all

The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?