The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

usually spread across all of them. The separation of these collections has often given
historians an incomplete understanding of Cecil‘s career.
The Victorian archivists, who took the masses of manuscripts that survived in the
State Paper Office and elsewhere, and arranged, catalogued, and calendared them, have also
had an enormous influence on research into Elizabethan history. As Stephen Alford
rightly claims, ―when we look at these Tudor sources we have to recognise that we view
them through a Victorian lens.‖ 62 The nineteenth century calendars reflect what the
Victorians arranging and writing them thought was important in the sources. Also, the
need in the earliest published calendars to summarise long letters into little more than a
sentence often hides the true substance of the material. Hence Armigil Waad‘s long letter
to Cecil discussing both the progress of Cornelius de Lannoy‘s attempts to create
alchemical gold for the Queen, and John Prestall‘s offer of alchemical services is
summarised as
Ar[migill] Waade to Cecill. Progress of the manufacture of glass and
pottery, under Cornelius de Lannoy. Clumsiness of the English glassmakers.
Recommends the suits of Henric Literhows, Mr. Prestoll, and
William Herle. 63
Without examining the manuscript the reader would have no clue of its relation to
alchemy. It is therefore not surprising that this episode has received little attention from
historians.
The digitisation of early modern manuscripts onto various online databases has
finally mitigated the effects of both the dispersal of Cecil‘s papers and the distorting lenses
of the state paper calendars. Through the thorough examination of the original documents
digitised from many of the scattered archives, it is now possible to construct a more
balanced assessment of Cecil and therefore challenge many historical assumptions
regarding his alchemical patronage. Even so, the Hatfield House collection remains
62 Stephen Alford, ‗Introduction to State Papers Online and the Sixteenth Century State Papers, 1509–1603‘,
State Papers Online, 1509–1714, Cengage Learning, Reading, 2007.
63 R. Lemon (ed.), CSPD 1547–1580, London, 1856, p. 256; Armigil Waad to Cecil, 7 August 1565, TNA, SP
12/37/3.
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