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
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accuracy <strong>of</strong> the Aristotelian texts. 33 <strong>The</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> the curriculum still comprised <strong>of</strong><br />
Aristotelian study and humanist critiques <strong>of</strong> scholasticism appealed to the authority <strong>of</strong><br />
Aristotle. 34 For scholars at Tudor Cambridge, the study <strong>of</strong> alchemy and the occult<br />
remained a natural development from an Aristotelian education.<br />
Mathematics, increasingly the target <strong>of</strong> scholarly interest, was <strong>of</strong>ten associated with<br />
the occult, to the extent that alchemical works were <strong>of</strong>ten categorised as mathematical.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial mathematical curriculum also included elements <strong>of</strong> astrology. 35 Renaissance<br />
humanists, influenced by Agrippa, emphasised the connection between astrological<br />
influences and alchemical processes, because propitious astrological forces were required to<br />
bring about alchemical changes. 36 Cambridge trained occult philosophers such as John Dee<br />
would therefore attempt to integrate astrology and alchemy within a natural philosophy<br />
that demonstrated the unity <strong>of</strong> creation through occult influences and correspondences. 37<br />
Cambridge graduates thus perceived alchemy within this unified worldview, both as a<br />
physical process and as an inner transformation linked to the perfection <strong>of</strong> the external<br />
world. <strong>The</strong>se changes corresponded to the occult effects <strong>of</strong> the macrocosm: the universe,<br />
on the microcosm: man. 38 A Renaissance education encouraged intellectuals to seek an<br />
integrated knowledge <strong>of</strong> nature, which for many included alchemy.<br />
Records suggest that the English universities shared the state‘s <strong>of</strong>ficial attitude<br />
towards the pursuit <strong>of</strong> alchemical knowledge. Private study and practice was tolerated,<br />
sometimes even subtly encouraged, as long as it did not result in the illegal debasement <strong>of</strong><br />
coinage. 39 University <strong>of</strong>ficials were clearly aware <strong>of</strong> the interest in the occult sciences<br />
33 Ibid., p. 332.<br />
34 W. Keith Percival, ‗Changes in the Approach to Language‘, in Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny and<br />
Jan Pinborg (eds.), <strong>The</strong> Cambridge History <strong>of</strong> Later Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge, 1982, p. 813.<br />
35 Feingold, ‗<strong>The</strong> Occult Tradition‘, pp. 78-79.<br />
36 <strong>William</strong> R. Newman and Anthony Grafton, ‗Introduction: <strong>The</strong> Problematic Status <strong>of</strong> Astrology and<br />
Alchemy in Premodern Europe‘, in Newman and Grafton (eds.), Secrets <strong>of</strong> Nature, pp. 24-25.<br />
37 Glyn Parry, <strong>The</strong> Arch-Conjuror <strong>of</strong> England: John Dee and Magic at the Courts <strong>of</strong> Renaissance Europe, Yale University<br />
Press, New Haven, Forthcoming 2010.<br />
38 Moran, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Alchemical</strong> World, p. 25.<br />
39 Charles B. Schmitt, John Case and Aristotelianism in Renaissance England, Montreal, 1983, pp. 118-19.<br />
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