The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Dee and Cecil‘s relationship over the following decade revolved primarily around
Dee‘s justification of Elizabeth‘s right to a both Atlantic and European empire, and his
proposal to reform the calendar to a more accurate system, similar to the Gregorian
calendar imposed in Catholic Europe in 1582–83. 111 Whilst Cecil, cautious about any
military involvement in Europe, may not have welcomed Dee‘s grand images of an
Arthurian British Empire, he did support the implementation of Dee‘s reformed calendar
prior its veto by Elizabeth‘s bishops. 112 Cecil‘s interactions with Dee would remain on this
more mundane level until the mid 1580s, when the alchemical success of Dee‘s former
assistant Edward Kelley, as dealt with in chapter three, became a vital matter of
government interest.
*
Whilst Dee certainly demonstrates the prevalence of occult thought within the
Elizabethan mindset, the alchemical obsessions of Richard Eden provide perhaps a better
indication of the intellectual milieu of Cecil‘s education. Eden was one of the Cambridge
men amongst whom Cecil ―always moved naturally and easily‖, as he ―spoke their
language, understood their point of view, and promoted their interests‖. 113 Eden,
therefore, provides an ideal example of the mixture of occult interests which shaped the
outlook of mid sixteenth century Cambridge. It is therefore useful to examine his career at
some length.
Eden remains unexamined in the context of his fellow Cambridge scholars.
Winthrop Hudson‘s analysis of the group which surrounded Cecil, Cheke and Smith in The
Cambridge Connection (1980) fails to mention Eden. 114 Eden is also conspicuously absent
111 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England.
112 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England.
113 Read, Mr Secretary Cecil, p. 30.
114 Winthrop S. Hundon, Cambridge Connection and the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559, Durham, 1980.
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