The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

no significant records of their practices. 3 However, by examining the limited number of
case studies about which records survive, we can gain some insight into Cecil‘s patronage
of alchemical medicine.
Alchemical philosophy and methods provided some key elements of Renaissance
medical practice. The fifteenth century humanist rediscovery of the Roman pagan physician
Galen‘s medical texts, which centred on the concept of rectifying imbalanced humours,
created the dominant medical philosophy of the Renaissance. 4 While the rise of humanism
supported the re-emergence of Galenic medicine, it also revived alchemical medicine as a
separate and sometimes competing system of knowledge. Some physicians believed that
alchemy had a more ancient, Judeo-Christian ancestry than medical concepts derived from
the ancient pagan world. 5
The use of alchemical medicines had a long tradition in England. In the thirteenth
century Roger Bacon sanctioned the quest to cure diseases using alchemy that, short of
finding the mythical philosopher‘s stone, entailed the creation of chemical medicines. 6
Alchemy justified the distilling of medicines based on metallic and alcoholic compounds,
later known as iatrochemistry. Whilst traditional alchemy and iatrochemical medicine most
obviously shared common techniques and practices, alchemical symbolism, especially the
macrocosm/microcosm analogy, had considerable implications for medical practice. 7
Charles Webster convincingly argues that to understand alchemy‘s medical application one
must consider not only its practical relevance, but also that its aim
to create a total and harmonious relationship between man and the
universe...[was] important in securing the serious commitment of the
3 The significant exception was the notorious astrologer and medical practitioner Simon Forman, who left
many volumes of papers. There is, however, no evidence of Cecil ever consulting with Forman. See Lauren
Kassell, Medicine and Magic in Elizabethan London: Simon Forman: Astrologer, Alchemist, & Physician, Oxford, 2005.
4 Margaret Pelling and Charles Webster, ‗Medical Practitioners‘ in Charles Webster (ed.), Health, Medicine and
Mortality in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge, 1979, p. 165.
5 Charles Webster, ‗Alchemical and Paracelsian Medicine‘ in Webster (ed.), Health, Medicine, p. 316.
6 Ibid., p. 302.
7 Webster, ‗Alchemical and Paracelsian Medicine‘, p. 314.
53