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