The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

The late 1560s saw the first significant introduction of Paracelsian philosophy into
the medical marketplace. The College of Physicians and Company of Barber-Surgeons
increasingly accused unlicensed practitioners of administering chemical medicines. 30 Even
the prominent London physician William Bullein‘s Bulwarke of Defence Againste All Sicknes
(1562)—a largely Galenist text which characterised alchemical practitioners as being small
minded and reliant on ―brimstone, quicksilver, or litharge‖—also discussed Paracelsus‘
theories and various methods of distilling chemical medicines. 31
The German physician Valentine Russwurin was prominent amongst the
immigrants spreading these new concepts. Described as a ―doctor, alchemist, surgeon,
lithotomist, and optometrist‖ in his 1574 letters of denization, Russwurin exemplified the
link between alchemists and physicians in the Elizabethan period. 32 Russwurin provides an
excellent case study for Cecil‘s consultation with, and defence of, so called ‗irregular‘
practitioners. As his gout became more and more debilitating, he turned to the alchemical
polymath for treatment, sending Russwurin a sample of his urine. 33 Many Paracelsian
practitioners claimed to be able to diagnose through the chemical analysis of urine, a
practice which continued until the end of the seventeenth century. 34
Russwurin opened his diagnosis to Cecil with a long defence of his practice and of
chemical medicine in general. In his defence, Russwurin attacked the medical
establishment, amongst which, he claimed
from my first cominge into this lande unto this tyme, there hath not
escaped, as I am credibly enformed; a meale or meeting, where any of the
universitye doctors have bene present, wherin I have not bene backbytten,
sclaundered and also impudently (saving y. L. honour) belyed 35
30 Pelling, Medical Conflicts, p. 119.
31 William Bullein, Bulwarke of Defence Againste All Sicknes, London, 1562, p.10.
32 Denization of Valentine Rawsworme, 25 February 1574, Public Records Office of the United Kingdom,
CPR Vol. 6 Elizabeth I (1572–1575), London, 1939, p. 261.
33 Valentine Russwurin to Cecil, undated, BL Lansdowne Vol. 101 no. 4.
34 Allen G. Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance, Cambridge, 1978, p. 128.
35 Russwurin to Cecil, Lansdowne Vol. 101, No. 4.
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