The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

the patronage of James Blount, Lord Mountjoy. 56 As Mountjoy is known to have been
obsessed with alchemy, spending the family fortune searching for the philosopher‘s stone,
Bomelius likely served Mountjoy in some alchemical capacity. 57 By 1567 Bomelius had set
up a successful London medical practice and gained prominence as both a Paracelsian
physician and an astrologer. 58 Archbishop Matthew Parker noted that ―many have a
wonderful confidence in hym and in his magicke‖ and the Protestant reformer Philip
Melanchthon ―hath in familiar letters praysed [him] highly for erudition and godlynes‖. 59
His success, however, brought him to the attention of the London College of
Physicians, and in 1567 he was imprisoned for practicing medicine without a license. 60
During his incarceration, Bomelius repeatedly appealed to Cecil for help, assuring him that
Sir Thomas Smith considered his alchemical practice legitimate. 61 Cecil wrote repeatedly to
the College of Physicians on Bomelius‘ behalf. 62 Why Cecil favoured Bomelius is unclear.
According to Strype, Bomelius was the author of the astrological prediction about
Elizabeth‘s marriage negotiations, dating from around this period, which survives in Cecil‘s
papers. 63
After having consulted with both Cecil and the Archbishop of Canterbury
regarding his astrological predictions of great upheaval in England, in late April 1570
Bomelius wrote to Cecil informing him that in
about a month hence I shall be enabled through your magnificence to
devote my services and assistance to Her Royal Majesty, and point out a
56 John Bennell, ‗Bomelius, Eliseus (d. 1579)‘, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2811].
57 Robert Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia or Observations on the Late Queen Elizabeth, Her Times and Favourites,
London, 1641, p. 37.
58 Bennell, ‗Bomelius, Eliseus‘ (d. 1579)‘.
59 Archbishop Matthew Parker to William Cecil, 3 April 1570, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 12. No. 79; Henry
Bennet, A Famous and Godly History Contaynyng the Lyves and Actes of Three Renowned Reformers of the Christian
Church, London, 1561, p. vi.
60 Eliseus Bomelius to Cecil, May 27 1567, TNA, SP 12/42/69.
61 Bomelius to Cecil, SP 12/42/69; Eliseus Bomelius to Cecil, 1567, TNA, SP 12/44/73; Eliseus Bomelius to
Cecil, February 1568, TNA, SP 12/46/43.
62 Margaret Pelling and Francis White (eds.), 'BOMELIUS, Elisaeus &c.', Physicians and Irregular Medical
Practitioners in London 1550-1640: Database, 2004, [http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=17251].
63 Strype, Annals of the Reformation, Vol. 2, p. 23.
61