The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

way whereby these intestine evils may be healed, without any effusion of
blood. 64
However, ―if Her Royal Majesty has no desire to avail herself of my art‖, Bomelius
requested permission to work for the Russian Tsar Ivan IV (popularly known as Ivan the
Terrible). 65 Evidently this permission was granted, as on 2 June 1570 Bomelius was
released, settling in Russia by the end of the year. 66 Although Bomelius acquired enormous
influence with the Tsar, he eventually fell victim to Ivan‘s paranoia, and was accused of
treason and roasted at the stake in 1579. 67
It is unclear whether, as Isabel De Madariaga claims, Cecil employed Bomelius as a
physician. 68 The physician‘s frequent appeals for Cecil‘s support and Cecil‘s letters to the
College of Physicians on Bomelius‘ behalf certainly suggest that there was more to their
relationship than is revealed by the existing sources. Cecil at least put some stock in
Bomelius‘ astrological abilities, demonstrating the connection between astrological
prognostication and medical treatment in the minds of contemporaries.
Even among the prominent orthodox physicians whom Cecil employed, many
displayed a distinct interest in the new chemical therapies. William Paddy, Cecil‘s physician
from 1594, would maintain a close friendship with both the Jacobean alchemical
philosopher Robert Fludd and the German physician and alchemist Michael Maier. 69
Utilising his prominent position in the College of Physicians, Paddy was instrumental in
creating its official Pharmacopeia, which authorised the use of a number of chemical
treatments. 70 While there is no record of the treatments that Paddy prescribed for Cecil,
his subsequent record suggest that he would have been open to the use of Paracelsian
64 Archbishop Matthew Parker to Cecil, 3 April 1570, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 12. No. 79; Eliseus Bomelius to
Cecil, April 1570, reproduced in Joseph Hamel, England and Russia, London, 1854, pp. 203-205.
65 Bomelius to Cecil, in Hamel, England and Russia, pp. 203-205.
66 Isabel de Madariaga, Ivan the Terrible, New Haven, 2005, p. 254.
67 Ibid., p. 323.
68 Ibid., p. 254.
69 Both Fludd (Medicina Catholica, 1629) and Maier (Arcana Arcanissima, 1614) dedicated major works to Paddy.
See Lauren Kassell, ‗Paddy, Sir William (1554–1634)‘, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, Sept
2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21080].
70 Ibid.
62