The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

metal and European currencies, further fuelling inflation. In the early period of Elizabeth‘s
reign the Treasury‘s attempts to deal with inflation by recalling the debased coinage and
issuing restored coins increased their requirement for precious metals.
During the comparatively peaceful mid period of Elizabeth‘s reign, the government
subsisted on a relatively frugal budget. Royal servants were often rewarded with grants of
either land or monopolies, and the Queen‘s household budget remained remarkably stable.
Indeed, historians such as Penry Williams have questioned the Elizabethan government‘s
financial management, with only small rises in real Crown rents over the Queen‘s reign and
little effort to maximise other income streams, despite high levels of inflation. 6 The
Crown‘s chief financial strength was Elizabeth and Cecil‘s tight control of expenditure. 7
However, with the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585 expenses skyrocketed. Whilst Cecil
used various methods to maximise Crown revenue in the period, such as the reformation
of the inefficient and unpopular system of purveyance, the government still relied upon
politically unpopular measures such as parliamentary subsidies, forced loans and the sale of
swathes of Crown lands. 8
Cecil turned to alchemical speculation in order to stabilise Crown finances during
these two periods of extreme financial strain. This chapter analyses three of those projects:
Crown patronage of Cornelius de Lannoy‘s attempts at transmutation from 1565 until
1567; Cecil and the Queen‘s efforts to convince the alchemist Edward Kelley to return to
England from 1588 until 1593; and finally the government‘s attempts to profit from Roloff
Peterson‘s alchemical materials between 1593 and 1597. By examining Cecil‘s integral role
in these schemes, this chapter argues that he saw the profits from alchemy as having
genuine potential to aid Crown finances.
6 Penry Williams, The Tudor Regime, Oxford, 1979, pp. 70-76.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
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