The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

De Lannoy first came to the attention of Cecil in December 1564, writing to him
from Bruges in the Low Countries. 14 Little is known of de Lannoy‘s background, aside
from his claim to have attended university in Poland. 15 Careful to distinguish himself from
―those imposters and cheats...whom his sect deem worthy of extreme punishment‖, de
Lannoy offered to ―make every year 50,000 marks of pure gold, besides other metals, and
diamonds, emeralds, and other precious stones‖. 16 To do so de Lannoy claimed he would
use the art created ―by the leaders of the Egyptians, Arabs, Persians, and Israelites called
Boarhchadamia[Voarchadumia]‖. 17 In referencing Johannes Pantheus‘ influential
Voarchadumia Contra Alchimiam (1530), de Lannoy, like Francis Thynne, used Cecil‘s
knowledge of these influential occult tracts to differentiate himself from mere amateur
conmen. Significantly, de Lannoy claimed to be able to distil a substance called ―pantaura
having the virtues of anima mundi for healing diseases instantly‖. 18 The medical benefits of
de Lannoy‘s proposal would have been especially appealing to Cecil, who already suffered
from gout.
The real appeal of de Lannoy‘s proposal, however, was its financial potential.
During the 1560s the treasury struggled with the debts of Mary‘s reign, and the Spanish
imposition of punitive customs duties in Antwerp had severely affected England‘s vital
cloth trade. 19 De Lannoy‘s proposal could solve the treasury‘s woes though the creation of
gold on a massive scale. The 50,000 marks, or £33,000, of gold which he offered to create
annually equalled almost a sixth of the Crown‘s ordinary revenue. 20 The offer was simply
too good for Cecil to resist. By February 1565, presumably having received an encouraging
response from Cecil, de Lannoy wrote two letters to the Queen further outlining his
14 Cornelius De Lannoy to William Cecil, 22 December 1564, in Joseph Stevenson (ed.), CSPF 1564-5,
London, 1870, p .267.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Read, Secretary Cecil, p. 295.
20 Williams, The Tudor Regime, p. 71.
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