The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

credentials, promises and conditions. 21 These included his monopoly over his process and
the Crown‘s payment for all his materials. De Lannoy requested an enormous annuity of
£250 to sustain him during the three years and four months needed to perform his
promises. 22 As a demonstration of his good faith, in July de Lannoy wrote the Queen a
treatise, Epistola de Conficiendo Devino Elixire, sive Lapide Philosophico, describing his process. 23
The impoverished Elizabethan government bargained de Lannoy down to a still
significant annual pension of £120 and installed him, and a costly alchemical laboratory, in
London‘s Somerset House. 24 By August 1565 Armigil Waad, Cecil‘s agent assigned to
supervise de Lannoy, gauged the initial costs at around £600. 25 Despite the Crown‘s
generosity, de Lannoy complained of the poor quality of English glassware and pottery, as
the Englishmen could not ―fassion ther stuff to make the same to susteyne the fourc of his
great fyers‖. 26 Waad also feared that as de Lannoy and a man known only as the
‗Cypreyan‘, were about to make a ―great perchase‖ of land in Pomerania, the alchemist
would be diverted from his work. 27 To avoid this Waad suggested that ―he wear putt in
sume generall cumfort of some place to be provided for him here in England…if he do his
busyness he shall deserve mych more‖. 28
Despite the enormous costs and initial setbacks, both Cecil and Waad remained
hopeful of success. Cecil‘s friends, both at home and abroad, also held high hopes for de
Lannoy‘s process, by now widely known throughout Europe. In October 1565 Richard
Eden wrote to Cecil from France, rejoicing to hear that a great philosopher now worked
for the Queen. Eden wished the Queen and Cecil the best in their alchemical endeavours,
praying
21 Cornelius de Lannoy to Queen Elizabeth, 7 February 1565, TNA, SP 12/36/12; Cornelius de Lannoy to
Queen Elizabeth, 9 February 1565, TNA, SP 12/36/13.
22 Ibid.
23 This work survives in the sixth volume of Theatrum Chemicum (1661). See Cornelius Alvetanus, ‗Epistola de
Conficiendo Divino Elixire, Sive Lapide Philosophico‘, in Lazarus Zetzner, Theatrum Chemicum, Strasbourg,
1661.
24 Armigil Waad to Cecil, 7 August 1565, TNA, SP 12/37/3.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
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