The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

god send it her majesty as trouly as I belevie the possabilitie to be trewe and
as I judge her most woorthy so excellent a gyfte of god: Wherof I wolde
write more unto your L[ordship] if I knew howe it wolde betaken 29
The date of the letter leaves little doubt in identifying the ―greate philosopher‖ as Cornelius
de Lannoy.
The anticipation of de Lannoy‘s imminent success dissuaded Cecil from
encouraging other alchemical hopefuls. In 1565, Thomas Charnock, a Somerset alchemist
of some local repute, composed ―A Booke Dedicated unto the Queenes maiestie‖, hoping
to persuade the Queen to finance four alchemical works in the Tower. 30 Charnock was
disappointed, however, because after delivering the book to Cecil he discovered that
the Quene and hir counsell had set goone a work in Somerset place in
London before I came and had wrought there by the space off one yere
therefore my booke was layde a syde ffor a tyme : // and was put in the
Queenes librarie 31
A century later, Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, politician and student of alchemy,
would look in vain for the book in the remnants of the Queen‘s Library. 32 The book was
assumed lost until its rediscovery in Cecil‘s papers in the Lansdowne collection in the
1970s. 33 Charnock‘s assumption that the Queen was distracted by de Lannoy‘s work in
Somerset House may have been correct. He may even have been told as much by Cecil
upon delivery of his book. Either way, such was Cecil‘s interest in alchemy that he kept the
book in his personal papers: the front page bears the evidence of its ownership, inscribed
―William Burghleigh de B‖. 34
The first signs of trouble with de Lannoy‘s project came to Cecil with news of a
bond between the alchemist and Princess Cecilia of Sweden, also living in Somerset House.
The Princess had travelled to England in order to further marriage negotiations between
29 Richard Eden to Cecil, 12 October 1565, TNA, SP 70/80/123.
30 Allan Pritchard, ‗Thomas Charnock‘s Book Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth‘, Ambix, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1979,
pp. 56-72.
31 Ibid., p. 56.
32 Thomas Charnock, quoted in Pritchard, ‗Thomas Chanock‘s Book‘, p. 57.
33 Pritchard, ‗Thomas Chanock‘s Book‘, p. 57.
34 Ibid.
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