The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

coloring the bussynes in sort as you honor did prescibe this day‖. 50 Cecil had sent a Mr.
Holcroft with three of his own men to supervise de Lannoy‘s transport to Court to explain
his delays to the Queen. De Lannoy planned to send a servant ahead with letters ―sych as
he sayd he would have all persons ignorant of but her majesty‖. 51 Waad‘s frustation with
the alchemist had reached breaking point; he was sure that de Lannoy, who was ―stout
beyond all measure and speaketh words every inch of a foote and a half long‖, would
merely blame his failure on imagined injuries done to him. 52
De Lannoy‘s attempts at self-vindication failed and by July 1566 Cecil had
incarcerated him in the Tower of London. Unsure of his future and stalling for time, he
wrote desperate letters to the Queen, Cecil and the Earl of Leicester, who had also
involved himself in the scheme. 53 In response to accusations that he had attempted to
escape with the elixir, de Lannoy maintained that his process had so far been unsuccessful,
due either to the interference of wicked men or some minor error on his part. 54
Nevertheless he insisted that if he was allowed to write to his friends for help, he would
still be able to fulfil his promises. In order to demonstrate the value of his alchemical
expertise he argued that his process, when perfected, would create a ―medicine‖ capable of
producing over thirty million times its own weight in gold. 55
On 15 July 1566 Cecil and Leicester sent Waad to examine de Lannoy in the
Tower. Waad reported that when accused of ―often and intollerable dilaies and trifling
with her highnes‖ and the deliberate ―sincopation of the woork‖, de Lannoy admitted
having made mistakes, but only because of the demands of haste from the Queen, Cecil
50 Armigil Waad to Cecil, 28 May 1566, TNA, SP 12/42/70.
51 Ibid.
52 Ibid.
53 Cornelius de Lannoy to Queen Elizabeth, 1 July 1566, TNA, SP 15/13/23; Cornelius de Lannoy to Cecil
and Leicester, 19 July 1566, SP12/40/32I.
54 Cornelius de Lannoy to Queen Elizabeth, 1 July 1566, TNA, SP 15/13/23.
55 Ibid.
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