The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

patience had been exhausted. Desperate, de Lannoy petitioned Cecil, on 14 February,
promising to transmute lead into gold with only a further two days work. 64 Evidently Cecil
was not appeased, as on 13 March the alchemist repeated the same promises to both
Leicester and the Queen. 65 It was of no use—by this point de Lannoy had sealed his fate.
A letter from Barbara de Lannoy, the alchemist‘s wife, to Leicester, unexamined by
previous historians, reveals that the alchemist remained imprisoned long after the project‘s
failure. Whilst the letter is undated, she wrote to Leicester after Cecil‘s ennoblement in
February 1571, begging that her ―poore husbande may be delyvered oute of his most
miserable captivitie and longe imprysonment‖ so that they could return to their native
country. 66 Her previous appeals to Cecil had been unsuccessful, as he remained ―displeased
in that my poore husband had spent the Quenes Majestys money‖. 67 However, Barbara
claimed that if ―all our moveables and goods forcybly taken from us‖ had been sold for
their real value, they would have covered the Queen‘s expenses. 68 As there is no record of
the alchemist‘s release, it is quite possible that de Lannoy passed his remaining days
incarcerated in the Tower.
One might expect that de Lannoy‘s deception would dissuade Cecil from the
reliability of alchemical projectors. However, while the entire debacle may have dampened
the Queen‘s enthusiasm for alchemical projects, Cecil remained optimistic about the
prospect of transmutational success. A year later, with de Lannoy still imprisoned in the
Tower, Cecil wrote to the English ambassador to France, Sir Henry Norris, regarding a
letter he had received from an Italian alchemist living in Paris. Despite having ―earnestly
moved her Majesty to have adventured some small piece of Money upon such a Man‖,
64 Cornelius de Lannoy to Cecil, 14 February 1567, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 9 No. 53.
65 Cornelius de Lannoy to Queen Elizabeth and Leicester, 13 March 1567, TNA, SP 12/42/30.
66 Longleat House, The Dudley Papers, MS DUI/f.209r.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
86