The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Chapter 1: Cecil and Alchemical Philosophy in the
Elizabethan Age
To understand Cecil‘s patronage of alchemy it is essential to appreciate his affinity
with alchemical ideas. Historians such as R. J. W. Evans, Bruce Moran and Tara
Nummedal have demonstrated that the continental European nobility shared a
metaphorical understanding of nature, and thus they ―viewed alchemy not only as possible,
but often as central to their intellectual, religious, and political activities‖. 1 However, the
implications of this for English elites have not been widely examined. The lack of
scholarship on the relationship between early modern English university education and
alchemical theory has therefore impaired historians‘ understanding of the Elizabethan
penchant for alchemical patronage.
This chapter examines the extent to which alchemical thought complemented
Cecil‘s own understanding of nature. To a significant degree, Cecil‘s comprehension of the
universe was a product of his education at Cambridge University. This chapter therefore
analyses the relationship between alchemical philosophy as it existed in the sixteenth
century and the humanist philosophy of the English universities. In the context of Cecil‘s
two most influential tutors—John Cheke and Thomas Smith—and their interest in
alchemy, this chapter argues that informal private study also disseminated occult concepts.
It then investigates Cecil‘s relationship with three Elizabethan alchemists: his academic
contemporaries John Dee and Richard Eden; and the antiquarian Francis Thynne. By
examining Cecil‘s patronage of their theoretical alchemical knowledge, this chapter
contends that the unified metaphorical worldview inculcated in Cecil by his thorough
university education encouraged his fascination with alchemical concepts.
1 Tara Nummedal, ‗Practical Alchemy and Commercial Exchange in the Holy Roman Empire‘, in Pamela
Smith and Paula Findlen (eds.), Merchants & Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe, New
York, 2002, p. 202.
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