The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

associated alchemy with the humanist mission to regain ancient knowledge. Utilising the
parallel between the alchemical unity of matter and the unity of God‘s creation, alchemical
philosophers emphasised biblical support for their ideas. Paracelsus argued that Adam
received the secrets of alchemy from God, which were then transmitted through the
biblical patriarchs. 18 Hence alchemists could claim to be the inheritors of a secret biblical
art: they considered their work essentially a microcosm of the God‘s alchemical creation of
the world. 19
This study of occult correspondences—based on both biblical and classical
evidence—linked alchemy together with the sometimes conflicting arts of Cabala and
astrology. The occult art of Cabala correlated closely with alchemical ideas because of their
shared assumptions about nature. Just as alchemy sought hidden knowledge through
studying the unity of God‘s creation, Cabala sought divine revelation through an
interpretation of Hebrew characters—God‘s original language. The early sixteenth century
German alchemist Cornelius Agrippa linked alchemy with both astrology and Cabala.
Influenced by Neo-Platonist ideas that emphasised metaphysical study and mathematics,
Agrippa saw an understanding of how man, or the microcosm, mirrored the nature of the
heavens, or macrocosm, as essential for all three arts. 20 His most influential work, De
Occulta Philosophia, integrated the study of occult astrological correspondences with both
alchemical and cabalist practice. 21
It would, however, be misleading to imply that there is a single framework for
understanding sixteenth century alchemical beliefs and practices. Tara Nummedal has
usefully outlined two distinct fields of alchemical practice in the sixteenth century. The
first, philosophical alchemy, has been the focus of increased historical research since the
1960s. The examination of alchemical metaphors and parallels has helped historians
18 Raphael Patai, The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book, Princeton, 1994, pp. 18-19.
19 Ibid., p. 18.
20 Yates, The Occult Philosophy, pp. 43-56.
21 Ibid., pp. 52-55.
20