The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

the third book defying deciphering until 1998. 101 In this context it is remarkable that Dee,
having already copied out the first half, considered Steganographia ―A boke for your honor,
or a prince, so meet, so nedefull and comodious, as is humayne knowledg, none can be
meeter, or more behofeful‖. 102 Dee informed Cecil that if he was allowed more time in
Antwerp, he would in turn present Cecil with a copy of the book. He was confident that a
man of Cecil‘s ―wisdome and honorable zeale, toward the ... wonderfull devine and secret
sciences‖ would appreciate such an esoteric gift. 103
The next extant letter from Dee to Cecil is dated a decade later, on 3 October 1574.
They had clearly been in frequent contact in the interim, and Dee refers to having recently
been ―very favourably used‖ by Cecil. 104 Dee expressed his disappointment that the
―gracious good favour, that I was persuaded the queen‘s most excellent majesty did bear
unto me‖ had not persuaded her to increase his income. 105 Indeed Dee claimed that if it
were not for Cecil‘s ―helping hand‖, his overseas travels would have been impossible, once
again raising questions about the nature of Cecil and Dee‘s relationship. 106 Possibly Dee
was referring to his 1571 journey to Lorraine, where he acquired equipment for his
alchemical experiments for Sir Henry and Lady Mary Sidney, close associates of Cecil. 107
Cecil may have been responsible for Dee‘s generous passport and escort in the form of the
Chancery clerk, Thomas Powle 108 The purpose of Dee‘s 1574 letter was to request a
licence to find treasure by magical means, illegal without a royal licence since 1542. 109 In
exchange for the profits of his searches Dee requested a massive annual pension of £200. 110
Cecil‘s good will clearly did not stretch that far, as Dee remained in relative poverty.
101 Jim Reeds, ‗Solved: The Ciphers in Book III of Trithemius‘s Steganographia’, Cryptologia, Vol. 22, No. 4,
1998, pp. 291-317.
102 Dee to Cecil, SP 12/27/63.
103 Ibid.
104 Dee to Cecil, 3 October 1574, BL, Lansdowne Vol.19 No.38.
105 Ibid.
106 Ibid.
107 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England.
108 Ibid.
109 Dee to Cecil, BL, Lansdowne Vol.19 No.38; Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, pp. 280-81.
110 £200 was approximately ten times the average annual wage for a skilled craftsman. See TNA, ‗Currency
Converter‘, [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency]; Dee to Cecil, Lansdowne Vol.19 No.38.
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