The Elizabethans and Alchemy

During the research for the new book in my Elizabethan series, I came across a reference to Queen Elizabeth being given a book by George Ripley, The Compound of Alchemy, Or the ancient hidden Art of Alchemy, containing ‘the right and perfectest means to make the Philosopher’s Stone, with other excellent Experiments. Divided into twelve gates.’ 

With a long dedication to the queen, the book is in verse, the ‘twelve Gates’ being the twelve stages in Alchemy: Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Putrifaction, Congelation, Cibation, Sublimation, Fermentation, Exaltation, Multiplication, and Projection.

The alchemist Edward Kelley, who went abroad with Dr John Dee and Edward Dyer in 1583, was at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague; was also in Prague. In May, 1590, Lord Burghley wrote to Edward Dyer, asking him to obtain Kelley’s return, or to procure a small portion of the powder (which he claimed to convert into gold), ‘to make a demonstration, in her Majesty’s own sight, of the very perfection of his knowledge.’

At the time, Lord Burghley was concerned at the cost of maintaining a navy to see off another Spanish Armada, and asked if Edward Kelley could, 

‘in some secret box, send to her Majesty for a token some such portion as might be to her a sum reasonable to defer her charges for this summer for her navy, which we are now preparing to the sea, to withstand the strong navy of Spain, discovered upon the coasts between Britain [Brittany] and Cornwall within these two days’.

 

I find William Cecil's determination to apply alchemical knowledge for the benefit of the Elizabethan state intriguing. Throughout his career he invested in, and supported a wide range of alchemical experiments.

Edward Kelley, who was of course unable to help, fled from Prague and was never heard of again.

Tony Riches 

(Source: Yale University Library)