"Lady Alcumy": Elizabethan Gentlewomen and the Practice of Chymistry

<p>This thesis explores the advent of gentlewomen's chymical activities in Elizabethan England. In the sixteenth century, chymistry gained widespread currency under Queen Elizabeth I. This thesis argues that the queen's significant chymical interests contributed to her iconography, thereby bridging England's previously discrete chymical and female realms. It shows that Elizabeth's influence and fundamental societal changes enabled women, beginning with the gentry, to acquire and apply chymical knowledge. Four case studies highlight the queen's impact on her female subjects through an examination of primary manuscript and printed sources. The Protestant gentlewomen Grace Mildmay, Mary Sidney Herbert, Margaret Hoby and Margaret Clifford may first have encountered chymistry in the manifestation of their religious beliefs through charitable healing, but they developed their knowledge in very different ways. Evidence of their engagement with chymical practitioners and writings provides context for their activities. Shared motivations led to divergent practices, indicating that chymistry in Elizabethan England took as many forms as there were practitioners. This thesis asserts the crucial importance of community to early modern chymists, noting courtly links and overlapping social circles. It contributes to limited historiography on Elizabethan alchemy as well as female alchemists.</p>

The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

<p>This thesis examines the alchemical patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598), Principal Secretary and later Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I. Through an examination of Cecil's surviving papers, along with other primary manuscript and printed works, it places Cecil's patronage of alchemy within the context of both his previous examined patronage and the intellectual context of sixteenth century England. This thesis analyses why Cecil, a key member of government for over fifty years and Elizabeth's most trusted councillor, believed in the legitimacy of alchemical solutions to both national and personal problems. To explain Cecil's trust in alchemy, the thesis focuses first on his understanding of nature. It argues that a belief in alchemical transmutation was an essential consequence of an education that emphasised an Aristotelian understanding of the universe. Cecil was therefore receptive of demonstrations of theoretical as well as practical alchemical knowledge. Through an assessment of Cecil's neglected medical patronage, the thesis also argues that he was amongst the first in England to utilise new alchemically based medical treatments. In his role as Elizabeth's chief minister, Cecil administered a number of alchemical projects intended to support both Crown finances and England's industrial competitiveness. In light of Cecil's integral role in these projects, the thesis contends that he saw alchemy as a legitimate method of addressing both his short and long term policy aims. This thesis therefore both provides a more complete understanding of Cecil's patronage and adds to the limited historiography of alchemy in Elizabethan England.</p>

The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

<p>This thesis examines the alchemical patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598), Principal Secretary and later Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I. Through an examination of Cecil's surviving papers, along with other primary manuscript and printed works, it places Cecil's patronage of alchemy within the context of both his previous examined patronage and the intellectual context of sixteenth century England. This thesis analyses why Cecil, a key member of government for over fifty years and Elizabeth's most trusted councillor, believed in the legitimacy of alchemical solutions to both national and personal problems. To explain Cecil's trust in alchemy, the thesis focuses first on his understanding of nature. It argues that a belief in alchemical transmutation was an essential consequence of an education that emphasised an Aristotelian understanding of the universe. Cecil was therefore receptive of demonstrations of theoretical as well as practical alchemical knowledge. Through an assessment of Cecil's neglected medical patronage, the thesis also argues that he was amongst the first in England to utilise new alchemically based medical treatments. In his role as Elizabeth's chief minister, Cecil administered a number of alchemical projects intended to support both Crown finances and England's industrial competitiveness. In light of Cecil's integral role in these projects, the thesis contends that he saw alchemy as a legitimate method of addressing both his short and long term policy aims. This thesis therefore both provides a more complete understanding of Cecil's patronage and adds to the limited historiography of alchemy in Elizabethan England.</p>

"Lady Alcumy": Elizabethan Gentlewomen and the Practice of Chymistry

<p>This thesis explores the advent of gentlewomen's chymical activities in Elizabethan England. In the sixteenth century, chymistry gained widespread currency under Queen Elizabeth I. This thesis argues that the queen's significant chymical interests contributed to her iconography, thereby bridging England's previously discrete chymical and female realms. It shows that Elizabeth's influence and fundamental societal changes enabled women, beginning with the gentry, to acquire and apply chymical knowledge. Four case studies highlight the queen's impact on her female subjects through an examination of primary manuscript and printed sources. The Protestant gentlewomen Grace Mildmay, Mary Sidney Herbert, Margaret Hoby and Margaret Clifford may first have encountered chymistry in the manifestation of their religious beliefs through charitable healing, but they developed their knowledge in very different ways. Evidence of their engagement with chymical practitioners and writings provides context for their activities. Shared motivations led to divergent practices, indicating that chymistry in Elizabethan England took as many forms as there were practitioners. This thesis asserts the crucial importance of community to early modern chymists, noting courtly links and overlapping social circles. It contributes to limited historiography on Elizabethan alchemy as well as female alchemists.</p>

The Limits of Obedience

The murder of Henry III in 1589 plunged France further into crisis, raising questions not only of succession but also of the limits of royal power and the legitimacy of resistance. Leading figures in the French Catholic League, along with the Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana, defended this act of tyrannicide. Meanwhile, the ageing English queen Elizabeth I was still childless, and anxiety about the succession was exacerbated by Catholic writers, notably Robert Parsons. In these debates, appeal was made once more to the idea of ‘the people’, but now the role of clergy, kings and magistrates in transforming a multitude into a people was examined more explicitly. In response, James VI of Scotland began to defend ‘free monarchy’ and the divine right of kings; while the jurist William Barclay defended monarchy against those he called ‘monarchomachs’—Catholic and Protestant advocates of resistance. The Venetian Interdict and James’s Oath of Allegiance brought into focus the question of where sovereignty lay and the relationship between Church and state. In this context, the Jesuit Francisco Suarez offered a series of texts which not only reaffirmed papal indirect power but were also designed to make sense of the Christian’s relationship to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and to provide effective, authoritative counsel for Christian souls.

Elizabeth I’s Royal Progresses: A Study of Formal Orations and Poetic Recitations

The present study examines the rhetoric of inconsistency in the representation of Queen Elizabeth I through a reading of formal orations and poetic recitations written during her royal progresses. These literary resources, which were deliberately designed to promote the Elizabethan monarchy, offer illuminating examples of Elizabeth’s struggle to cultivate a distinctive royal identity. I would suggest that the tactical rhetorical practice of creating paradoxical images was an essential constituent of Elizabeth’s statecraft to cement her authority and reinforce her legitimacy. Indeed, the deployment of a discourse of contradiction that shaped Elizabeth’s progresses was a necessary and practical approach to overcome the vulnerability of an unmarried female monarch. The analysis of contradictory imagery is a valuable contribution to comprehend the complexity of Elisabeth’s representation and her strategies of exercising power in a patriarchal society. The research shows that Elizabeth employed the medium of creating ambiguous images as a rhetorical tactic to overcome gender bias against the female monarchy, and her courtiers utilized the same approach to advance their own agendas. It explores two ambiguous representations: masculine/ feminine portrayal and virgin/ maternal depiction.

Elizabeth I’s Royal Progresses: A Study of Formal Orations and Poetic Recitations

The present study examines the rhetoric of inconsistency in the representation of Queen Elizabeth I through a reading of formal orations and poetic recitations written during her royal progresses. These literary resources, which were deliberately designed to promote the Elizabethan monarchy, offer illuminating examples of Elizabeth’s struggle to cultivate a distinctive royal identity. I would suggest that the tactical rhetorical practice of creating paradoxical images was an essential constituent of Elizabeth’s statecraft to cement her authority and reinforce her legitimacy. Indeed, the deployment of a discourse of contradiction that shaped Elizabeth’s progresses was a necessary and practical approach to overcome the vulnerability of an unmarried female monarch. The analysis of contradictory imagery is a valuable contribution to comprehend the complexity of Elisabeth’s representation and her strategies of exercising power in a patriarchal society. The research shows that Elizabeth employed the medium of creating ambiguous images as a rhetorical tactic to overcome gender bias against the female monarchy, and her courtiers utilized the same approach to advance their own agendas. It explores two ambiguous representations: masculine/ feminine portrayal and virgin/ maternal depiction.

The Shakespeare Authorship Question: A Case Study in Bourdieuian Class Maintenance

Dozens of papers and books have been written on the subject of the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. Calling into question the probability or even the possibility of the man named Shakespeare being the true author, ‘anti-stratfordians’ have made the case for such authorship candidates as Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford. The body of evidence supporting Shakespeare’s authorship is convincing but not conclusive and the question continues to produce passionate responses from both pro- and anti-Shakespearean supporters. The doubter’s motives within the ongoing debate have only been explored incidentally as a function of discrediting the argument against Shakespeare. If the answer to the question is unprovable, why has it continued to be asked? The Shakespeare Authorship Question has been motivated by elitist sensibilities, personal ambition, academic insecurity, and a form of worship called bardolatry.