Edward Cradock (floruit 1571) was an English theologian and

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

Biography

A native of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, he was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he graduated B.A. 11 January 1556 and M.A. 10 February 1559. He was elected Lady Margaret professor on 24 October 1565, and later in the same year took both the degrees in divinity. He resigned his professorship in 1594. Anthony Wood said that Cradock "addicted himself much to chymistry" and "spent many years in obtaining the Elixir, alias the

Philosophers stone The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", ...

, and was accounted one of the number of those whom we now call Rosycrucians". He was a friend of

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divinatio ...

who recorded a three-day visit to him in Oxford in 1581.

Works

In 1571 he published ''The Shippe of assured Safetie, wherein we may sayle without Danger towards the Land of the Living, promised to the true Israelites'', 2nd edition 1572. Some Latin

sapphics The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form of Quatrain, four lines. Originally composed in quantitative verse and unrhymed, since the Middle Ages imitations of the form typically feature rhyme and accentual prosody. It is "the ...

by Cradock are prefixed to Robert Peterson's translation of Giovanni della Casa's ''

Il Galateo ''Galateo: The Rules of Polite Behavior'' (''Il Galateo, overo de' costumi'') by Florentine Giovanni Della Casa (1503–56) was published in Venice in 1558. A guide to what one should do and avoid in ordinary social life, this courtesy book of the ...

'', 1576. He wrote several alchemical works, left in the Ashmolean manuscripts: *''A Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone'', written in English verse and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. *''Tractatus de Lapide Philosophico'' (Ashmolean MS. 1415), written in Latin verse and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. *''Documentum et Practica'' (Ashmolean MS. 1408).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cradock, Edward English theologians English alchemists Year of death unknown 16th-century English theologians 16th-century English educators Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers Clergy from Staffordshire Year of birth unknown Lady Margaret Professors of Divinity 16th-century alchemists