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John Stacy (alchemist)

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John Stacy was a prominent 15th-century alchemist,[1] alleged astronomer and magnus necromanticus, or great sorcerer. Contemporaries suspected him of practising the dark arts,[2] and it was known he had predicted the death of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.[2] Stacy had warned Suffolk to beware of "the tower".[3] Writing to John Paston in 1450, William Lomner reported how Stacy had advised Suffolk that "if he might escape the danger of the Tower, he should be safe".[4] Suffolk, impeached in 1450 was therefore relieved that, instead of being sent to the Tower, he was exiled. But when he sailed from England, his ship was boarded by a privateer; he was murdered and his body dumped near Dover. The name of the ship that had attacked his own was Nicholas of the Tower.[5][4]

Stacy was implicated in a treasonable conspiracy in 1477. Under acerrimum examen, literally, 'severe examination' (i.e., torture)[6][7]—he implicated Thomas Burdet of Arowe,[8] a retainer of George, Duke of Clarence household.[9] Following Stacy's confession, Burdet and another Oxford clerk, Thomas Blake, were arrested. The commission condemned all three.[8] In what the hisorian Charles Ross has called a "staged political trial",[10] and what his wife has called a "justly conducted, if political, trial", on 10 May 1477[11] they were found guilty of "'imagining and compassing' the king's death".[12] This was high treason.[13] Blake was reprieved after a petition from the Bishop of Norwich,[14] but Burdet and Stacy, still protesting their innocence, were taken to Tyburn the following day and hanged, drawn and quartered.[15][11]

The medical historian Jonathan Hughes argues that Stacy's involvement in the events of 1477 indicate how "infiltration of black magic into the affairs of state" was unprecedented.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hughes 2002, p. 289.
  2. ^ a b Saunders 2010, p. 76.
  3. ^ Kittredge 1929, p. 139.
  4. ^ a b Gairdner 2010, p. 147.
  5. ^ Bartlett 2020, pp. 346–347.
  6. ^ Kelly 2001, p. 231.
  7. ^ Kittredge 1929, p. 138.
  8. ^ a b Scofield 1967, p. 188.
  9. ^ Cook 2014, p. 40.
  10. ^ Ross 1974, p. 241.
  11. ^ a b Scofield 1967, p. 189.
  12. ^ Given-Wilson et al. 2005.
  13. ^ Crawford 2007, p. 100.
  14. ^ Young 2022, p. 133.
  15. ^ Lander 1967, p. 6.
  16. ^ Hughes 2002, p. 290.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Bartlett, R. (2020). Blood Royal: Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10849-067-2.
  • Cook, D. R. (2014). Lancastrians and Yorkists: The Wars of the Roses (repr. ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-31788-097-4.
  • Crawford, A. (2007). The Yorkists: The History of a Dynasty. London: Hambledon. ISBN 978-1-84725-197-8.
  • Gairdner, J. (2010) [1904]. The Paston Letters: 1422-1509. Vol. II (New Library (repr.) ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-51171-648-5.
  • Given-Wilson, C.; Brand, P.; Phillips, S.; Ormrod, M.; Martin, G.; Curry, A.; Horrox, R., eds. (2005). "Introduction: Edward IV: January 1478". British History Online. Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Woodbridge. Archived from the original on 11 January 2025. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  • Hughes, J. (2002). Arthurian Myths and Alchemy: The Kingship of Edward IV. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 978-0-75091-994-4.
  • Kelly, H. A. (2001). Inquisitions and Other Trial Procedures in the Medieval West. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-04024-281-0.
  • Kittredge, G. L. (1929). Witchcraft in Old and New England. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. OCLC 1544433.
  • Lander, J. R. (1967). "The Treason and Death of the Duke of Clarence: A Re-Interpretation". Canadian Journal of History. 2 (2): 1–28. doi:10.3138/cjh.2 (inactive 24 January 2025).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2025 (link)
  • Ross, C. D. (1974). Edward IV. Berkeley: University of California Press. OCLC 1259845.
  • Saunders, C. J. (2010). Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-221-7.
  • Scofield, C. L. (1967). The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth, King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland. Vol. II (New impr. ed.). London: Cass. OCLC 310646653.
  • Young, F. (2022). Magic in Merlin's Realm: A History of Occult Politics in Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-31651-240-1.
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