Today in 1582 Baron Mountjoy James Blount died. He experimented with alchemy, and was also made Knight of the Bath at Mary I’s coronation.
James Blount was born circa 1533 in Newport, Devon. He inherited his title on the death of his father, and was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Queen Mary (29 September 1553); and was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset in 1559.
He was one of the commissioners who tried the Duke of Norfolk in 1572, and spent the fortune of his family in the pursuit of alchemy. William Cecil encouraged him in the manufacture of alum and copperas between 1566 and 1572.
Blount also had a reputation as a supporter of Protestantism, in line with that of his father and grandfather. Henry Bennet, an English translator of Protestant literature, lauded him in 1561, mentioning also his patronage of Eliseus Bomelius, who was a German astrologer and physician. And the same year Jean Veron, a preacher at St. Paul’s Cathedral, dedicated to him an anti-papal tract.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Episode 154: A Brief History of Alchemy
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.