Kelley and Sendivogius

Mining centres generally also preserve traces of alchemists. The famous English alchemist and adventurer Edward Kelley took refuge here. In Jílové he bought the Fumberk and Markvartovský houses, Hrádek near Jílové, twelve more houses and the town brewery, prompting repeated complaints from the townspeople before the provincial court. Kelley, whose original name was Talbot, was born on 1 April 1555 in Worcestershire, England, hence his Czech nickname Engenlander. He worked for a time as a notary or apothecary; both his ears were cut off in Leicester for fraud. By chance in the countryside he came upon an old alchemical manuscript and projection powder. In 1582 he met the learned doctor and alchemist John Dee. (See Třeboň.) At the invitation of the Polish nobleman Łaski, they went to Poland in 1583 and then to Prague. Kelley first worked for Vilém of Rožmberk in Třeboň. After Dee's expulsion, Kelley entered imperial service. He was first tested in Tadeáš Hájek of Hájek's house, where he performed a transmutation mentioned by Gassendi, Matouš of Brandov and Libavius. Rudolf II knighted him as Kelley of Imany after he had already been admitted to the Bohemian nobility. He worked at Prague Castle for three years and purchased his Jílové properties during this time. Vilém of Rožmberk gave him nearby estates: Nová Libeň, Okrouhlo, Bohuliby, Oleško, Záhořany, Hodkovice, Kamenná Vrata, Obora, Ostrov, Petrov, Třebsín and Libeřice castle, now Libeř, mostly west of Jílové. He married Johanna and had a son, Jan Adam, and a daughter, Johanna Alžběta. His younger brother also came from England and married here. In early May 1591 Kelley suddenly vanished from Prague after supposedly killing the imperial official Jiří Hunkler in a duel. His pursuers caught him in Soběslav and imprisoned him in Křivoklát castle. He was tortured and questioned about making the philosopher's stone. Even the English queen interceded. He tried to escape from Chuděrka tower, but the rope broke, he fractured a leg and was recaptured. At the pleas of his wife and Vilém of Rožmberk he was eventually freed, though barred from court. He fell into debt again, and after Vilém's death was imprisoned at Most. There he wrote his most important work, De lapide philosophorum, dedicated to the emperor, but added a bitter remark. The emperor, angered, tightened his confinement. Another escape attempt broke Kelley's other leg. Rudolf ordered his transfer to Prague, but seeing no way out Kelley drank poison in late 1597. Another alchemist linked to Jílové u Prahy was Michael Sendivogius. (See Kravaře.) He first stayed with Kelley, but the small town did not suit his ambitions. He reached the Prague court, and only later bought the Fumberk house from Kelley's widow. He fled there to escape plague threatening Prague. Following a denunciation, Old Town musketeers arrested him here and took him to prison in Prague. He sold his Jílové property in the following years.