On the evening of Monday 1 September 2025, join Professor Peter Oakley at Goldsmiths’ Hall for a session that explores the relationship between alchemy and assaying and what they reveal about science and magic in the time of the Tudors.

Peter’s talk will further explore the themes he presents in his article “The Magician, the Alchemist and the Assayer: Characters on Stage and at Court in Early Modern Europe”, published in this year’s Goldsmith’s Review. These include introducing the real-life individuals that inspired Shakespear’s Prospero and Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, why Elizabeth I retained a “Queen’s Conjuror”, and how assaying and alchemy collided at the Court of Rudoph II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

This History at the Hall talk will be held in the Exhibition Room, capacity is limited to 60 people, and tickets are priced at £15 per person. 

The talk starts promptly at 18:00, with a drinks reception to follow.