Thomas Norton (b. <1436 – d. c. 1513) was an English poet and alchemist best known for his 1477 alchemical poem, The Ordinal of Alchemy. Biography Thomas Norton was born to a merchant, mayor and sheriff of Bristol, called Walter Norton (fl. 1392-1421). In the Ordinal, he says he was one of the three alchemists in England who worked together at the time of the change of the coin under Sir Hugh Bryce (1464) and that he was a full alchemist at barely 28, which means that he cannot have been born after 1436. Norton was present to sign the transfer of some property in Wiltshire in 1454 and must have been of age by then, so an earlier date of birth is more likely. He was born "undir a crosse in thende of shirys three", possibly in Colerne, on the border of Wiltshire, Somerset, and Gloucestershire. Thomas Norton was a member of the important Bristol merchant family of Norton. Norton is believed to have studied under one of the most prominent alchemists of his time, George Ripley, writing that he "learned all the secrets of Alkimy" through his words. Norton is known to have studied alchemy in the service of King Edward IV, becoming a gentleman of Edward's privy chamber, past at least 1466. Perhaps doing this to compensate for being partly cut out of his father's will. Norton begun the Ordinal in 1477. Norton was rewarded with land confiscated from the rebels upon Edward IV's return from exile in 1471. In March 1479, Norton accused the incumbent mayor of Bristol of high treason, surrounding an argument concerning the legacy of his father as the mayor. Norton appealed to the king for support but was forced into silence. Norton died on 30 November 1513 Norton's great grandson, Samuel Norton, also became an alchemist - writing of his great grandfather in his work The Key of Alchemy. The Ordinal of Alchemy Content The Ordinal of Alchemy is an alchemical poem composed of 3,102 lines of irregularly rhymed Middle English. In the beginning of the poem, Norton lambasts the naivete of others who have bastardized the ideas of the ancient masters of alchemy. He tells us to read his book multiple times to get the best out of it, hinting at the esoteric hiding of his name in how he describes that "chaunging of some one sillable May make this Boke