He was born "undir a crosse in thende of shirys three", possibly in Colerne, on the border of Wiltshire, Somerset, and Gloucestershire.

[2][3][4] 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.

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 unprofitable".

He also gives us something of a biography, professing that he began his study of alchemy at a young age and learned "the seacrets of Alkimy" from the adept alchemist George Ripley.

Notably, the book contains several verses satirising certain alchemical or hermetic connections to the Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who had written The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, a work satirizing alchemists.

[8] The book also contains the first supposed description of a dampers, describing Norton's construction of a furnace with no fewer than sixty temperatures it could attain at a single time.

[13] Thomas Norton's Ordinal became a very influential alchemical text in the 17th century, with its Latin translation in Michael Maier's Tripus Aureus.