John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an Anglo-Welsh
mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and occult philosopher, and an advisor to
Queen Elizabeth I. He spent much time on alchemy, divination, and Hermetic
philosophy. He also advocated turning England's imperial expansion into a
"British Empire", a term he is generally credited with coining.
Science and sorcery
To 21st-century eyes, Dee's activities straddle the worlds
of magic and modern science, but the distinction would have meant nothing to
him. He was invited to lecture on Euclidean geometry at the University of Paris
while still in his early twenties. He was an ardent promoter of mathematics, a
respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, who trained many who
would conduct England's voyages of discovery.
Meanwhile he immersed himself in sorcery, astrology and
Hermetic philosophy. Much effort in his last 30 years went into trying to
commune with angels, so as to learn the universal language of creation and
achieve a pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of
Marsilio Ficino, he drew no distinctions between his mathematical research and
his investigations of hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination: all his
activities were facets of the quest for a transcendent understanding of the
divine forms underlying the visible world, Dee's "pure verities".
Dee amassed one of the biggest libraries in England. His
scholarly status also took him into Elizabethan politics as an adviser and
tutor to Elizabeth I and through relations with her ministers Francis
Walsingham and William Cecil. He tutored and had patronage relations with Sir
Philip Sidney, his uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Edward Dyer, and
Sir Christopher Hatton.
Biography
Early life
Dee was born in Tower Ward, London, to Rowland Dee, of Welsh
descent, and Johanna Wild. His surname "Dee" derived from the Welsh
du (black); his grandfather was Bedo Ddu of Nant-y-groes, Pilleth, Radnorshire,
and John retained his connection with the locality. His father Roland was a
mercer and gentleman courtier to Henry VIII. John Dee claimed to be a
descendant of Rhodri the Great, Prince of Wales and constructed a pedigree
showing his descent from Rhodri. Dee's family arrived in London in the wake of
Henry Tudor's coronation as Henry VII. Jane Dee was the daughter of William Wild.
Dee attended the Chelmsford Chantry School (now King Edward
VI Grammar School) from 1535 to 1542. He
entered St John's College, Cambridge, in November 1542, aged 15, graduating BA
in 1545 or early 1546. His abilities
recognised, he became an original fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, on its
founding by Henry VIII in 1546. At
Trinity, the clever stage effects he produced for a production of Aristophanes'
Peace procured him the reputation of being a magician that clung to him through
life. In the late 1540s and early 1550s, he traveled in Europe, studying at
Louvain (1548) and Brussels and lecturing in Paris on Euclid. He studied with
Gemma Frisius and became a close friend of the cartographer Gerardus Mercator
and cartographer Abraham Ortelius. Dee also travelled extensively throughout
Europe meeting and working with as well as learning from other leading
continental mathematicians such as Federico Commandino in Italy. He returned to England with an important
collection of mathematical and astronomical instruments. In 1552, he met
Gerolamo Cardano in London: during their acquaintance they investigated a
purported perpetual motion machine, as well as a gem supposed to have magical
properties.
Rector at Upton-upon-Severn from 1553, Dee was offered a
readership in mathematics at Oxford University in 1554, which he declined,
citing English universities' emphasis on rhetoric and grammar (which, together
with logic, formed the academic trivium) over philosophy and science (the more
advanced quadrivium, composed of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), as
offensive. He was occupied with writing and perhaps hoped for a better position
at court. In 1555, Dee became a member
of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, as his father had, through the company's
system of patrimony.
That same year, 1555, he was arrested and charged with
"calculating" for having cast horoscopes of Queen Mary and Princess
Elizabeth; the charges were expanded to treason against Mary. Dee appeared in the Star Chamber and
exonerated himself, but was turned over to the Catholic Bishop Bonner for
religious examination. His strong and lifelong penchant for secrecy perhaps
worsening matters, this entire episode was only the most dramatic in a series
of attacks and slanders that would dog Dee throughout his life. Clearing his
name yet again, he soon became a close associate of Bonner.
Dee presented Queen Mary with a visionary plan for the
preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national
library, in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up. Instead, he expanded his personal library at
his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England
and on the European Continent. Dee's library, a centre of learning outside the
universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.
When Elizabeth took the throne in 1558, Dee became her
trusted advisor on astrological and scientific matters, choosing Elizabeth's coronation
date himself. From the 1550s through the
1570s, he served as an advisor to England's voyages of discovery, providing
technical assistance in navigation and ideological backing in the creation of a
"British Empire", a term that he was the first to use. Dee wrote a letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron
Burghley, in October 1574 seeking patronage. He claimed to have occult
knowledge of treasure in the Welsh Marches, and of valuable ancient manuscripts
kept at Wigmore Castle, knowing that the Lord Treasurer's ancestors came from
this area. In 1577, Dee published
General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation, a work
that set out his vision of a maritime empire and asserted English territorial
claims on the New World. Dee was acquainted with Humphrey Gilbert and was close
to Sir Philip Sidney and his circle.
In 1564, Dee wrote the Hermetic work Monas Hieroglyphica
("The Hieroglyphic Monad"), an exhaustive Cabalistic interpretation
of a glyph of his own design, meant to express the mystical unity of all
creation. Having dedicated it to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor in an effort
to gain patronage, Dee attempted to present it to him during the time of his
ascension to the throne of Hungary. This work was esteemed by many of Dee's
contemporaries, but the work cannot be interpreted today without the secret oral
tradition from that era.
He published a "Mathematical Preface" to Henry
Billingsley's English translation of Euclid's Elements in 1570, arguing the
central importance of mathematics and outlining mathematics' influence on the
other arts and sciences. Intended for an
audience outside the universities, it proved to be Dee's most widely
influential and frequently reprinted work.
One of the important early products of the English School
was the first English translation of the Elements of Euclid. This translation
was carried out by The Lord Mayor of London Sir Henry Billingsley and not from
a Latin translation but direct from the Greek. Published in 1570 this
mathematical milestone contained a preface as well as copious notes and
supplementary material from John Dee and this preface is considered to be one
of Dee's most important mathematical works.
Later life
By the early 1580s, Dee was growing dissatisfied with his
progress in learning the secrets of nature as well as his failing influence and
recognition in court circles. Failure of his proposed calendar revision,
imperial recommendations and ambivalent results from exploration of North
America had nearly brought his hopes of political patronage to an end. As a
result, he began a more energetic turn towards the supernatural as a means to
acquire knowledge. Specifically, he sought to contact spirits through the use
of a "scryer" or crystal-gazer, which would act as an intermediary
between Dee and the angels.
Dee's first attempts with several scryers were not
satisfactory, but in 1582 he met Edward Kelley (then going under the name of
Edward Talbot to disguise his conviction for "coining" or forgery),
who impressed him greatly with his abilities. Dee took Kelley into his service and began to
devote all his energies to his supernatural pursuits. These "spiritual conferences" or
"actions" were conducted with an air of intense Christian piety,
always after periods of purification, prayer and fasting. Dee was convinced of the benefits they could
bring to mankind. (The character of Kelley is harder to assess: some have
concluded that he acted with complete cynicism, but delusion or self-deception is
not out of the question. Kelley's
"output" is remarkable for its sheer volume, its intricacy and its
vividness). Dee maintained that the angels laboriously dictated several books
to him this way, through Kelley, some in a special angelic or Enochian language.
Edward Kelley
In 1583, Dee met the visiting impoverished yet popular
Polish nobleman Albert Łaski who, after overstaying his welcome at court,
invited Dee to accompany him on his return to Poland. With some prompting by the "angels"
(again through Kelley) and his worsening status at court, Dee was persuaded to
go. Dee, Kelley and their families left for the Continent in September 1583,
but Łaski proved to be bankrupt and out of favour in his own country. Dee and Kelley began a nomadic life in Central
Europe, meanwhile continuing their spiritual conferences, which Dee recorded
meticulously in his diaries and almanacs. They had audiences with Emperor Rudolf II in
Prague Castle and King Stefan Batory of Poland whom they attempted to convince
of the importance of angelic communication. The meeting with the Polish King,
Stefan Batory, took place at the royal castle at Niepołomice (near Kraków, then
the capital of Poland) and was later widely analyzed by Polish historians
(Ryszard Zieliński, Roman Żelewski, Roman Bugaj) and writers (Waldemar Łysiak).
While generally Dee was accepted as a
man of wide and deep
knowledge, they mistrusted his connection with the English
monarch, Elizabeth I. They could not be sure that their meetings were without
political ramifications. Some thought (and still do) that Dee was in fact a spy
for the English monarch. Nevertheless, the Polish king, a devout Catholic and
very cautious of supernatural media, began their meeting(s) with the
affirmation that any prophetic revelations must be in keeping with the
teachings of Jesus Christ, the mission of the Holy Catholic Church, and the
approval of the Pope.
In 1587, during a spiritual conference in Bohemia, Kelley
informed Dee that the angel Uriel had ordered the men to share all their
possessions, including their wives. By this time, Kelley had gained some renown
as an alchemist and in fact was more sought-after than Dee in this regard: this
was a line of work that had prospects for serious and long-term financial gain,
especially among the royal families of central Europe. Dee, on the other hand,
was more interested in communicating with the angels who he believed would help
him solve the mysteries of the heavens through mathematics, optics, astrology,
science and navigation. It may be that Kelley in fact wished to end Dee's
dependence on him as a scryer for their increasingly lengthy and frequent
spiritual conferences. The order for
wife-sharing caused Dee great anguish, but he apparently did not doubt its
genuineness. They apparently did share wives. However, Dee broke off the
conferences immediately afterwards. Dee returned to England in 1589: Kelley
went on to be the alchemist for Emperor Rudolf II. Nine months later, on 28 February 1588, a son
was born to Dee's wife, whom Dee baptised Theodorus Trebonianus Dee and raised
as his own. It is possible that this child was Kelley's; Dee was 60 at the
time, Edward Kelley was 32.
Final years
Dee returned to Mortlake after six years abroad to find his
home vandalized, his library ruined and many of his prized books and instruments
stolen. Furthermore, Dee found that
increasing criticism of occult practices had made England even more
inhospitable to his magical practices and natural philosophy. Dee sought
support from Elizabeth, who hoped he could persuade Kelley to return and ease
England's economic burdens through alchemy. She finally appointed Dee Warden of Christ's College,
Manchester, in 1595. This former College
of Priests had been re-established as a Protestant institution by a Royal
Charter of 1578.
However, he could not exert much control over the Fellows of
that College, who despised or cheated him. Early in his tenure, he was consulted on the
demonic possession of seven children, but took little interest in the matter,
although he did allow those involved to consult his still extensive library.
He left Manchester in 1605 to return to London. However, he remained Warden until his death. By that time, Elizabeth was dead, and James I
provided no support. Dee spent his final years in poverty at Mortlake, forced to
sell off various of his possessions to support himself and his daughter,
Katherine, who cared for him until the end. He died in Mortlake late in 1608 or early 1609
aged 81. There are no extant records of the exact date as both the parish
registers and Dee's gravestone are missing. In 2013 a memorial plaque to Dee was placed on
the south wall of the present church.
Personal life
Dee was married three times and had eight children. He first
married Katherine Constable in 1565; she died in 1574 and their union resulted
in no children. His second (also childless) marriage to an unknown woman lasted
only a year until her death in 1576. From 1577 to 1601, Dee kept a sporadic diary
(also referred to as his "almanac") from which most of what we know
about his life during that time has been gleaned. In 1578 he married the 23-year-old Jane
Fromond: Dee was 51 at the time. Jane had her own connections to the
Elizabethan court: she was a lady in waiting to Elizabeth FitzGerald, Countess
of Lincoln, a position she gave up when she married Dee. When in 1587, Kelley
informed Dee of the angel's wish that they share wives; Jane Dee (née Fromond)
was the wife Dee shared with him. Although Dee complied with the angel's
supposed request for a while, he was apparently distressed by the arrangement
and it was one reason why the two men parted company not long thereafter. Some
believe that Dee's son Theodore, born nine months later, could have been
Kelley's son, not Dee's.
Jane died in Manchester of the bubonic plague and was buried
in the Manchester Cathedral burial grounds in March 1604. Michael, born in Prague, died on his father's
birthday in 1594. Theodore, born in Třeboň, died in Manchester in 1601. His
sons Arthur Dee and Rowland survived him, as did his daughter Katherine
"who was his companion to the end". No records exist for his youngest daughters
Madinia (sometimes Madima), Frances and Margaret after 1604, so it is widely
assumed they died in the same epidemic that took their mother. (Dee had by this
time ceased keeping his diary).
While Arthur was a student at the Westminster School, Dee
wrote a letter to his headmaster echoing the normal worries of boarding school
parents. Arthur was an apprentice in much of his father's alchemical and
scientific work, and was in fact often his scryer until Kelley came along.
Arthur went on to become an alchemist and hermetic author, whose works were
published by Elias Ashmole.
As regards Dee's physical appearance, the antiquary John
Aubrey gives the following description: "He was tall and slender. He wore
a gown like an artist's gown, with hanging sleeves, and a slit.... A very fair,
clear sanguine complexion... a long beard as white as milk. A very handsome man."
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