Dee, John

John Dee

English mathematician, astronomer, and author John Dee (1527–1608) was a renowned intellectual of Renaissance–era England. An author of 49 books, his interests included science and mathematics, as well as alchemy, astrology, divination, and Rosicrucianism. In addition, he served as a consultant to Queen Elizabeth, and he advised English explorers on their voyages to North America. Today, his occult activities tend to overshadow his many substantial accomplishments, but the remarkable scholar was a true example of a "Renaissance Man."

Dee was born on July 13, 1527, in London, England, the only child of Roland Dee and Jane Wild. Accounts indicate that he descended from a noble Welsh house, the Dees of Nant y Groes in Radnorshire. Dee himself claimed that Roderick the Great, Prince of Wales, was a direct ancestor. His father, Roland Dee, was said to have been a gentleman server at the court of Henry VIII. He also dealt in textiles.

With his privileged background, Dee benefited from a good education. He attended Chelmsford in Essex and then, in November of 1542, he entered St. John's College at Cambridge University. He was only 15 years old. He studied Greek, Latin, philosophy, geometry, arithmetic, and astronomy and earned a bachelor's of arts degree after only two years. Following graduation, he lectured at Cambridge and then, in 1546, he became a founding Fellow at Trinity College in Cambridge, which was founded by Henry VIII.

Studied in Europe

At this point, Dee was dissatisfied with the attitude toward science demonstrated in England, so starting in 1547, he traveled throughout Europe, first going to the Low Countries—what are now Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands—where he studied with eminent scholars. In 1548, he moved to France and settled in Louvain, where he studied with the famed mapmaker Gerardus Mercator.

While in Louvain, Dee wrote two books on astronomy. Two years later, he spent several months in Paris, where he lectured on Euclid's principles of geometry. He turned down an offer of a permanent teaching post at the Sorbonne and returned to England in 1551, where he was granted the rectory of Upton–upon–Severn in Worcestershire (upon the recommendation of King Edward VI). His European academic success was indicated by the items he brought back to England: a brass astronomer's staff and two globes designed by Mercator. A year later, he entered the service of the Earl of Pembroke. Toward the end of that year, he entered the service of the Duke of Northumberland.

Father and Son Imprisoned

In 1553, after the death of King Edward VI, civil problems arose between English Catholics and Protestants regarding succession to the throne. Queen Mary, who was a Catholic, gained the throne, much to the dismay of Protestants, who feared for their safety and security. The fears were well founded, as the new queen started a campaign against prominent Protestants. The turmoil directly affected Dee's family. His father, a Protestant, was arrested. Though he was not imprisoned long, he lost all of his financial assets.

Two years later, in May, Dee himself was arrested, accused of black magic. He faced a Star Chamber prosecution, but he was only jailed for three months at Hampton Court. Still, after his release, he felt that people looked on him with suspicion because of his scientific and occult interests. However, when Queen Mary died in 1558, and the Protestant Elizabeth took the throne, Dee found favor with the new ruler. At Elizabeth's request, he even used his astrological skills to select the most appropriate day for her coronation. Dee became her scientific advisor, and some scholars believe he was actually working in service to her as a spy.

At this point in his life, Dee easily commingled with the upper levels of English society, including many Elizabethan explorers who were embarking on entrepreneurial adventures in North America. Dee served as a consultant to the Muscovy Company, which was formed in 1555 by the navigator and explorer Sebastian Cabot and some London merchants. For more than 30 years, Dee prepared nautical information for the company, and he educated sailors on geometry and cosmography prior to their transatlantic voyages.

Pursued a Range of Interests

During this time, Dee devoted himself to his chosen studies, which included crystallomancy, astrology, alchemy, Talmudic mysteries, and Rosicrucian theories. A deeply philosophical seeker, he endeavored to penetrate the mysteries of the elixir of life and the Philosopher's Stone. Living in solitude, and totally immersed in his mystical pursuits, Dee experienced visions that he believed revealed to him higher realities.

A bibliophile, he assembled one of the finest private libraries in England. He also wrote his own works. In 1564, he published Monas Hieroglyphica, a complex work on alchemy that was influenced by the Kabbala. In 1570, he wrote the preface to the first English translation of Euclid. In it, he complained about being viewed as "a companion of the hellhounds, a caller and a conjuror of wicked and damned spirits." Despite being highly regarded by Queen Elizabeth, he was never financially secure during her reign. In 1566, he was living with his mother at Mortlake on the Thames, in London, to save money.

In 1568 he published Propaedeumata Aphoristica, a book that contained mathematics and physics as well as astrology and magic. Dee was not necessarily odd in this regard. It was common for notable scientists of the time to share such interests. For instance, both astronomer Johannes Kepler and mathematician/scientist Sir Isaac Newtown studied alchemy. After he published his work, Dee taught mathematics to Queen Elizabeth, so that she could better understand his work. Meanwhile, his fame as an astronomer grew. Considered an expert, people sought out his views on a new star that appeared in 1572 as well as a comet that appeared in the sky five years later. A year after the appearance of the new star, Dee published Parallacticae commentationis praxosque which applied trigonometric principals to determine the distance of the star.

In February 1578, Dee married Jane Fromands, his third wife. They would have eight children. His second wife died in March 1576, only a year after they were married. They had no children. Dee's own mother died in 1580. The year before, she gave her house to Dee. In 1582, Dee tried to introduce the Gregorian Calendar to England, without success. His proposal to Queen Elizabeth involved removing eleven days to bring the calendar in line with the astronomical year. Dee's proposal is now viewed as a correct one and, at the time, he even gained the support of the queen's advisors. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury opposed Dee's plans, mostly because of personal and political matters. Because Dee's proposal was turned down, England continued using a calendar different from that of the rest of Europe until 1752.

Crystal Visions

More so than Dee's astronomical and mathematical knowledge, contemporary readers are more interested in his more esoteric pursuits, which make for sensationalistic, if not slightly preposterous, subject matter—his experiments in crystallomancy, for example. In his diaries, Dee recorded that he saw spirits inside his crystal globe when he focused upon the object. He first mentions the spirits in an entry dated May 25, 1581. In a November 1582 entry, Dee records that while he was on his knees in passionate prayer, he suddenly sensed a splendor that filled a window. Looking over, he saw the angel Uriel shining brightly. Dee was rendered speechless. The angel smiled, handed Dee a piece of convex crystal and told him that whenever he wanted to communicate with supernatural beings, he should gaze intently into the crystal. These beings, the angel claimed, would appear and reveal the future. The angel then vanished.

The crystal gazing proved no easy task for Dee. He reported that he needed to completely focus all of his mental faculties into the object before the spirits would communicate. Further, despite frequent communications with the spirits, Dee could never remember the content of the conversations. As a solution, Dee needed to find someone who would gaze into the crystal and talk to the spirits while Dee recorded the conversation. Dee found a suitable intermediary: one Edward Kelley. Kelley was a bit of a mysterious figure with a disreputable background. He was a convicted forger. He was also cunning and cocksure, where Dee was affable and a bit naive. For Dee, Kelley would serve as a scryer, or seer.

Dee first became involved with Kelley in March of 1582, and their activities would dominate most of Dee's later life. According to Dee, Kelley was born in Lancashire in 1555. As a consequence of his crime, his ears were cropped and he wore a black skullcap to hide the mutilation. For a while, he worked as a druggist, but he was more concerned with making a great deal of money with the least amount of effort. At first, he sought wealth through mystical means. When that failed, he essentially became a charlatan and used his esoteric knowledge to dupe the gullible. In one of the more lurid accounts of his background, Kelley was a necromancer and alchemist who could make the dead foretell the future. Supposedly, he tried to swindle a wealthy man by digging up a recently buried corpse and pretending to make it talk. During his sessions with Dee and the crystal, Kelley claimed he communicated with Uriel as well as beings named Madini, Gabriel, Nalvage, Il, Morvorgran, and Jubanladace. But Dee saw nothing. Apparently, Kelley was making it all up.

However, a record of the spiritual sessions, held between 1582 and 1587, was published in 1659 in Meric Casaubon's A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed between Dr. Dee and Some Spirits; Tending, Had it Succeeded, to a General Alteration of Most States and Kingdoms in the World. According to the records, the spirits provided occult instructions on how to make the elixir of life or search for the philosopher's stone. They also described the spiritual hierarchy of supernatural beings, and revealed the secrets of the primeval tongue that the angels and Adam spoke. Purportedly, in this original language, each word had an organic relation to its matching real–world object (be it an inanimate object or living creature) and would exercise a power over that object. The sessions also proposed prophecies, which were mostly incorrect. Some physical phenomena was reported (the movement of objects, for instance) but these were rare.

It is generally agreed that because of Kelley's involvement, the records of these sessions are comprised of falsehoods. Scholars who examine Dee's diary believe that he was completely fooled by Kelley's trickery which included optical illusions and ventriloquism. However, scholars marvel at the depth and intricacies of the visions—especially the creation of the angelic language. In other words, it was truly inspired lunacy.

The angelic language was called Enochic, and it was a linguistic construction of great complexity that combined magic, mathematics, astrology, and cryptography. According to Dee, the angels revealed several books to him starting in 1583. The surviving manuscripts are still studied by legitimate scholars as well as modern occultists. The books can be found in the British Library. The first book, Liber Logaeth, or the "Book of the Speech of God," which served as an introduction to the angelic language, underscores the complexities of Enochic.

Toured Europe with Kelley

Eventually, Dee's reputation as an occultist reached significant proportions and extended beyond England and across Europe. Among his claims, Dee said he obtained the elixir of life, which he said he found among the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Dee's home attracted curiosity seekers, and his fame brought him a great deal of money. However, he was never truly wealthy, as he invested most of his money into his alchemical experiments.

From 1583 to 1589, Dee traveled throughout Europe accompanied by both his wife and Kelley, gaining more occult knowledge. During this tour, they were hosted by the likes of the King of Poland and the Emperor Rudolf in Prague. They gave demonstrations of magic at various courts. Kelley gained a great deal of fame and was even knighted. However, the pair found themselves in trouble in Poland, due apparently to Kelley's avaricious deceptions. In 1589, Dee and Kelley parted ways, and Dee returned with his wife to England.

Sank into Poverty

Dee's fortunes immediately turned bad. When he returned to his home at Mortlake, intending to resume his scientific and occult studies, Dee found that a large part of his cherished library and many of his scientific instruments had been stolen. He soon experienced difficult financial times. To earn money, he practiced as a fortune teller, a decision that discolored his reputation. Kelley faired even worse. After splitting with Dee, he wandered through Germany, telling fortunes and practicing magic. Eventually, he was arrested for heresy. When he tried to escape from prison, he fell from a wall and broke two ribs and both of his legs. He died from his injuries in February 1593.

In the meantime, Dee employed two seedy scryers who were essentially useless and drained Dee of his money. When Dee sank to the level of poverty, he asked the queen for help. But it was only after persistent requests that he finally received any assistance, in the form of a modest appointment as chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral. In 1596 he was appointed warden of the Collegiate Chapter in Manchester, but this is now viewed as a means to get him away from London. He served in this position until 1603, when his failing health forced him to resign.

When Elizabeth I died in 1603, Dee was forced to move back to his Mortlake home where he lived a poverty–stricken existence. In 1605, parts of England were affected by the plague. Dee's wife and several of his children died. In his last years, Dee was forced to sell books from his library in order to live. When King James I took over after Queen Elizabeth, an era of witch hunts had begun. Dee's reputation once again darkened, and he even petitioned the king for protection. Dee was planning to leave England for Germany in 1608 when he died. After his passing, seventeenth–century historians branded Dee as a demonic sorcerer.

Reputation Restored

In recent years, serious scholars have pointed out Dee's solid and substantive intellectual contributions to Renaissance–era England. Though his important work still tends to be overshadowed by the more sensational elements of his career, Dee wrote numerous scientific manuscripts including De Trigono (1565) and Testamentum Johannis Dee Philosophi Summi ad Johannem Guryun Transmissum (1568). A man of relentless intellectual curiosity, Dee wrote up accounts for the "New World" and advanced the disciplines of astronomy, mathematics, and physics with accurate knowledge.

Books

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Gale Group, 2001.

Online

"Biography of John Dee," Deliriums Realm, http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/mythology/magick–dee.asp (December 31, 2004).

"Dr. John Dee Biography," Golden Dawn Resource Center, http://www.golden-dawn.org/dee.html (December 31, 2004).

"Enochian," Mandrake Press, http://www.mandrake-press.com/content/Articles/Main–article/enochian.html (December 31, 2004).

"John Dee," Altreligion, http://altreligion.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www%2Dgroups.dcs.st%2Dand.ac.uk/%257Ehistory/Mathematicians (December 31, 2004).