John Dee

Dee, John (1527–1608). Mathematician and astrologer. Dee was born in London, attended St John's College, Cambridge, and, taking holy orders, was a founding fellow of the new Trinity College. He spent much time on the continent, collecting rare books, studying mathematics, astronomy, and cartography, and lectured at Paris on Euclid. He returned to England in 1551, but was under a cloud in Mary's reign, imprisoned on charges of treason and heresy. Elizabeth was more receptive to Dee's appeals, but though she promised patronage, his reputation as a magician seems to have handicapped him. Dee moved into alchemy and then into an attempt to communicate with angels. Not until 1596 did he get much recognition, when he was made warden of Christ's College, Manchester, a post which proved acrimonious, and from which he retired in 1605. He appealed in vain to James I to allow him to clear himself of the imputation of sorcery, and died in poverty. His curious diaries were published, edited by Edward Fenton, in 1998. John Aubrey, a distant relative, wrote that Dee was ‘a very handsome man, with a long beard as white as milke … he wore a gowne like an artist's gowne, with hanging sleeves … the children dreaded him because he was accounted a conjurer’. See also magic; alchemy.

J. A. Cannon

John Dee 1527-1608, English mathematician and occultist. He was educated at Cambridge. Accused of practicing sorcery against Queen Mary I, he was acquitted and later was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, for whom he drew up valuable hydrographical and geographical materials on newly discovered lands. He also made calculations in preparation for adoption of the Gregorian calendar in England, which he vainly sought. He is better remembered, however, for the more sensational side of his career. His interest in crystal gazing, divination, and the occult led to his association with Edward Kelly, who claimed to have discovered the alchemical secret of transmuting base metal to gold. Dee and Kelly spent several years abroad, patronized by various nobles and monarchs. When Dee finally broke with Kelly and returned to England, he found himself generally shunned and much of his property destroyed. Although he maintained the favor of Elizabeth and was warden of Manchester College (1595-1604), he later retired to seclusion, and died in poverty. Dee wrote extensively on his occult experiments and on mathematics, natural science, and astrology. His diary was edited in 1842 by J. O. Halliwell-Phillips.

Bibliography: See biographies by R. Deacon (1968) and P. J. French (1972).

Dee, Dr John (1527–1608), mathematician and astrologer, became a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, where the stage effects he introduced into a performance of the Peace of Aristophanes procured him his lifelong reputation of being a magician, which was confirmed by his erudition and practice of crystallomancy and astrology. His works include Monas Hieroglyphica (1564), and General and Rare Memorials Pertayning to the Perfect Art of Navigation (1577). He was a profoundly learned scholar and hermeticist, but also a sham.