View source for John Dee

{{Short description|English scientist and occultist (1527–1608/09)}}
{{Other people|John Dee}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = John Dee
| image             = John Dee Ashmolean.jpg
| alt               = A painting of Dee with a beard and skullcap
| caption           = A 16th-century portrait by an unknown artist{{efn|name=painting}}
| birth_date        = 13 July 1527{{sfn|Woolley|2012|p=}}
| birth_place       = [[Tower (ward)|Tower Ward]], London, [[Kingdom of England|England]]{{sfn|Woolley|2012|p=}}
| death_date        = December 1608 or {{dda|March 1609|13 July 1527}}
| death_place       = [[Mortlake]], Surrey, England
| field             = [[Mathematics]], [[alchemy]], [[astrology]], [[Hermeticism]], [[navigation]]
| work_institutions = {{ubl|[[Trinity College, Cambridge]]|[[Christ's College, Manchester]]}}
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|[[St John's College, Cambridge]]|[[Old University of Leuven|Louvain University]]}}
| academic_advisors = [[Gemma Frisius]], [[Gerardus Mercator]]<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=119224|title=John Dee}}</ref>
| notable_students  = [[Thomas Digges]]{{sfn|Singmaster|2003}}
| known_for         = Advisor to Queen [[Elizabeth I]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = 
| spouse            = {{ubl|Katherine Constable|[[Jane Dee|Jane Fromond]]}}
| children          = {{ubl|Michael (d. 1594)|Theodore (d. 1601)|Arthur|Rowland|Madinia|Frances|Margaret (d. 1603)|Katherine}}
| signature         = 
}}
'''John Dee''' (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, [[astronomer]], [[astrologer]], [[teacher]], [[occult]]ist, and [[alchemist]].{{sfn|Roberts|2006}} He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, [[Elizabeth I]], and spent much of his time on [[alchemy]], [[divination]], and [[Hermetic philosophy]]. As an [[antiquarian]], he had one of the largest libraries in England at the time. As a political advisor, he advocated the foundation of English colonies in the [[New World]] to form a "[[British Empire]]", a term he is credited with coining.{{sfn|Williams|1985|p=124}}

Dee eventually left Elizabeth's service and went on a quest for additional knowledge in the deeper realms of the occult and supernatural. He aligned himself with several individuals who may have been charlatans, travelled through Europe and was accused of [[spy]]ing for [[The Crown|the English crown]].{{cn|date=January 2024}} Upon his return to England, he found his home and library vandalised. He eventually returned to the Queen's service, but was turned away when she was succeeded by [[James VI and I|James I]]. He died in poverty in London and his gravesite is unknown.

==Biography==
===Early life===
Dee was born in [[Tower (ward)|Tower Ward]], London, to Rowland Dee, of Welsh descent, and Johanna, daughter of William Wild.{{sfn|Roberts|2006}}{{sfn|Carradice|2010}}{{sfn|Jones|Chambers|1959}}<ref>{{MacTutor|id=Dee}}</ref>{{sfn|Baskerville|1998|p=34}}{{sfn|Poole|1996}} His surname "Dee" reflects the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''du'' ({{lang|en|black}}). His grandfather was Bedo Ddu of Nant-y-groes, [[Pilleth]], [[Radnorshire]]; John retained his connection with the locality. His father Roland was a [[Mercery|mercer]] and gentleman [[courtier]] to [[Henry VIII]]. John Dee claimed descent from [[Rhodri the Great]], 9th century ruler of [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]], and constructed a pedigree accordingly. His family had arrived in London with Henry Tudor's coronation as Henry VII.{{sfn|Jones|Chambers|1959}}

Dee attended [[Chelmsford]] Chantry School (now [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford|King Edward VI Grammar School]]) from 1535 to 1542.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=15}} He entered [[St John's College, Cambridge]] in November 1542, aged 15, graduating [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1545 or early 1546.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|pp=15-16}}{{sfn|Dee|Kelly|Casaubon|1659|p=497}} His abilities recognised, he became an original fellow of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] on its foundation by Henry VIII in 1546.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=16}} At Trinity, the clever stage effects he produced for a production of [[Aristophanes]]' [[Peace (play)|''Peace'']] earned him lasting repute as a magician. In the late 1540s and early 1550s, he travelled in Europe, studying at [[Old University of Leuven|Louvain]] (1548) and [[Brussels]] and lecturing in Paris on [[Euclid]]. He studied under [[Gemma Frisius]] and became friends with the [[cartographer]]s [[Gerardus Mercator]] and [[Abraham Ortelius]]. Dee also met, worked and learnt from other continental mathematicians, such as [[Federico Commandino]] in [[Italy]].{{sfn|Christie|2013}} He returned to England with a major collection of mathematical and astronomical instruments. In 1552, he met [[Gerolamo Cardano]] in London, with whom he investigated a purported [[perpetual motion]] machine and a [[gem]] supposed to have magical properties.{{sfn|Cardan|2004|p=}}

Rector at [[Upton-upon-Severn]] from 1553, Dee was offered a readership in mathematics at [[Oxford University]] in 1554, which he declined, citing as offensive English universities' emphasis on [[rhetoric]] and [[grammar]] (which, together with [[logic]], formed the [[academia|academic]] ''[[trivium]]'') over philosophy and science (the more advanced ''[[quadrivium]]'', composed of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy). He was busy with writing and perhaps hoped for a better position at court.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} In 1555, Dee joined the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers]], as his father had, through its system of [[Property|patrimony]].{{sfn|Roberts|2005}}

In that same year Dee was arrested and charged with the crime of "calculating", because he had cast [[horoscope]]s of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] and [[Elizabeth I|Princess Elizabeth]]. The charges were raised to [[treason]] against Mary.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}{{sfn|Lysons|1792}} Dee appeared in the [[Star Chamber]] and exonerated himself, but was turned over to the Catholic bishop [[Edmund Bonner]] for religious examination. His strong, lifelong penchant for secrecy may have worsened matters. The episode was the most dramatic in a series of attacks and slanders that dogged Dee throughout his life. Clearing his name yet again, he soon became a close associate of Bonner.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}

Dee presented Queen Mary in 1556 with a visionary plan for preserving old books, manuscripts and records and founding a national library, but it was not taken up.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} Instead, he expanded his personal library in [[Mortlake]], acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the Continent. Dee's library, a centre of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.<ref name="SJCC"/>
[[File:Dee glyph (fixed width).svg|thumb|upright|Dee's [[glyph]], whose meaning he explained in ''[[Monas Hieroglyphica]]'']]

When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558, Dee became her astrological and scientific advisor. He chose her coronation date and even became a Protestant.{{sfn|Poole|1996}}{{sfn|Szönyi|2004a}}{{sfn|Szönyi|2004b|p=246}} From the 1550s to the 1570s, he served as an advisor to England's voyages of discovery, providing technical aid in navigation and political support to create a "[[British Empire]]", a term he was the first to use.{{sfn|MacMillan|2001|pp=1–26}} Dee wrote in October 1574 to [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley]] seeking patronage. He claimed to have occult knowledge of treasure in the [[Welsh Marches]] and of valuable manuscripts kept at [[Wigmore Castle]], knowing that the [[Lord Treasurer]]'s ancestors came from the area.{{sfn|Strype|1824|pp=558–563}}

In 1564, Dee wrote the [[Hermetica|Hermetic]] work ''[[Monas Hieroglyphica]]'' ("The Hieroglyphic [[Monad (philosophy)|Monad]]"), an exhaustive [[Christian Kabbalah|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 at the time of his ascension to the throne of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]]. The work was esteemed by many of Dee's contemporaries, but cannot be interpreted today in the absence of the secret oral tradition of that era.{{sfn|Forshaw|2005|pp=247-269}}

His 1570 "Mathematical Preface" to [[Henry Billingsley]]'s English translation of Euclid's ''[[Euclid's Elements|Elements]]'' argued for the importance of mathematics as an influence on the other arts and sciences.<ref name=msim.org.uk/> Intended for an audience outside the universities, it proved to be Dee's most widely influential and frequently reprinted work.{{sfn|Johnston|1995}}

In 1577, Dee published {{lang|enm|General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation}}, a work setting out his vision of a maritime empire and asserting English territorial claims on the [[New World]]. Dee was acquainted with [[Humphrey Gilbert]] and close to Sir [[Philip Sidney]] and his circle.{{sfn|MacMillan|2001|pp=1–26}}

===Later life===
{{more footnotes|section|date=January 2024}}
[[File:John Dee's Seal of God.jpg|thumb|The "Seal of God", [[British Museum]]]]

By the early 1580s, Dee was discontented with his progress in learning the secrets of nature and his diminishing influence and recognition in court circles. Failure of his ideas concerning a proposed calendar revision,{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=106}} colonial establishment and ambivalent results for voyages of exploration in [[North America]] had nearly brought his hopes of political patronage to an end. He subsequently began to turn energetically towards the [[supernatural]] as a means to acquire knowledge. He sought to contact spirits through the use of a [[Scrying|scryer]], which he thought would act as an intermediary between himself and the angels.{{sfn|Harkness|1999|p=16}}

Dee's first attempts with several scryers were unsatisfactory, but in 1582 he met [[Edward Kelley]] (then calling himself Edward Talbot) who impressed him greatly with his abilities.{{sfn|Calder|1952}} Dee took Kelley into his service and began to devote all his energies to his supernatural pursuits.{{sfn|Calder|1952}} These "spiritual conferences" or "actions" were conducted with intense Christian piety, always after periods of purification, prayer and [[fasting]].{{sfn|Calder|1952}} Dee was convinced of the benefits they could bring to mankind. The character of Kelley is harder to assess: some conclude that he acted with cynicism, but delusion or self-deception cannot be ruled out.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Kelley's "output" is remarkable for its volume, intricacy and vividness. Dee records in his journals that angels dictated several books to him this way, through Kelley, some in a special angelic or [[Enochian]] language.{{sfn|Dee|Kelly|Casaubon|1659|p=}}{{sfn|Dee|2003}}
[[File:Edward Kelly prophet or seer to Dr Dee 02355.jpg|thumb|left|[[Edward Kelley]]]]

In 1583, Dee met the impoverished yet popular Polish nobleman [[Albert Łaski]], who, after overstaying his welcome at court, invited Dee to accompany him back to [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]].{{sfn|Lysons|1792}} With some prompting by the "angels" (again through Kelley) and by dint of his worsening status at court, Dee decided to do so. He, Kelley and their families left in September 1583, but Łaski proved to be bankrupt and out of favour in his own country.{{sfn|Mackay|1852|p=155}} Dee and Kelley began a [[nomad]]ic life in Central Europe, meanwhile continuing their spiritual conferences, which Dee detailed in his diaries and almanacs.{{sfn|Dee|Kelly|Casaubon|1659|p=}}{{sfn|Dee|2003}} They had audiences with [[Emperor Rudolf II]] in [[Prague Castle]] and King [[Stephen Báthory]] of Poland, whom they attempted to convince of the importance of angelic communication. The Bathory meeting took place at the [[Niepołomice Castle]] (near [[Kraków]], then capital of Poland) and was later analysed by Polish historians (Ryszard Zieliński, Roman Żelewski, Roman Bugaj) and writers (Waldemar Łysiak).{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}}While Dee was generally seen as a man of deep knowledge, he was mistrusted for his connection with the English monarch, Elizabeth I, for whom some thought Dee was a spy.{{sfn|Szönyi|2004a|p=3}} Dee did indeed pen a covert letter to spymaster [[Francis Walsingham]] in which he said "I am forced to be brief...That which England suspected was also here".{{sfn|Woolley|2012|p=244}} The Polish king, a devout Catholic and cautious of supernatural mediators, began their meeting(s) by affirming that prophetic revelations must match the teachings of Christ, the mission of the Holy Catholic Church, and the approval of the Pope.

In 1587, at a spiritual conference in [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], Kelley told 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 was more sought-after than Dee in this regard: it was a line of work that had prospects for serious and long-term financial gain, especially among the royal families of central Europe. Dee, however, was more interested in communicating with angels, who he believed would help him solve the mysteries of the heavens through mathematics, optics, astrology, science and navigation. Perhaps Kelley in fact wished to end Dee's dependence on him as a diviner at their increasingly lengthy, frequent spiritual conferences.{{sfn|Mackay|1852|p=155}} The order for wife-sharing caused Dee anguish, but he apparently did not doubt it was genuine and they apparently shared wives. However, Dee broke off the conferences immediately afterwards. He returned to England in 1589, while Kelley went on to be the alchemist to Emperor Rudolf II.{{sfn|Mackay|1852|p=155}}<ref name="AG"/> 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.

===Final years===
[[File:John Dee memorial plaque at S Mary the Virgin Mortlake.jpg|thumb|John Dee memorial plaque installed in 2013 inside the church of [[St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake]]]]
Dee returned to [[Mortlake]] after six years abroad to find his home vandalised, his library ruined and many of his prized books and instruments stolen.<ref name="SJCC"/>{{sfn|Mackay|1852|p=155}} Furthermore, he found that increasing criticism of [[occult]] practices had made England still less hospitable to his magical practices and natural philosophy. He sought support from Elizabeth, who hoped he could persuade Kelley to return and ease England's economic burdens through alchemy.{{efn|name=Szönyi2015}} She finally appointed Dee Warden of [[Christ's College, Manchester]], in 1595.{{sfn|Dee|1842|p=33}}

This former College of Priests had been re-established as a Protestant institution by Royal Charter in 1578.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} However, he could not exert much control over its fellows, who despised or cheated him.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} Early in his tenure, he was consulted on the demonic possession of seven children, but took little interest in the case, although he allowed those involved to consult his still extensive library.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}

Dee left Manchester in 1605 to return to London,{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=203}} but remained Warden until his death.{{sfn|Frangopulo|1969|p=129-130}} By that time, Elizabeth was dead and [[James I of England|James I]] gave him no support. Dee spent his final years in poverty at Mortlake, forced to sell off various possessions to support himself and his daughter, Katherine, who cared for him until his death in Mortlake late in 1608 or early in 1609 aged 81.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=203}} Both the parish registers and Dee's gravestone are missing.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}{{sfn|Aubrey|1898|p=}} In 2013 a memorial plaque to Dee was placed on the south wall of the present church.<ref name=johndeemortlakesoc.org/>

==Personal life==
Dee was married three times and had eight children. He married his first wife, Katherine Constable in 1565. They had no children, and she died in 1574. He married his second wife, whose name is unknown, in 1575. She died in 1576, again with no children.<ref name=uncarved.org/>

In 1578, when he was 51, he married the 23-year-old [[Jane Dee|Jane Fromond]] (1555–1604), who had her own connection with the Elizabethan court as a lady-in-waiting to [[Elizabeth FitzGerald, Countess of Lincoln]] until she married Dee. They had 7 or 8 children, namely: [[Arthur Dee]] (1579–1651), Michael Dee (died 1594), Rowland Dee, Katherine Dee, Madinia Dee, Frances Dee, Margaret Dee and, possibly, Theodore Dee (1588–1601).<ref name="johndee.org">{{harvnb|Fell Smith|1909|loc=[http://www.johndee.org/charlotte/pdf/Appendix1.pdf Appendix 1: The Descendants of John Dee]}}.</ref> 

Dee referred to Thomas Jones, who is the likely loose inspiration for Welsh folkloric outlaw [[Twm Siôn Cati]], as his cousin; the pair corresponded, and Jones visited Dee several times.<ref>{{ cite encyclopedia | url = https://biography.wales/article/s-JONE-THO-1530 | title = Jones, Thomas ('Twm Shôn Catti'; 1532–1609), landowner, antiquary, genealogist, and bard | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Welsh Biography]] }}</ref>

From 1577 to 1601, Dee kept a sporadic diary (also referred to as his almanac), from which most of what we know of his life in that time has been gleaned.{{sfn|Roberts|2005}} In 1587, Kelley informed Dee of the angel's wish that they share wives. Theodore Dee, born nine months later, could have been fathered by Kelley, and not Dee.{{sfn|Roberts|2005}}

Jane died in Manchester of [[bubonic plague]] and was buried in the [[Manchester Cathedral]] burial grounds in March 1604.<ref name=mancath/> Michael, born in Prague, died on his father's birthday in 1594. Theodore, born in [[Třeboň]], died in Manchester in 1601. His sons Arthur and Rowland survived him, as did his daughter Katherine, "his companion to the end".<ref name=johndee.org/> No records exist for his youngest daughters Madinia (sometimes Madima), Frances and Margaret after 1604, so it is widely assumed they died in the epidemic that took their mother. (Dee had by this time ceased to keep a diary.){{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}

While Arthur was a student at the [[Westminster School]], Dee wrote to his headmaster echoing the normal worries of boarding-school parents.{{cn|date=March 2022}} Arthur was an apprentice in much of his father's alchemical and scientific work and in fact often his diviner until Kelley appeared. He went on to become an alchemist and Hermetic author, whose works were published by [[Elias Ashmole]].{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}

The [[antiquary]] [[John Aubrey]]{{efn|name=Aubrey}} describes Dee as "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."{{sfn|Aubrey|1898|p=}}

==Achievements==
[[File:Chart in the hand of Dr John Dee. Steganographiae.png|thumb|A chart from [[Johannes Trithemius]]'s [[Steganographia]] in the hand of John Dee who copied the entire manuscript in 1591]]

===Thought===
Dee was an intense Christian, but his religiosity was influenced by Hermetic and [[Plato]]nic-[[Pythagoras|Pythagorean]] doctrines pervasive in the [[Renaissance]].{{sfn|Trattner|1964|pp=17-34}} He believed that [[numerology|numbers]] were the basis of all things and key to knowledge.{{sfn|Poole|1996}} From [[Hermeticism]] he drew a belief that man had the potential for divine power that could be exercised through mathematics.{{sfn|Johnston|1995}} His goal was to help bring forth a unified world religion through the healing of the breach of the [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Protestant]] churches and the recapture of the pure [[theology]] of the ancients.{{sfn|Poole|1996}}

===Advocating the establishment of colonies===
From 1570 Dee advocated a policy of political and economic strengthening of England and [[European colonization of the Americas|establishment of colonies in the New World]].{{sfn|Roberts|2006}} His manuscript ''Brytannicae reipublicae synopsis'' (1570) outlined the state of the [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan Realm]]{{sfn|Sherman|1995|p=}} and was concerned with trade, ethics and national strength.{{sfn|Roberts|2006}}

His 1576 {{lang|enm|General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation}} was the first volume in an unfinished series planned to advocate for the establishment of English colonies abroad.{{sfn|Yates|1999|p=48}} In a symbolic frontispiece, Dee included a figure of [[Britannia]] kneeling by the shore beseeching Elizabeth I to protect her nation by strengthening [[Royal Navy|her navy]].{{sfn|Hewitt|2017}} Dee used [[Geoffrey of Monmouth|Geoffrey]]'s inclusion of [[Ireland]] in [[King Arthur]]'s conquests to argue that Arthur had established a "British empire" abroad.{{sfn|Padel|2007}} He argued that the establishment of new colonies would benefit England economically, with said colonies being protected by a strong navy.<ref name=nmm.ac.uk/>{{sfn|Dee|1577}} Dee has been credited with coining the term ''[[British Empire]]'',{{sfn|Sherman|1995|p=148}} but [[Humphrey Llwyd]] has also been credited with the first use in his ''Commentarioli Britannicae Descriptionis Fragmentum'', published eight years earlier in 1568.{{sfn|Nicholls|1999|p=}}

Dee posited a formal claim to North America on the back of a map drawn in 1577–1580;{{sfn|Baldwin|2018}} he noted that "circa 1494 Mr. Robert Thorn his father, and Mr. Eliot of Bristow, discovered Newfound Land."<ref name=britlib/> In his ''Title Royal'' of 1580, he invented a claim that [[Madoc|Madog ab Owain Gwynedd]] had discovered America, intending thereby to boost England's claim to the New World over that of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]]'s.{{sfn|Lloyd|Jones|2006}} He also asserted that [[Brutus of Britain]] and King Arthur, as well as Madog, had conquered lands in the Americas, so that their heir, Elizabeth I of England, had a prior claim there.{{sfn|MacMillan|2001|pp=1–26}}{{sfn|Barone|n.d.}}

==Reputation and significance==
Some ten years after Dee's death, the antiquarian [[Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington|Robert Cotton]] bought land round Dee's house and began digging for papers and artifacts. He found several manuscripts, mainly records of Dee's angelic communications. Cotton's son gave these to the scholar [[Méric Casaubon]], who published them in 1659, with a long introduction critical of their author, as ''A True & Faithful Relation of What passed for many Yeers between Dr. John Dee (A Mathematician of Great Fame in Q. Eliz. and King James their Reignes) and some spirits''.{{sfn|Dee|Kelly|Casaubon|1659|p=}} As the first public revelation of Dee's spiritual conferences, the book was popular. Casaubon, who believed in the reality of spirits, argued in his introduction that Dee was acting as the unwitting tool of evil spirits when he believed he was communicating with angels. This book is mainly responsible for the image, prevalent for the next two-and-a-half centuries, of Dee as a dupe and deluded fanatic.{{sfn|Trattner|1964|pp=17-34}}

About the time the ''True and Faithful Relation'' was published, members of the [[Rosicrucian]] movement claimed Dee as one of their number.{{sfn|Heisler|1992}} There is doubt, however, that an organized Rosicrucian movement existed in Dee's lifetime, and no evidence he ever belonged to any secret fraternity.{{sfn|Calder|1952}} His reputation as a magician and the vivid story of his association with [[Edward Kelley]] have made him a seemingly irresistible figure to [[fabulist]]s, writers of [[horror fiction|horror stories]] and latter-day [[Magic (supernatural)|magicians]]. The accretion of fanciful information about Dee often obscures the facts of his life, remarkable as they were. It also does nothing to promote his Christian leanings: Dee looked to the angels to tell him how he might heal the deep and serious rifts between the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed Church of England and the Protestant movement in England.{{sfn|Neal|1999|pp=151–178}} Queen Elizabeth I used him several times as her court astronomer, not solely because he practised Hermetic arts, but as a deeply religious and learned, trustworthy man.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

A revaluation of Dee's character and significance came in the 20th century, largely through the work of the historians Charlotte Fell Smith and Dame [[Frances Yates]]. Both brought into focus the parallel roles of magic, science and religion in the Elizabethan [[Renaissance]]. Fell Smith writes: "There is perhaps no learned author in history who has been so persistently misjudged, nay, even slandered, by his posterity, and not a voice in all the three centuries uplifted even to claim for him a fair hearing. Surely it is time that the cause of all this universal condemnation should be examined in the light of reason and science; and perhaps it will be found to exist mainly in the fact that he was too far advanced in speculative thought for his own age to understand."{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} Through this and subsequent re-evaluation, Dee is now viewed as a serious scholar and book collector, a devoted Christian (albeit at a confusing time for that faith), an able scientist, and one of the most learned men of his day.{{sfn|Trattner|1964|pp=17-34}}{{sfn|Yates|1969|p=7}} His Mortlake library was the largest in the country before it was vandalised, and created at enormous, sometimes ruinous personal expense; it was seen as one of the finest in Europe, perhaps second only to that of [[Jacques Auguste de Thou|De Thou]]. As well as being an astrological and scientific advisor to Elizabeth and her court, he was an early advocate of [[European colonization of the Americas|colonisation of North America]], envisioning a British Empire stretching across the North Atlantic.{{sfn|MacMillan|2001|pp=1–26}}

Dee promoted the sciences of navigation and [[cartography]]. He studied closely with [[Gerardus Mercator]] and owned an important collection of maps, [[globe]]s and astronomical instruments. He developed new instruments and special navigational techniques for use in [[polar regions]]. Dee served as an advisor to English voyages of discovery, and personally selected pilots and trained them in navigation.{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}}{{sfn|MacMillan|2001|pp=1–26}} He believed that mathematics (which he understood mystically) was central to human learning. The centrality of mathematics to Dee's vision makes him to that extent more modern than [[Francis Bacon]], though some scholars believe Bacon purposely downplayed mathematics in the anti-occult atmosphere of the reign of James I.{{sfn|Vickers|1992|pp=495-518}} Although Dee's understanding of the role of mathematics differs much from ours,{{sfn|Johnston|1995}}{{sfn|Neal|1999|pp=151–178}}{{sfn|Johnston|2006|pp=65-84}} its promotion outside the universities was an enduring achievement. For most of his writings, Dee chose English, rather than Latin, to make them accessible to the public. His "Mathematical Preface" to Euclid was meant to promote the study and application of mathematics by those without a university education, and was popular and influential among the "mechanicians": a growing class of technical craftsmen and artisans. Dee's preface includes demonstrations of mathematical principles that readers could perform themselves without special education or training.{{sfn|Johnston|1995}}

In the 20th century, the [[Municipal Borough of Richmond (Surrey)|Municipal Borough of Richmond]] (now the [[London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]]) honoured John Dee by naming a street near Mortlake "Dee Road".{{sfn|Members of the Richmond Local History Society|2022|p=38}}

===Calendar===
Dee was a friend of [[Tycho Brahe]] and familiar with the work (translated into English by his ward and assistant, [[Thomas Digges]]) of [[Nicolaus Copernicus]].{{sfn|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} Many of his astronomical calculations were based on Copernican assumptions, although he never openly espoused the [[heliocentric]] theory. Dee applied Copernican theory to the problem of [[calendar]] reform. In 1583, he was asked to advise the Queen on the new [[Gregorian calendar]] promulgated by [[Pope Gregory XIII]] from October 1582. He advised that England accept it, albeit with seven specific amendments. The first was that the adjustment should not be the ten days that would restore the calendar to the time of the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]] in 325 AD, but by eleven, which would restore it to the birth of Christ. Another proposal of Dee's was to align the civil and liturgical years and have them both start on 1 January. Perhaps predictably, England chose to spurn suggestions that had papist origins, despite any merit they may have had.{{sfn|Poole|1996}}

===Voynich manuscript===
Dee has often been associated with the [[Voynich manuscript]].{{sfn|Calder|1952}}{{sfn|Rugg|2004|pp=104-109}} [[Wilfrid Michael Voynich]], who bought the manuscript in 1912, suggested that Dee may have owned it and sold it to [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolph II]]. Dee's contacts with Rudolph were less extensive than had been thought, however, and Dee's diaries show no evidence of a sale. However, he was known to have owned a copy of the ''[[Book of Soyga]]'', another enciphered book.{{sfn|Reeds|2006|pp=177–204}}

===Artefacts===
[[File:Artefatos de Dee.jpg|thumb|Objects used by Dee in his magic, now in the [[British Museum]]]]
The [[British Museum]] holds several items once allegedly owned by Dee and associated with the spiritual conferences:<ref name=britishmuseum.org2/>
* Dee's Speculum or [[Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture|Mirror]] (an [[Obsidian use in Mesoamerica|obsidian]] [[Aztec]] cult object in the shape of a hand-mirror, brought to Europe in the late 1520s), which was subsequently owned by [[Horace Walpole]].<ref name=britishmuseum.org1/> This was first attributed to Dee by Walpole. [[Lord Frederick Campbell]] had brought "a round piece of shining black marble in a leathern case" to Walpole in an attempt to ascertain its provenance. Walpole said he responded saying, "Oh, Lord, I am the only man in England that can tell you! It is Dr. Dee's black stone". However, there is no explicit reference to the mirror in any of Dee's surviving writings. 
* The small [[wax seal]]s used to support the legs of Dee's "table of practice" (the table at which the [[scrying]] was performed)
* The large, elaborately decorated wax "Seal of God", used to support the "shew-stone", the [[crystal ball]] used for scrying
* A gold [[amulet]] engraved with a representation of one of Kelley's visions
* A crystal globe, 6&nbsp;cm in diameter. This item remained unnoticed for many years in the mineral collection; it is possibly the one owned by Dee, but the provenance is less certain than for the others.{{sfn|Singmaster|2003b}}

In December 2004, both a [[shew stone]] (used for divining) formerly belonging to Dee and a mid-17th-century explanation of its use written by [[Nicholas Culpeper]] were stolen from the [[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum]] in London, but recovered shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Fresco|2004}}

===Science and sorcery===
{{Hermeticism|expand=Historical figures}}
To 21st-century eyes, Dee's activities straddle [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]] and modern [[science]], but to apply a hard and fast distinction between these two realms or [[Epistemology|epistemological]] world views is [[Anachronism|anachronistic]].{{sfn|Dampier|1961|pp=112, 144}}{{sfn|Lewis|1973}} 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 [[Age of Exploration#Northern European involvement|voyages of discovery]].

Meanwhile, he immersed himself in [[Magic (supernatural)|sorcery]], astrology and [[Hermeticism|Hermetic philosophy]]. Much effort in his last 30 years went into trying to commune with [[angel]]s, so as to learn the [[universal language]] of creation and achieve a pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind.{{sfn|St Clair|2016|pp=268–269}} 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 part of his quest for a transcendent understanding of divine forms underlying the visible world: Dee's "pure verities".

Dee amassed one of England's biggest libraries.{{sfn|Roberts|1990|p=}} His scholarly status also took him into [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] politics as an adviser and tutor to Elizabeth I and through relations with her ministers [[Francis Walsingham]] and [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]]. He tutored and patronised Sir [[Philip Sidney]]; his uncle [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester]]; [[Edward Dyer]]; and Sir [[Christopher Hatton]].

==Literary and cultural references==
Dee was a popular figure in literary works by his contemporaries and he has continued to feature in popular culture, particularly in fiction or fantasy set during his lifetime or dealing with magic or the occult.

===16th and 17th centuries===
[[Edmund Spenser]] may be referring to Dee in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1596).{{sfn|Woolley|2012|p=}} [[William Shakespeare]] may have modelled the character of [[Prospero]] in ''[[The Tempest]]'' (1610–1611) on Dee.{{sfn|Calder|1952}}

===19th century===
Dee is the subject of [[Henry Gillard Glindoni]]'s painting ''John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I''.{{sfn|Brown|2016}}

===20th century===
Dee is a major character in [[John Crowley (author)|John Crowley]]'s four-volume novel, ''[[Ægypt]]'', the first volume of which, ''[[The Solitudes (novel)|The Solitudes]]'', was published in 1987.{{sfn|Crowley|2007|p=}}

===21st century===
<!--Entries should be limited to detailed references in notable works with their own Wikipedia article or at least with an independent in-depth source.-->
John Dee is one of the main antagonists in the book series ''[[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel]]'' by [[Michael Scott (Irish author)|Michael Scott]]. In the series, John Dee has gained [[immortality]] from the Dark Elders, his mentors. 

The film ''[[Elizabeth: The Golden Age]]'' (2007) has two scenes in which Queen Elizabeth consults Dr. Dee, played by [[David Threlfall]].{{cn|date=September 2022}}

[[Phil Rickman]] casts Dee as the main detective, investigating the disappearance of the bones of [[King Arthur]] during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]] in the historical mystery ''[[The Bones of Avalon]]'' (2010).{{sfn|Rickman|2010|p=}} The play ''Burn Your Bookes'' (2010) by Richard Byrne examines the relations between Dee, Edward Kelley and Edward Dyer.{{sfn|Horwitz|2010}} 

The opera ''[[Dr Dee|Dr Dee: An English Opera]]'' (2011) by [[Damon Albarn]], explores Dee's life and work.<ref name=bbc.co.uk/>{{sfn|Church|2012}}{{sfn|Hickling|2011}}

John Zorn’s string quartet ''[[The Alchemist]]'' (2014) was inspired by the alchemical work of Dee and Kelley.<ref name=JZ/>

==Works==
* ''[[Monas Hieroglyphica]]'', 1564
* Preface to Billingsley's Euclid (Billingsley's translation of [[Euclid's Elements|Euclid's ''Elements'']]), 1570
* {{cite book|last=Dee|first=John|title=General and Rare Memorials, Pertayning to the Perfect Art of Navigation: Annexed to the Paradoxal Cumpas in Playze|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LU4ytAEACAAJ|year=1577|display-authors=0}}
* ''[[De Heptarchia Mystica|On the Mystical Rule of the Seven Planets]]'', 1582–1583
*{{cite book|last1=Dee|first1=John |last2=Kelly|first2=Edward |last3=Casaubon|first3=Meric |title=A True & Faithful Relation of what Passed for Many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZYTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA497|year=1659|publisher=T Garthwait|isbn=978-5-88514-094-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Dee|first=John |title=Quinti Libri Mysteriorum|publisher= [[British Library]], Sloane MS 3188. Also available in a fair copy by [[Elias Ashmole]], at Sloane MS 3677|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|last=Dee|first=John |editor=Joseph H. Peterson|title=John Dee's Five Books of Mystery: Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic|year=2003|publisher=Weiser Books|location=Boston|isbn=978-1-57863-178-0|display-authors=0}} from the collected works known as ''Mysteriorum libri quinque''
* John Dee, ''The Mathematicall Praeface to the Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara (1570).'' New York: Science History Publications (1975) {{ISBN|0-88202-020-X}}
* John Dee, ''John Dee on Astronomy: Propaedeumata Aphoristica (1558 & 1568)'' edited by Wayne Shumaker, [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]]: [[University of California Press]] {{ISBN|0-520-03376-0}}
* John Dee, ''Autobiographical tracts of John Dee, Warden of the College of Manchester'', ed. James Crossley. Chetham Society Publications, Vol XXIV. Manchester, 1851
* John Dee, ''Diary for the years 1595–1601'', ed. John E. Bailey. Privately printed, 1880
*{{cite book|last=Dee|first=John|editor=J.O. Halliwell|title=The Private Diary of Dr John Dee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5c8AAAAIAAJ|year=1842|publisher=Camden Society|display-authors=0}}

==See also==
* {{anli|Calendar (New Style) Act 1750}}
* {{anli|Heliocentric astrology}}

==References==
{{citation style|date=January 2024}}

===Notes===
{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=painting|According to {{harvnb|Fell Smith|1909|p=}} it was painted when Dee was 67. It belonged to a grandson, Rowland Dee, and later to [[Elias Ashmole]], who left it to Oxford University.}}

{{efn|name=Aubrey|Aubrey's great-grandfather William Aubrey was a cousin "and intimate acquaintance" of Dee.}}

{{efn|name=Szönyi2015|"Although it is indeed probable that Kelly was more accomplished and also more devoted to pursuing the way of transmuting base metals to gold, his master approached alchemy in a more subtle and complex way. He did not stand next to the furnace and the alembic day and night, but in his diaries he documented his practical experiments."{{harv|Szönyi|2015|pp=100–130}} }}
}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=msim.org.uk>{{cite web |title=John Dee (1527–1608): Alchemy – the Beginnings of Chemistry |url=http://www.msim.org.uk/uploadedDocs/Document_Depository_01/John%20Dee.pdf |publisher=Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester |date=2005 |access-date=26 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928120544/http://www.msim.org.uk/uploadedDocs/Document_Depository_01/John%20Dee.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=britishmuseum.org1>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/dr_dees_mirror.aspx |title=Dr Dee's mirror |publisher=British Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707022436/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/dr_dees_mirror.aspx |archive-date=2010-07-07}}</ref>

<ref name=britishmuseum.org2>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/dr_dees_magic.aspx |title=Dr Dee's magic |publisher=British Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706023923/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/dr_dees_magic.aspx |archive-date=2010-07-06}}</ref>

<ref name=johndeemortlakesoc.org>{{cite web |url=http://johndeemortlakesoc.org/ |title=John Dee of Mortlake Society-Home |work=Johndeemortlakesoc.org |access-date=2015-06-02 |archive-date=2 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602195254/http://johndeemortlakesoc.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name=uncarved.org>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncarved.org/turb/articles/deemap.html |title=Alchemical Manchester – The Dee Connection |publisher=Uncarved.org |access-date=2015-06-02 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121636/http://www.uncarved.org/turb/articles/deemap.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=nmm.ac.uk>{{cite web |url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/elizabeth's-adventurers/imperial-ambition |title=Imperial ambition |publisher=[[National Maritime Museum]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608074659/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/elizabeth%27s-adventurers/imperial-ambition |archive-date= 8 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=mancath>Manchester Cathedral Archive, MS 1</ref>

<ref name=britlib>BL, [[Cotton Augustus]] 1.I.i</ref>

<ref name=bbc.co.uk>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20110614_dee.shtml |title=Damon Albarn's Dr Dee |publisher=BBC 6 music news |date=14 June 2011 |access-date=16 June 2011 |archive-date=17 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617105751/http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20110614_dee.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="SJCC">{{cite web |url=http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/pix/provenance/dee/dee.htm |title=Books owned by John Dee |publisher=St. John's College, Cambridge |access-date=26 October 2006 |archive-date=25 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925171946/http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/pix/provenance/dee/dee.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="AG">{{cite web |url=http://www.alchemyguild.org/history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228120813/http://www.alchemyguild.org/history.htm |archive-date=2009-02-28 |title=History of the Alchemy Guild |publisher=International Alchemy Guild |access-date=26 October 2006 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

<ref name="JZ">{{cite web|url=
https://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=8314 |title=John Zorn, "The Alchemist" |date=2014}}</ref>
}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
*{{cite book|last=Aubrey|first=John|author-link=John Aubrey|editor=Rev. Andrew Clark|title="Brief Lives": Chiefly of Contemporaries, Set Down by John Aubrey, Between the Years 1669 & 1696|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4A6AAAAMAAJ|year=1898|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|access-date=7 September 2020|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061853/https://books.google.com/books?id=I4A6AAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}
<!--B-->
*{{cite ODNB|first=R. C. D. |last=Baldwin|title=Thorne, Robert, the elder (c. 1460–1519)|id=27347|date=14 November 2018}}
*{{Cite journal |title=Madoc and John Dee: Welsh Myth and Elizabethan Imperialism |last=Barone |first=Robert W. |journal=Elizabethan Review |date=n.d. |access-date=7 September 2020 |url=http://www.ramtops.co.uk/madocdee.html |archive-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827005322/http://www.ramtops.co.uk/madocdee.html |url-status=live }}
*{{cite journal|last=Baskerville|first=N. de Bar|title=A Matter of Pedigree: The Family and Arms of Dr John Dee Baptised in Wine|journal=The Radnorshire Society Transactions|date=1998|volume=68|pages=34–52|hdl=10107/1197855|via=Welsh Journals}}
*{{cite news |title=John Dee painting originally had circle of human skulls, x-ray imaging reveals |first=Mark |last=Brown |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 January 2016 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jan/17/john-dee-painting-circle-of-human-skulls-exhibition |access-date=7 May 2017 |archive-date=9 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509005545/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jan/17/john-dee-painting-circle-of-human-skulls-exhibition |url-status=live }}
<!--C-->
* {{Cite thesis |type=PhD |title=John Dee studied as an English neoplatonist. |last1=Calder |first1=I. R. F. |publisher=University of London |date=1952 |url=http://www.johndee.org/calder/html/TOC.html |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.321187 }} |access-date=23 October 2004 |archive-date=19 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219001739/http://www.johndee.org/calder/html/TOC.html |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book|last=Cardan|first=Jerome|author-link=Jerome Cardan|translator=Jean Stoner|title=De Vita Propria Liber|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger|language=la|isbn=978-1-4179-7581-5|trans-title=The Book of My Life|orig-year=1929}}
*{{Cite web |title=John Dee, magician to Queen Elizabeth |last=Carradice |first=Phil |series=BBC – Wales History |date=16 December 2010 |access-date=7 September 2020 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/12/john_dee_magician_astronomer_astrologer.html |archive-date=26 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126054105/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/12/john_dee_magician_astronomer_astrologer.html |url-status=live }}
* <!--Chisholm --> {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Dee, John|volume=7}}
*{{cite news |last=Church |first=Michael |title=First night: Dr Dee, English National Opera, London |newspaper=The Independent |date=27 June 2012 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/first-night-dr-dee-english-national-opera-london-7889018.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |archive-date=29 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629060415/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/first-night-dr-dee-english-national-opera-london-7889018.html |url-status=live }}
*{{Cite web |title=John Dee, the 'Mathematicall Praeface' and the English School of Mathematics. |last=Christie |first=Thony |series=The Renaissance Mathematicus |date=13 July 2013 |access-date=7 September 2020 |url=https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/john-dee-the-mathematicall-praeface-and-the-english-school-of-mathematics/ |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024041415/https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/john-dee-the-mathematicall-praeface-and-the-english-school-of-mathematics/ |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=John |author-link=John Crowley (author) |title=The Solitudes |publisher=The Overlook Press |series=Ægypt |date= 2007 |isbn=9781585679867}}
<!--D-->
*{{cite book|last=Dampier|first=William|title=A History of Science and Its Relations with Philosophy and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA122|edition=4th|year=1961|publisher=University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-09366-8|oclc=456309619|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061854/https://books.google.com/books?id=6kM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA122|url-status=live}}
<!--F-->
* {{cite book|last=Fell Smith|first=Charlotte|author-link=Charlotte Fell Smith|title=The Life of Dr. John Dee (1527–1608)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6XeBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA15|year=1909|publisher=Constable & Co.|location=London|isbn=9781291940411}}
*{{cite journal |journal=Ambix |title=The Early Alchemical Reception of John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica |last=Forshaw |first=Peter J. |volume=52 |issue=3 |date=2005 |pages=247–269 |publisher=Maney |doi=10.1179/000269805X77772 |s2cid=170221216 |url=https://www.academia.edu/423667 |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-date=22 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061856/https://www.academia.edu/423667/The_Early_Alchemical_Reception_of_John_Dees_Monas_Hieroglyphica |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book|editor-first=Nicholas Joseph|editor-last=Frangopulo|title=Rich Inheritance: a Guide to the History of Manchester|year=1969|publisher=S. R. Publishers|isbn=9780854095506}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1398477,00.html |title=Museum thief spirits away old crystal ball |first=Adam |last=Fresco |newspaper=The Times |date=11 December 2004 |access-date=27 October 2006 |location=London |archive-date=13 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513150958/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1398477,00.html |url-status=live }}
<!--H-->
*{{cite book|last=Harkness|first=Deborah E.|title=John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oSUNAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-26859-3|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061855/https://books.google.com/books?id=oSUNAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|url-status=live}}
*{{Cite journal |title=John Dee and the Secret Societies |last=Heisler |first=Ron |journal=The Hermetic Journal |date=1992 |access-date=7 September 2020 |url=http://www.levity.com/alchemy/h_dee.html |archive-date=19 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119052903/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/h_dee.html |url-status=live }}
*{{cite ODNB|first=Virginia |last=Hewitt|title=Britannia (fl. 1st–21st cent.)|id=68196|date=1 September 2017}}
*{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/02/dr-dee-opera-manchester-festival |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Alfred |last=Hickling |title=Dr Dee, Palace Theatre, Manchester |date=2 July 2011 |access-date=14 December 2016 |archive-date=14 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314090236/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/02/dr-dee-opera-manchester-festival |url-status=live }}
*{{cite news|first=Jane|last=Horwitz|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404649.html?hpid=sec-artsliving|title=Backstage: 'Burn Your Bookes' at Taffety Punk, Folger's 2010–2011 season|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=5 May 2010|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=13 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713075842/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404649.html?hpid=sec-artsliving|url-status=live}}
<!--J-->
*{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Stephen|title=John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in English Renaissance Thought|chapter=Like Father, Like Son?|series=International Archives of the History of Ideas/Archives internationales d'histoire des idées|volume=193|year=2006|pages=65–84|doi=10.1007/1-4020-4246-9_4|isbn=1-4020-4245-0}}
*{{citation |title=The identity of the mathematical practitioner in 16th-century England |url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/staff/saj/texts/mathematicus.htm |first=Stephen |last=Johnston |publisher=Museum of the History of Science, Oxford |date=1995 |access-date=27 October 2006 |archive-date=27 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061127082243/http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/staff/saj/texts/mathematicus.htm |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite DWB |first1=John James |last1=Jones |first2=Llewelyn Gwyn |last2=Chambers |title=Dee, John (1527–1608), mathematician and astronomer |year=1959 |id=s-DEE0-JOH-1527 |access-date=27 March 2018 |archive-date=22 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061904/https://biography.wales/article/s-DEE0-JOH-1527 |url-status=live }}
<!--L-->
*{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1387984 |title=English literature in the sixteenth century, excluding drama |date=1973 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-881298-1 |location=London |pages=2–13 |oclc=1387984}}
*{{cite ODNB|last1=Lloyd|last2=Jones|first1=J.E.|first2=J|id=17763|title=Madog ab Owain Gwynedd|date=28 September 2006}}
*{{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Lysons |chapter=Mortlake |title=The Environs of London: County of Surrey |volume=1 |date=1792 |publisher=T Cadell and W Davies |place=London |pages=364–88 |via=British-history.ac.uk |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45385 |access-date=27 October 2006 |archive-date=2 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302204233/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45385 |url-status=live }}
<!--M-->
*{{cite book|last=Mackay|first=Charles|title=Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA155|year=1852|publisher=Office of National illustrated library|chapter=The Alchymists|access-date=7 September 2020|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061908/https://books.google.com/books?id=JhU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA155|url-status=live}}
*{{cite journal|last1=MacMillan|first1=Ken|title=Discourse on History, Geography, and Law: John Dee and the Limits of the British Empire, 1576-80|journal=Canadian Journal of History|volume=36|issue=1|year=2001|pages=1–26|issn=0008-4107|doi=10.3138/cjh.36.1.1}}
*{{cite book|author=Members of the Richmond Local History Society|title=The Streets of Richmond and Kew |date= 2022|publisher= [[Richmond Local History Society]]|isbn=978-1-9123140-3-4}}
<!--N-->
*{{cite journal|last1=Neal|first1=Katherine|title=The Rhetoric of Utility: Avoiding Occult Associations for Mathematics through Profitability and Pleasure|journal=History of Science|volume=37|issue=2|year=1999|pages=151–178|issn=0073-2753|doi=10.1177/007327539903700202|s2cid=151639233}}
*{{cite book|last=Nicholls|first=Andrew D.|title=The Jacobean Union: A Reconsideration of British Civil Policies Under the Early Stuarts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5gEbF0yyLMC&pg=PR7|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0-313-30835-2|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061935/https://books.google.com/books?id=r5gEbF0yyLMC&pg=PR7|url-status=live}}
<!--P-->
*{{cite ODNB|first=O. J. |last=Padel|title=Arthur (supp. fl. in or before 6th cent.)|id=703|date=24 May 2007}}
*{{Cite journal |date=1995 |title='Give us our eleven days!': calendar reform in eighteenth-century England  |journal=Past & Present |publisher=[[Oxford Academic]] |volume=149 |doi=10.1093/past/149.1.95 |jstor=651100 |author-last1=Poole |author-first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Poole (historian) |number=1|pages=95–139 }}
*{{Cite web |title=John Dee and the English Calendar: Science, Religion and Empire |last=Poole |first=Robert |website=hermetic.ch |date=29 February 1996 |access-date=7 September 2020 |url=https://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/jdee.html |archive-date=14 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814021850/https://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/jdee.html |url-status=live }}
<!--R-->
*{{cite book|last1=Reeds|first1=J.|title=John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in English Renaissance Thought|chapter=John Dee and the Magic Tables in the Book of Soyga|series=International Archives of the History of Ideas/Archives internationales d'histoire des idées|volume=193|year=2006|pages=177–204|doi=10.1007/1-4020-4246-9_10|isbn=1-4020-4245-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Rickman|first=Phil|title=The Bones of Avalon|year=2010|publisher=Atlantic Books|isbn=978-1-84887-789-4}}
*{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Richard Julian |author-link=Julian Roberts |year=1990 |chapter=Preface |title=John Dee's Library Catalogue |location=London |publisher=The Bibliographical Society |isbn=978-0-19-721795-5}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/ren_man_series1_prt1/chronology.aspx |series=Renaissance Man: The Reconstructed Libraries of European Scholars: 1450–1700 Series One: The Books and Manuscripts of John Dee, 1527–1608 |title=A John Dee Chronology, 1509–1609 |editor-first=R. Julian |editor-last=Roberts |publisher=Adam Matthew Publications |date=2005 |access-date=27 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720090857/http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/ren_man_series1_prt1/chronology.aspx |archive-date=2008-07-20}}
* {{cite ODNB |last=Roberts|first= R. Julian |title=Dee, John (1527–1609) |id=7418|date=25 May 2006}}
*{{cite journal |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=0000E3AA-70E1-10CF-AD1983414B7F0000&pageNumber=4&catID=2 |title=The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript |last=Rugg |first=Gordon |journal=Scientific American |date=July 2004 |volume=291 |issue=1 |pages=104–9 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0704-104 |pmid=15255594 |bibcode=2004SciAm.291a.104R|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013165530/http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=0000E3AA-70E1-10CF-AD1983414B7F0000&pageNumber=4&catID=2 |archive-date=2007-10-13 }}
<!--S-->
*{{cite book|last=St Clair|first=Kassia|title=The Secret Lives of Colour|year=2016|publisher=John Murray|isbn=978-1-4736-3081-9|oclc=936144129}}
*{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=William Howard|title=John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance|year=1995|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|isbn=978-1-55849-070-3}}
*{{cite web |first=David |last=Singmaster |date=28 February 2003 |url=http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/C.html |website=British Society for the History of Mathematics |publisher=Warwick University|title=BSHM Gazetteer -- C |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516075947/http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/C.html |archive-date=2010-05-16}}
*{{cite web |first=David |last=Singmaster |date=28 February 2003b |url=http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/London2.html |title=BSHM Gazetteer – London: British Museum, British Library and Science Museum |publisher=British Society for the History of Mathematics |access-date=27 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211081852/http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/London2.html |archive-date=2006-12-11}}
*{{cite book|first=John|last=Strype|author-link=John Strype|title=Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion, and Other Various Occurrences in the Church of England, During Queen Elizabeth's Happy Reign |volume=II |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofreformat0202stry/page/558/mode/2up|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon|date=1824|chapter=Number XLV}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Szönyi|first1=György E.|title=John Dee and Early Modern Occult Philosophy |journal=Literature Compass|volume=1|issue=1|year=2004a|pages=1–12|issn=1741-4113|doi=10.1111/j.1741-4113.2004.00110.x}}
*{{cite book |last1=Szönyi|first1=György E. |year=2004b |title=John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0791462232}}
*{{citation |last=Szönyi |first=György E. |year=2015 |url=http://www.renesancni-texty.upol.cz/soubory/publikace/Latin_Alchemical_Literature_of_Czech_Provenance.pdf |title=Layers of Meaning in Alchemy in John Dee's Monas hieroglyphica and its Relevance in a Central European Context |publisher=Centre for Renaissance Texts |pages=100–130 |series=Latin Alchemical Literature of Czech Provenance |editor1=Tomáš Nejeschleba |editor2=Jiří Michalík |access-date=22 June 2016 |archive-date=12 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812223446/http://www.renesancni-texty.upol.cz/soubory/publikace/Latin_Alchemical_Literature_of_Czech_Provenance.pdf |url-status=live }}
<!--T-->
*{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |jstor=2708083 |title=God and Expansion in Elizabethan England: John Dee, 1527–1583 |first=Walter I. |last=Trattner|volume=25 |issue=1 |date=January 1964 |pages=17–34 |doi=10.2307/2708083}}
<!--V-->
*{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |jstor=2709891 |title=Francis Bacon and the Progress of Knowledge |first=Brian|last= Vickers |volume=53 |issue=3 |date=July 1992 |pages=495–518 |doi=10.2307/2709891 |author-link=Brian Vickers (academic)}}
<!--W-->
*{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Gwyn A.|title=When was Wales?: A History of the Welsh|year=1985|publisher=Black Raven Press|isbn=978-0-85159-003-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Woolley|first=Benjamin|title=The Queen's Conjuror: The Life and Magic of Dr. Dee|year=2012|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-00-740106-2}}
<!--Y-->
*{{cite book|last=Yates|first=Frances Amelia|author-link=Frances Yates|title=Theatre of the World|year=1969|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-95005-1}}
*{{cite book|last=Yates|first=Frances Amelia|title=Astraea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rEo78qB7RAsC&pg=PA48|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-22048-4|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222061925/https://books.google.com/books?id=rEo78qB7RAsC&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Almeida |first1=Bruno |date=September 2012 |title= On the origins of Dee's mathematical programme: The John Dee–Pedro Nunes connection |journal= Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=460–469 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.12.004|bibcode=2012SHPSA..43..460A }}
* {{cite web |last=Beros |first=Matt |title=John Dee's Astronomicon and the Thirty-Six Decans |date=September 21, 2017 |url=https://archaeologyofreading.org/john-dees-astronomicon-and-the-thirty-six-decans/ |website=Archaeologyofreading.org |access-date=2022-12-06}}
* {{cite book |last=Cajori |first=Florian |title=A History of Mathematical Notations |place=New York |publisher=Cosimo |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-60206-684-7}}
* {{cite book |first=Nicholas |last=Canny |title=The Origins of Empire: The Oxford History of the British Empire |volume=I |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-924676-9 |year=2001}}
* {{cite book |last=Clucas |first=Stephen |year=1998 |chapter=Non est legendum sed inspicendum solum: Inspectival knowledge and the visual logic of John Dee's Liber Mysteriorum |editor1-first=Alison |editor1-last=Adams |editor2-first=Stanton J. |editor2-last=Linden |title=Emblems and Alchemy |volume=3 |pages=109–132 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=0-85261-680-5 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/97745916 |via=Academia.edu}}
* {{cite journal |editor-last=Clucas |editor-first=Stephen |title=John Dee's ''Monas Hieroglyphica'' |journal=Ambix |volume=52 |number=3 |year=2005}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Clucas |editor-first=Stephen |title=John Dee: interdisciplinary studies in Renaissance thought |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |isbn=1-4020-4245-0}}
* {{cite journal |last=Clucas |first=Stephen |title=Pythagorean Number Symbolism, Alchemy, and the Disciplina Noua of John Dee's ''Monas Hieroglyphica'' |journal=Aries |volume=10 |number=2 |year=2010|pages=149–167 |doi=10.1163/156798910X520575 |url=https://www.academia.edu/97106528 |via=Academia.edu}}
* {{cite book |last=Clulee |first=Nicholas H. |title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy: between science and religion |place=London |publisher=Routledge |year=1988 |isbn=0-415-00625-2}}
* {{cite journal |last=Forshaw |first=Peter |title=The Hermetic Frontispiece: Contextualising John Dee's Hieroglyphic Monad |journal=Ambix |volume=64 |number=1 |year=2017|pages=115–139 |doi=10.1080/00026980.2017.1353247 |pmid=28826381 |s2cid=34137789 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last=French |first=Peter J. |title=John Dee: the world of an Elizabethan magus |place=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1972 |isbn=0-7102-0385-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Håkansson |first=Håkan |title=Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance occultism |place=Lund |publisher=Lunds Universitet |year=2001 |isbn=91-974153-0-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Halliwell-Phillipps |first=James Orchard |author-link=James Halliwell-Phillipps |year=1842 |url=https://archive.org/details/privatediarydrj00phigoog |title=The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee, and the Catalogue of his Library of Manuscripts |series=[[Camden Society]] Old Series |volume=19 |location=London |publisher=J. B. Nichols and Son}}
* {{cite book |last=Kugler |first=Martin |title=Astronomy in Elizabethan England, 1558 to 1585: John Dee, Thomas Digges, and Giordano Bruno |location=Montpellier |publisher=Université Paul Valéry |year=1982}}
* {{cite book |last=Louv |first=Jason |title=John Dee and the Empire of Angels: Enochian Magick and the Occult Roots of the Modern World |year=2018 |publisher=Inner Traditions/Bear |isbn=978-1-62055-589-7}}
* {{cite book |last= Mandosio |first= Jean-Marc |title=D'or et de sable |chapter=chapitre IV. ''Magie et mathématiques chez John Dee'' |pages=143–170 |location= Paris |publisher= éditions de l'Encyclopédie des Nuisances |date=2008 |isbn=978-2-910386-26-9 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last=Parry |first=Glyn |author-link=Glyn Parry (historian) |title=The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee and Magic at the Courts of Renaissance Europe |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0300117196}}
* {{cite book |last=Stark |first=Ryan |title=Rhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780813215785}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Vickers |editor-first=Brian |title=Occult & Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-521-25879-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Yates |first=Frances |author-link=Frances Yates |chapter=Renaissance Philosophers in Elizabethan England: John Dee and Giordano Bruno |title=Lull & Bruno: Collected Essays |volume=I |place=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan |year=1982 |isbn=0-7100-0952-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Yates |first=Frances |title=The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age |place=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-25409-4}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|author=yes|wikt=no|b=no|n=no|v=no}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Dee,+John | name=John Dee}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Dee}}
* [http://www.john-dee.org/ John Dee reports of Dee and Kelley's conversations with Angels] edited in [[PDF]] by Clay Holden: Mysteriorum Liber Primus (with Latin translations), Notes to Liber Primus by Clay Holden, Mysteriorum Liber Secundus, Mysteriorum Liber Tertius
* [http://www.esotericarchives.com/dee/monad.htm The J.W. Hamilton-Jones translation of ''Monas Hieroglyphica''] from ''Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20031208162726/http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~rafalp/HERM/dmanus.html Bibliography of John Dee's diary and Enochian manuscripts]

{{Magic and Witchcraft in the British Isles}}
{{Alchemy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, John}}
[[Category:John Dee| ]]
[[Category:1527 births]]
[[Category:1600s deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:16th-century astrologers]]
[[Category:16th-century English astronomers]]
[[Category:16th-century English mathematicians]]
[[Category:16th-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:16th-century occultists]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Angelic visionaries]]
[[Category:British Empire]]
[[Category:Ceremonial magicians]]
[[Category:Christian Kabbalists]]
[[Category:Creators of writing systems]]
[[Category:English alchemists]]
[[Category:English astrologers]]
[[Category:English geographers]]
[[Category:English occult writers]]
[[Category:English people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:English philosophers]]
[[Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Hermeticists]]
[[Category:Mortlake, London]]
[[Category:Mystics]]
[[Category:Old University of Leuven alumni]]
[[Category:People from London]]
[[Category:People of the Elizabethan era]]
[[Category:Welsh alchemists]]
[[Category:Welsh geographers]]
[[Category:Welsh occult writers]]
[[Category:Welsh philosophers]]
[[Category:17th-century occultists]]