shunned and feared. Instead it reveals that he was immersed in Tudor society precisely becauseof his occult philosophy. Properly understood, the story of Dee's life opens a doorway into a forgotten Tudor landscape, not so much a world that we have lost but more a strange, unfamiliar place that few modern readers can imagine. In that almost alien universe Queen Elizabeth I devotes hours to poring over her alchemical manuscripts and then applies their methods in her laboratory, seeking incessantly for the philosopher's stone that will purify decaying bodies and society alike. In that world the Queen's most influential adviser, Lord Burghley, pleads for a fragment of the stone to help build a navy against the Spanish Armada, and the Queen's favourite, Lord Robert Dudley, believes that Christians can legitimately conjure angels to reveal the political future. It is where experienced politicians wonder what the appearance of comets signals for the future of war in the Netherlands, and where ancient prophecies are applied to Elizabeth as the Last World Empress before Christ's imminent Second Coming.
This new understanding of John Dee demonstrates that his occult philosophy gives him a prominent and legitimate place in histories of a sixteenth-century world saturated by magical thought. In expanding our knowledge of Dee, this book aims to expand our awareness of the sometimes dazzling, often treacherous, Elizabethan Court where he sought advancement. What Dee made, or failed to make, of his opportunities is only part of the story.
In gathering the evidence for this forgotten landscape I have benefited from the assistance of many librarians, archivists and colleagues. I therefore wish to thank the interloan staff of Victoria University of Wellington Library, and the staffs of the National Library of New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Legislative Assembly Library. I owe much to my colleagues Matthew Trundle, Jim Urry and Steve Behrendt, to Linda Gray for her sharp editorial eye on an earlier draft, and to Richard Mason at Yale University Press for his work on the final copy. In San Marino, California, I have been ably helped by the staff of the Henry E. Huntington Library, particularly Mary Robertson of the Manuscripts Department, Christopher Adde, Laura Stalker and Juan Gomez in Reader Services, and, amongst the Readers there, by Barbara Donagan throughdiscussions at afternoon tea and Bruce Moran through discussions at all times. I am much indebted to Peggy Spear for years of hospitality and laughter in Altadena and Claremont, and to Jan Tappan in Pasadena. In London I am grateful to the staff of the British Library, the National Archives, London Metropolitan Archives, the Guildhall Library and Tottenham Borough Archives. I am indebted to my learned friend Dr Ian Adamson and to Vicky Adamson for their friendship and help over the years, and to Helen and Chris Mountfort. Outside London the librarians of the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Birmingham City Library, Chetham's Library Manchester, Manchester Cathedral Archives and the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester have been universally helpful, as have the staff of the record offices of Chester and Cheshire, Devon and Exeter, Essex, Kent, Lancashire, Lincoln, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. To Nona I owe much more for years of incisive support, a receptive ear and a lively appreciation for the intricacies of Tudor Court gossip.
To aid the reader obscure spellings and titles in the text have been modernised.
Further Reading
Dee's Writings
Readers who are interested in reading more of Dee's writings can find his Propaedeumata aphoristica published in English as John Dee on Astronomy: Propaedeumata aphoristica (1558 and 1568) Latin and English , ed. and trans. W. Shumaker (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1975); his ‘Mathematical Preface’, republished with an introduction by Allen G. Debus as John Dee: The Mathematical
This new understanding of John Dee demonstrates that his occult philosophy gives him a prominent and legitimate place in histories of a sixteenth-century world saturated by magical thought. In expanding our knowledge of Dee, this book aims to expand our awareness of the sometimes dazzling, often treacherous, Elizabethan Court where he sought advancement. What Dee made, or failed to make, of his opportunities is only part of the story.
In gathering the evidence for this forgotten landscape I have benefited from the assistance of many librarians, archivists and colleagues. I therefore wish to thank the interloan staff of Victoria University of Wellington Library, and the staffs of the National Library of New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Legislative Assembly Library. I owe much to my colleagues Matthew Trundle, Jim Urry and Steve Behrendt, to Linda Gray for her sharp editorial eye on an earlier draft, and to Richard Mason at Yale University Press for his work on the final copy. In San Marino, California, I have been ably helped by the staff of the Henry E. Huntington Library, particularly Mary Robertson of the Manuscripts Department, Christopher Adde, Laura Stalker and Juan Gomez in Reader Services, and, amongst the Readers there, by Barbara Donagan throughdiscussions at afternoon tea and Bruce Moran through discussions at all times. I am much indebted to Peggy Spear for years of hospitality and laughter in Altadena and Claremont, and to Jan Tappan in Pasadena. In London I am grateful to the staff of the British Library, the National Archives, London Metropolitan Archives, the Guildhall Library and Tottenham Borough Archives. I am indebted to my learned friend Dr Ian Adamson and to Vicky Adamson for their friendship and help over the years, and to Helen and Chris Mountfort. Outside London the librarians of the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Birmingham City Library, Chetham's Library Manchester, Manchester Cathedral Archives and the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester have been universally helpful, as have the staff of the record offices of Chester and Cheshire, Devon and Exeter, Essex, Kent, Lancashire, Lincoln, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. To Nona I owe much more for years of incisive support, a receptive ear and a lively appreciation for the intricacies of Tudor Court gossip.
To aid the reader obscure spellings and titles in the text have been modernised.
Further Reading
Dee's Writings
Readers who are interested in reading more of Dee's writings can find his Propaedeumata aphoristica published in English as John Dee on Astronomy: Propaedeumata aphoristica (1558 and 1568) Latin and English , ed. and trans. W. Shumaker (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1975); his ‘Mathematical Preface’, republished with an introduction by Allen G. Debus as John Dee: The Mathematical
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