Dee John

The early years

Born July 13, 1527 in Tower Ward ( London ). The only son of Roland Dee, a cloth merchant who also held a minor post at court, and Joanna Wilde. Dee's family was of Welsh descent; The surname Dee is derived from Wall. du is black.

Since 1535 he attended school in Chelmsford , Essex ; in November 1542 he entered Saint John College , Cambridge, where he studied Latin , ancient Greek , philosophy , geometry , arithmetic and astronomy . According to biographers, Dee gave classes 18 hours a day, leaving himself only 4 hours to sleep and 2 hours to eat ^[2] . His main passion was mathematics . He was also fond of mechanics , was interested in cartography and navigation .

In 1546, Dee engaged in astronomical observations and compilation of astrological forecasts. In the same year, Dee received a bachelor 's degree and became a member of the college council. In December, Dee joined the board of the newly created Trinity College , which soon became the largest of Cambridge colleges.

Being dissatisfied with the scientific atmosphere in England, Dee went on a trip to Europe in 1548–1551. June 24, 1548 he arrived in Leuven , where he was one of the largest Catholic universities in Europe . There, Dee worked in collaboration with Gemma Frisius and Gerard Mercator . The latter soon became his close friend, Mercator and Dee together created new models of the Universe . In Leuven, Dee wrote two treatises on astronomy.

In 1550, Dee traveled to Brussels to meet and exchange experiences with mathematicians there. Apparently, it was at this time that he met and became friends with Pedro Nunez . In the same year, Dee went to Paris , where he lectured on the Principles of Euclid . Despite his young age, Dee proved to be a brilliant lecturer. His performances were very popular. The following year, 1551, Dee received an offer to take the position of professor of mathematics in Paris, but refused.

Returning to England, in February 1552 he entered the service of the 1st Earl of Pembroke , and at the end of that year - to the Duke of Northumberland . In the service of the latter, he wrote a treatise on the tides . In the same year, Dee met in London with Gerolamo Cardano : Dee and Cardano worked together on the problem of perpetual motion , as well as the study of a gem supposedly having magical properties ^[3] .

In 1553, after the Catholic Mary Tudor came to power, repressions against Protestants began in England. In August, John's father, Roland Dee, was arrested. He was soon released, but his financial savings were confiscated. A significant legacy that would allow Dee to devote himself to scientific research until the end of his life, without caring for food, was lost.

Despite serious financial difficulties, Dee in 1554 refused the offer to become a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford . The reason for the refusal was Di's dissatisfaction with the education system in England, in which, in his opinion, too much emphasis was placed on teaching rhetoric and grammar (together with the logic that made up the academic trivium ) to the detriment of the more complex quadrivium arts ( arithmetic , geometry , music and astronomy ).

On May 28, 1555, Dee was arrested “for computing” - at that time, math classes were considered by society as something close to witchcraft . Perhaps, they were referring to horoscopes compiled by Dee for Maria Tudor and Princess Elizabeth. Soon, Dee was also charged with high treason . Dee appeared before the court of the Star Chamber and managed to justify himself. However, instead of being released, he was sent to the radical Catholic bishop Bonner for religious interrogation. Dee, a Protestant by conviction, managed to justify himself, and this time in August, after three months of imprisonment, he was released. Moreover, after some time he became a friend of the "bloody Bonner." After his arrest, Dee lost his sources of income; at about the same time his father passed away, leaving his son almost no inheritance. Besides, now Dee had to hide his religion. Dee in every possible way distanced himself from the conflict of Catholics and Protestants and, apparently, was completely loyal to the Catholic regime, which subjected him to trial. There is however a version according to which Dee acted as a Protestant spy at court. Troubles with power haunted Dee all his life.

On January 15, 1556, Dee presented to Mary Tudor an exciting plan for the establishment of the Royal Library, which was supposed to collect all the important books in all branches of knowledge. Dee's plan was rejected, and instead, the scientist set about compiling a personal library at his home in Mortlake. Despite financial difficulties, Dee enthusiastically collected scientific papers throughout Europe. His library, which during his lifetime became the largest in England, attracted many scientists of that time and turned into the largest scientific center outside the university walls ^[4] .

In 1558, after the death of Mary I Tudor, Elizabeth of England entered the throne, restoring Protestantism in England. Dee quickly found himself in favor with the new queen, which is rather strange, given his cooperation with the previous regime (hence the assumption of Dee's espionage mission). Elizabeth made Dee her personal astrologer and adviser in science; Dee himself set the most favorable date for the coronation of Elizabeth on the basis of the horoscope he compiled.

Mature years

In 1561 he supplemented and expanded the Fundamentals of Arts, the famous book on mathematics by Robert Record . In 1564, he confirmed his status as a “great wizard” by publishing his most famous and ambitious book on Kabbalah and geometric magic, entitled Monas hieroglyphica (Hieroglyphic Monad), in the same year he settled in Mortlake (near Richmond ), his house turned into an informal an academy for hermetic worshipers of Elizabethan times. There were rooms for storing scientific instruments, rooms for students and a library, which occupied about 5 rooms. The John Dee Library covered the entire Renaissance and was one of England's largest scientific libraries. In 1570 he wrote a preface to the English translation of Euclid . In 1576, together with Martin Frobisher crossed the Atlantic in search of the legendary northern route to the East. In 1577, his book The Art of Navigation was published, in which he advocated the creation of a permanent British fleet . In 1582, John met Edward Kelly , with whom he was engaged in clairvoyance sessions, and judging by his diaries, he was in contact with certain Angels, from whom he received instructions to create a system of magic, which in our time is known as Enochian Magic. In 1583, he reformed the Julian calendar for England and set off for the continent. In 1584, he lived in Prague under the auspices of Rudolph II , the Holy Roman Emperor , who was interested in sealing materials, visited Krakow in 1585, where he explained the principles of hermetic magic to the king of Poland , and in 1586 returned to Prague.

The last years of life

Dee returned to England in 1589. During the six years of his absence, the library in Mortlake, in the creation of which Dee put so much effort and money, was stolen, many valuable books and scientific tools were lost.

Shortly after returning, Dee met Thomas Harriot . Together, they discussed the atheism charges brought against Harriot and Raleigh , as well as various issues of mathematics and science. In 1590, Harriot sent Dee a copy of one of his writings with the inscription "To my dear friend."

For several years, Dee tried to get an appointment to some post and compensate for material losses incurred while traveling with Kelly. First, he sought the appointment of the Master of the Cross of St. John (?). His request was approved by Elizabeth, on condition that the Archbishop of Canterbury also give his consent. However, the then Archbishop John Whittift did not give his approval.

In 1592 (or 1596), Dee was finally appointed rector of Christ College in Manchester . However, he struggled to cope with his duties, because the colleagues under his command did not want to obey the "evil wizard." It is possible that Elizabeth appointed Dee to this post primarily in order to remove him from London.

In 1605, a plague erupted in Manchester, killing the lives of Dee's wife and several of his children. Dee moved to London , where he died in poverty in late 1608 or early 1609.

Personal life

Dee was married three times and had eight children. His eldest son, Arthur Dee, also studied alchemy and hermetic philosophy. John Aubrey gives the following description of Dee's appearance: “He was tall and thin. He wore a robe similar to what artists wear, with sleeves open from the elbow and a long slit. A very clear, ruddy face ... a long milky white beard. A very beautiful person. "

Worldview

Dee was a devout Christian , but the philosophical doctrines of Hermeticism , Platonism, and Pythagoreanism , which were widespread during the Renaissance, played a significant role in his worldview.

Dee believed that number is the basis and measure of all things in the universe, and that the creation of the world by the Lord was an "act of calculus." From hermetic philosophy, Dee made the idea that man is potentially capable of gaining divine power; however, he believed that divinity can be achieved by perfect knowledge of mathematics. For Dee, the exercises in Kabbalah and the evocation of angels (which were based on numerology ) and in-depth studies in navigation and other applications of mathematics did not contradict each other at all, as we can assume today; on the contrary, they were two interconnected aspects of the same activity.

John considered his goal to overcome the split between the Protestant and Catholic churches by turning to the unclouded theology of the first centuries of Christianity and thus creating a universal world religion.

Legacy

The Enochian Magic of John Dee and Edward Kelly was used as one of the elements of the Initiation Rituals, and the Secret Instructions in the Order of the Golden Dawn . Subsequently, in our time, Enochian magic is used by many practice of occultism. At present, in Western countries Enochian magic is quite widespread among people who are fond of esotericism , and is an impressive legacy left by John Dee to the world. Based on John Dee's diaries describing the receipt of the Enochian magic system, Gustav Meyrink wrote the novel “ Angel of the Western Window ”. Some authors attribute to John Dee the authorship of a hoax known as the Voynich manuscript .

• Hieroglyphic monad // Hermetism, magic, natural philosophy in European culture of the XIII — XIX centuries. / Per. Yu.A. Danilova. M .: Canon +, 1999, S. 168-216.
• Hieroglyphic monad // Hermetic cosmogony / Per. G. A. Butuzova. SPb .: ABC; Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2001, S. 273—341.
• The Diaries of John Dee. Volume I. Book of Secrets // Dee, John. Per. from English Haruna I.V. Nizhny Novgorod; IP Moskvichev, 2015, 450 p. ISBN 978-5-9907322-7-8

• Calder, IRF (1952). "John Dee Studied as an English Neo-Platonist." University of London Dissertation. Available online.
• Fell Smith, Charlotte (1909). John Dee: 1527-1608. London: Constable and Company. Available online.
• French, Peter J. (1972). John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Woolley, Benjamin (2001). The Queen's Conjuror: The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
• Yates F. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. M .: Aletheia; Enigma, 1999 (Index)
• Ackroyd, Peter (2009). House of Dr. Dee . M .: AST, Astrel, Corpus.

• Monas Hieroglyphica translation by J.W. Hamilton-Jones from Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica
• The John Dee Publication Project. A project dedicated to the electronic publication of primary sources in the occult classes of John Dee and Edward Kelly, primarily Quinti Libri Mysteriorum Dee.
• A biography of John Dee on the website of the School of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of St. Andrew.