The Heresy of Dr Dee

JOHN DEE The early history

Born in 1527, John Dee grew up in the most volcanic years of the reign of Henry VIII, at whose court his father was employed as a ‘gentleman server’. John was eight when the King split with Rome, declaring himself head of the Church of England and systematically plundering the wealth of the monasteries. Recognised by his early twenties as one of Europe’s leading mathematicians and an expert in the science of astrology, John was introduced at court during the short reign of Henry’s son, Edward VI.

When Edward died at only sixteen, John Dee was lucky to survive the brief but bloody reign of the Catholic Mary Tudor. Mary died in 1558 and was succeeded by the Protestant, Elizabeth, who would always encourage John’s lifelong interest in what he considered science but others saw as sorcery. Caught between Catholic plots and the rise of a new puritanism, he would feel no more secure than Queen Elizabeth herself, who was fending off the marriage bids of foreign kings and princes.

1560 began what biographers have seen as John Dee’s ‘missing years.’ A dangerous period, especially after the mysterious death of the wife of Dee’s friend and former student, Lord Robert Dudley, thought by many to be the Queen’s lover.