Biography · Early life
13 July 1527: Birth in London
13 July 1527: Birth in London - Biography. John Dee was born in London into a family whose Welsh connections and later claims of British antiquity would matter to his self-fashioning.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 23-27; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 26-28
Biography · Education
1542: Studies at St John's College, Cambridge
1542: Studies at St John's College, Cambridge - Biography. Dee entered Cambridge as a young scholar and was trained in the logical, mathematical, and humanist disciplines that underwrote his later reputation.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 29-35; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 26-30
Biography · European networks
1548-1550: Studies and networks at Louvain
1548-1550: Studies and networks at Louvain - Biography. At Louvain Dee entered a major center of mathematical, astronomical, and instrument culture, encountering figures and methods that shaped his technical authority.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 38-42; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 28-30
Biography · Mathematics
1550: Lectures on Euclid in Paris
1550: Lectures on Euclid in Paris - Biography. Dee's Paris lectures on Euclid helped establish his continental reputation as a mathematical teacher and interpreter.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 28-30; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 155-181
Biography · Politics and suspicion
1555: Arrested under Mary I after astrological suspicion
1555: Arrested under Mary I after astrological suspicion - Biography. Dee's astrological and prognosticating expertise drew suspicion during Mary's reign, leading to imprisonment and examination.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 48-58
Biography · Printed works
1558: Publishes Propaedeumata aphoristica
1558: Publishes Propaedeumata aphoristica - Biography. Dee's Propaedeumata aphoristica presented aphorisms on celestial influence, rays, and natural causation.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 98-102; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 155-181; Håkan Håkansson, Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism (Lund University), pp. 274-289
Biography · Court service
1558-1559: Consulted around Elizabeth I's accession
1558-1559: Consulted around Elizabeth I's accession - Biography. Dee's astrological expertise became useful at the accession of Elizabeth I, including the broader culture of choosing auspicious times and reading royal futures.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 48-58
Biography · Printed works
1564: Publishes Monas hieroglyphica
1564: Publishes Monas hieroglyphica - Biography. Dee published the Monas hieroglyphica, a dense symbolic work joining mathematics, alchemy, cabala, and hieroglyphic interpretation.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 76-90; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 155-181; Håkan Håkansson, Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism (Lund University), pp. 289-301
Biography · Books and household
1560s-1570s: Builds the Mortlake library
1560s-1570s: Builds the Mortlake library - Biography. Dee developed the Mortlake library into a working scholarly collection used for reading, consultation, writing, and social exchange.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 56-80; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 20-28
Biography · Printed works
1570: Writes the Mathematical Preface to Euclid
1570: Writes the Mathematical Preface to Euclid - Biography. Dee's preface to Billingsley's English Euclid defended mathematics as a practical and metaphysical discipline mediating visible and invisible orders.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 80-116; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 155-181; Stephen Clucas, 'Pythagorean Number Symbolism, Alchemy, and the Disciplina Noua of John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica', pp. 1-8
Biography · Political writing
1570: Composes Brytannicae Reipublicae Synopsis
1570: Composes Brytannicae Reipublicae Synopsis - Biography. Dee's Synopsis organized the Elizabethan commonwealth as a field for learned counsel and reform.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 216-277
Biography · Empire and navigation
1576-1577: Publishes General and Rare Memorials
1576-1577: Publishes General and Rare Memorials - Biography. Dee's General and Rare Memorials advanced a program of navigation, maritime policy, and British imperial recovery.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 277-394; Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 114-138
Biography · Angelic conversations
22 December 1581: First surviving angelic action
22 December 1581: First surviving angelic action - Biography. The first surviving spirit action began Dee's extant record of angelic conversations, framed by prayer, discernment, and the search for divine wisdom.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 35-42
Biography · Court service
1582: Calendar reform counsel
1582: Calendar reform counsel - Biography. Dee participated in debates over calendar reform, where mathematical correction was inseparable from confessional and political caution.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 170-183; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 155-159
Biography · Angelic conversations
March 1582: Edward Kelley enters the angelic work
March 1582: Edward Kelley enters the angelic work - Biography. Edward Kelley, initially known as Talbot, became Dee's principal scryer and the indispensable mediator of many later visions.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 35-40; Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 55-58
Biography · Ritual system
1582-1583: Heptarchical system takes shape
1582-1583: Heptarchical system takes shape - Biography. The angelic actions generated the ritual and angelic materials that Dee later organized as De Heptarchia Mystica.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 40-44; Håkan Håkansson, Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism (Lund University), pp. 240-332
Biography · Continental journey
September 1583: Leaves England with Albert Laski
September 1583: Leaves England with Albert Laski - Biography. Dee, his household, and Kelley left England with the Polish noble Albert Laski, carrying the angelic project into Central Europe.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 183-200; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 241-281
Biography · Continental journey
1584-1586: Prague, Rudolf II, and imperial audiences
1584-1586: Prague, Rudolf II, and imperial audiences - Biography. In Prague Dee sought audiences and recognition in a courtly world fascinated by alchemy, prophecy, and occult philosophy.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 20-37; Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 183-215
Biography · Angelic conversations
1584: Revealed language, tables, and calls
1584: Revealed language, tables, and calls - Biography. The angelic project produced revealed language, tables, calls, and names associated with later Enochian materials.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 199-213; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 181-241; Håkan Håkansson, Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism (Lund University), pp. 309-318
Biography · Continental journey
1586-1589: Třeboň years under Vilem Rozmberk
1586-1589: Třeboň years under Vilem Rozmberk - Biography. Dee and Kelley continued their angelic and alchemical work in Bohemia under elite patronage, while their partnership became increasingly strained.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 200-226; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 249-255
Biography · Household crisis
April 1587: The communion of wives crisis
April 1587: The communion of wives crisis - Biography. The angelic records reached a crisis in the command involving Dee and Kelley's wives, one of the most controversial episodes in the corpus.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 200-215; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 249-255
Biography · Return and decline
1589: Returns to England without Kelley
1589: Returns to England without Kelley - Biography. Dee returned to England after the continental project fractured and Kelley pursued independent alchemical patronage.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 226-238; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 249-255
Biography · Books and household
Late 1580s-1590s: Mortlake library damaged and dispersed
Late 1580s-1590s: Mortlake library damaged and dispersed - Biography. During Dee's absence and later decline, the Mortlake library suffered loss, damage, and dispersal.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 56-80; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 251-257
Biography · Office and exile
1595: Appointed Warden of Manchester College
1595: Appointed Warden of Manchester College - Biography. Dee received the wardenship of Manchester College, an office that offered employment but placed him away from the courtly center he had long pursued.
Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 258-273; Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 251-257
Biography · Reputation
1599: Publishes the Apologetical Letter
1599: Publishes the Apologetical Letter - Biography. Dee's Apologetical Letter defended his reputation, listed his writings, and appealed against slanders of conjuring and unlawful magic.
William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 15-56; Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 138-151
Biography · Angelic conversations
1607: Late angelic actions
1607: Late angelic actions - Biography. A small set of late actions shows Dee returning to angelic communication near the end of his life.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 249-261
Biography · Afterlife
1608 or 1609: Death at Mortlake
1608 or 1609: Death at Mortlake - Biography. Dee died in poverty and diminished public standing, though his books, manuscripts, objects, and reputation continued to circulate.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 249-267; Glyn Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee (Yale University Press), pp. 273-322
Biography · Reception
1659: Casaubon publishes A True & Faithful Relation
1659: Casaubon publishes A True & Faithful Relation - Biography. Meric Casaubon published Dee's angel diaries within a cautionary frame about spirits, delusion, and unlawful curiosity.
Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press), pp. 251-267; György E. Szőnyi, John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs (SUNY Press), pp. 241-281