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Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9001921 The reputation of John Dee: A critical appraisal Barone, Robert William, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1989 Copyright ©1989 by Barone, Robert William. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 The Reputation of John Dee: A Critical Appraisal DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Robert William Barone, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1989 Dissertation Committee Approved by Clayton Roberts James Kittelson Adviser Franklin Pegues Department of History Copyright by Robert William Barone 1989 DEDICATED TO: Marie A. and R. Robert Consununatuin Est! 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My interest in John Dee, and the broader world of Early Modern social and intellectual history was awakened 5 years ago while I was doing research at Oxford. When at Oxford I was taught paleography by Fred Landsberry (from the University of Kent at Canterbury). It was he who introduced me to the figure of John Dee. To him I owe the first thanks for providing me with a direction for my intellectual energies. I also owe great thanks to my friend and teacher Michael Hunter, under whom I studied at the University of London. His seminar on Science and Society, as well as many enjoyable hours of discussion, helped me greatly in ironirg out my understanding of Early Modern Science, and John Dee's role within that drama. To Nicholas Smedley, also a student of Dr. Hunter's, I owe thanks for letting me read his B.A. thesis on John Dee. It is from Mr. Smedley's work that I gained the insight into Dee's negative role in court circles. Any acknowledgment would be incomplete without a profound expression of thanks to my doctral adviser at The Ohio State University, Professor Clayton Roberts. Professor Roberts nurtured my intellectual appetite and firmly grounded me in Tudor-Stuart history. This work is iii largely a result of his generous and perceptive guidance. I also wish to express my thanks to Professors James Kittelson and Franklin Pegues of The Ohio State University. They too helped in the refining of my intellect. I also need to go back to my undergraduate adviser, Professor Charles Daniel; he had faith in me those many years ago, and what I have completed here had its first beginnings in his classes. Finally, I need to express the single greatest thanks to my parents. I would not be where I am now had it not been for the faith and love that they had for me, and for the support they have given me throughout my life. It is to them that I dedicate this work. IV VITA May 29, 1959................... Born-New Haven, Connecticut 198 1 ................. ......... B.A., University of Rhode Island 198 2 ........................... M.A., University of Rhode Island 1984-1986..................... Graduate Associate, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, The Ohio State University Summer, 1985.................. Graduate Assistant, History Department, The Ohio State University 1986-198 7 ..................... Graduate Student, The University of London 1987-198 8 ..................... Graduate Associate, History Department, The Ohio State University 1988-Presen t .................. Instructor, History Department, Wright State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Tudor-Stuart History— Clayton Roberts Minor Fields: Renaissance-Reformation History— James M. Kittelson Medieval History— Franklin Pegues TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................. iii VITA.............................................. V PREFACE........................................... vii CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION............................ 1 II. THE CAREER OF JOHN DEE................. 31 III. THE INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE: VIEWS ON SCIENCE, MAGIC AND RELIGION........ 63 IV. THE REPUTATION OF JOHN DEE: A NEGATIVE APPRAISAL.................... 94 V. THE REPUTATION OF JOHN DEE: A POSITIVE APPRAISAL................... 141 VI. THE POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION OF JOHN DEE................................. 165 CONCLUSION...................................... 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................... 186 VI PREFACE The period of the Renaissance is one that has facinated historians and scholars for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is the nature of Renaissance thought, and more specifically Renaissance scientific thought. There has, over the last sixty or seventy years, been an ongoing debate as to the nature of Renaissance scientific thought. More specifically stated: Did this thought lead to the scientific revolution of the 17th century? And what was the exact nature of the intellectual patterns at work within Renaissance science? It has, since the mid-20th century, been established that the intellectual climate of the Renaissance was tempered by Neoplatonic philosophy. Neoplatonism acted as a crucial framework in which Renaissance intellectual patterns were developed and implemented. Scholars investigating Neoplatonism have also ventured to assert that the more mystical studies of hermeticism, cabalism, and general numbers mysticism also fell under the basic mandates of Neoplatonism. Such authors as Frances Yates hold that Neoplatonism, based on hermeticism and cabalism, was the intellectual vii backbone of Renaissance scientific thought. She went on to state that this thought pattern paved the way for the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Scholars such as I. R. F. Calder and Peter French, both of whom studied under Yates, subscribed to her thesis in their studies of John Dee. They saw Dee as a crucial link in the continuity of a hermetic-cabalistic tradition (we can broadly term it a magical tradition) which led to the development of modern physical science. Other scholars, such as Brian Vickers, Nicholas Clulee, J.L. Heilbron and Wayne Shumaker, do not place as much emphasis on this connection (i.e. of hermeticism as a necessary link to the development of modern physical science). For these authors 17th century physical science succeeded despite the earlier Neoplatonic scheme. They saw the Renaissance science of the Yatesian model as looking back to an earlier tradition, a tradition not concerned with the modern concepts of measuring, labelling, quantifying, and experimenting . To these scholars the Neoplatonic system was incongruous with modern investigation. A principal reason for the ongoing debate over the nature of these two mutually exclusive systems of thought is that, for a brief period at least, they were able to exist simultaneously. One way that scholars have sought to unravel this maze is by the systematic investigation viii of the careers of the particular individuals involved in this drama. In this respect John Dee proves an invaluable test case. A study of his career allows one to investigate the various and diverse aspects of pre- Newtonian scientific thought. The complexity of Dee's personality and reputation revolves around these issues of science and magic, and their relationship to the intellectual world of the Renaissance. This work will seek to investigate the reputation of John Dee. This is an aspect of Dee scholarship that has been overlooked as a method of approach. One can see that the question of Dee's reputation looms large; yet it is an aspect of Dee scholarship which has been overlooked. It is also my purpose to resolve some of the questions in debate concerning Dee's role in the Renaissance intellectual world, and perhaps come a step closer to a true evaluation of this man and his place in history. IX Chapter I INTRODUCTION Opinions held about John Dee, the Elizabethan scientist and curiosa (1527-1608), both contemporary and later, are as varied and diffuse as Dee's own sundry studies were. Dee himself was a Renaissance man exhibiting diverse interests and a wide breadth of scholarship.