An impartial study of the history of the times must lead us to conclude that the relationship between Elizabeth and the astrologer, mathematician and alchemist John Dee was a life-long event. Among the few men in her life whose friendship she valued consistently until her death, Dee must rank as one of the most significant.

Elizabeth called him 'her eyes' (a title he shared at times with Robert Dudley). He was also called her 'noble intelligencer.' Dee was Elizabeth's tutor. He was often at court. She would visit him at his home, often unannounced. She called upon him for advice and assistance in all manner of endeavours - as did virtually every other luminary of the Elizabethan Age.


Historians tend to be fairly rational beings and not overly fond of the occult. They have tended to write the magician and alchemist, the astrologer and seer John Dee out of the equation when considering Elizabethan history. But Dee - known in his time as the most leaned man in Europe 'the Ornament of his age' cannot be ruled out, and should not be marginalised by anyone who would seek a balanced appraisal of Elizabeth and her extraordinary life.


John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I.' Oil painting by Henry Gillard Glindoni

'John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I.'
Oil painting by Henry Gillard Glindoni. Credit: Welcome Library, London


When did the relationship between Dee and Elizabeth begin?


We do not know exactly when they would have first met. Dee's father was employed about the court of Henry VIII, and Elizabeth as a child often stayed at court, of course. When Elizabeth's father died, her half-brother Edward took the throne, too young to rule entirely by his own devices, his uncle Edward Semour governed the affairs of State instead. Dee's tutors, Roger Ascham and John Cheke, both distinguished Cambridge scholars, were employed as tutors to the children at Court, including the young King and Elizabeth herself. Dee later joined them and was employed in a similar capacity, as tutor of mathematics. It was at this time, that he and Elizabeth probably met.  Her life-long interest in geography, mathematics and astronomy/astrology would have almost certainly have mean that Dee was her tutor at some stage.


How often did Dee and Elizabeth meet?

Dee's diaries do not, unfortunately cover the early part of his life all that well, and are at best sketchy and incomplete. However, there are several entries in which we learn that Elizabeth, as Queen, visited Dee at his home in Mortlake, usually spontaneously. Reasons for visiting were probably varied. The Queen did make contributions financially to help Dee with his studies and work, and she also had a keen interest in inventions of all kinds. We know, for example, that Elizabeth came on one occasion in 1575 to see the astrologer's 'magic glass' - though what exactly this might have been is still the subject of much speculation. It is possible the Queen had come expressly to see it. Some believe it to have been a distorting mirror - so an object of entertainment. In Spencer's 'Faerie Queene' the event is recorded and there it becomes 'a glass globe that Merlin made in which the Queen might spy her lover.' All rather frivolous. Given the fact that Dee and his colleague Thomas Digges were constantly experimenting with lenses and mirrors, it might well have been the forerunner of the telescope that she came to see.


At other times Dee would be summoned to Court to provide information or reassurance regarding matters of importance to the Virgin Queen and her Council. When a new star appeared in the heavens in 1572 he was expected to explain it! He measured its position through observation and reported that it was a distant object and not a comet. On other occasions he would be called upon to advise on matters of magic or the occult - for instance the discovery of a wax effigy of the Queen that had clearly been used for magical purposes, being stuck with pins and which was found in Lincolns Inn Fields, London. Dee allayed the Queen's misgivings and, presumably, did some counter-acting magic of his own to put things to rights. There are numerous other occasions when Dee and Elizabeth would have been in each other's company. 


What did they discuss?

Dee and Elizabeth had much in common - not least of which would have been their interests in mathematics, history and astrology. Dee was employed as adviser to the pioneering Muscovy trading company for many years, and Elizabeth and her ministers were heavy investors, of course. He was called upon at such times to provide information and ideas on navigation and geography. He was also a prime mover in the search for a North-West Passage to China, and advised Elizabeth regularly on matters of exploration, genealogy and England's mission to colonise the new world. The term British Empire was first coined by Dee. But Elizabeth was also a student of natural and hermetic magic, and when Dee published in 1564 his enigmatic treatise on symbolic language, the Monas Hieroglyphica, Elizabeth was engaged in private discussions with Dee regarding its secretive, arcane meaning. There is thought to be considerable occult and magical meaning contained in its pages, and which Dee insisted on explaining personally to Elizabeth shortly after its publication. And when Dee wished to have the clalendar revised in 1583 it was to Elizabeth that he addressed his petition. It would certainly have been a topic of discussion between them.


An Exciting New Novel about Elizabeth and her Astrologer

For more information and to get a flavour of the influence that Elizabeth's astrologer had on the Elizabethan age generally, follow this link  Biography of John Dee.  For details of how, exactly, a typical astrological chart is put together, follow this link The Astrologer's Chart