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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic and Science, July 9, 2001
In 1527, when England was sharing with the rest of Europe the boom in art and learning called the Renaissance, was born Dr. John Dee, about whom history has yet to decide. He has been regarded as an intellectual giant, a genius of languages, a dupe, a fraud, and a prophetic mystic, among other things. A new biography, _The Queen's Conjurer: The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Adviser to Queen Elizabeth I_ (Henry Holt) by Benjamin Woolley, shows how he was all of this and more. It is a clear biography of a fascinating figure, and an examination into the way of thought of Dee's times. Dee first came to the attention of the larger world when at the age of nineteen, as a student in Cambridge, he mounted a play by Aristophanes, _Peace_, which calls for a giant dung beetle to fly the hero up to the palace of Zeus. Calling upon his passion for mathematics, before there were stage tricks such as projectors, lighting, motors, or fog machines, Dee indeed made a giant beetle fly around the main hall of Trinity College. He astonished the audience, and no one knows how he did it, but some suspected black magic, a suspicion that was forever to taint him. Woolley shows that although Dee was a serious astronomer and chemist, he was also an astrologer and alchemist, but also shows how magic pervaded Renaissance thought. What really makes Dee extreme is his close association with "scryvers," spiritual mediums who gazed at crystal balls to consult with spirits. The scryver most associated with Dee, because of almost twenty years of joint work together, was Edward Kelley, a histrionic and demanding seer whom Dee originally distrusted and then began to use to lay a foundation for a system of occult knowledge. Kelley would look into Dee's crystal balls and report the visions; Dee could never see them, but he took down voluminous notes and tried to make sense of them. He worked for years on understanding the strange pre-Babel language the spirits were supposed to be showing. Power and riches eluded Dee, however much of the language he came to understand. He and Kelley were astonishingly busy, pulled by their language researches, divining for treasure, and pursuing various occult projects. Dee did astrological consultations all his life, earning some money thereby. He constantly sought some sort of sinecure within Elizabeth's court, and only intermittently was successful. In 1589, after six years in Europe, Dee returned to his home near London and found it in ruins, with his huge library and collections of scientific equipment stolen. His reputation had been stolen, as well. Woolley proves himself a guide who can benefit us by his meticulous research. Dee left many intimate records, not only of all the things the spirits revealed to him, but of his daily activities, his wife's menses, the couple's copulations, his dreams, and more. Woolley has intimately described the mystical foolishness as well as the scientific practicality of a mysterious man who ought to be better known as a significant intellectual figure.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative Biography of an Elizabethan Magus, August 28, 2002
Benjamin Woolley's 'The Queen's Conjurer' is the most recent attempt to present the life of the English Enigma, Dr. John Dee. Dee is an interesting character and one that has sadly been much maligned over the centuries. Since his death in 1608, he has largely been dismissed at best as an sorcerer and black magicican and, at worst, as a credulous old fool dabbling in astrology and necromancy. Today, despite his prominent historical role in Elizabethan politics and his great contibutions to many fields, he is hardly remembered at all. This book tries to alleviate that problem. Wolley's work is well-researched and attempts to shed light on Dee's life and his many accomplishments as not only an occultist, but also as an astronomer, mathematician, explorer, and spy. Dee was a product of the Renaissance and devoured knowledge and information. He was an avid bibliophile, a voracious author of various works on astronomy, astrology, mathematics, occult philosophy, and was well-respected by many prominent people at the court of Queen Elizabeth. The Queen herself counted herself one of Dee's benefactors and visited him numerous times at his home at Mortlake, taking a genuine interest in his many magical and mathematical works. Today he is largely remembered for his works concerning "Enochian" or Angel Magic, due to the fact that these are the bulk of his writings that have survived the flames of history. Most of the second half of this book is concerned with Dee's European adventures with the mysterious scryer Edward Kelly, who is largely regarded by history as a charlatan and a rake. Kelly is a shadowy and intriguing figure and we get some insight into his character and motivations but he is never truly revealed to us, perhaps he never will be. In the end, Dee finds that despite a lifetime of great works and accomplishments, he is viewed with mistrust and suspicion by the general public and has lost favor with the new court of King James I. He dies a tired and broken man, and history would continue to tarnish his great name until well into the 20th century. The Queen's Conjurer is a very readable account of a great and fascinating man.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. John Dee- Mathematician and Mystic, March 6, 2004
I have always found Dr. John Dee to be one of the most intriguing characters of Elizabethan times. Yet, there seemed to be so little information available about him, only bits and pieces and rumors- often spread by his enemies. Here is a most satisfying biography that not only gives you a complete look at the Doctor's life, but is also supplemented with a wealth of associated detail and historical background. This book turns Dee from a shadowy character to a real man, a great man. What comes across is the amazing breadth and depth of Dee's interests and scholarship. He was already famed for his remarkable intellect and ability as a student at Cambridge. At a time when most scholars barely processed a reading knowledge of bad Latin, he mastered classical Greek to be able to read the forgotten works of Plato and Pythagoras. He was a personal friend and correspondent to the great men of the age such as Tycho Brahe and Mercator. Dee himself was famed as a great mathematician in Europe (at a time when simple trigonometry was almost unknown in England.) He was offered high positions at the great courts of Europe, but turned these offers down out of a deep seated desire to raise up his country of birth to be their eventual global equal (at this time England was a poor, backward, weak backwater.) Indeed, the first conception of a British Empire, founded upon a strong Royal Navy, was first expounded by Dee. John Dee was as close to modern scientist as existed in the 16th century. He independently came to the conclusion that bodies of unequal weight fall at the same rate- before Galileo. He was recognized as England's top expert on optics and lenses. He was recognized as one of the top experts on navigation and chart making of his day. He kept detailed astronomical observations that even Tycho Brahe admired. He based his astrological work upon the heliocentric "heresy" of Copernicus. He was an expert in geology and ores and leased his own tin mine. He also collected the biggest research library of the age in Mortlake, which was a gathering place of the greatest minds of England and the continent. In short- Dee was a competent expert in several areas of natural philosophy and applied technology. He believed in detailed observation and record keeping- in both natural, and supernatural, phenomena. The thing is, Dee believed his accomplishments in the more material and practical sciences to be among his lesser accomplishments. Like Newton after him, his real passion was with the deepest cosmic and spiritual secrets. This led to his fame as an astrologer, and an alchemist, and a cabalist. Dee's passion was to discover the ancient, true, original religion of mankind, the "prisci theology." That is why he could walk easily among both Protestants and Catholics- he ultimately considered both of their dogma's to be equally absurd. Dee had a much more open mind that the "scientists" of later centuries- he studied all unknown forces, natural or supernatural. This was why be studied and practiced natural magic (Agrippa's three books were always open upon his desk for quick reference.) He knew that hidden currents influenced the day-to-day world, and he documented his observations even if he couldn't explain them in terms of material cause and effect. This also led to his interest is scrying and the use of natural sensitives to communicate with spirits. It should be noted, that no one at this time doubted the existence of such spirits- it was as self evident as the existence of God. In fact, many powerful lords of the day employed seers and scryers, including the earls of Leicester, Pembroke, and Northumberland. All in all, you come away with a renewed respect for Dee. You realize that his only fault was to be born in a society of petty, ignorant, lesser men. It was they that libeled and slandered his image and painted him as a superstitious conjuror. Indeed, the only real mistake that the good Doctor made was to outlive his beloved queen and protector.
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