James A Landau wrote:
>
> In David Kahn "The Codebreakers" (New York: Macmillan, 1967),
> page 866 reads "Dee...made a gift of [the Voynich manuscript]
> to Rudolf [Holy Roman Emperor Rudoft II], perhaps on behalf
> of [Queen] Elizabeth, for whom he was serving at Rudolf's court
> as a scret political agent."
>
> Can anybody confirm whether Dr. John Dee was in fact a secret
> agent for Queen Elizabeth?
I can't confirm this, but there are at least two books out there
describing the life of John Dee. In addition, there is a new book by
Robert Poole, _Time's Alteration_, pub. Francis & Taylor, with a chapter
or two specifically on John Dee and his work on calendars. Simon
Cassidy, on the calendar mailing list (CALNDR-L), who has probably read
more than any other person alive about John Dee, can confirm or deny
this. Dee was, from what I gather on CALNDR-L, quite an interesting
character.
I've CC'd Simon, who may or may not respond; Simon, if you have a
response, reply to me and I will forward it to the Historia-Matematica
mailing list, as it's not open.
Thanks,
Ivan
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Ivan Van Laningham
Callware Technologies, Inc.
ivanlan@callware.com
http://www.pauahtun.org
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