Hi All--
As expected, Simon Cassidy did indeed have something to say about John
Dee. Here it is; enjoy.
Ivan
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Ivan Van Laningham
Callware Technologies, Inc.
ivanlan@callware.com
http://www.pauahtun.org
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Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 09:39:55 -0800
From: Simon Cassidy <scassidy@earthlink.net>
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To: Ivan Van Laningham <ivanlan@callware.com>
Subject: Re: [HM] Dr. John Dee - secret agent?
References: <6a926841.36990180@aol.com> <369A148F.5BE78F74@callware.com>
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Dear Ivan,
> 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'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.
Simon responds:
David Kahn is stating as fact something which is only probable when he
asserts "Dee...made a gift of [the Voynich manuscript] to Rudolf [Holy=20
Roman Emperor Rudolf II]". As to whether Dee was secretly serving his
sovereign while at Rudolf's court, I would venture to propose that he
thought he was. Whether Queen Elizabeth thought he was is a different
question. Within his diaries Dee refers to secrets he shared with
Elizabeth. I have never seen (in print) any explanation or plausible=20
speculation about the nature of these "secrets" and whether they are
relevant to Dee's continental adventures (1583-1589). I have developed
a hypothesis which integrates several of the matters which Dee worked on
just prior to his departure for the continent and which suggest at least
one secret agenda that Dee may have been pursuing (on behalf of his
country) while at Rudolf's court. See my message to CALNDR-L stored at:
http://www.magnet.ch/serendipity/hermetic/cal_stud/cassidy/33yr-cal.htm
The question of whether Dee was a "secret agent" for his country is=20
usually viewed in the light of the beginnings of a formalised "Secret
Service" set up by Sir Francis Walsingham during Elizabeth's reign.
Dee worked with Walsingham on his Calendar reform, and on his Atlantical
ventures, just prior to his 1583 departure for the continent (one letter
from Walsingham to Dee concerns a meeting to discuss both of these=20
apparently unrelated topics). Dee's Calendar had "secret" aspects (as=20
proved in correspondence from Burleigh to his son Robert Cecil). Dee=20
was also familiar with senior members of Walsingham's nascent "Secret
Service" including Robert Beale (Walsingham's secretary) and Sledd, the=20
infamous English spy at Rome.
Dee's activities within an esoteric politco-intellectual elite are also
approachable through the literature on "the School of night" and the
Marlowe affair. See in particular, the article "John Dee as Ralegh's=20
Conjurer" by Ernest A. Strathmann (Huntington Library Quarterly, 10,=20
1947, pp365-372).
-- Dee's Years, Simon Cassidy, 1053 47th. St. Emeryville Ca. 94608. ph.510-547-0684. email: scassidy@earthlink.net
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