[Savage]

John Dee(1527-1608)

Dee was the court astrologer to both Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I, and, according to legend, conjured a windstorm which resulted in the defeat of the invading Spanish Armada.

Dee was a fascinating genius, considered a magus, philosopher and alchemist who captured the attention of the royal courts and best minds throughout Europe. You were either intimidated by his ideas and reputation or you wished to be influenced by them. It has only been in the last century that we've had a more sober approach to Dee, thanks to such authors as Peter French, Francis Yates, Gerald Shuster and Richard Deacon who have rescued this "man of grand design" from obscurity and have realized how significant a thinker he was.

Dr. Dee's learning was far and wide,
a brilliant mathematician, whose study ranged from geo-cartography and calculus which was vital in navigating the New World for explorers, to astrology, alchemy, the Cabala, cypher writing, religion, architecture, and science. In short, Dee's metaphysics were a 'red' cross of the Hermetic tradition with a strong dose of mathematics. His library at the riverside village of Mortlake was considered the finest private collection in Europe containing thousands of bound books and handwritten manuscripts devoted to philosophy, science and esoterica. In comparison the University of Cambridge at the time had a mere 451 total books and manuscripts in their possession.

Noel Fermor in the journal Baconiana wrote that, "The Earl of Leicester's father, the Duke of Northmberland, employed Dee as a tutor to his children so that they would have a sound scientific upbringing. Northumberland became a notable scientist with a strong leaning toward mathematics and magnetism. Anthony Wood in his Athenae Oxoniensis, wrote "that no one knew Robert Dudley better than Dee." So it was quite natural for Leicester to introduce Dee to Elizabeth as she was to become the new Queen and it wasn't long before Dee advanced to become the court astrologer.

Elizabeth was very much interested in the occult.
Dee was responsible for choosing the most auspicious date for Elizabeth's coronation which was on January 15th, 1559. The Queen was so impressed by Dee that she eventually travelled with her court to Mortlake, for the purpose of seeing his great library.

Dee has been defamed through the centuries as a necromancer, but it's the opinion of many writers that his angelic-cabalistic- alchemical work, his Philosophers Stone, the"Monad Hieroglyphica"(1564) may have been a cover for covert operations carried on in the name of her majesty.

When the Spanish Armada loomed over the English Channel
it was Dee as the wise sage who suggested to hold the course and be still. He had correctly anticipated that devastating storms would destroy the mighty Spanish Fleet and that it would be best to keep the English ships at bay.

Some have suggested that it was Dee himself who conjured up that storm. Whatever it was that allowed England to defeat the Armada, John Dee was having his finest patriotic moment. One can see why some commentators have Dee associated with being the inspiration for the protagonist Prospero (to hope for the future) from The Tempest. Source