John Dee's Natural Philosophy: Between Science and Religion

387 Pages·2012·37.06 MB·English

by  Nicholas Clulee

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
ALCHEMY
JOHN DEE'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
JOHN DEE'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Between Science and Religion
NICHOLAS H. CLULEE
Volume 2
I~ ~~o~1~~n~~;up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Firstpublishedin1988
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JOHN DEE'S
NATURAL
PHILOSOPHY
Between Science and Religion
NICHOLAS H. CLULEE
,~
ROUTLEDGE
London and N ew York
To my parents
and
Carol, Crystal, and Nicole
First published in 1988 by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001
©
Nicholas H. Clulee 1988
Phototypeset by Input Typesetting Ltd, London
Printed in Great Britain by T. J. Press (Padstow) Ltd,
Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Clulee, Nicholas H.
John Dee's natural philosophy: between
science and religion.
1. Science. Dee, John, 1527-1608 -
Biographies
I. Title II. Series
509'.2'4
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Clulee, Nicholas H.
John Dee's natural philosophy: between science and religion/
Nicholas H. Clulee.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Dee, John, 1527-1608. 2. Hermetism - England - History - 16th
century. 3. Occultism - England - History - 16th century. 1. Title.
BF1598.D5C58 1988
133' .092' 4-dcl9
ISBN 0 415 00625 2 (hb)
o
415 03122 2 (pb)
Well, well, It is time for some to lay hold on wisdome, and to ludge
truly of thinges: and not so to expound the Holy word, all by
Allegories: as to Neglect the wisdome, power and Goodness of God,
in, and by his Creatures, and Creation to be seen and learned ....
The whole Frame of Gods Creatures, (which is the whole world,)
is to vs, a bright glasse: from which, by reflex ion , reboundeth to
our knowledge and perceiuerance, Beames, and Radiations: repre
senting the Image of his Infinite goodness, Omnipotency, and
wisdome.
John Dee, Mathematicall Praeface
Until then I had thought each book spoke of the things, human or
divine, that lie outside books. Now I realized that not infrequently
books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves. In
the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing
to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring,
an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a
living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human
mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the
death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
IX
Preface
Xl
Abbreviations
XIV
1 JOHN DEE AND RENAISSANCE
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
PART ONE: THE PROPAEDEUMATA
APHORIST/CA, 1558 19
II 'OUTLANDISH AND HOMISH STUDIES AND
EXERCISES PHILOSOPHICALL' 21
Cambridge and Louvain 22
Patronage and Private Study 29
III THE OUTSTANDING VIRTUES OF NATURE 39
Astrology 39
Astrological Physics and Optics 42
Optics, Mathematics, and Nature 52
Optics, Magic, and Empirical Research 64
Conclusion 70
PART TWO: THE MONAS HIEROGLYPHICA, 1564 75
IV THE HIEROGLYPHICS OF NATURE 77
The Arbor Raritatis and Hieroglyphical Writing 81
The Alphabet of Nature 86
The Discourse of Alchemy 96
The Writing of Things 105
Vll
CONTENTS
V THE GREAT METAPHYSICAL REVOLUTION 116
Aphorisms and Theorems 116
The Office of the Adept 121
The Unity of Knowledge and the Ancient Theology 125
Magia 135
PART THREE: THE MATHEMATICALL
PRAEFACE, 1570 143
VI VIA MATHEMATICA 145
'Thynges Mathematical!' 149
Philosophy, Mathematics, and Technology 154
Philosophy, Mathematics, and Science 162
Philosophy, Mathematics, and Magic 166
Archemastrie 170
VII THE VAGARIES OF PATRONAGE, 1565-1583 177
Exploration and Imperial Ideology 180
Aristotle in Search of Alexander 189
PART FOUR: THE LIBRI MYSTERIORUM, 1583-1589 201
VIII THE MYSTICAL AND SUPERMETAPHYSICAL
PHILOSOPHY 203
Dee, Kelley, and the Spirits 204
The Books of Enoch 208
The Prophets of Prague 220
IX CONCLUSION 231
John Dee 231
Magic and the Occult in the Renaissance 239
Notes 242
Bibliography 302
Index 337
Vlll
ILLUSTRATIONS
between pages 178 and 179
2.1 Title page, Propaedeumata aphoristica, 1558
4.1 Monas hieroglyphica, Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.2 Title page, Monas hieroglyphica, 1564
4.3 'Arbor raritatis', Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.4 'Y' moralised, Tory, Champ jleury
4.5 Point, line, circle, Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.6 Monas and cosmos, Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.7 Construction of '1', Tory, Champ jleury
4.8 'I' and the Golden Chain, Tory, Champ jleury
4.9 'I' and the Muses, Tory, Champ jleury
4.10 '0' and the Liberal Arts, Tory, Champ jleury
4.11 Signs of the planets generated from Monas, Dee, Monas
hieroglyphica
4.12 Alchemical vessels generated from Monas, Dee, Monas
hieroglyphica
4.13 The 'exaltation of the moon and the sun by the science of
the elements', Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.14 Numbers, weights, measures, Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.15 Title page, Joannes Pantheus, Voarchadumia, 1559
4.16 Dee's notes, Pantheus, Voarchadumia
4.17 The genesis of lunar mercury, Dee, Monas hieroglyphica
4.18 The seven stages, Dee, Monas hierogtyphica
4.19 The celestial egg, Dee, Monas hierogtyphica
4.20 The seven celestial revolutions, Dee, Monas hierogtyphica
IX