John Dee and the Elizabethan British Empire in Its European Context

Abstract

A B S T R A C T. Recent scholarship on the ideological origins of the British Empire has emphasized the importance of John Dee's imperial writings in justifying the Elizabethan exploitation of English Atlantic discoveries. Yet a closer reading of these writings in the context of European politics, Elizabethan Court intrigues, and Dee's occult natural philosophy and magical imperialism reveals their covert purpose of recovering a lost British Empire in Europe. Dee wrote initially to address both the chronic and acute problems facing the regime in 1576, but rather than being an autonomous authority whose ideas commanded attention because of their intrinsic power, he was subordinate to the Court patronage system. Consequently his writings only gained attention when revised to align with the policies of powerful courtiers such as the earl of Leicester, and even then influential Catholic courtiers could exploit contingent political circumstances to counter his influence. Dee's writings remained problematic not only because restoring the British Empire in Europe would entail confronting Spain, but also because in their hidden centre they proposed the creation of an apocalyptic empire by magical means, particularly the philosopher's stone. In the end the contingent events that made Dee's writings briefly influential ensured their ultimate irrelevance to Elizabethan policy-making.

Neither Zarathushtra nor Pope: Zoroastrianism as a Front for the Anglican Church’s Attacks on Catholicism

“…Behind each report or study of the Zoroastrians, one can almost feel how the author constantly keeps one eye on the Zoroastrian community in question and the other on the religious conflicts and struggles of the time (in the most general understanding of these terms possible). 2 Anglican doctrine and authority were consolidated at virtually the same time as the em-[8] pire's colonial expansion, if we take the alleged coining of the term 'British Empire' by John Dee (1527-1609)-also one of the long line of scholars fascinated with Zoroaster-as a starting point for the construction of an imperial mindset (Parry 2006). Thus, the intrusion of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and other European powers into Asia provided an immense body of knowledge about thriving cultures and religions, few of which were already known from ancient sources or the vague descriptions given by mediaeval travellers.…”

Cartography as a Tool of Colonization: Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s 1583 Voyage to North America*

“…; National Portrait Gallery, D20541, Boissard, Sir Humphrey Gilbert , ca. 1590–1603; Parry, 2006, 653; Clulee, 181, 289n20. The most recent assessment of Dee’s magic is Parry, 2011: see Short, 61–66; Whitby.…”