Diaries of John Dee

Many in depth footnotes to a modernized (meaning: actually readable in today's English) text; all dealing with the infamous John Dee and his "talks" with angels and their odd instructions.

Introduction portion
IN 1577, WHEN these diaries begin, John Dee was at the pinnacle of his extraordinary career. On the eve of his fiftieth birthday, he was renowned throughout Europe as a scientist, astrologer and mathematician. Although his reputation as a sorcerer had dogged him since his Cambridge days, he was at last sufficiently confident and well respected to be able to withstand his detractors…

The first few pages of John Dee's diary show how much interest he managed to generate in his vision of expansion. Explorers, writers and politicians were all keen to question him about it. Meanwhile there was a constant flow of other visitors who came to use his library-the largest private library in the country-and to seek his guidance. One of his most committed admirers was Queen Elizabeth, whose coronation day in January 1559 had been chosen by Dee on astrological grounds. The early triumphs of her reign, therefore, reflected favourably on Dee himself…
The greatest setback to his career, however, came in March 1582 with the arrival at Mortlake of a twenty-six-year-old Worcestershire man named Edward Kelly, who claimed to have mystical powers which he was prepared to use in Dee's service.

Kelly (or Talbot, as he initially introduced himself) knew enough about Dee's preoccupations to be able to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear. Most crucially, he knew that Dee had become weary of seeking answers to the mysteries of the universe by reading books and in discourse with other scholars. Dee had long sought the key to all knowledge; his 1564 text Monas Hieroglyphica was an attempt to incorporate the sum of hidden knowledge into one all-powerful symbol. He believed that his immense learning and piety must mark him out from other mortals. Surely, if he could find a way of communicating with God, he would be granted the universal answers that he craved….