Outlandish alchemist and magician, political intelligencer, apocalyptic prophet, and converser with angels, John Dee (1527-1609) was one of the most colourful and controversial figures of the Tudor world.

In this fascinating book - the first full-length biography of Dee based on primary historical sources - Glyn Parry explores Dee's vast array of political, magical, and scientific writings and finds that they cast significant new light on policy struggles in the Elizabethan court, conservative attacks on magic, and Europe's religious wars. John Dee was more than just a fringe magus, Parry shows: he was a major figure of the Reformation and Renaissance.

More about this title

Read an article by The Arch Conjuror of England author Glyn Parry on Yale's blog

Glyn Parry is a senior lecturer in history, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He lives in New Zealand. From January 2013 he will be Professor of History at Northumbria University in Newcastle.

"With this learned book, Parry has rescued Dee from the shadows of his own secrecy and restored him as a glittering light in the magical Elizabethan firmament."—Nigel Jones, The Sunday Telegraph

"In this intensively researched book, we are invited to imagine Elizabethan England as a much stranger place that we had assumed. John Dee comes across as a figure of national significance in an age with a belief system very different from ours."—Graham Parry, The Guardian

"Parry has assembled an important contribution to our understanding of how magic became science."—Philip Ball, Nature

"In Glyn Parry, [Dee] has at last attracted a biographer with a talent for uncovering fresh archival material, who has conducted thorough research both into his life and the circles in which he moved…this book makes an admirable contribution both to an understanding of his career and of the Elizabethan age."—Ronald Hutton, Independent on Sunday

"The scholarship is first rate."—Alec Ryrie, Times Higher Education

"A thorough piece of research, and a worthwhile scholarly work."—David V Barrett, The Independent

"Parry’s pacy narrative traces Dee’s public life in unprecedented detail." Alison Shell, Church Times

Related links