The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

came easily, as a result of his connection to Cambridge scholars such as Cheke. 86 However,
Glyn Parry argues that Dee overstated the strength of his relationship with St. John‘s
scholars such as Cheke and Cecil. 87 Rather his favour came primarily from patronage by
John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick and soon to be Duke of Northumberland, a connection
that by 1592 had become politically embarrassing. On 12 December 1551 Dee did gain an
interview with Cecil, at this time Edward‘s junior secretary, who left Dee sufficiently
impressed to ―remember whereof his discourse with me then‖ over forty years later. 88
Dee‘s account gives the distinct impression that this was their first encounter. Whilst Dee‘s
knowledge and astrological skills were valued enough to earned him a £25 pension and the
Rectory of Upton-upon Severn, he remained a marginal figure at the Edwardian Court. 89
If Dee managed to cultivate a relationship with Cecil under Edward, his actions
under Queen Mary left it thoroughly, and perhaps permanently, undermined. Recent
research by Glyn Parry has revealed that, threatened with the loss of his Rectory, Dee
agreed to be ordained as a Catholic priest. 90 He then became chaplain to the Bishop of
London, Edmund Bonner, further demonstrating his Catholic orthodoxy. Although in
some Protestant circles this would have irredeemably damaged Dee‘s reputation, he
retained some favour with the religiously moderate Princess Elizabeth, who at this time was
herself partaking in the Catholic Mass. 91 In May 1555, with Mary in the midst of a false
pregnancy, the exposed Elizabeth employed Dee to divine her political future through
magical means. 92 Unfortunately for Dee, he was betrayed to the Privy Council and
arrested. After possibly being tortured, Dee returned to Bonner‘s household, where his
interrogation of a number of Protestant martyrs, recorded in early editions of John Foxe‘s
86 John Dee, ‗The Compendious Rehearsal‘, in James Crossley (ed.), Autobiographical Tracts of Dr. John Dee,
Manchester, 1851.
87 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England.
88 Dee, ‗The Compendious Rehearsal‘, p. 12.
89 Parry, The Arch-Conjuror of England.
90 Glyn Parry, ‗John Dee and the Elizabethan British Empire in its European Context‘, The Historical Journal,
Vol. 49, No. 3, 2006, p. 645.
91 Alison Plowden, Danger to Elizabeth: The Catholics Under Elizabeth I, London, 1973, p. 23.
92 Glyn Parry, ‗John Dee and the Elizabethan British Empire‘, p. 645.
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