In the bows of Hampton Court Palace in the south of England, In a sparsely furnished cell, a tall, wiry man sat on a crude bed, resting his back against the wall. His face was whiter than usual, his fair hair and long wispy beard unkempt and bedraggled. To pass the time, he gazed at the bricks on the opposite wall, running his eyes over their somewhat uneven arrangement. Whilst there a pattern he could discern, there, some kind of formula
he could devise to replicate their unusual spacing. Eventually he grew tired and ran sequences of prime numbers through his head instead. The minute and hours stretched out interminably. Somewhere off water dripped his only marker of time. The prisoner closed his eyes. Just four years earlier, he seemed to have the whole continent of Europe at his feet. How had it come to this? The sound of slow, heavy footsteps approached, echoing on the flagstones of the passage outside.
Was this to be his release, some sort of reprieve? Or were the footsteps a port end of something far, far worse? After all, they were burning heretics at the stake up and down the country. Was this to be his time? The man was John d famed mathematician, astrologer and to some a true master of a cult magic. You're listening to unexplained, and I'm Richard mc lean smith. Back in the fifteen twenties in Tudor times, Rowland D left Wales with his fifteen year old bride Jane, and
traveled to London, England, to make its fortune. At the time, London was what was contained within the square mile walls of the City of London. It stretched along the north bank of the River Thames, from the Fleet River in the west, which is covered today by London's Farringdon Street, all the way to the Tower of London in the east,
one of the many royal residences in the city. From there the city stretched north up to the Church of Saint Giles without Cripplegate, which still stands today in the sh shadow of the Barbican Centre. Home to roughly fifty thousand residents, The city was a vast rabbit warrant of narrow, muddy streets and tall timber framed buildings that blotted out the sun while the Thames bustled with barges and sailing ships, delivering all manner of wares, from fish to wine and
textiles from all over the known world. When Roland and Jane Dee arrived there, they found the city awash with celebrations for the coronation of the new King, Henry the eighth. Rowland was quick to secure work as a dealer in textiles and fine fabrics. He developed connections at the court of King Henry, gaining a position as a courtier and royal sewer making clothes for the king. In fifteen twenty seven, Jane gave birth to a baby boy. She and Roland
christened him John. For what it's worth, the surname D comes from the Welsh word do or black in English. John D was born into a world that sat well and truly at the center of the universe. Most people back then, looking up at the sky saw a sun, a moon, and planets that revolved around the Earth in a series of concentric spheres. Beyond those celestial bodies were the stars, and beyond that was heaven. It was also a time when science saw no conflict between astronomical observations
and astrological forecasting. Many believed wholeheartedly that planetary motions and positions could inflaruance human lives. An astrological birth chart or natal chart, it is created by taking a record of the position of the Moon, Sun, and known planets at the exact date, time, and location of your birth, all analyzed in relation to how they fall within the signs of the zodiac. John D's own chart was one of
great contrasts. The Sun and the Moon were in what's known as equal and opposite positions, suggesting a conflicted personality, while the position of the planet Jupiter, together with the Sun in the sign of cancer, portended that the young de would become skilled in science, but it also foretold that his life would be a difficult balance between joy and malevolence. John D was by all accounts precociously bright.
After spending his early years at school in Chelmsford, Essex, in the winter of fifteen forty two, he gained entry into Saint John's College at Cambridge University. When he arrived at the university, it was an especially febrile time for academia. Long held medieval ideas were being loosened by teachings from ancient Greece, along with Arabic mathematics. Then, in fifteen forty three, Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus shook Western academia to
its core. Writing that year in his groundbreaking work The Revolutionibus, Copernicus proposed the heretical theory that the Sun was actually at the center of the universe, not the Earth, and that it was the Earth that orbited it, not the other way round, though many chose simply not to believe it, whether they liked it or not, in that moment, many of the founding principles of the known world had become
profoundly untethered. For someone as scientifically curious as John D. It would no doubt have been an exciting but deeply unsettling revelation. Were it true, what other secrets might the universe be hiding from us? By the end of fifteen forty six, John D had established himself as a star pupil at the university, but some had begun to wander about the unusually gifted student who remained somewhat of an
enigma despite his burgeoning reputation. One afternoon, students and teachers packed elbow to elbow into the Great Hall of Cambridge's Trinity College to watch the play piece by Aristophanes, which had been put on by D. At one point, a character named Tira Gaius mounted a prop made to look like a giant sca of beetle under the flickering of candlelight. The audience watched their mouths wide open in astonishment as Tira Gaius and his giant beetle proceeded to rise up
into the air and fly right off the stage. When D was cornered by students later who demanded to know exactly how he'd done it, he refused to divulge. The sum thought he'd used a combination of pulleys, mirrors, and springs to achieve the effort, but others were not so sure. Soon word began to circulate that the strange feet of apparent levitation had been created by something more than mere stagecraft.
On graduating from university, such was D's academic reputation that he was offered a position at Trinity College and became one of its founding fellows. But something else was calling him a growing interest in astrology. Whenever the skies were clear at night, he set up his homemade observing equipment and gazed up at the sparkling firmament and wondered how was it exactly he thought that the position of the planets were able to exert an influence on our lives.
It then occurred to him that perhaps each celestial body emitted rays of some kind of force that acted on all other bodies, including our own. Over time, Dee became dissatisfied with the stuffy conservative attitudes at Cambridge University. He fixed his sights on the Low Countries, where a growing galaxy of intellectual stars were beginning to emerge. Shortly after the death of Henry the Eighth in January fifteen forty seven, John d arrived in Louver, near Brussels, where the best
university in the region was to be found. There he joined a lively group surrounding the esteemed Dutch physician, mathematician and cartographer Herma Frisius. Among them was also Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercata. Makata had become famous our to creating a new map of the world that effectively enabled movement across a globe to be accurately recorded on a flat two D surface with the use of what are known as rum lines, a technique he invented that is still used
on nautical charts today. All of which is to say John D's chosen social circle at the time included among them some of the finest minds the world has ever known, and he was very much regarded as their equal. D was greatly inspired by the Mall, especially Mercata, who was very much at the forefront of human endeavor. D would watch, wrapped with attention, over Mercata's shoulder, as he constructed maps and globes of the world's emerging geography, supplemented by new
reports from explorers like Christopher Columbus. There was something so undeniable and concrete about the maps he made. They were the physical equivalent of light being shone into a dark space, pushing back the borders of the known world. In many ways, this was what D wanted to do himself, not with the material world, but rather with the hidden truths of all existence. In fifteen fifty D went to Paris and lectured on Euclid's Elements to a sold out and enthusiastic crowd.
His talks were so well received that the following year he was offered an appointment as professor of mathematics in Paris, which he declined, feeling it was time to return to England. John d arrived back in England in fifteen fifty one to find a country he barely recognized. Twenty years previously, Henry the Eighth had thrown the nation and the Catholic world into turmoil when he secretly married Anne Boleyn while
still married to his first wife, Catherine of Arrogant. At the time, the predominant religious power in the country was the Catholic Church, who even the King of England was ultimately answerable to. Henry asked the Pope to grant him a divorce in order to marry Anne Boleyn, but the Pope refused, so when Henry went ahead and did it anyway,
he was humiliatingly excommunicated. Not one to take such things lightly, King Henry's response was to simply create a law that made him the supreme head of the Church of England, instantly removing the authority of the Pope and Catholicism over the country, and so began the English Reformation. For the next few years, King Henry oversaw a violent and bloody renunciation of all things Catholic in favor of Protestantism. Anyone
deemed too influential who didn't conform was simply executed. When Henry the Eighth died in fifteen forty seven, his nine year old son Edward ascended to the throne. Having been raised a Protestant, Edward, or more precisely, his advisers, intensified his father's campaign and destroyed all symbols of the Catholic faith they could find. When John Dee arrived back in London four years later, hundreds of churches had been stripped bare. Even the Great Crucifix from the altar of Saint Paul's
Cathedral was forcibly removed. When d whose own religious affiliations were not entirely clear, requested an audience with the then twelve year old King, he was understandably a little nervous, but he needed cash to continue his academic ambitions. D was duly invited to make his pitch to the king. On his arrival, he handed the young Edward two books
on astronomy he'd written. It's easy to imagine the childish Edward swinging his feet with boredom on his giant throne as he leafed absent mindedly through the thick, heavy tomes, while D did his best to impress on him the importance of his work. Either it was the flowery dedication to the young King at the front of each volume that did the trick, or simply the boy's boredom. Either way, thankfully for D, he agreed to grant him an annual
stipend of one hundred crowns, a hefty sum for the times. Overjoyed, D promptly bought a property in Upton, a small village near London, where he also established himself as a local chaplain. At some point word of D's academic abilities reached John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, King Edward's official protector. Dudley hired John D as an adviser for himself and as a tutor to his children. By the end of fifteen fifty one, D was firmly established as a man of the highest intellect,
well known as an expert astronomer and mathematician. But people had begun talking. What exactly had he been up to while he was abroad? They wondered, and just how, after being away for so long had he so effortlessly found himself at the heart of English government. In fifteen fifty two, King Edward sixth fell Ill, the Duke of Northumberland, called on the services of famed Italian physician and astrologer Gerlimo
Cardano to attend to the boy. A physical examination revealed the king was suffering from what we know today as tuberculosis. Later that day, when Cardano returned to his quarters, he drew a horoscope for the king. It was a risky thing to do, since reading the horoscope of a king was considered espionage by means of magic, and so Cardano did not share with any of the king's council the dark omens that were revealed to him alone in his room that night. Over the next few months, the king's
condition steadily deteriorated. Then, one violent stormy night, on the sixth of July fifteen fifty three, the young king died at the age of only fifteen. Because King Edward had no heirs of his own, and his sister Mary was Catholic, he nominated his close relation, Lady Jane Gray, to inherit the crown, and so, with the support of the Duke of Northumberland, whose fourth son had married Jane Gray only
months before, she was thrust onto the throne. Within days, it became clear that Edward's sister had far more support for the role. After only six days, Queen Lady Jane Gray was unceremoniously deposed, with Mary taking her place. A month later, John Dee's great supporter, the Duke of Northumberland, was beheaded in front of a huge crowd just outside the Tower of London. Lady Jane Gray was thrown into the Tower of London Prison before also being beheaded in
February fifteen fifty four. She's thought to have been either sixteen or seventeen at the time. The new Queen, who had become known as Bloody Mary, began a purge of Northumberland's friends and sympathizers, and yet somehow John Dee was appointed as an adviser to the new queen. His father, Rowland, however, was not so fortunate. Rowland, who had prospered greatly under King Henry the Eighth and then his son, King Edward, was arrested and accused of being one of Northumberland's conspirators.
There was every likelihood that the charges against Rowland d were fabricated, and luckily for him, he was released fairly soon after his arrest, but in punishment for his Protestant sympathies and connections, Roland was stripped of his assets and his royal appointment. Two years later, things got worse. Queen Mary's supporters began burning heretics. The Catholic Queen had come to the throne very much against the wishes of many Protestants in England, who now all feared for their safety,
and they were right to be scared. Over the next few years, although nowhere near as many as King Henry the Eighth had executed, three hundred people were burned at the stake. Anyone, regardless of birth or rank, was potentially a target. It was perhaps not the best time to be dabbling in anything that might seem at odds with
the Catholic faith, but John D couldn't help himself. One night, at his home in Upton, he drew up a series of strange looking squares within squares, and at each intersecting line he placed various dates and occult looking symbols. There was one for Queen Mary and one for her husband, King Philip of Spain, and one two for her half sister Elizabeth. D noted with relief that the exact moment of Mary and Philip's wedding eleven a m on the twenty fifth of July fifteen fifty four, coincided with the
rising sign of Libra, ruled by Venus. This d knew well was a good omen for the partnership, but that was where his relief ended. As Mary's sign came together, he felt something shift in the pit of his stomach. Her reign, it seemed, would not end well according to the chart. In fact, she had only years left to live. Her sister Elizabeth's horoscope foretold something far brighter by comparison. Dee hurriedly hid the horoscopes away and went to bed.
Over the next few months, John d became increasingly nervous as one by one his closest friends those that were still alive, were either arrested or forced to flee abroad. Then he received the disturbing news that the authorities were after him. Somehow they'd found out about the horoscopes. He managed to elude the authorities for two days, but in May fifteen fifty five, the Queen's Sheriffs found and arrested him. They took him to Hampden Court, where he was put
in solitary confinement. The charges against him were numerous, but most serious were those that highlighted his skills in what had come to be seen increasingly as the occult. D was eventually charged with calculating, conjuring, and casting the Queen's Horoscope, which was considered a treasonous act. The long standing rumor that John D was some kind of magician had come
home to roost. As it turned out, John D had been informed against by a lawyer named George Ferrers, who, for reasons unknown, apparently bore a grudge against D. Though it isn't known exactly what Ferrers knew about D and his activities, he accused him of using spells to blind one of his children and kill another. D was brought in front of a hostile tribunal in the Star Chamber, the main court at the Royal Palace of Westminster, better known to day as the location of the UK's House
of Commons and House of Lords. The court was packed with Queen Mary's most loyal supporters. Shortly after the hearing, D was ordered to be taken back to his cell to await sentencing, where we first found him at the beginning of this episode. Many would no doubt have felt it a foregone conclusion that D was about to get his comeuppance. Perhaps D feared it too, or perhaps not, Because despite the acttions, D was released and told that
he was free to go. In the subsequent months, D was subjected to a series of scathing examinations for suspected heresy and for harboring Protestant sympathies by the Catholic Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner. Bonner, a stern and imposing man, was hugely feared up and down the country as the man tasked with rooting out heretics for the Queen. His word was enough to ensure your doom. Surely there was no way that D would come out of this alive too.
But not only did he escape any further punishment, he was given a position in the Catholic Church, becoming Bonner's personal chaplain. A year later, the Queen issued a full pardon. In John Fox's famous book Acts and Monuments, a History of Protestant Martyrdom, published in fifteen sixty three, D was described as the great conjurer who drifted in and out of interrogations of suspected heretics at will, so well had he ingratiated himself with the new Court and their Queen.
John D was even said to be living at Bonnard's temside residence, Fulham Palace. For a while. Did John D secretly profess himself to be an adherent of the Catholic faith under the fear of being pronounced a heretic? Or had something else a little more magical been at play. Early in fifteen fifty six, D approached Queen Mary with a request to help fund a national library, an idea he'd been mulling over for some time. It would be a place where all the most important academic and religious
texts could be stored together. However, the Queen declined the request, prompting D to move to his mother's house in Mortlake in Richmond upon Thames. There he set about constructing his own library and a base for his future scientific endeavors. Among those academic and religious texts, he added a few more esoteric manuscripts, and then, two years later, in fifteen fifty eight, just as D's horoscope had predicted, Queen Mary died. Suddenly, the wheels of D's world were about to turn again,
and he was just getting started. You've been listening to Unexplained Season seven, episode eighteen, A Dance with Mister d Part one of four, Part two will be released next Friday, March twenty ninth. This episode was written by Diane Hope and Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard mclin Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me
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