John Dee

John Dee (1527–1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and student of the occult. Educated at Cambridge and on the Continent, he advised Elizabeth I on astrology and navigation, promoted English voyages of exploration, and wrote an influential preface to the first English translation of Euclid. At his house in Mortlake he built one of the largest private libraries in England. From the 1580s he devoted himself to attempts to speak with angels through the medium Edward Kelley, traveling with him in Central Europe. He died in poverty, remembered as both scholar and magus.