542. Elizabeth I’s Sorcerer: Angels and Demons in Renaissance Europe

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 18.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

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Summary

In Tudor England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, there lived in the very heart of her court a magician, alchemist and polymath, bent upon conversing with the angels of heaven and other supernatural beings. His name was John Dee, and he would prove to.be one of the most remarkable men of his age, living long enough to witness both the dying days of the reign of Henry VIII, and the succession of Elizabeth’s heir. Throughout it all, he existed near the very epicentre of English royal power and religious controversy, dabbling with both treason and heresy, and the gruesome punishments for both, on multiple occasions. His life therefore holds a tantalising mirror up to the tumultuous periods through which he lived, and features some of the great stars of Tudor England. From the religious persecutions of Bloody Mary, when Dee came closest to destruction, to the rise of Elizabeth I, a learned scholar in her own right, who looked to him to explain the signs of the universe to her, and the birth of the British Empire - with Dee one of its earliest champions. His obsession with reading the divine language of heaven and thereby understanding the very deepest secrets of the universe, would see him scrying in mirrors to read the future at the risk of his immortal soul, travelling to Prague - Europe’s bastion of magic - and forging his famous relationship with the wily Edward Kelly. But, was it angels or demons who lured Dee across Europe, and into the very deepest depths of the occult..? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss England’s very own Merlin; John Dee, and his extraordinary life as the court magician of Elizabeth I, during a time of dawning empires and clashing religions. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening to The Rest is History. For weekly bonus episodes, add free listening,
0:05.3	early access to series and membership of our much-loved chat community, go to theresteshistory.com and join
0:12.7	the club. That is therestishistory.com.
0:19.0	Hi everybody, Dominic Sambrook from The Restis History here.
0:22.6	Now, as you can probably tell from the noise of the pool, I am joined by a friend of the show, Anthony Scaramucci, who is on his island, surrounded by the luxurious trappings of wealthy.
0:35.7	He is, of course, the host of the rest is politics
0:38.4	US. And Anthony and I have a very special announcement. On Sunday, the 30th of March, Anthony is over
0:45.6	in the UK, and we have decided to do a live show together at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
0:52.5	in London. Haven't we, Anthony?
0:54.6	We have.
0:55.2	You know, I think I'm not British because the Brits actually admire my American
0:59.5	Arreveste attitude about life, okay?
1:03.1	But in any event, okay, it'd be the first time on stage with Dominic.
1:07.3	I am very excited.
1:08.5	We're going to be doing a show on U.S. political history called
1:12.7	The Rest is Assassinations from Lincoln to JFK. But Dominic and I both know on the 30th of March
1:21.5	2025. It's the 44th anniversary of the attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan. So there's not only
1:29.8	assassinations here, which are terrible, but there's an attempted assassination, several of
1:35.1	them, Dominic, right, throughout U.S. history. And so we're excited to go through this and what the
1:41.1	impacts were on American history and global history. Right. And there's so many
1:45.6	great stories. So obviously JFK, you and I disagree about JFK because I, of course, think it was
1:50.5	Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and you think differently. But there are other stories. You mentioned
	...

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