| 13 Jul 1527 |
Birth |
| 1535 |
Chelmsford Grammar School |
| Nov 1542 |
St John’s College, Cambridge |
| Early 1546 |
Graduated BA |
| Dec 1546 |
Elected Fellow and Under-Reader in Greek at Trinity College |
| 1547 |
Produced Aristophanes’ Peace (mechanical scarab) |
| Jun 1547 |
Louvain |
| Jul 1550 |
Lectures in Paris |
| Dec 1551 |
Presented to Edward VI |
| Feb 1552 |
Enters Pembroke’s service |
| 1553 |
Enters Northumberland’s service |
| Aug 1553 |
Roland Dee imprisoned in the Tower of London |
| 1554 |
Rejected mathematics post at Oxford |
| 28 May 1555 |
Arrested for conjuring |
| 29 Aug 1555 |
Released from prison |
| 15 Jan 1556 |
Presents plans for national library to Mary I |
| Late 1558 |
Wrote paper selecting date for Elizabeth’s coronation |
| Jan 1559 |
Coronation of Elizabeth I |
| 1559 |
Develops ‘Paradoxicall Compass’ |
| 1562 |
Returns to Low Countries |
| Feb 1563 |
Discovers copy of Steganographia |
| Apr 1563 |
Zurich, meets Conrad Gesner |
| Summer 1563 |
At Duke of Urbino’s court, Italy |
| Sep 1563 |
Attends coronation of Maximilian (1527-1576) in Pressburg-Bratislava |
| Summer 1564 |
Returns from Antwerp to London; presents Monas Hieroglyphica to Queen |
| 1566 |
First reference to living at Mortlake |
| Jan 1568 |
Publication of Propaedeumata Aphoristica and presentation to the Queen |
| Feb 1568 |
Audience with Queen discussing alchemical secret |
| Feb 1570 |
Publication of Mathematical Praeface to English Euclid |
| Early 1571 |
Trip to Lorraine to buy laboratory equipment |
| Mid-late 1571 |
Ill; attended to by Queen’s physicians |
| Nov 1572 |
Appearance of the Nova in Cassiopeia |
| 1573 |
Publication of book on Nova |
| Oct 1574 |
Letter to Burghley about treasure |
| 1575 |
Second marriage |
| Mar 1576 |
Wife dies; Queen arrives within hours of the event |
| May 1576 |
Departure of first Frobisher expedition |
| Oct 1576 |
Return of Frobisher with sample of black ore. |
| Jan 1577 |
Meeting with Robert Dudley, Philip Sidney and Edward Dyer |
| May 1577 |
Departure of second Frobisher expedition; slandered by Vincent Murphyn |
| Aug 1577 |
Printing of General and Rare Memorials |
| Nov 1577 |
Visits court at Windsor Castle |
| Feb 1578 |
Marriage to Jane Fromonds |
| 1578? |
Consulted on wax effigy of Queen |
| Mar 1578 |
Dee attends test of Frobisher’s ore |
| Apr 1578 |
Slanders against Dee investigated |
| May 1578 |
Departure of third Frobisher expedition |
| Jun 1578 |
Meeting with Richard Hackluyt |
| Nov-Dec 1578 |
Sent by Leicester and Walsingham to consult foreign doctors about Elizabeth’s illness |
| Jul 1579 |
Birth of first son Arthur |
| Aug 1579 |
Reports secret visit by Elizabeth’s suitor Alençon to court. |
| Dec 1579 |
Mother relinquishes ownership of Mortlake to Dee. |
| Aug 1580 |
Meeting with Sir Humphrey Gilbert. |
| Oct 1580 |
Death of mother; visit by Queen and court to Mortlake |
| Jun 1581 |
Birth of daughter Katherine |
| Dec 1581 |
First record of action, with Barnabas Saul |
| Mar 1582 |
First actions with Edward ‘Talbot’ |
| Jul 1582 |
Meeting with Sir George Peckham about Catholic colony in New World |
| Nov 1582 |
Reconciliation with Talbot, now ‘Kelley’; received the sacred shew-stone |
| Feb 1583 |
Consulted by Queen about marriage to Alençon; submits plans for reform of the calendar. |
| Mar 1583 |
Emissary arrives from Count Laski of Poland; Kelley delivers coded treasure map. |
| May 1583 |
Laski’s arrival in London; first meeting with Dee at Greenwich |
| Jun 1583 |
Laski attends his first action. |
| Sep 1583 |
Dee and household depart for Poland with Laski |
| Mar 1584 |
Arrives in Krakow |
| Aug 1584 |
Arrives in Prague |
| Sep 1584 |
Audience with Emperor Rudolf |
| Apr 1585 |
Returns to Krakow. Audience with King Stephen Báthory of Poland. |
| Summer 1585 |
Dee meets Francesco Pucci |
| Mar 1586 |
Burning of Dee’s books in Prague |
| May 1586 |
Banished from Bohemia by order of Rudolf |
| May 1586 |
Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham |
| Aug 1586 |
At court of Landgrave of Hesse in Germany |
| Sep 1586 |
At Třeboň under patronage of Vilem Rozmberk |
| Dec 1586 |
Invited to join court of Russian emperor |
| Apr 1587 |
Kelley hands over skrying to Dee’s son Arthur; ‘cross matching’. |
| May 1587 |
Last recorded action with Kelley; cross-matching pact fulfilled. |
| Feb 1588 |
Birth of Theodore Dee |
| Jul 1588 |
Arrival of Sir Edward Dyer in Třeboň |
| Nov 1588 |
Letter to Queen regarding Armada |
| Feb 1589 |
Kelley leaves Třeboň |
| Mar 1589 |
Departs Třeboň |
| Apr 1589 |
Reaches Bremen |
| Jul 1589 |
Writes to Walsingham with reports about the Low Countries |
| Aug 1589 |
Learns in letter from Walsingham of Kelley being knighted |
| Dec 1589 |
Dees returns to Mortlake |
| Feb 1590 |
Birth of daughter Madinia, named after an angel |
| Jan 1592 |
Birth of daughter Frances |
| Aug 1592 |
Dines twice with William Cecil, Lord Treasurer. |
| Nov 1592 |
Audience with Queen’s commissioners regarding damage to Mortlake |
| May 1594 |
Audience with Queen |
| Jun 1594 |
Visits Archbishop of Canterbury at Croydon regarding St John’s Cross |
| Oct 1595 |
Dined with Sir Walter Raleigh at Durham House. |
| Nov 1595 |
News of Kelley’s death |
| Feb 1596 |
Arrives in Manchester |
| Mar 1598 |
Returns to London; stays until June 1600 |
| Apr 1601 |
Death of son Theodore |
| Mar 1603 |
Death of Queen Elizabeth |
| Jun 1604 |
Petitions James to be cleared of ‘slander’ |
| Spring 1605 |
Manchester hit by plague; death of Jane Dee and several children |
| Mar 1605 |
More séances with the angels; Dee suffers haemorrhages |
| July 1607 |
Final angelic actions with Bartholemew Hickman |
| 1608-9 |
Dies |