• Dee born Friday, July 13

1535

• Dee attended Chelmsford Grammar School

1542

• November: Dee entered St. John's College, Cambridge

1546

• Dee graduates with BA
• created one of the original Fellows and Under-reader in Greek at Trinity College, Cambridge

1547

• Dee lectures in Louvain
• produces Aristophane's Peace

1550

• July: Dee lectures in Paris on Euclid

1551

• December: Dee presented to King Edward VI by Robert Dudley

King Edward VI

1552

• February: Dee enters Pembroke's (William Herbert) service

William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke

1553

• Dee enters Northumberland's (John Dudley) service

John Dudley, Earl of Northumberland

1554

• Dee rejects Math post at Oxford

1555

• May 28: Dee arrested for conjuring-suspected of "casting enchantments" against Queen Mary
• August 1: Edward Kelley born
• August 29: Dee released from prison

1556

• January 15: Dee presents plans for a National Library to Queen Mary

Queen Mary I

1558

• Dee writes paper selecting the date for Elizabeth's Coronation
• Dee asks Pedro Nuñes (Nonnius), Mathematician and Cosmographer Royal of Portugal, to be his literary executer

Queen Elizabeth I

1559

• January: the Coronation of Elizabeth I
• Dee develops the "Paradoxicall Compasse"

1562

• Dee returns to the Low Countries
• publication of Dee's Cabbalae Hebraicae compendiosa tabella

1563

• February: Dee discovers a copy of Trithemius' Steganographia
• April: Dee in Zurich; meets Conrad Gesner
• Dee at the Duke of Urbino's Court, Italy
• September: Dee attends the Coronation of Maximilian (1527-1576) in Pressburg/Bratislava

Emperor Maximilian

1564

• Dee writes Monas Hieroglyphica
• Dee returns from Antwerp to London; presents the Monas Hieroglyphica to Elizabeth

1565

• Dee marries Katherine Constable

1566

• first known reference to Dee living at Mortlake
• Edward Dyer talks to Dee about a northern trade route

1568

• January: the publication of Dee's Propaedeumata Aphoristica and its presentation to the Queen
• February: audience with the Queen discussing the "Alchemical Secret"

1570

• February: publication of Dee's Mathematical Preface to the English Euclid

1571

• trip to Lorraine to buy laboratory equipment
• midyear: Dee very ill; attended by the Queen's Physicians

1572

• appearance of a Nova in Cassiopeia

1573

• Dee's publication of book about the Nova and the importance of Astronomy

1574

• October: Dee sends letter to Burleigh about treasure (application denied)

William Cecil, Lord Burghley

1575

• John Dee's second marraige

1576

• March: Dee's wife dies; the Queen visits within hours of the event (refuses to enter upon hearing that his wife had died, but asks to see his "glass so famous" and know of its properties)
• May: departure of the first Frobisher expedition
• October: return of Frobisher with samples of black ore

Martin Frobisher

1577

• publication of Dee's General and Rare Memorials pertaining to the Perfect Art of Navigation
• January: meeting with Robert Dudley, Philip Sydney and Edward Dyer; all three are Dee's students
• March: Dee visited by Abraham Ortelius, Cartographer

  Robert Dudley

  Philip Sydney

• May: departure of the second Frobisher expedition; slandered by Vincent Murphyn
• August: publication of Dee's General and Rare Memorials
• publication of Dee's Hexameron Brytanicum
• November: Dee visits the Court at Windsor Castle; speaks with the Queen regarding Her "Titles" to Greenland, Estotiland and Friseland

1578

• February: Dee's marraige to Jane Fromond
• consulted on a wax effigy of the Queen
• March: Dee attends a test of Frobisher's ore
• April: slanders against Dee investigated
• May: departure of the third Frobisher expedition
• June: meeting with Richard Hackluyt
• August: Dee takes copy of Impericum Brytanicum to Norwich
• November/December: Dee sent by Leicester and Walsingham to consult with foreign doctors about the Queen's illness

  Sir Francis Walsingham

1579

• July: birth of Dee's first son, Arthur, on his father's birthday
• Dee reveals an "Alcemical Secret" to Roger Cook

1580

• Dee's Mother relinquishes ownership of Mortlake to Dee and his wife and "after to my heirs and assignees for ever"

  Mortlake

• August: meeting with Sir Humphrey Gilbert

  Sir Humphrey Gilbert

• October: death of Dee's Mother; visit by the Queen and Her Court to Mortlake
• Dee receives secret letter from Rome (marked with the symbol for Mercury): "Recepi literas Romas, scriptas per Laudervicea"

1581

• Dee has first vision in the "glass"
• June: birth of Dee's daughter Katherine
• July: Dee writes "the glass gone"; the next day writes "another given"
• Dee records "all the night very strange knocking and tapping in my chamber"
• December: first records of spirit "actions"; skryer was Barnabas Saul

1582

• March: first "actions" with Edward Talbot as skryer; URIEL tells them they must have "conjunction of minds in prayer. It is the will of God that you should jointly have the knowledge of his angels together"
• Kelley leaves for London to obtain books formerly belonging to Lord Mountegle
• April: Kelley marries Joanna Cooper
• May: Kelley refuses to continue dealing with the spirits
• Robert Gardener brings Dee information about the "Philosopher's Stone"
• July: Dee meets with Sir George Peckham about a Catholic Colony in the New World
• November: reconciliation with Edward Talbot, now Edward "Kelley"; receives the sacred shew-stone

  Edward Kelley

1583

• February: Dee consulted by the Queen regarding Her marraige to Alençon; submits first plan for reform of the calendar
• March: emmisary arrives from the Court of Count Laski of Poland; Kelley delivers a coded treasure map
• May: Laski's arrival in London; Laski's first meeting with Dee at Greenwich-they compare beards
• June: Laski attends his first "action"
• September: Dee and Kelley and their households depart for Poland with Laski, taking 600 books and 300 manuscripts from Dee's library, and the Holy Table

1584

• March: arrive in Krakow
• April: begin receiving the Angelic language
• June: Kelley receives "The Great Vision"
• August: arrive in Prague

  The alchemical laboratory in Powder Tower, Prague,
  which was used by John Dee and Edward Kelley.

• September: Dee's audience with Emperor Rudolph

  Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor

1585

• April: Dee returns to Krakow; audience with King Stephen Bàthory of Poland

  King Stephen Bàthory

• Summer: Dee and Kelley meet Francesco Pucci

1586

• March: Dee, Kelley, and Pucci meet with papal nuncio Germanicus Malaspina; Dee suspects a trap and is diplomatic
• burning of the diaries
• April: the burned books miraculously restored
• May: Dee banished from Bohemia by the order of Rudolph; sends letter to Sir Francis Walsingham
• August: Dee at the Court of the Landgrace of Hesse in Germany
• September: Dee's and Kelly's arrive at Trebon under the patronage of Vilem Rozmberk; immediately begin alchemical experiments

  Vilem Rozmberk

• December: Dee and Kelley invited to join the Court of the Russian Emperor
• Dee and Kelley perform a demonstration of the philosopher's stone for Francis Garland and his brother Edward

1587

• April: Kelley hands over the skrying duties to Dee's eldest son, Arthur; infamous "cross-matching" episode
• Great Table is "reformed" by RAPHAEL
• May: last recorded record of "action" with Kelley; "cross-matching" pact fulfilled

1588

• February: birth of Theodore Dee
• July: arrival of Sir Edward Dyer in Trebon
• November: Dee sends letter to the Queen regarding the Spanish Armada

1589

Edward Kelley

• February: Kelley leaves Trebon
• March: Dee departs from Trebon for England
• April: Dee reaches Bremen
• July: Dee writes to Walsingham with reports about the Low Countries
• August: Dee learns in a letter from Walsingham of Kelley's being Knighted
• December: Dee returns to Mortlake

1590

• Kelley Knighted in Prague
• February: birth of Dee's daughter Madimia
• Dee receives "from the Queen's Majesty warrant by word of mouth to assure me to do what I would in philosophy and alchemy"

1591

• Rudolph has Kelley arrested and imprisoned at Knvoklát Castle, supposedly for protection

1592

• January: birth of Dee's daughter Francis, named after Francis Walsingham
• August: Dee dines twice with William Cecil, Lord Treasurer
• November: audience with the Queen's Commisioners regarding damage done to Mortlake in Dee's absence

1594

• May: Dee has audience with Queen Elizabeth

• June: Dee visits the Archbishop of Canterbury at Croydon about a position at St. John's Cross
• Kelley released from prison and restored to former status; imprisoned again at Hnévin Castle

1595

• October: Dee dines with Sir Walter Raleigh at Durham House

  Sir Walter Raleigh

1596

• February: Dee arrives in Manchester
• Queen Elizabeth makes Dee Warden of Manchester College

1597

• Dee receives news of Kelley's death

1598

• March: returns to London; stays until June of 1600

1601

• April: death of son Theodore

1603

• March: death of Queen Elizabeth I

1604

• June: petitions King James to be cleared of "slander"

1605

• Spring: Manchester hit by the plague; death of Jane Dee and several of their children
• March: more "actions" with the Angels

1607

• July: final "actions" with the Angels; Bartholemew Hickman acting as skryer

1608

• death of John Dee