Arthur Dee (1571-1651) was the eldest son of Dr John Dee. Arthur accompanied his father in his peregrinations across Bohemia. He became a physician to Michael I of Russia, the founder of the Romanov Dynasty and resided in Moscow for fourteen years where he wrote his Fasciculus Chemicus, a collection of writings upon alchemy.
Returning to England upon the death of his wife in 1637, Dee became physician to King Charles I. Upon his retirement Arthur Dee resided in Norwich, where he became a friend of Sir Thomas Browne. Arthur Dee died in October of 1651. Dee's relationship to Browne has been little explored, but upon his death it was to Browne that the bulk of Arthur Dee's alchemical manuscripts and books were bequeathed.
References
The most informative detailed biography of Arthur Dee remains that of Charlotte Fell-Smith, published in 1909 [1] (http://www.johndee.org/charlotte/Appendix1/ap1.html).
Correspondence by Sir Thomas Browne on Arthur Dee (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Arthur_Dee)
ArthurDee (July 13, 1579 – September 1651) was the eldest son of Dr John Dee, and educated at Westminster School.
Arthur accompanied his father in his peregrinations across Bohemia.
Dee's relationship to Browne has been little explored, but upon his death it was to Browne that the bulk of ArthurDee's alchemical manuscripts and books were bequeathed.
Dee was offered a readership in mathematics at Oxford in 1554, which he declined, citing English universities' emphasis on rhetoric and grammar (which, together with logic, formed the academic trivium) over philosophy and science (the more advanced quadrivium, comprised of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) as offensive.
Dee presented Queen Mary with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library, in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up.
Dee's reputation as a magician and the vivid story of his association with Edward Kelley have made him a seemingly irresistible figure to fabulists, writers of horror stories and latter-day magicians.
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