Jane Dee facts for kids
Jane Dee (born Fromond) lived from 1555 to 1604 or 1605. She was an English lady from a good family who worked as a helper for important people. We know a lot about her life because her husband, John Dee, kept detailed journals. John Dee was a famous scholar who studied many things, including mathematics and what some people called magic.
Jane was born in Cheam, a town in Surrey, England. Before she married John Dee, she was a lady-in-waiting for the Countess of Lincoln. The Countess was part of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Jane's connections at court, especially with the Queen and other ladies, might have helped her husband get support and help from important people.
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Marriage to John Dee
Jane married John Dee in 1578. She was 23 years old, and he was 51. John Dee was a well-known scholar who was very interested in trying to predict the future, old mystical ideas, and the idea of turning regular metals into gold.
He gave advice to Queen Elizabeth on astronomy (the study of stars and planets) and medicine. He also traveled around Europe, studying and advising other noble families. After their marriage, Jane moved to John Dee's home in Mortlake, which is southwest of London.
They had a large household with many family members and servants. Jane played a big role in managing this home. They also had frequent visitors who worked with John on different experiments he did in their house. Jane and their children even traveled with John Dee to Poland in 1584. There, John worked for a Polish nobleman named Albertus Laski. While waiting to join her husband in Prague, Jane gave birth to one of their sons in Kraków.
We know a lot about Jane Dee because her husband kept very detailed diaries and records. John Dee wrote about his conversations and arguments with Jane, and many small details about their daily life. It is very rare to find such detailed information about the daily life of a woman from the 1500s.
Working with Angels
John Dee's diaries show that Jane was sometimes involved in his unusual studies. In 1582, John Dee started trying to communicate with angels. He worked with a new helper named Edward Kelley, who acted as a "scryer." A scryer was someone who looked into a crystal ball or mirror to see visions or messages.
Jane did not trust Kelley from the beginning. John Dee's records mention several times when Jane and Kelley had disagreements. Kelley later married a young woman named Joanna Cooper. According to Dee, Kelley did not treat his wife well. This might have made Jane dislike Kelley even more, as she felt sympathy for Joanna.
Despite her distrust, Jane asked Kelley for help in 1585. She wanted to communicate with the angels herself. She asked them about her family's tough money problems and hoped for help and reassurance. John Dee's papers recorded her request:
We desire, God, of his greate and infinite mercies to grant us the helpe of His hevenly mynisters, that we may by them be directed how or by whom to be ayded and released in this neccessitie for meate and drinke for us and for our familie, wherewith we stand at this instant much oppressed.
A Difficult Request
Jane became even more involved in John Dee's unusual studies in 1587. At this time, the Dees and the Kelleys were living together in a town called Třeboň. Kelley claimed that the angels Madimi and Ill had told him that John Dee and Kelley should share everything, including their wives, to help their philosophical partnership grow.
John Dee first disagreed with this strange idea. However, he was convinced by Kelley's strong insistence that the angel's message was God's will. When Jane Dee heard about this unusual suggestion, she strongly objected. She "fell a weeping and trembling for a quarter of an hour." But John convinced her that it was God's will for the men to share everything. Jane and John, along with Edward Kelley and his wife Joanna, soon signed an agreement.
After this strange communication, John Dee and Kelley's conversations with angels stopped. Their close work together ended in 1589 when John Dee and his family returned to England.
Later Life
Jane gave birth to three daughters during this time: Madinia in 1590, Frances in 1592, and Margaret in 1595.
John Dee later got a job as the warden of a church in Manchester. Jane and their children moved there with him in 1596. Jane died from the bubonic plague in Manchester in 1605. She was buried at Manchester Cathedral.
Jane's Children
Jane was John Dee's second or third wife, but she was the first with whom he had children. They had eight children together. They had four sons named Michael, Theodore, Arthur, and Rowland. They also had four daughters named Madinia, Frances, Margaret, and Katherine.
Sadly, three of their children died before Jane did: Michael (who died in 1594), Theodore (who died in 1601), and Margaret (who died in 1603). Madinia and Frances may have also died from the same bubonic plague that took their mother's life in 1604 or 1605.
Images for kids
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A Magician originally by Ebenezer Sibley
