aka The John Dee Chronicles
J.A. Downes 
Introduction In 1533, Henry VIII presented what he believed to be an unassailable biblical argument for annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon: Leviticus 20:21, which declares that a man who marries his brother’s widow “shall be childless.” The King’s theologians argued that this divine curse explained why Catherine had suffered multiple miscarriages and failed … Read more
Introduction In the flickering candlelight of Essex House on a cold January evening in 1601, one of England’s most celebrated war heroes was plotting the downfall of his own queen. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, once the darling of Elizabeth I’s court and her rumoured favourite, had fallen so far from grace that he … Read more
From Insurrection: Weddings can be murder: “It took several minutes for Wyatt’s plaintive entreaties to calm Dee’s anger. Eventually Dee exclaimed, “I sent a message telling you we’d be arriving this evening, did I not? Therefore, there is no excuse for not warning your camp guards. My friends could have been injured by your guards’ … Read more
From Divination: A Conspiracy of Blood: “John Dee woke before dawn, his mind already turning over the revelations from the previous evening’s lecture. By the light of a candle, he mixed a fresh batch of ink, then settled down at his desk to build on his efforts of last night and to reproduce what he … Read more
When the Pope Declared War on England’s Queen: The 1570 Papal Bull That Changed Everything On a cold January day in 1570, a document that would reshape the religious landscape of England was secretly distributed throughout the realm. Pope Pius V’s papal bull Regnans in Excelsis didn’t merely criticise Queen Elizabeth I; it declared her … Read more
Introduction Picture this: on a crisp May morning in 1569, crowds gathered at the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, not for worship, but to witness the conclusion of England’s very first state lottery. The great lottery wheel had been turning since January, and now, after nearly four months of anticipation, the final draws … Read more
Introduction Among the many scandalous tales of Henry VIII’s matrimonial adventures, none quite matches the extraordinary story of his marriage to Anne of Cleves in 1540. What began as one of the most diplomatically important unions of the Tudor era quickly descended into what the King himself described as an unmitigated disaster, leading him to … Read more
In September 1555, church bells rang across England as Te Deum services celebrated the birth of a royal heir. Foreign ambassadors penned urgent dispatches describing Queen Mary I’s labour pains, whilst courtiers whispered excitedly about the future of the Tudor dynasty. Yet no prince or princess ever emerged from the royal chambers at Hampton Court … Read more
The Greatest Love Affair That Nearly Toppled a Kingdom Picture this: the most powerful woman in 16th-century Europe tells a foreign ambassador she would marry her beloved ‘if she had been a private person.’ Yet the man she adored was forever marked by scandal, his wife’s mysterious death casting a shadow over what might have … Read more
From Speculation: Undercurrents of Treachery: “The afternoon sun fought a losing battle against the heavy clouds gathering over the Suffolk coast, leaching the colour and vibrancy from everything in their shadow. Inside the gloomy chamber at the rear of the Half Moon Inn, Dee and Goodwife Harewell worked with desperate concentration, their hands moving between … Read more