Wife-Swapping Magician of the Tudor Court

Summary

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Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Episode: Wife-Swapping Magician of the Tudor Court
Host: Dr. Kate Lister
Guest: Rachel Morris (historian and author)
Date: October 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Kate Lister welcomes historian and author Rachel Morris for a deep dive into the eccentric world of John Dee—the famed Tudor magician, astrologer, and confidant to Queen Elizabeth I, whose interests in the occult and alchemy, and especially a notorious episode of "wife swapping," still raise eyebrows centuries later. Together, they explore the blurred lines between magic and science in the Renaissance, the peculiar home life of magicians in the period, and why John Dee’s wife, Jane, deserves our sympathy.

Rachel also previews her new book, Years of the Strange: The History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians, adding rich detail to Dee’s personal and professional world—from his scholarly ambitions to his susceptibility to deception.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Was a "Magician" in the Tudor Court?

• Differentiating the "magician" from the "witch" ([06:52]–[08:30])
  • Renaissance magicians like John Dee (always male, highly educated, library-owning, often early scientists) were accepted at the highest levels of society, in stark contrast to mostly female, working-class "witches" who risked being burned at the stake.
  • Rachel Morris: "Men like John Dee were highly educated... We would recognize them as early scientists, but they had a sort of strong streak of magic and mysticism running through the way they thought." ([07:14])

2. John Dee’s Path to Prominence

• Background and rise to courtly influence ([09:16]–[11:17])

  • Not nobility, but brilliant and scholarly, Dee tutored the children of aristocrats, amassing friends in high places.
  • Queen Elizabeth herself visited Dee at his home in Mortlake, signaling his rare status among non-aristocrats ([11:22]–[11:46]).

• What did magicians actually do for monarchs?

  • Dee’s services included astrology, alchemy (attempts to create gold), and celestial advice for state decisions.
  • Rachel Morris: “She [Elizabeth] was always interested in the possibility of being able to turn lead into gold, because, like so many people at the time, she needed the money.” ([12:22])

3. The Mindset of the Renaissance: Science and Magic

• Astrology and emerging science
  • Idea of “as above, so below”: cosmic events were believed to influence earthly matters such as war or plague.
  • Even the most educated minds entertained both scientific and magical beliefs.
  • Rachel Morris: "[Dee] slides in and out of what we recognize as recognizable thinking." ([10:34])

4. John Dee at Home

• Domestic life and relationships ([16:41]–[19:38])
  • Dee’s diaries reveal touching moments with his children and wife, Jane.
  • Rachel Morris: “He loved domestic life...a home and a family and that sense of this being his kingdom, his place.” ([18:31])
  • Accidents abound—his children frequently featured in his diaries due to their mishaps!

5. Enter Edward Kelly: Angel Medium and Catalyst

• The enigmatic assistant ([23:55]–[26:28])
  • To communicate with angels, Dee employed mediums. Edward Kelly became his long-term associate and, in Dee’s eyes, a credible "spirit scryer."
  • Kelly invented a vivid cast of angels and spirits as part of their workings, creating an intense, quasi-fantasy world.

6. The Family Slog to Prague

• A perilous journey for occult knowledge ([27:15]–[29:34])
  • Dee, Jane, their children, Kelly, and Kelly’s wife embarked on a six-year voyage to Prague and Bohemia—ostensibly for alchemical collaboration, but also due to shifting court trends and politics.
  • Jane endured constant upheaval and childcare in a foreign land while Dee and Kelly pursued esoteric science.

7. The Notorious Wife Swap

• How did it happen? ([30:41]–[34:17])
  • In Bohemia, Kelly claims the angels command that Dee and Kelly must “share” their wives to achieve cosmic harmony.
  • Both Dee and Jane are recorded as distraught—but Dee ultimately complies “for the sake of wisdom.”
  • Rachel Morris: “Your wife is dear to you, but your wisdom is dearer.” ([31:57])—reportedly relayed to Dee by Kelly "through the angels."
  • Jane is witnessed weeping, feeling compelled to consent for her husband’s work.
  • Kelly’s wife, by all accounts, evades participation—showing quiet resistance.

8. Fallout and Tragedy

• Consequences of the swap ([36:00]–[41:01])
  • Jane falls pregnant—not clear by whom.
  • Dee’s relationship with Kelly deteriorates; the families part ways, and Dee’s fortunes suffer a sharp decline.
  • On return to England, Dee finds his beloved library trashed, falls out of royal favor, and spends his remaining years in obscurity and poverty.
  • Jane dies of the plague alongside two children; Dee dies destitute.

9. Reflections on Dee’s Legacy

• Victim of obsession and trickery? ([41:45]–[43:14])
  • Dee’s reputation and intellect did not spare him from manipulation—perhaps by a "cult leader" in Kelly.
  • The real cost of Dee’s pursuits is most felt by Jane, who endured humiliation and heartbreak.
  • Rachel Morris: “He did get conned and it was because he loved his wife, but he loved his obsessions more.” ([43:14])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kate Lister on the period’s contradictions:
  "It's funny, we can tie ourselves up in knots trying to make these kind of distinctions... This magic is okay, this magic is not okay. This one is very, very not okay. And this one is holy." ([08:07])

• On Jane’s predicament:
  Rachel Morris: “Sometimes he will write ‘Jane in a ferociously bad temper.’ And you see why.” ([28:21]) Kate Lister: “I have to go to Prague with the kids on a boat that'll probably take six months because some twerp said an angel told him to?” ([28:33])

• On consent and the wife swap:
  Rachel Morris: “Jane is crying, Jane is weeping, and John Dee is saying, look, I think we're gonna have to do it. And she agrees to do it. She agrees for the sake of his work. It's clear she doesn't want to do it.” ([32:17])

• On Dee’s heartbreak:
  Rachel Morris: “He was a man who adored his books...He loved to sign his books and he often doodled in his books, which was quite acceptable back then.” ([41:01])

• On Dee’s tragic arc:
  Kate Lister: “I feel the same way about him that I do about, like, people that get conned out of loads of money by some 22 year old who said that they definitely loved them and that they were going to run away together. And of course they weren't. That was never going to happen. But you just sort of feel a bit like, oh, they were hoping it would be okay.” ([42:28])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 05:46 — Rachel Morris introduces her book and how she found the story of John Dee
• 07:14 — Explaining Tudor “magicians” vs. “witches”
• 11:22 — Dee’s prestigious role with Queen Elizabeth I
• 13:33 — What was astrology to Renaissance elites?
• 17:19 — Dee’s domestic life and children
• 23:15 — Introduction of Jane Dee and her role
• 25:55 — Edward Kelly enters as Dee’s “medium”
• 27:15 — The families' arduous relocation to Prague
• 30:41 — The “angel-ordained” wife swap
• 32:17 — Jane’s resistance and heartbreak
• 38:11 — Aftermath: estrangement, loss, and tragedy
• 41:01 — Dee’s ruined legacy and devastating losses
• 43:14 — Dee as a tragic victim of his own obsessions

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Tone & Style

The conversation is laced with Dr. Lister’s irreverent wit, historical empathy, and warmth; Rachel Morris brings nuance, scholarly insight, and real feeling for Dee, Jane, and even Kelly. The tone alternates between humorous asides (often about horoscopes) and deep sympathy, especially for Jane Dee and the family’s travails.

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Further Reading

Find Rachel Morris’s new book:
Years of the Strange: The History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians (published October 9, 2025)

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Summary by Podcast Summarizer AI Service – for listeners who like their history both steamy and scholarly.

Transcript

[Kate Lister]

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[Kate Lister]

Hello my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister. You are listening to Betwixt the Sheets. But before you're allowed to, I have to give you the fair dues warning to make sure everything is safe and above board. So here it freaking is. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way covering a range of adult subjects. And you should be an adult too. And if you can't say hell yes to all of that, then be off with you. And for the rest of you, let's get on with the show. Do you believe in horoscopes? No, I don't either. I think they're a load of absolute bum fluff. Or maybe that's just the kind of thing that a Libra would say, but way back in the 16th century, when worlds were expanding, the stars took on a huge significance, especially to the elites. And you can bet your bottom dollar that they believed in star signs. So step forward, John Dee, who was a cancer sign, by the way, and he was also a man who used his gender and his class privileges extremely well in a time when meddling about with hidden forces and dark entities could get you burnt at the stake as a heretic. But what exactly was John Dee's horoscope? What did the stars have in store for him? A spot of wife swapping, perhaps? Now, I am no mystic or astrologer, but I am sensing not everything is above board here. But maybe that's just cancers for you. I don't know, maybe they're all doing wife swapping. But let's get on with the show and find out. Hello and welcome back to Betwixt the Sheets, the history of sex scandal in society with me, Kate Lister. I'll be honest, magicians weird me out at the best of times. They do. And if they're not weirding me out, I find them slightly boring. Oh, look, you found my card. Well done. That's just me being horrible. Sorry, sorry. To all magicians listening. But John D. Was an especially, especially weird magician. Granted, he wasn't, as far as I know, pulling rabbits out of any kind of hats. He wasn't that kind of a magician. He was more into the way that the heavens could potentially influence life here on Earth. And as we will find out, that weirdly involved wife swapping as well. Huh? But what did his long suffering wife Jane make of all of this? Why did he have the ear of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth herself? And did any of his predictions, horoscopes, or palm readings have any truth to them at all? Joining me today is historian and author Rachel Morris, who is going to help us get to know this man and his wife a little bit better. Not to mention telling us why the Tudors were obsessed with magic. And talking of a sprinkling of magic, you may have noticed that we have a new look and a new sound on Betwix today. Yeah, we've refreshed our art cover and our music. You didn't go to the wrong place. Don't worry. Did that take you by surprise? Don't worry about it. You'll be fine. Next. Next time. We just thought we'd give the place a bit of a spruce up, you know, now that we're an award winning podcast and all. You got to keep the standards up, don't we? Of course. We do. I mean, that's exactly the kind of thing that a Libra would do. Right, well, let's get on with the show and find out. Hello and welcome to Betwixt the Sheets. It's only Rachel Morris. How are you doing?

[Rachel Morris]

Hello. I'm doing absolutely fine and things good for you.

[Kate Lister]

Everything is fabulous for me. Now, your book is about to come out, isn't it? Let's give it its full title, Years of the the Strange History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians.

[Rachel Morris]

That's right.

[Kate Lister]

It's being published on the 9th of October, so I think when people are listening, it'll be available in the shops. This sounds fascinating. Renaissance magicians. Rachel, why did you want to tell this story?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, it is an amazing story. I came across it slightly by accident. It was during COVID and I was searching my bookshelves for something to read and this book just sort of fell into my hands. I'd bought it and then forgotten to read it. And it is an astonishing story on many, many levels. It's partly about a particular form of magic, which was around in the 16th century, which was very beautiful. I mean, it's lovely stuff, a lot of it. Whether or not you actually believe it, it's beautiful. But on a human level, it was an amazing story about what it was like to be married to a magician, a man who believed he was a magician, if you know what I mean.

[Kate Lister]

And we're not Talking like Debbie McGee here, are we? Because, like, when we say magician in the Renaissance court, what do you mean by magician? Because weren't they, like, burning people for being witches and things like that? Like what? How do they square that circle? Is a magician's fine?

[Rachel Morris]

What?

[Kate Lister]

Which bad?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, that's a really good question. It's partly status and it's partly gender.

[Kate Lister]

There we go.

[Rachel Morris]

As always in life. So a Renaissance magician of the male kind. Men like John Dee were highly educated, they had libraries, they were often. We would recognize them as early scientists, but they had a sort of strong streak of magic and mysticism running through the way they thought. They were highly regarded. John Dee was welcome at court. He was Queen Elizabeth's astrologer. Everyone then believed in astrology, so there was that kind of magic and then there was the magic of witches and fairies and so on. And that was much more, let's say, lower class in that it was common in the rural counties and it was common. All kinds of people believed in fairies and so on. But that was a different kind of magic.

[Kate Lister]

It's funny, we can, like, Tie ourselves up in knots trying to make these kind of distinctions. Or people in the past were in the state of cognitive dissonance of like, this magic is okay, this magic is not okay. This one is very, very not okay. And this one is holy. It's so fascinating how that happens. But John Dee is a rich magician.

[Rachel Morris]

Well, he is. I mean, to be fair, you had to be careful, I bet, what you said and did, even if you were John Dee and even if you had lots of friends in high places. So you trod a little carefully here. But on the whole, John Dee was only arrested once in its lifetime, and he was never burnt at the stake, you know, and he was never tried for witchcraft. So so long as you were careful, you could tread a careful path through it.

[Kate Lister]

Now, court magician sounds like the maddest job, but was this something like, how do you apply for that? I suppose what I'm asking is like, let's talk about where John Dee even came from and how he ended up in the court of Elizabeth I doing what he was doing.

[Rachel Morris]

Well, that's a very good question. He didn't come from the working classes, though. He wasn't an aristocrat either. He was incredibly clever, very talented, went to university, got a reputation for scholarship from the beginning. He loved books and he bought a lot of books on magic. And he had friends in high places. He was a tutor to some of Elizabeth's aristocratic friends. Right. He just found his way into that world.

[Kate Lister]

I see. Okay. When does he turn up in the records as somebody that's magic just sounds like such a strange word to use, but, like doing astrology. And what other kind of stuff would he even be doing?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, he was Queen Elizabeth's astrologer. He was also pursuing alchemy, but then, so were plenty of other people at the time. The pursuit of the philosopher's stone. He was seeking to understand astronomy and the heavens. He was interested in the new ideas that were emerging around the stars and that kind of thing. Oh, he was pretty much everything and anything interested him. He was very wide ranging.

[Kate Lister]

This sounds quite sciency.

[Rachel Morris]

He was quite sciency. But just as you think you've got a hold on him as an early scientist, he then does something unexpected, like believing in the philosopher's stone or believing in astrology. We don't believe in astrology these days, particularly back then, many people did. So he slides in and out of what we recognize as recognizable thinking. If you know.

[Kate Lister]

Yeah, but he's very smart, he's very learned. He's tutoring people and he kind of gets into the Tudor court by association. Is that sort of what we're saying of people going, oh, I know a good astrologer.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, that sort of thing.

[Kate Lister]

So when does he start working for Elizabeth I? Because that's a hell of a gig.

[Rachel Morris]

It was a hell of a gig. He was there at her coronation, so that's back in the 1560s. She visited him in his house at Mortlake, which is a sign of his status. She didn't visit people very often. Not people who were not aristocrats.

[Kate Lister]

No.

[Rachel Morris]

But she came to Mortlake at least once by carriage overland from the palace at Richmond.

[Kate Lister]

Wow.

[Rachel Morris]

And she came, I think, by river as well. So that's a sign of his status. Yeah, he held onto that status pretty much through the 1570s, and then came his great adventure overseas, when his life took a turn in a completely different direction.

[Kate Lister]

Well, before we get to that, what would Elizabeth want him for? I mean, I know he's doing his philosopher's stone, he's doing his alchemy, but is it the horoscope that she would have wanted? She would have wanted him to look at the stars and give her advice?

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, that was certainly one of the things. Remember, she herself was very learned. She herself was highly, highly educated. The evidence suggests that she was interested in, even quite sympathetic to some ideas around magic. Back in the 1560s, as the century wore on, there was a distinct turn against magic. And so by the 1590s, it was definitely out of fashion. But back then, she was curious, she was interested. She was always interested in the possibility of being able to turn lead into gold, because, like so many people at the time, she needed the money.

[Kate Lister]

Right. If that's a possibility, I'm interested too.

[Rachel Morris]

We all.

[Kate Lister]

She was a Virgo, Elizabeth. I looked this up before we started talking, but I'm assuming that when we're saying that John Dee was an astrologer, an astronomer or both of them, it's not that he was just coming up with her horoscope, like you see in the weekly papers, that you'd look up, oh, you'll be lucky in love today. Da, da da da da da da. Like, what would he have been doing? This isn't like Mystic Meg, is it?

[Rachel Morris]

No. So one of the things that would have interested him is the idea, which was quite common at the time, of as above, so below. Which means that they were curious to understand whether there was a relationship between what happened in the heavens and what happened down on Earth. So if there were comets, if there were strange events if there were eclipses, did that signify things happening down below on the Earth? Because there was this sort of feeling that we were connected, that there was in us a bit of the universe, if you know what I mean.

[Kate Lister]

Okay.

[Rachel Morris]

Which is a lovely idea, I mean, whether or not it's true. But it is kind of beautiful, that sort of sense of as above, so below. So it became quite important to understand what was happening in the heavens.

[Kate Lister]

And I suppose if you're about to go to war or if you're running an empire and a nation, having somebody there that can possibly look up in the heavens and go, oh, the fates are aligned, and give you some kind of advice would be quite reassuring.

[Rachel Morris]

I think so. Or at least necessary. Because all the time you were trying to foresee into the future and trying to see where everything was going, I can understand it. This is all pre Enlightenment thinking. This is all, you know, this is all before we all got very science y. But it wasn't irrational to think maybe there's a relationship and certainly it's reasonable to try and explore it and see if it's true.

[Kate Lister]

Is there any records left of the kind of predictions, readings that he gave, Elizabeth?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, we do know that through the 1570s, there were comets seen in the sky. There were sort of things which could be read as portents, things that were happening enough to make you wonder and remember. Also, there were plenty of people who believed that the world only had a short time span, that it might end any minute, that it wasn't unusual to believe that the world was coming to an end. So for all those reasons, someone who was prepared to think about all this was a useful person to have around.

[Kate Lister]

It's kind of mad, isn't it, to think that so many of the greatest decisions of that age might have been in part based on John Dee sat in his flat going, oh, Capricorn's in rising. Oh, I think we should definitely attack the Spanish.

[Rachel Morris]

Indeed. And it does feel crazy, but it didn't seem so crazy then, I think.

[Kate Lister]

No, no, not at all.

[Rachel Morris]

I think it's really useful to try and see history in its own terms.

[Kate Lister]

And I think people still have a belief in this kind of stuff today, don't they?

[Rachel Morris]

Yeah, but it's not mainstream, or at least if any of our politicians are thinking like this, they're definitely not telling us.

[Kate Lister]

Well, no. So the state of the world actually at the moment, Rachel, is if perhaps if some political decisions were being made on astrology, I would feel slight, quite frankly.

[Rachel Morris]

I know exactly how you feel. Absolutely.

[Kate Lister]

So John Dee, he's got the ear of the Queen. He must be very influential. Was he a married man?

[Rachel Morris]

He was. And he had a wife called Jane and he had a sort of bevy of little children and we know he lived in a place called Mortlake which is just to the west of London. And he kept diaries and scientific journals. They're lovely because every now and again you get this gorgeous reference to his domestic life and that's the point at which he comes alive and you forget the astronomy and the astrology and you just think, oh, he was a human being and that's lovely.

[Kate Lister]

What kind of human being? What did you get to know about him when you were reading these books?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, there's a lovely moment, for instance, when he records in his diary that his 12 year old son Arthur is wounded on the head. And it goes roughly like this by virtue of the wanton throwing up of a brickbat and the not well observing the falling back of it again, which is just beautiful.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, bless, that's what I thought.

[Rachel Morris]

You can see the boy with his face lifted up, eyes wide, watching this thing coming down. Oh.

[Kate Lister]

So he seemed to have been quite a loving. It's very difficult at this kind of a distance, but he seems to have been quite involved in his family's life.

[Rachel Morris]

I think he was. I think very definitely he was. I mean he records a moment when his son Roland falls into the Thames.

[Kate Lister]

It's very accident prone, his children, very accident prone.

[Rachel Morris]

He fell into the Thames up to his ears around about noon is what if it. Cause he lived, it was all right.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, okay.

[Rachel Morris]

I think he wasn't a very involved father.

[Kate Lister]

Okay.

[Rachel Morris]

I would even. Well, no, I'm not. The question is, as you'll see from later on in the conversation, to what extent did he love his wife? I'm sure we're going to come back to that one. But he certainly loved domestic life. I think he loved a home and a family and that sense of this being his kingdom, his place.

[Kate Lister]

Did he ever move into the royal court or did he always stay a bit of a home bud?

[Rachel Morris]

He visited court for sure and he visited his aristocratic patrons, people who knew him, Mary Sidney, that sort of group of people, for instance. But I don't know that he ever lived in court and I'm not aware that we can see it in his diaries.

[Kate Lister]

That's interesting. I don't even know if he was ever offered that opportunity, but lots of advisors were allowed to live within the Queen's remit and it'd be interesting if he was saying, oh, I'll just stay.

[Rachel Morris]

At home, I think it's a good question and I think it's worth exploring. My guess is that he would have stayed at home.

[Kate Lister]

Bit of a homebod.

[Rachel Morris]

Okay, he was a homebod, but also at home, as well as his kids and his family life and his servants and so on. There was also his library and he loved his library. He absolutely. He dreamt books.

[Kate Lister]

This makes sense. I'll be back with Rachel and John Dee after this short break.

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[Kate Lister]

Let's talk about his wife. Because this is one of the most. I find it particularly fascinating, this information about this man who seems to be kind of going along, like, oh, he's doing a bit of science and he's doing a bit of astrology, but it's all kind of like mainstream at the time. And then as you were saying earlier, he'll throw you a curveball and you go, john, what on earth is going on here? And a lot of that seems to be around his wife. So let's talk about her.

[Rachel Morris]

Well, she was called Jane. She was much younger than him. She was his, I think, his third wife, but by far the longest marriage. Those were brief marriages that ended. This was a long marriage with a lot of children coming from it. There are moments when you read the diaries and you think, oh, she loved him. Just comes across. But I grant you, it is always hard to detect those kind of emotions over a long distance of time. So you think, well, did she? Didn't she? But I think to understand what happened with him and his wife, you also have to understand his medium, his square.

[Kate Lister]

Yeah, let's talk about the medium.

[Rachel Morris]

Yeah, because he's the other person in the situation. So in order to do the magic that John Dee wanted to do, which was to try and find out why the world had begun by talking to the angels, in order to do that, you needed a medium, somebody who would help you, of course, reach them. He tried several, and then this guy turned up called Edward Kelly, who claimed to be able to talk to the angels. And the astonishing thing is that it's clear that John Dee didn't believe that he himself could talk to the angels, but he had absolute faith that Edward Kelly could. Okay, now we instantly see duplicity and so on and so on, and indeed, that is the only explanation. All I would say, really is that he wasn't the only person attempting to speak to angels. It wasn't quite as outlandish as it seems to us now. It does seem quite crazy, but then it wouldn't have seemed so outlandish. It was still fairly unusual, but not to the point of craziness.

[Kate Lister]

It can't be that outlandish if he's already met a few people who say that they can do this and that he didn't believe them. It sounds like there's a lot of people walking around at the time saying, I can commune with angels.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, well, indeed. I mean, literally speaking, the church. Oh, yeah. But certainly the church believed in angels, or at least the Catholic Church did. I think Protestants weren't so keen on the whole concept. But certainly if you were a God fearing religious nation and everyone believed in God, you would believe in the angels, you would believe in the Bible. So it kind of makes sense.

[Kate Lister]

I've met people who still believe in angels. Indeed, who still believe in guardian angels.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, all these things.

[Kate Lister]

So what's Mr. Kelly doing then? Do you. I don't know if there is any records of this for you to kind of deduce this, but what was Mr. Kelly doing that made him seem legit to John Dee?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, that is a very good question. And it's hard to know at this distance in time. I would say that Edward Kelly was John Dee's medium from the early 1580s all the way through to 1589. And during that time he built up a kind of vision spoken, if you see what I mean, a kind of vision of all these different characters, these angels, these spirits, all kinds.

[Kate Lister]

This is quite intense. Okay.

[Rachel Morris]

It's very intense. It's rather an amazing achievement. I mean, to keep it going for that long. Yeah, I couldn't keep something like that going for that long. And the spirits and the angels, they often had a backstory. One of the spirits which Edward Kelly claimed to see was a small girl, aged about seven, called Medini. Where did that come from? It's baffling.

[Kate Lister]

It's very rich. This world that he's painting then this isn't like a medium being like, oh, there's a spirit here. I think it's an older person. This is like properly. There's an angel here called Bertie who wants to talk to you. It's like that, crystal clear.

[Rachel Morris]

Exactly. And to the point at which you think these days he would have been a novelist. Probably.

[Kate Lister]

Yes, probably.

[Rachel Morris]

And a very good one, probably. I think he was a great talker. But Edward Kelly claimed to be able to pass back messages from the angels which would help John Dee understand all kinds of things about the world and why it was created and so on. And there comes a point where John Dee decides to go to Prague, which is the occult capital of Europe, and to take Jane and the children, the ones he's already had with him, but also to take Edward Kelly, the medium and Edward Kelly's wife and her two small children. So the plan was for them all to go together, family holiday. Well, indeed. And you feel for Jane because she's much younger than him and she's being asked to take very small children all the way across Europe in winter.

[Kate Lister]

This isn't like nipping over on a jet tube package holiday to Prague, now, is it?

[Rachel Morris]

No, it was a big, big deal to go that far. And she went, wow, Jane.

[Kate Lister]

Okay.

[Rachel Morris]

There are references. I have to say, there are references in the diary. Sometimes he will write Jane in a ferociously bad temper. And you see why.

[Kate Lister]

I absolutely can see why. I have to go to Prague with the kids on a boat that'll probably take six months because some twerper said an angel told him to. I can see why she might object quite strongly to that.

[Rachel Morris]

Indeed. I can so see her point of view in all this. But she went. They went by mix of boat and carriage, and they went first to Poland and then they went to Prague. They were away in all six years.

[Kate Lister]

Holy wow. Okay. Six years.

[Rachel Morris]

Yeah. It was a big deal. It was a big deal. And she had children when she was out there.

[Financial Times Announcer]

Whoa.

[Rachel Morris]

She kept on having children. She was. That's one of the things she was able to do, Jane. Wow, Jane, I know you feel for her. And so there she is having children in this foreign country whilst her husband and his medium are attempting to commune with the angels.

[Kate Lister]

I bet she was an Aries. Only an Aries would see this through with that much stubbornness and determination.

[Rachel Morris]

Well, that's an interesting thought. And I will now try and find out when she was born. And then we'll apply it back onto the story, a bit of the astrology.

[Kate Lister]

See if that makes any kind of difference. But this is intense. This is a wild story. Six years, they're still having babies, and on the whole time, her husband and this medium are off talking to angels in this kind of fantasy world that they've created together.

[Rachel Morris]

Well, what happened was that they did get to Prague by a sort of circuitous route, and for a while things seemed to be going okay.

[Kate Lister]

Did everyone survive the journey, just out of interest?

[Rachel Morris]

All the kids get their own. Of course. I know they all survived the journey, but then it's clear that they got caught up in court politics. And there were a lot of people who approved but also disapproved of what was going on. And the result was that Dee and Kelly were expelled or asked to leave Prague, and they went to a place in Bohemia which was south of Prague. And there, if you're ready for this bit of the story came the great wife swap.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, no, go. Okay, okay, I'm listening. What happens?

[Rachel Morris]

So it's all recorded in the diaries. There comes a point where when it seems that Edward Kelly is saying to John Dee, the spirits are telling us that we must do a wife swap. We must eat, sleep with the other. And it's wrapped up as a way of achieving harmony from north to south and east to west. And there was a strong feeling back then that it was good to aspire towards a world harmony. This was a world in much confusion and disarray. You know, there were a lot of wars, a lot of religious struggles going on. And so it's presented like that. All this, I have to say, is we are hearing through John Dee's diaries, repeating what Edward Kelly is claiming that the angel said to him. So it's all a bit indirect.

[Kate Lister]

What's John saying about this? He's going, great news. My horoscope was done today. And, no, he doesn't.

[Rachel Morris]

He goes, oh, my God, you can't be serious. Or words to that effect. And Edward Kelly says, I am. And there's a point in this whole saga where one of the angels, through the mouths of Edward Kelly, says to John Dee, your wife is dear to you, but your wisdom is dearer. And I kind of think he was a man of such obsessions that everything could be sacrificed to his obsessions. And that's not so unusual.

[Kate Lister]

Any news from Jane at this point, by the way? Any news of how she takes this particular.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, Jane is crying, Jane is weeping, and John Dee is saying, look, I think we're gonna have to do it. And she agrees to do it. She agrees for the sake of his work. It's clear she doesn't want to do it.

[Kate Lister]

Clear she doesn't want to do it. So there's no chance that her and Edward Kelly are having a bit on the side and they're kind of. Oh, like the horoscopes? No, absolutely not.

[Rachel Morris]

So they do it, they sign a pact, and it happens.

[Kate Lister]

When they see wife swap, what does that mean? Does that just mean, like, is that just sex or is that like, literally, this is my wife now, and this is wife now forevermore.

[Rachel Morris]

What's interesting about it is if you read on in the diaries, and here I have to say, I'm using a good diary, which has been. The language has been made accessible in the 21st century by Edward Fenton. It's a diary he produced. He edited the diaries at the end of the 1990s. If you read on in that diary. Because of course, the thought then occurs to you, hang on, if Edward Kelly is sleeping with Jane Dee, does it mean that John Dee is sleeping with Edward Kelly's wife?

[Kate Lister]

Oh, yes, Mrs. Kelly we'd forgotten about.

[Rachel Morris]

And she has this very quiet presence in the story. So it is easy to forget about Edward Kelly's wife. But it seems, and the diaries are a bit ambiguous, as you would expect. But my interpretation is, what happens is the angel says, d, was your brother's wife obedient to you? And D answers, I counted her obedient for what she did, whereof she thought her obedience did consist, for that she did not come after as I thought she would. She might seem in some part disobedient. But if it offendeth not God, it offendeth not me. And I beseech God, it did not offend him. Which I think probably means that Edward Kelly's wife got out of it. She didn't do it. I don't think she did it.

[Kate Lister]

She didn't do it.

[Rachel Morris]

She has a very quiet presence in history. It's hard to know, but the impression is that she was clever. Right. I think maybe she talked her way out of it, is my guess.

[Kate Lister]

And she must have been used to her husband talking about this cause she'd just been sat there just going, oh, did he now? Is that what he said? The angels told him to do it, just like the time he said that the angels told him that he had to have it away with Sheila down the road. And the other time. And the other time.

[Rachel Morris]

Possibly, possibly.

[Kate Lister]

That's not in the records, by the way, anybody. I'm just. I'm just imagining.

[Rachel Morris]

There is then a further reference. If you read on a bit further in the same diaries, you will find the further reference in which a golden woman, as described by Edward Kelly, appears to them, says Edward Kelly. And she says, I am deflowered and yet a virgin. Happy is he that embraceth me in the night season I am in sweet and in the day full of pleasure. And the later on, a green woman who's standing next to the golden woman says, neither shall the things that shall be opened unto you be revealed unto your wives. So this is Edward Kelly. I think my impression of the whole thing is that I don't think John Dee thought a lot about sex, but clearly Edward Kelly did. This is all coming through Edward Kelly. Oh, John. Yes, I know, John. I mean, a very clever man, but at times an idiot. And I think one of the things that makes one slightly less angry with him is that from this moment onwards his life did go badly wrong.

[Kate Lister]

I'll be back with Rachel and John D. After this short break.

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[Rachel Morris]

Tara is a mochi member, compensated for her story.

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[Kate Lister]

If what you're saying is from the diaries that there was actually a lot of resistance to this, this is somebody that believes completely that an angel and that the spirit are telling him that this is what they want him to do, he wouldn't be the first person to have been conned by like a sort of like a cult leader, really, that would come out with this kind of stuff as well, is it? It sounds more like that than anything else.

[Rachel Morris]

Cults have that faint feeling of a cult. Cults always have a sort of sexual element in them.

[Kate Lister]

John.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, that was my feeling. John why was it worth it, in pursuit of what you thought of as wisdom to do that?

[Kate Lister]

Did he get the wisdom? I mean, once that this is done and the. Do we have any records about how Jane felt? Did she have sex with Edward? Did she manage to roll her eyes and go, I don't think so?

[Rachel Morris]

No. She didn't talk her way out of it, I don't think. Not as far as I can see. Right. What happened thereafter in the story is that, and this is a tragic thing, Jane got pregnant and we don't know who by, but it is the case that the relationship between the men fell apart. And in the end, John Dee came home with his family. Edward Kelly died abroad. John Dee came home to find that his library had been trashed.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, no.

[Rachel Morris]

Many of the books were stolen. What's more, he was out of favor in court. That much is Fairly clear. He hit hard times financially. He worked a bit in Manchester, but didn't enjoy it hugely. His wife died of the plague with two of his children and he came home a poor man and died in Mortlake, or possibly in the city of London in the very last few days of his life. But all his fame, his importance, everything went.

[Kate Lister]

Why was that? Was that because he was off in Prague having threesomes directed by angels? Was that like a wider social shift?

[Rachel Morris]

Well, it is not clear to what extent that was widely known at the time.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, they might not have known. Right, yeah, of course they might not have known.

[Rachel Morris]

Although it is interesting how word always did tend to get around if they.

[Kate Lister]

Were thrown out of Prague. Because you said that Prague was like the occult epicenter of the time. But they were asked to leave Prague.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes, because a lot was going on. There was a Catholic faction, there was a philosophic faction. When I say magic, for them, it was closer to philosophy. It was erudition. It was trying to understand the meaning of the world. And there were other people doing it. There were a lot of artists and poets there. It was a rather amazing place. I mean, I would have gone. Cause it does so amazing.

[Kate Lister]

I would definitely have gone.

[Rachel Morris]

But factions came and went. The politics of it were quite intense. And yes, he was asked to leave.

[Kate Lister]

I suppose news of that might have got back to Britain that he was asked to leave. Maybe.

[Rachel Morris]

I think they knew something of what was going on, because word had got back to Queen Elizabeth's court and to her advisors that they were attempting alchemy in Prague. And indeed, I do believe that they were even asking John Dee to reveal the secrets. What exactly had he done? Remember, all governments were in search of money at this time. They needed money, so they weren't gonna close their eyes off to a possible way of getting it.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, he must have been gutted to come back after all that and just find he didn't have a job and all his books had been wrecked. And that must have been pretty devastating.

[Rachel Morris]

I think it was devastating. He was a man who adored his books. I mean, you feel that coming down the centuries. Yes. And I mean, he loved to sign his books and he often doodled in his books, which was quite acceptable back then. So we can still trace some of those books. I mean, they turn up. There's a few in Manchester, there's some in Oxford. You know, we can trace the journeys of the books, but quite why they were stolen isn't 100% clear.

[Kate Lister]

Yeah. Is there any sense? I'm not sure. How long his diaries continue for, but is there any sense of him going, whoops, that was a bad idea? Maybe I regret that decision. Maybe Edward Kelly was a bit of a charlatan or.

[Rachel Morris]

No, not that I know of. And I do know that there are some references to alchemy in a trusting kind of way. As late as 1600, 1602, those kind of dates. So, you know, nearly at the end of his life, he's still interested in alchemy.

[Kate Lister]

I feel quite sorry for him. Do you feel quite sorry for him?

[Rachel Morris]

I oscillate. I have a lot of arguments about, with people about this. John Dee is one of those people that you argue about. Do you know what I mean? Would you have liked him? Would you have wanted to go out to dinner with him? Would you have shouted at him? I think he paid such a price for his stupidness that. That softens one's feelings.

[Kate Lister]

I feel the same way about him that I do about, like, people that get conned out of loads of money by some 22 year old who said that they definitely loved them and that they were going to run away together. And of course they weren't. That was never going to happen. But you just sort of feel a bit like, oh, they were hoping it would be okay.

[Rachel Morris]

Yes. And I think the tricky thing is that it's all very well punishing yourself for your stupidity, but Jane paid a price too.

[Kate Lister]

She did.

[Rachel Morris]

She did not want that.

[Kate Lister]

We can't let that.

[Rachel Morris]

It must have been very humiliating. Yeah, yeah, but I know what you mean. There's a sort of bit of you which thinks, oh, my God, what an idiot.

[Kate Lister]

Yeah, like he, like, it wasn't. Like he wasn't the one going, the angels say that we should have threesomes. There's just a certain amount of like, he got conned, basically.

[Rachel Morris]

He did get conned and it was because he loved his wife, but he loved his obsessions more.

[Kate Lister]

Oh, Rachel, you have been fascinating to talk to. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us. I'd never heard of John Dee before your book was coming out before, so I'm thrilled that you got to talk to us about him. And if people want to know more about you and your work, where can they find you?

[Rachel Morris]

I have a website and I'm on Instagram or go through my publisher's Duckworth. There's lots of ways of finding me and I'm always happy to talk.

[Kate Lister]

The full title is the Years of the the Strange History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians. Out now. Go and get it. Thank you so much Rachel. You've been marvellous.

[Rachel Morris]

Lovely. Thank you.

[Kate Lister]

Thank you for listening. And thank you so much to Rachel for joining me. And if you like what you heard, please don't forget, forget to like, review and follow along whatever it is you get. Your podcasts coming up. We have got an episode on the brothels in the Nazi concentration camps and another on how to fake your virginity kind of. And if you would like us to explore a subject or if you just wanted to say hello, then you can email us etwixtistoryhit.com did you know 39%.

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