Dr. John Dee: Frobisher’s Tutor

Dr. John Dee (1527 – 1609)
British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, alchemist, occultist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.

Dr. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age,
Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics, a respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery. In one of several papers that Dee wrote in the 1580s encouraging British exploratory expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, he appears to have coined the term "British Empire". When Queen Elizabeth I selected Martin Fronisher to explore the Arctic for the Northwest Passage to the Orient, she placed him in Dr. Dee’s hands.

Dee eventually became Elizabeth's court astrologer, and her spy. As an agent of the crown, Dee conducted mysterious missions against Spain. He relished his espionage duties, creating elaborate, sophisticated and secrete ciphers. In his correspondence with the Queen, he signed his communiqués "007”. Ian Fleming would assign the number to his famous fictional spy, James Bond.