13-02-2020, 07:17 AM
The connection is that Watson, a respected palaeographer, was quite certain that the VMS foliation was by Dee, but I have been investigating this (and other aspects of the palaeography), for over ten years and have located a few examples of numerals that are as similar or more similar to the VMS foliation than Dee's handwriting, which means we cannot be certain that it was John Dee's handwriting.
I can see the basis for Watson's opinion. Dee's handwriting is close to the foliation, but so are a few others.
Some people thought the book of "hieroglyphics" (which was a more general term then than it is now for unfamiliar scripts) might have been a reference to the VMS but historians think that this was probably the Book of Soyga, not the VMS.
We know that Kelley had some kind of interaction with the emperor (not a positive one, since he was imprisoned with instructions to create a reference), but I don't know if he had an actual audience with the emperor or if this was done through intermediaries. It's quite possible that Dee never had an audience with the emperor. Surely he would have recorded it as he recorded events on almost a daily basis. Dee did not receive patronage from the emperor and ended up in Trebon under the hospitality of another nobleman.
I can see the basis for Watson's opinion. Dee's handwriting is close to the foliation, but so are a few others.
Some people thought the book of "hieroglyphics" (which was a more general term then than it is now for unfamiliar scripts) might have been a reference to the VMS but historians think that this was probably the Book of Soyga, not the VMS.
We know that Kelley had some kind of interaction with the emperor (not a positive one, since he was imprisoned with instructions to create a reference), but I don't know if he had an actual audience with the emperor or if this was done through intermediaries. It's quite possible that Dee never had an audience with the emperor. Surely he would have recorded it as he recorded events on almost a daily basis. Dee did not receive patronage from the emperor and ended up in Trebon under the hospitality of another nobleman.