On the origins of Dees mathematical programme: The John DeePedro

Nunes connection
Bruno Almeida
CIUHCT Centro Interuniversitrio de Histria da Cincia e Tecnologia, Plo da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Cincias, Edifcio C4, Piso 1,
Gabinete 28, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Available online 9 January 2012
Keywords:
John Dee
Pedro Nunes
Nautical science
Mathematical programme
a b s t r a c t
In a letter addressed to Mercator in 1558, John Dee made an odd announcement, describing the Portu-
guese mathematician and cosmographer Pedro Nunes as the most learned and grave man who is the sole
relic and ornament and prop of the mathematical arts among us, and appointing him his intellectual
executor. This episode shows that Dee considered Nunes one of his most distinguished contemporaries,
and also that some connection existed between the two men. Unfortunately not much is known about
this connection, and even such basic questions such as What could John Dee know about this Portuguese
cosmographers scientic work? or When, why and where did this interest come about? still lack proper
answers. In this paper I address this connection and examine Nunes inuence on Dees mathematical
work. I argue that Dee was interested in Nunes work as early as 1552 (but probably even earlier). I also
claim that Dee was aware of Nunes programme for the use of mathematics in studying physical phenom-
ena and that this may have inuenced his own views on the subject.
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1. Introduction
In 1558, John Dee (15271609) published his rst work, Propae-
deumata aphoristica.
1
At the beginning of the book, Dee included a
dedicatory letter (dated 20 July 1558) to his friend, the Flemish car-
tographer Gerard Mercator, in which he recalled the good times they
spent philosophizing together in Louvain. He also justied the delay
in the completion of his awaited scientic work, declaring that had
fallen severely ill in the previous year. Then, he makes an unex-
pected statement:
You should know that, besides the extremely dangerous illness
from which I have suffered during the whole year just past, I
have also borne many other inconveniences (from those who,
etc.) which have very much hindered my studies, and that my
strength has not yet been able to sustain the weight of such
exertion and labor as the almost Herculean task will require
for its completion. And if my work cannot be nished or pub-
lished while I remain alive, I have bequeathed it to that most
learned and grave man who is the sole relic and ornament
and prop of the mathematical arts among us, D. D. Pedro Nues,
of Salcia, and not long since prayed him strenuously that, if
this work of mine should be brought to him after my death,
he would kindly and humanely take it under his protection
and use it in every way as if it were his own: that he would
deign to complete it, nally, correct it, and polish it for the pub-
lic use of philosophers as if it were entirely his. And I do not
doubt that he will himself be a party to my wish if his life
and health remain unimpaired, since he loves me faithfully
and it is inborn in him by nature, and reinforced by will,
0039-3681/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.12.004
E-mail address: bjalmeida@gmail.com
1
Dee (1558). This book had one more known edition in the sixteenth century (Dee, 1568), and was recently edited by Wayne Shumaker, with an introductory essay by J. L.
Heilbron: Dee (1978). The text can be considered his rst attempt to bring forward a manifold system of inspection of the true virtues of nature: in the words of Shumaker, this
was in the main, a fully intelligible series of recipes for applying arithmetic and geometry to a standard scholastic physics and astronomy. Dee (1978), Praeface, p. ix.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469
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industry, and habit, to cultivate diligently the arts most neces-
sary to a Christian state.
2
At rst sight, one cannot help but be struck by Dees intention to
appoint the Portuguese cosmographer and mathematician Pedro
Nunes (15021578) as his literary executor in case of premature
debility. Moreover, Nunes would not only have been the executor,
but could have taken Dees works as his own. It is signicant that of
all of the potential candidates existing at the time (including Mer-
cator himself), Dee expresses complete condence in the ability of
his Iberian friend to make his works available to the public and
even, if needed, carry on his unnished studies.
This preliminary reading is signicant enough to catch inves-
tigators attention. Yet as far as I can tell, Dees biographers have
mentioned this passage, if at all, merely as a curiosity: for exam-
ple, Nunes is not discussed by Fell-Smith (1909), while Woolley
(2001) refers to him only briey.
3
In general, other English histo-
rians formulate similar notes or do not go much further. For in-
stance, in Heilbrons General notes (Dee, 1978, p. 205): Dee
submits his unpublished writings to a literary executor, the math-
ematician Pedro Nues, for editing if his own life should be cut
short. Baldwin (2006), in an article devoted to Dees interest in
nautical science and its applications, includes a brief reference to
the cosmographers name and his inuence on the Englishmans
vision:
Dees actions have to be viewed as determined by his own ver-
sion of an interdisciplinary, technological and mathematical
vision of the Habsburg Empires. . . . It was a structured system
of quasi-colonial thought developed initially in the Armazns
da Guin [in Portugal]. . . . The whole notion was brought to its
academic apogee by his great friend and fellow mathematician,
Pedro Nuez. (Ibid., p. 108)
Since Baldwins analysis focuses on Dees impact on British naviga-
tion rather than Nunes (possible) inuence, this passage does not
provide further details of their relationship.
Nevertheless, historians like Taylor (1963, 1968, 1971) and
Waters (1958), highlighted the link between the two men in their
important work on the history of navigation. Taylor, for example,
wrote:
John Dee had formed (under circumstances that are quite
unknown) a close friendship with his great Portuguese contem-
porary Pedro Nunes, and throughout his career as mathematical
adviser to a long succession of English explorers he is found to
be applying the principles laid down in Nunes important works
upon nautical science. Three of Nunes books, De Erratis Orontii,
De Crepusculis, and De Navigatione were in Dees library, and it is
possible that the ve-foot Quadrant and ten-foot cross-staff
which he describes as in his possession were graduated on
the principle of the Nonnius (Taylor, 1938, p. 8).
Taylor thus highlighted an existing friendship (of which, as far
as I know, there is no conrmation from Nunes side), and went
further by stating that Dee applied some of Nunes ideas on nauti-
cal science, and suggesting important clues to follow.
4
Interest-
ingly, however, the connection between Dee and Nunes has not
been missed in popular culture: Umberto Eco, in his novel Foucaults
pendulum, develops a ction in which Dee plays a signicant role in a
conspiracy theory referred to as The Plan, and sets Nunes working
as his cosmographer (Eco, 1989).
Among Portuguese scholars, the connection has been high-
lighted by Costa (1933), and the letter was translated into Portu-
guese by Rua (2004). Although Ruas study is more oriented
towards Dee and Nunes (possibly) shared astrological interests,
the author makes a careful approach to the issue, listing other evi-
dence of the links between both men, some of which will be dis-
cussed below.
Returning to Dees letter, it seems clear that further explanation
is needed as to why Dee addresses Nunes as a friend and literary
executor. Fromhis words, it is possible to infer common intellectual
(andevenmoral) interestsotherwise whywouldhe trust his works
to the Portuguese, and name him the sole relic and ornament and
prop of the mathematical arts? Dees reference to the promotion
of the arts most necessary to a Christian state may reveal a broader
set of shared interests that deserves a deeper study. Nevertheless, if
one compares the works of both men up to 1558, it is not easy to
establish a connection between them. In his letter, Dee lists works
on pure mathematics, astronomy, perspective, cosmography, reli-
gion and other topics that may be classied as occult, but only
one workonnavigation. Hence, it appears that what needs tobe clar-
ied is more than an inuence on nautical science.
The letter raises a number of questions that demand more
thoughtful answers. Was the reference in the letter to Mercator
an isolated episode? How far did John Dees knowledge of Nunes
scientic work did go? When, why and where did this interest
come about? Indeed, does Dees own mathematical programme re-
ect Nunes ideas in any way? In sum, to what extent was the rela-
tionship between both men important in the shaping of Dees
thought? In this paper I address these questions, review what is
known and provide new evidence for the inuence of Pedro Nunes
work on John Dees scientic production.
5
2. The work of the Portuguese cosmographer
As noted above, the work of Dee and Nunes is not obviously
connected, and, judging from his printed works, many of the topics
2
. . . me Scias, praeter periculosissimum, quo toto iam proxime elapso anno laboravi, morbum, alia etiam multa (ab illis, qui. &c.) esse perpessum incommoda, quae mea studia
plurimum retardavere: viresque etiam meas, nondum posse tantum sustinere studii laborisque onus, quantum illud, Herculeum pene (ut perciatur) requiret opus. Unde si mea
haud queat opera, vel absolvi, vel emitti, dum ipse sim superstes, Viro illud legavi eruditissimo, gravissimoque, qui Artium Mathematicarum unicum nobis est relictum et decus et
columen: nimirum D. D. Petro Nonio Salaciensi: Illumque obnixe nuper oravi, ut, si quando posthumum, ad illum deferetur hoc meum opus, benigne humaniterque sibi adoptet,
modisque omnibus, tanquam suo, utatur: absolvere denique, limare. ac ad publicam Philosophantium utilitatem perpolire, ita dignetur, ac si suum esset maxime. Et non dubito.
quin ipse (si per vitam valetudinemque illi erit integrum) voti me faciet compotem: cum et me tam amet deliter, et in artes, Christianae Reip[ublicae] summe necessarias,
gnaviter incumbere, sit illi a natura insitum: voluntate, industria, ususque conrmatum. Dee (1978, pp. 114115). The letter is also cited by Van Durme (1959, pp. 3639).
Excerpts from this letter, in Portuguese, can be accessed in Costa (1933, p. 233), and Tarrio (2002, pp. 96108). For a full Portuguese translation, see Rua (2004).
3
Woolley (2001) includes two brief references to Nunes: Dee also met Pedro Nuez, then the leading navigator in Lisbon, from where Columbus had set off in 1492 in search
for a western passage to the Indies. Nuez evidently became a close and important intellectual friend. When Dee was struck down with a serious illness in the late 1550s, he
appointed Nuez his literary executor (p. 20); He [John Dee] arranged for a draft of Propaedeumata to be published, and handed over the rest of his literary affairs to his friend
Pedro Nuez, (p. 51). There are some mistakes in this appreciation: there is no evidence that the two men ever met in person; Nunes was not the leading navigator in Lisbon,
since he was not a navigator but the kings cosmographer; and Columbus did not set off from Lisbon on his rst voyage, but from Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Spain).
4
A reference to this connection also appears in Johnson & Nurminen (2007); while Krcken (2002) is a website that presents a deep analysis of Dees work on rhumb lines and
also mentions how this relates to Nunes and Mercators works. Leito & Almeida (2009) provide an English-language website dedicated to Pedro Nunes, including information on
the DeeNunes connection at http://www.pedronunes.fc.ul.pt/episodes/john_dee/john_dee.html.
5
Some of these questions had already been set in Leito (2007).
B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469 461
that attracted Dee did not catch Nunes attention. By the time the
young Dee was in Louvain in the late 1540s, the Portuguese cos-
mographer had already published three books, establishing a rep-
utation as a ne mathematician throughout Europe.
6
Nunes rst
book, generally known as the Tratado da sphera, was published in Lis-
bon in the end of 1537.
7
This consisted of translations into Portu-
guese of Sacroboscos Tractatus de sphaera, Book I of Ptolemys
Geography, and the chapters on the sun and moon in Peuerbachs
Teoricae novae planetarum. This edition also included two original
treatises on theoretical navigationTratado que ho doutor Pro nunez
fez sobre certas duuidas de nauegao (Treatise made by doctor Pedro
Nunes about certain doubts on navigation), and Tratado que ho dou-
tor pro nunez Cosmographo del Rey nosso senhor fez em defensam da
carta de marear (Treatise made by doctor Pedro Nunes, kings cos-
mographer, defending the nautical chart). While working as a cos-
mographer, Nunes realised that a lack of mathematical knowledge
had resulted in many errors and problems in navigation, and there-
fore claimed that seamen should be trained in mathematics. In these
two vernacular treatises, he pioneered the use of geometrical and
trigonometrical tools to solve navigation problems. This approach
was uncommon in the art of navigation literature of his time, which
presented mostly straightforward sets of rules, tables, mnemonics
and simple introductions to the Sphere.
8
Nunes rst texts already expressed a clear distinction between
what he later termed ars navigandi and ratio navigandi: the ars
denoting common seamanship based on known sets of rules, proce-
dures and instruments, and the ratio referring to nautical activity
based in the understanding and use of mathematical principles,
eventually leading to something similar to what could be called to-
day a scientic seamanship (Leito, 2006, pp. 188189). In the pro-
cess, Nunes also presented a thorough study of the nautical chart,
identifying its problems, and was the rst to develop the concept
of a rhumb line, known today as the loxodromic curve (Fig. 1).
9
However, Nunes did not conne his work to nautical science. In
1542 he published De crepusculis, in which he answered a question
posed by a noble pupil about the problem concerning the length of
twilights for different regions, and showed how an atmospheric
phenomenon could be explained using a deductive Euclidean
structure.
10
As in his previous book, he based his mathematical
explanations on real questions made by real people, expressing his
concern to reconcile mathematics with physical reality.
11
Through-
out the book, he also presented a great deal of relevant information
for astronomers, including an interesting suggestion for a graphical
solution destined to improve instrumental measures, known today
as the nonius scale. Nunes valuable suggestions later led to this book
being highly regarded by, among others, Christopher Clavius (1538
1612) and Tycho Brahe (15461601). In the dedication to the King,
Nunes also announced his intention to complete a translation of
Vitruvius De architectura, while in the nal pages he announced sev-
eral works to be published in the future. These included treatises on
the astrolabe, proportions or globes and nautical charts, establishing
him as an interesting author, worthy of notice by the international
scholarly community.
In 1546, Nunes published the book that would establish his sci-
entic reputation as one of the leading European mathematicians.
De erratis Orontii Finaei
12
revealed errors in the mathematical dem-
onstrations of Oronce Fine (14941555), the famous and highly re-
garded professor of mathematics at the Collge de France, who had
tried to solve three classical problems (to double a cube, to trisect
an arbitrary angle, and to square a circle) as well as some gnomonic
problems. After this, Nunes published twice more. In 1566 he pub-
lished his Opera, which included his most advanced ideas on differ-
ent aspects of navigation, astronomy, mechanics, and other topics,
with a major printer in Basel.
13
In 1567, the Libro de Algebra ap-
peared in Antwerp.
14
These two titles concluded the mathematical
work that Nunes had started to develop in the early 1530s as an
expression of his scientic thought and of his program for the math-
ematization of the real world.
15
As claimed above, this programme
is most apparent in the case of nautical science, since its main pur-
pose was to achieve a full practice of seamanship by art and by rea-
son, in such a way that it would be possible to merge the study and
practice of mathematics with the natural skills and craftsmanship of
seamen. However, the programme also extended to astronomy and
mechanics. The topic of the minimum twilight was mentioned ear-
lier, but Nunes also confronted peripatetic mechanics in a mathe-
matical explanation of the movement of a rowing boat in a text
included in his Opera (Annotationes in Aristotelis Problema Mechani-
cum de Motu nauigij ex remis).
16
3. New evidence
John Dee is now viewed as one of the most interesting person-
alities of the Elizabethan intellectual world. Within the social con-
text of his time, he developed a national and international network
Fig. 1. Difference between a rhumb line or loxodrome (ab) and a great circle (ed),
Nunes (2002, p. 113).
6
Gemma, Mercator and Dee were among the rst to study and apply some of Nunes ideas, but are far from being the only ones. In my Ph.D. research I address the inuence and
transmission of Nunes works and ideas (considering texts in vernacular) on navigation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, mainly in Portugal, Spain and England. For
more on the European diffusion of Nunes work see Leito (2002) and (2007).
7
First edition, Nunes (1537). The latest edition is Nunes (2002).
8
Three known examples are Faleiro (1535), Medina (1545) and Corts (1551).
9
The word loxodrome was introduced by Willebroord Snell; see Snell (1624).
10
First edition, Nunes (1542). The latest edition is Nunes (2003).
11
As Nunes states in his dedication to the King: I was persuaded to clearly explain this matter [i.e. twilights] with help of the most certain and most evident principles of
mathematics. So, meditating and investigating, I have discovered things that I have read nowhere else and would not be worth of credit, had they not been demonstrated. . . The
translation from Portuguese is mine; see Nunes (2003, p. 142).
12
First edition: Nunes (1546). See the latest edition, Nunes (2005).
13
First edition: Nunes (1566). See the latest edition, Nunes (2008).
14
First edition: Nunes (1567). See the latest edition, Nunes (2010).
15
The Nunes program is presented and discussed in Leito (2006).
16
This text was very inuential at the time. For example, Henri de Monantheuil (1599) and Giuseppe Biancani (1615) included important comments on it.
462 B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469
of contacts, extending from the Court to the university and to other
institutions that promoted the sharing of knowledge about the sci-
ences. He collaborated with the Muscovy Company, and his train-
ees and collaborators included John Davis, Richard Hakluyt, Walter
Raleigh, Francis Drake, Thomas Digges, Thomas Harriot and others.
At the international level, he established personal and scientic
contacts with many learned men of his time, including Girolamo
Cardano, Oronce Fin, Federico Commandino, Abraham Ortelius,
Gemma Frisius and Gerard Mercator. Considering his own written
indications in the aforementioned letter, the Portuguese Pedro
Nunes may well be included in this list.
It is not clear when Dees interest for Nunes work rst came
about. While a young man, he studied at Cambridge University
and, in his pursuit of knowledge, later headed to mainland Europe
in 1547. The period spent in Louvain was signicant in shaping his
early natural philosophical ideas. In fact, it was during his stay in
the Low Countries, rst in 1547 and then later between 1548 and
1550, that the young Dee must have rst heard of Nunes work.
It is reasonable to speculate that Nunes writings would have
reached Louvainthe city where Gemma Frisius (15081555)
had gathered a group to whom he taught private lessons on geom-
etry and astronomy
17
without difculty. The region had strong
commercial connections with Portugal, and there was also a large
community of Portuguese Jews. One of these, Diogo Pires (or Didacus
Pyrrhus Lusitanus), had links to Portuguese intellectuals at Louvain,
such as Amato Lusitano and Damio de Gis. He also wrote a dedica-
tory poem included in Gemmas 1540 edition of Apians Cosmogra-
phy. In the absence of direct evidence, it is not possible to
establish a stronger correlation between Nunes, Gemma and Pires,
but it is interesting to note that Pires also studied at Louvain, and
that he was a friend of the publisher Rutger Ressen (Rutgerus Res-
cius), himself a friend of Gemma.
18
There is little doubt that Gemma
and Gerard Mercator (15121594) would have paid attention to
Nunes writings.
19
Mercator made a globe picturing rhumb lines in
1541, and in 1545 Gemma included a description of a rhumb line
in his edition of Apians Cosmography (Apian, 1545, Ch. XV, fols.
23v25v).
In 1550/1, John Dee was in Paris, where he met Oronce Fin. It is
very likely that Dee became aware of Nunes book on the French-
mans mathematical errors during this period. Even without direct
evidence for this (other than noting that he later had a copy of this
book at Mortlake), we might speculate that a reading of this text
inuenced his interest on the unresolved problems of squaring of
the circle and doubling the cube, and even further work on Euclids
Elements.
Dee owned copies of all of Nunes books, with one exception:
the Tratado da sphera.
20
The reason for his failure to acquire this
book, aside from its linguistic relevance, may relate to a clue recently
found at Cambridge University Library. Clulee (1977, p. 640, n. 27)
mentions the existence of a book on navigation in Dees library, to-
gether with the date 1552. Possible candidates are few in number,
and it is highly likely that either the work referred to is either Portu-
guese or Spanish. It is here worth noting that the catalogue of Dees
library in Roberts and Watson (1990) includes Diogo de Ss De nau-
igatione (Paris, 1549), which is actually one of the most aggressive
attacks on Nunes ideas.
21
Dee acquired his copy of this worknow
at Cambridge University Libraryin 1552, after his return to Eng-
land, and devoted a good deal of study to it (Fig. 2).
22
Despite its allusive title, this work covers much more than nav-
igation. It is composed of three books: in the rst, the author opens
a discussion concerning the certainty of mathematics and its ef-
cacy in producing true knowledge. The subject had an ontological
nature, for it was claimed that mathematics dealt only with acci-
dents of substances, rather than with substances themselves, thus
Fig. 2. Left: Frontispiece of John Dees copy of de Ss De navigatione. It is possible to read Joannes Deeus: 1552: in the centre of the page. Right: highlight of the last page with
an early depiction of Dees monas hieroglyphica inserted into a human representation. By permission of Cambridge University Library.
17
[I]l [Gemma Frisius] donnait depuis 1543 et au moins jusquen 1547, son domicile, des leons prives qui portaient sur la gomtrie et lastronomie. Elles taient
frquentes notamment par Grard Mercator, lEspagnol Juan de Rojas, lAnglais John Dee et le Frison Sixtus ab Hemminga. Hallyn (2008), p. 16.
18
Diogo Pires (15171599) studied medicine in the University of Salamanca, the same place where Nunes had studied years before. He did not nish his medical studies but
became a well known poet. For more on Pires, see Antnio Manuel Lopes Andrade (2005).
19
Mercator knew most of Nunes work, possessing both printed and manuscript copies of his books in his personal library. See Cherton & Watelet (1994).
20
In Roberts & Watson (1990): De erratis Orontii Finaei (entry 100), Petri Nonii Salaciensis Opera (entry 189), De crepusculis (entry 674), Libro de algebra (entry 769).
21
De S (1549). Dees copy of this book is today at Cambridge University Library, shelfmark R

.5.27 (F). See note [B 154] in Roberts & Watson (1990).

22
Dees signs his name in Latin and writes 1552, but it is possible that he knew the book earlier than this, while in Paris, since it was published there.
B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469 463
producing a rather incomplete knowledge of nature.
23
Accord-
ingly, de S also discusses the classication and hierarchy of sci-
ences. In the second book, he explicitly attacks Nunes treatises by
means of a dialectic dispute between the philosopher and the math-
ematician, in which the rst repeatedly exposes the limitations and
superciality of mathematics from a philosophical point of view. De
S was a scholar of humanist and scholastic training, who claimed
that true and certain knowledge, as sustained by Aristotle in his Pos-
terior analytics, was obtainable only by means of the philosophical
study of nature, rather than through mathematical study. In the third
book, de S continues his critiques while suggesting some solutions
to simple nautical issues, such as the suns regiment.
24
The reading of this work indicates that de S did not object to
the use of mathematics in some cases, although for himmathemat-
ics dealt only with formal causes and therefore produced a limited
knowledge of reality. This was not a novel intellectual position, gi-
ven that this discussion was very much alive in sixteenth century
Europe (and is today known as the quaestio de certitudine mathem-
aticarum).
25
Mota suggests that de S was well aware of the discus-
sion taking place in Paris, and played an important role in exporting
it to Portugal (2008, p. 176). In my opinion, De nauigatione is more
interesting in what it attacks than in what it proposes. The author
analyses Nunes rst treaty step by step according to his own agenda,
and launches an all round assault on what he perceived to be the
cosmographers programme: the use of mathematics as a basis for
all certain knowledge about nature, and the mathematization of sci-
entic subjects. Yet Nunes never directly alluded to the quaestio in
his works, although he argued that the strength of mathematics
lay in its demonstrations and on the logical progression that permit-
ted it to explain natural phenomena.
However, it may be argued that de Ss attack also backred,
since the second and third books included ne translations of
much of Nunes early work, thus providing Latin versions that
could be read by any interested European scholars who were un-
able to read Portuguese. John Dee acquired the book in 1552, and
therefore was an early reader of de Ss ideas. His copy and his
annotations (mainly underlining, short marginal comments, mar-
ginal pointers and manicules) reveal more about his interests in
the text. In Book One he was above all interested in the discussion
concerning the certainty and application of mathematics, and on
the hierarchy of sciences (Fig. 3). Throughout, de S demonstrates
that he knows the basic sources for the discussion on the quaestio
very well and, from his underlining, it seems that Dee also bene-
ted from this.
In Book Two, Dee continues to reveal his interest in the hierar-
chy of the sciences and in the mathematical principles of nautical
science. On fol. 23r, he appears to suddenly lose interest as de S
brings theological arguments into the discussion, only to assume
interest again at fol. 28v, when de S turns to cabala, Pico della
Mirandola and astrology (Fig. 4). On fol. 30r (when de S reiterates
the theological arguments), Dee once more stops underlining and
only starts again when the author begins his translation of Nunes
work. Dee then concentrates on technical aspects of the theory of
rhumb lines. In Book Three, he again shows interest in more tech-
nical aspects (of cartography, for example), paying close attention
to the discourse of the mathematician (that is, Nunes words and
ideas translated and adapted by de S) and showing virtually no
interest in the practical applications proposed by Diogo de S.
For instance, Fig. 5 provides a good example of Dees study of de
Ss partial translation of Nunes rst treatise (Nunes, 2002, pp.
114115). De Ss diagram is also adapted from the same rst trea-
tise (ibid., p. 115). At the top right corner, Dees note, Nonnius,
calls attention to an important selection of the cosmographers the-
ory of rhumb lines.
Fig. 3. De nauigatione, fols. 17v and 18r. By permission of Cambridge University Library.
23
Mathematica non sunt substantia rerum, sed accidentia superuenientia substantiis, de S (1549), fol. 13r.
24
For more on Nunes and de S dispute see, for example, Albuquerque (2002).
25
On the quaestio in Portugal and the role of Diogo de Ss book in this discussion, see Mota (2011).
464 B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469
In conclusion, it seems that Dee was interested in the power of
mathematics to construct valid knowledge, and in Nunes articula-
tion of this subject within his texts on nautical science. Even if
embedded within a philosophical discussion, the correct transla-
tion and adaptation of Nunes treatises seems to have enabled
Dee to use these works as a textbook on the topic. In fact, in
1552 only three other signicant treatises on navigation were
printed, none of which were available in the English language.
26
The mathematical content of those treatises was also very elemen-
tary. Nonetheless, in addition to the more advanced material on
Fig. 4. De nauigatione, fols. 28v29r (the circle around Picos name is mine). By permission of Cambridge University Library.
Fig. 5. De nauigatione, fols. 83v84r. By permission of Cambridge University Library.
26
Namely Faleiro (1535), Medina (1545) and Corts (1551).
B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469 465
Nunes ideas, de Ss text also included some basic notions on
navigation that could be useful. The acquisition of De nauigatione
may also echo Dees interest in the certitudine mathematicarum
while he was still in Paris, and his interest in the classication
of sciences, as later seen in his Mathematicall preface to Euclid
(Dee, 1570).
4. Enter rhumb lines
All this considered, one can speculate that the reading of De
nauigatione was a decisive factor in Dees decision to contact Nun-
es. Unfortunately, it is not possible to conrm the existence of an
epistolary correspondence since the Portuguese cosmographer
never alluded to it. This is not an unusual situation, since Nunes
never refers to any of his mathematical contacts, but, if such a cor-
respondence existed, we might expect that a much discussed
mathematical topic of the timethe construction of rhumb ta-
bleswas not left out of these discussions.
Nunes was the rst to write about rhumb lines, but his rst
treatises did not provide a method for calculating rhumb tables.
In 1541, and without indicating a mathematical process for doing
it, Mercator devised a globe representing rhumb lines. By this time,
Nunes was already developing his mathematical theory of rhumb
lines and was aware of the need to calculate tables to use in navi-
gation, although it is not known if he already had devised a good
mathematical method for doing so. What is known is his involve-
ment in another polemic against a scholar who had proposed an
alternative (and incorrect) description of the rhumb line, and
who had tried to calculate rhumb tables. This episode shows that
the discussion was alive in Portugal in the 1540s.
27
Only in 1566
would Nunes present a mathematical method for calculating rhumb
tables.
Between 1556 and 1558, John Dee was interested in resolving
the cartographic problems introduced by the navigation in high
latitudes, and calculated a set of tables known as Canon gubernau-
ticus or an arithmeticall resolution of the paradoxall compas.
28
In E. G.
R. Taylors opinion, this Canon,
was in fact a practical development on the teaching of Pedro
Nuez on this subject and its invention belongs to a period
when Dee is known to have been in personal touch with the
great Portuguese.
29
From the tables was possible to draw rhumb lines, or paradoxal
lines, on a Paradoxal compass which Taylor dened as a zenithal
equidistant projection chart. In his Canon gubernauticus, Dee calcu-
lates the latitude and longitude for the seven classical rhumbs spi-
ralling across the globe from a point at the equator to a point at 80
latitude, resembling Nunes own images (Fig. 6).
Early stages of the development of the calculus of rhumb lines
implied the resolution of series of spherical triangles, used by both
Nunes and Dee. Dees method added technical nuances to that rst
published by Nunes in 1566, although, interestingly, it was similar
to the one Edward Wright published in 1599.
30
This coincidence
raises some questions about the debate over rhumb lines between
Fig. 6. Nunes rst representation of a rhumb line (left: the centre is a pole, the outer circle is the equinoctial, the red line is a rhumb line) compared with a modern
representation of a Paradoxal Compass (right: image from Krcken, 2002, with permission). Examples of rhumb lines are given in red (note: the two diagrams are not for the
same rhumb). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
27
Until now was not possible to identify either the scholars identity or his text attacking Nunes ideas on rhumb lines. However, the cosmographer responded to this attack
with a manuscript defence. This document is presently kept at the Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze (Codice palatino no. 825). For a modern transcription and study on this
manuscript, see de Carvalho (1953). See also Almeida (2006) for a more technical study of the development of rhumb lines in Nunes work.
28
This manuscript can be found in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 242, No. 43. It has no date and includes many rectied values. These tables were in fact aids to what
Dee called paradoxal navigation, a subject later also addressed by John Davis and others. See, for example, Davis (1595), fol. K2v. The denition provided suggests a supercial study,
and Davis certainly owed much of it to the documents taken from Dees library.
29
Taylor (1968, p. 95). For more on this subject see Krcken (2002).
30
Wright (1599). According to Waters (1958, pp. 372373), Dee probably discussed these tables and the nautical triangle solution with Thomas Harriot, who developed an
independent solution to Mercators projection. Nevertheless, there is a similarity between Dees and Wrights tables suggesting the usage of the same calculus method. It also
suggests that Wrights Certaine errors in navigation may have beneted from these contacts.
466 B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469
Dee, Mercator and Nunes. First, it questions the outline of this a
shared knowledge, a challenge supported by the lack of documen-
tary evidence; second, if there was a debate, it must be assumed that
the Englishman and the Portuguese diverged in their methods for
calculating rhumb lines. In effect, Nunes method did not have much
inuence in England, where Wrights and Harriots would eventually
succeed. Nevertheless, I would suggest that only knowledge of Nun-
es ideas permitted the advances made by those men. In fact, none of
them omitted to give the cosmographer some credit for these
developments.
31
With or without an epistolary connection, John Dee would in
time express his own vision of the nautical science in his Mathe-
maticall preface to Euclid:
The Arte of Nauigation, demonstrateth how, by the shortest
good way, by the aptest Directio[n], and in the shortest time,
a sufcient Ship, betwene any two places (in passage Nauiga-
ble,) assigned: may be co[n]ducted: and in all storms, & natural
disturbances chauncyng, how, to vse the best possible meanes,
whereby to recouer the place rst assigned. What nede, the
Master Pilote, hath of other Artes, here before recited, it is easie
to know: as, of Hydrographie, Astronomie, Astrologie, and Horo-
metrie. Presupposing continually, the common Base, and foun-
dacion of all: namely Arithmetike and Geometrie. So that, he be
hable to vnderstand, and Iudge his own necessary Instrumentes,
and furniture Necessary: Whether they be perfectly made or no:
and also can, (if nede be) make them, hym selfe. . . . And also, be
hable to Calculate the Planetes places for all tymes. . . .
Sufciently, for my present purpose, it doth appeare, by the pre-
misses, how Mathematicall, the Arte of Nauigation, is: and how it
nedeth and also vseth other Mathematicall Artes.
32
In Dees opinion, the modern sea pilot should base his every-
day art on knowledge supported by mathematical methods and
tools. This intellectual position coincides with Nunes own vision
of the ratio nauigandi, reinforced in his 1566 work:
Everything that we write on these [nautical] subjects must be
received without any hesitation, since nothing exists more
exact, nothing more certain and nothing more evident then
mathematical demonstration, which certainly nobody will ever
be able to oppose.
33
In fact, the ideas that both men shared would echo throughout
Europe and were included in many sixteenth- and seventeenth-
century navigation textbooks.
34
Dees role in the reception, appro-
priation, diffusion and transmission of these ideas has to be under-
lined: in England (and, indeed, in Europe) he was one of the rst
to consider navigation as a mathematical discipline. This intellectual
position reinforces his important role in what both Waters and Tay-
lor called the English awakening to maritime affairs.
5. A wider inuence?
While it is clear that Nunes inuenced Dees vision of nautical
science, this connection still does not explain why Dee consid-
ered the Portuguese to be the sole relic and ornament and prop
of the mathematical arts among us. In fact, much less has been
said by historians about Nunes inuence on Dees use of math-
ematics to study nature and on his mathematical views in
general.
Besides the already noted convergence of the role and use of
mathematics, a few other clues are worth mentioning. The rst is
Dees dedication of mathematical works. In his Compendious re-
hearsal (1592), and again in a letter to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury (1599), he claims to have completed a work in 1560 on the
areas of plane trianglesDe Triangulorum rectilineorum Areis
35

dedicated to the excellentissimum Mathematicum, Pedro Nunes.

In his essay in this volume, Stephen Johnston establishes an interest-
ing connection between this work on triangle areas and another lost
work, named Tyrocinium mathematicum, also dedicated to Nunes
(Johnston, 2011). These dedications may point to a broader recogni-
tion of the Portuguese cosmographers mathematical work, perhaps
even to a quest for some kind of intellectual patronage. They may
also indicate a shared interest in specic mathematical topics. A pos-
sible connection could be found with Nunes Libro de algebra. This
book was only published in 1567, but Nunes began work on it about
thirty years earlier.
36
In this book, he studied the areas of several
geometric gures, including plane triangles. If we assume that a
common interest existed, we may also speculate that the English-
man already knew of Nunes algebraic texts, and worked on similar
subjects.
Furthermore, in 1584 Dee noted that he and Jacob Kurtz had
examined instruments containing improvements (the nonius
scale) also proposed by the Portuguese cosmographer:
After dinner I went to Dr. Curtz home. . . . he showed divers his
labours and inventions mathematical, and chiey arithmetical
tables, both for his invention by squares to have the minute
and second of observations astronomical and so for the mend-
ing of Nonnius his invention of the quadrant dividing in 90,
91, 92, 93, etc.
37
In the Mathematicall praeface, Dee tried to justify and promote
the translation of Euclids Elements into the vernacular,
giving several examples of similar translation projects under-
taken abroad.
38
These included an example from the Iberian
Peninsula:
Nor yet the Vniuersities of Spaine, or Portugall, thinke their rep-
utation to be decayed: or suppose any their Studies to be hin-
dred by the Excellent P. Nonnius, his Mathematicall workes, in
vulgare speche by him put forth (Dee, 1570, sig. A.iiij.r).
31
For example, when Wright introduces the errors associated with common nautical charts he states: These errors. . . have been much complained of by diverse, as namely by
Martine Cortese. . . but specially by Petrus Nonius in his second book of Geometrical observations, rules, and instruments: And although Gerardus Mercator in his universal Map of
the world seemed to correct them, by making the distances of the parallels. . . yet none of them taught any certain way how to amend such gross faults. . . , Edward Wright (1599),
fol. C2v.
32
Dee (1570), sigs. d.iiij.vA.j.r. The English Elements was of great importance for the English mathematical arts in the sixteenth century. In David Waters opinion: Probably no
other work in the English tongue has been so inuential in stimulating the growth in England of mathematics, navigation, and hydrography, and in leading to the general
application of mathematics to the daily problems of life. . . , Waters (1958, p. 131).
33
My translation. The original text is in Nunes (2008, p. 30).
34
It is possible to trace Nunes ideas and inuence in works by some of the most important actors of European nautical science of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As
examples of printed vernacular books: in Spain, Cspedes (1606); in the Low Countries, Coignet (1581); in France, Fournier (1643); in England, Wright (1599).
35
See Dee (1851 [1592]) and (1599). In the 1599 letter, Dee lists De Triangulorum rectilineorum Areis-libri-3-demonstrati: ad excellentissimum Mathematicum Petrum Nonium
conscripti-Anno-1560.
36
He states this in the dedication to Cardinal Henrique. See Nunes (2010, p. 8).
37
Dee (1998, p. 165). Jakob Kurtz also discussed improvements to the nonius scale with Cristopher Clavius, a former student at Coimbra. It is not certain whether, as a student,
Clavius attended Nunes classes at that university. Nevertheless, he had a good knowledge of the cosmographers works and also considered him to be one of the best
mathematicians of his time. On Clavius contacts with Kurtz, see Clavius (1992, p. 64).
38
Taylor (1954, p. 314), notes that William Thomas suggested the translation of classical texts into English in the mid-1540s. He even left a translation of Sacroboscos Sphere:
The sphere of Sacrobosco. Dedicated to The high and mightie Prince Harry, Duke of Suffolk, in London, British Library MS Egerton 837.
B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469 467
This signicant remark shows that Dee was aware of the cos-
mographers vernacular writings and that he was also familiar with
the translation of his works and agreed with the principles behind
this.
39
At the time, the use of vernaculars for natural philosophical
discourse was being widely defended throughout Europe. Nunes
was also involved in such defences, having clear opinions about
the value of translated works. In his 1537 book, he had stated:
Science has no language, so it is possible to explain it by using
any language. . . . And if, therefore, one can translate any non sci-
entic text from one language to other, I do not know where, so
much fear to put a science text in common language, comes
from.
40
Unfortunately, these sources cannot support more detailed con-
clusions, and we can only hope that future sources and studies may
shed more light on this interesting connection.
6. Final remarks
My intention in this paper has been to focus on the John Dee
Pedro Nunes connection, a subject typically not addressed by Dee
scholars. First, I have aimed to strengthen the idea that the Portu-
guese cosmographer had an inuence on Dees nautical interests.
Second, by examining both new and previously known evidence,
I suggest that a wider inuence can be established, and that both
men shared comparable scientic programmes.
One important conclusion of this study is that John Dee was the
rst and most important vector of transmission and diffusion of
the Portuguese cosmographers work on navigation in sixteenth-
century England.
41
In fact, Nunes mathematical approach to naviga-
tion had an impact on the young Dee while he was developing his
early studies and establishing contacts with prominent men of sci-
ence with similar interests. As William Sherman observes, These
men [that is, Frisius, Mercator, Ortelius and Nunes] exercised an
inuence on Dee that extended far beyond the classroom and long
past his visit to Louvain (Sherman, 1995, p. 5). Naturally, Dee ended
up developing his own programme which, in its rst stage, was
based on the use of mathematical principles as tools to describe
the natural world, something that he would later promote in his role
as a consultant on nautical subjects, and continue to practice
throughout his life.
In this paper, I have not focused on the technical details that
Dee transmitted to his collaborators while advising on nautical
subjects. These remain a subject for further investigation.
42
It is
Heilbrons opinion that,
Dees contributions were promotional and pedagogical: he
advertised the uses and beauties of mathematics, collected
books and manuscripts, and assisted in saving and circulating
ancient texts; he attempted to interest and instruct artisans,
mechanics, and navigators, and strove to ease the beginners
entry into arithmetic and geometry. It is in this last role, as ped-
agogue, that Dee displayed his competence, and made his occa-
sional small contributions (which he classed as great and
original discoveries) to the study of mathematics as a consul-
tant on nautical subjects (Dee, 1978, p. 17).
While agreeing with these words insofar as they concern Dees
contribution to pure mathematics, I would stress that Dee was also
up to date with many of the mathematical developments of his
time, and that he worked alongside some of the most inuential
mathematical practitioners in Elizabethan England. He would ulti-
mately outline his own mathematical programme in the Mathe-
maticall preface, which Frances Yates considered, in a broad
sense, the manifesto of Dees movement (1979, p. 94). The words
of Peter French echo this claim:
The essential point to be remembered about Dees preface is
that it is a revolutionary manifesto calling for the recognition
of mathematics as a key to all knowledge and advocating broad
application of mathematical principles (French, 1972, p. 167).
Another inference to take from this study, and from Frenchs words,
is that, even while recognising Dee as an important gure within
the Elizabethan sciences, this revolutionary manifesto, as French
called it, was deeply inuenced by other authoritiessuch as Pedro
Nuneswho were involved in a broad movement concerned with
the legitimation of mathematics. It therefore helps us to situate
Dees writing within this context. While Nunes was particularly
inuential in shaping the English polymaths ideas on nautical sci-
ence, I have argued that he also contributed more generally to Dees
broader vision of the sciences. I therefore suggest that in the histor-
iography of John Dee, Pedro Nunes contribution deserves more
than a brief reference to the presence of his name in Dees letter
of 1558.
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible by a PhD scholarship from
Fundao para a Ci~ encia e a Tecnologia (reference SFRH/BD/
22952/2005). I also have to thank the support by Centro Interuni-
versitrio de Histria da Ci~ encia e da Tecnologia, at Lisbon Univer-
sity. I am most of all grateful to Henrique Leito for his constant
help with this paper and for his ever valuable recommendations.
I am also deeply grateful to Ana Almeida for revising this text. I
would like to thank Samuel Guessner for inspiring discussions,
and Antnio Lopes Andrade for helpful suggestions. I cannot forget
Jennifer Rampling and her commitment, work and motivation
while organizing the John Dee Quatercentenary Conference and
for the honour of being invited to participate. I also thank Katie
Taylor for her kind help. I thank all the participants for their com-
ments and for all that I learned while attending the conference,
particularly Stephen Johnson for his helpful insights and for the pa-
per he presented at the conference, which was of great encourage-
ment to my own work. Finally, I thank the staff of the Rare Books
room at Cambridge University Library.
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Harry, Duke of Suffolk. British Library MS Egerton 837. London.
B. Almeida / Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 460469 469