Discourse on History, Geography, and Law: John Dee and the Limits of the British Empire, 1576-80

Abstract

Using history, geography, and law as his supporting evidence, the English polymath John Dee (1527-1608) helped the British crown to define and defend the limits of its empire. In a series of works prepared for Queen Elizabeth and her senior advisors between 1576 and 1580, Dee argued for the existence and recovery of a vast British Empire. He based these arguments principally on the nascent precepts of international law. Dee proclaimed the queen’s right to trade in new found lands by natural law, and to draw into her dominion those lands that were discovered by English subjects and were not currently in the actual possession of a Christian prince by civil law, canon law, and the law of nations. He laid the foundation for the British claiming territory by effective occupation rather than mere discovery. He also challenged Spain’s and Portugal’s claims of dominion by taking on the explicit language of Alexander VI’s papal bull awarding all terra incognita to the Iberian countries. Although they were developed within specific contexts, Dee’s arguments were well-enough grounded in scholarship and sufficiently influential to germinate into long-term intellectual justifications for claiming sovereignty. These arguments came to be used by the crown in letters patent and official memoranda, and in disputes with other European nations who challenged England’s title to overseas territories.