Pegasus Research Consortium

It is my intention to shed some light on a 'hypothesis' by British mathematician David Cassidy (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/index.html) (an authority on the astronomy of Stonehenge)  that I came across a few years ago, that is still to this day, is relatively unknown to most people.  From my personal research I find that this hypothesis plausible, given the people and circumstances that existed at that time.  It is not meant to provide definitive answers to support his claim but to give the reader a basis from which to further study and explore this area if they so wish.





Background...

Have you ever come across a snippet of information that you wasn't expecting or looking to find and after reading it you knew you found something that begged to be investigated further?  Well this was my moment, and although my then knowledge of John Dee at the time was minimalistic, I read somewhere that he was some kind of bumbling fool who was heavily into Alchemy & the Occult, little did I know then where the rabbit would take me. But this isn't about John Dee per se but of a device (a specific plan or scheme for effecting a purpose) that he proposed, that while he never had chance to implement,  could be conceived as the catalyst for a series of events that would change the political map of the Americas from that point onwards.


Several years ago I came across an innocuous statement (one of many but this one intrigued me) from an online 'Think Tank' comprising of around 100 modern day intellectuals whose professions ranged from writers/editors, scientists, astronomers and academics to name but a few. These intellects  had been specifically chosen and recruited based on the philosophy of it's founder John Brockman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brockman_%28literary_agent%29) which is "To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves." There is nothing sinister about this group, they 'collectively' discuss a whole range of new ideas and concepts about who we are, how we think etc and then attempt's to push those very boundaries even further in order to gain a better insight to those issues. They are certainly not a 'conspiracy' group in any shape of form, so imagine my surprise when one of their members slipped one in which went unnoticed by everyone else..


Introduction...


On January 4^th, 1999 The Edge (http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge48.html#Brockman) published their online results of a year long poll they had carried out between all their members, who were given two questions.

(a) "What Is The Most Important Invention In The Past Two Thousand Years?" ... and (b) "Why?".

Remembering that these people are writers & academic professionals their answers are, by and large what you would expect them to be, their answers ranged from the Contraceptive Pill, Computers notable scientific discoveries such as the invention the Printing Press, Television to Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem to name but just a few.  One of those participating (chosen) members in this 'think tank' of intellectuals is a man called Dr Duncan Steel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Steel)

So what did he say that made his nomination stand out from the 100 or so other nominations and why I picked up on this when I saw it?

Here is the main part of what he wrote split into three sections:-

QuoteRather, I choose to ask: "How did we get to where we are now?" The first step needed there is to define where we are, and the answer to that is: with the USA being the powerhouse of most of the rest of the world. Thus the branching point I look to is that which made the USA a reality. I do not mean the Declaration of Independence. I mean: what made the English first go and settle the Atlantic seaboard of North America?

The answer to that provides my answer to the "Most Important Invention In The Past Two Thousand Years", but it is not original to me. The thing I am going to describe was suggested to me by Simon Cassidy, a British mathematician who lives in California.

* Duncan Steel had a choice as did the other members, to put forward their own opinion as to what constituted the most important 'invention'  in the past 2000 years. They were all given a year to think about this.  If you check all the other nominations you will notice that Duncan Steel was the only one to suggest some one else's opinion and NOT his own..  You would think he would have an opinion of his own..  David Cassidy was not in this select group and have found no reference to suggest he was ever part of this group.

QuoteHere is the story. When the Catholic Church (per Pope Gregory XIII) brought in the reformed calendar in 1582, they decided to use a second-best solution to the problem. Let me tell you, all Christian calendar matters hinge on the question of the Easter computus. That depends upon the time of the vernal equinox, which is ecclesiastically defined to be March 21st, although  astronomically-speaking the equinox on the Gregorian calendar shifts over the 400-year leap-year cycle by 53 hours, between March 19 and 21. This follows from the long cycle time.

By far preferable from a religious perspective would be a calendar which keeps the equinox on one day, requiring a shorter cycle. Even so far back as AD 1079, Omar Khayyam had shown that an eight leap-years in 33-year cycle provides an excellent approximation to the year as measured as the time between vernal equinoxes. The advisers of Gregory XIII knew this but instead recommended the inferior 97/400 leap-year system we use, perhaps in the belief that the Protestants did not know of the better 8/33 concept.

But in England, they did. John Dee and others (Thomas Harriot and Walter Raleigh amongst them) had secretly come up with a plan to implement a 'Perfect Christian Calendar' using the 33-year cycle (the traditional lifetime of Christ). In that span there are eight four-year cycles leading to a time-of-day wander by the equinox of just below 18 hours. The problem is the one five-year cycle in each grand cycle, during which the equinox steps forward by just below six hours in each of four jumps before the following leap year pulls it back by 24 hours. The full amplitude of the movement is 23 hours and 16 minutes. To get the equinox to remain on one calendar day throughout the 33-year cycle one has to use as a prime meridian for time-keeping a longitude band which is just right, and quite narrow. It happened (in the late sixteenth century but with movement east since due to the slow-down of the Earth's spin) to be at 77 degrees west, which Cassidy terms "God's Longitude".

If you look down that meridian you will find that in the 1580s the settled areas (in the Caribbean, Peru, etc.) were under Spanish, hence Catholic, control. To grab part of God's Longitude and found a New Albion, enabling them to introduce a rival calendar — that Perfect Christian Calendar — and convert the other Christian states to the Protestant side, England mounted various expeditions which historians have since misinterpreted. In 1584-90 the so-called Lost Colony was sent to Roanoke Island, a bizarre place to attempt to start colonization but an excellent site from which to make astronomical observations to fix the longitude and thus decide how far inland New Albion should be. Similarly in 1607 the choice of Jamestown Island seems bizarre from the settlement perspective — why not out on Chesapeake Bay, and away from the attacks of the local Algonquians led by Pocahontas' father Powhatan? — but makes sense from the paramount need to grab a piece of God's Longitude. From the foothold the English managed to gain, Old Virginny grew and later other colonizers came to New England, and New Amsterdam was bought from the Dutch. But later utility/developments do not reflect the original purpose of the English coming to Roanoke Island and Jamestown Island any more than the Eiffel Tower was built to provide a mount for the many radio antennas which now festoon its apex.

Then he  gives his reason for including this 'conspiracy' theory as his nomination.  (Highlighted text by me)

QuoteAfter the fact the English did not reveal their prime motivation for Raleigh's American adventures and the investment in the ill-starred Jamestown colonizers, and all of this is yet to be properly teased out. But if the English had never invented their non-implemented 33-year Protestant Calendar, then the USA as it is would not exist, and all of the scientific, technological and cultural development of the world over the past couple of centuries would be quite different. In view of this I nominate that calendar, due to John Dee, as the most important invention of the past 2000 years.

Source (http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge48.html#Steel)

Duncan Steel's nomination is in fact, a little known Conspiracy Theory of events that have not been proving and thus far, exists primarily in private emails to various people along with a few references on private individual web pages and mailing lists (links to which which I will provide later on) and as far as I'm aware of, does not exist in any great detail on any 'conspiracy' type forum until now..
 

The Beginnings of A Plan...


In AD 325 The First Council of Nicaea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea) convened in Nicaea in Bithynia (now Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine.  One of it's objectives was to decide weather or not to continue to use the Jewish community to determine which lunar month was to be designated as Nisan.  By the later 3rd century some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with what they believed to be the disorderly state of the Jewish calendar. It was believed that contemporary Jews were identifying the wrong lunar month as the month of Nisan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisan), choosing a month whose 14th day fell before the spring equinox. The feast of Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, as Christians believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus occurred at the time of those observances. The council decided therefore to separate from the reliance on the Jewish calender system and to make this uni-formally recognized worldwide. Since Easter was traditionally celebrated on a Sunday it would be celebrated in a lunar month chosen according to Christian criteria and not Jewish.  However, since the council did not provide any system by which Easter could be calculated by, this then left the actual date of Easter celebration still very much open to interpretation, since they were still using the Julian calendar ( introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC)  which would then take centuries to resolve.

The Protestant Reformation.

QuoteThe Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice—especially the teaching and the sale of indulgences or the abuses thereof, and simony, the selling and buying of clerical offices—that the reformers saw as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Church's Roman hierarchy, which included the Pope.[3] In Germany, reformation ideals developed in 1520 when Martin Luther expressed doubts over the legitimacy of indulgences and the plenitudo potestatis of the pope. Martin Luther's excommunication on January 3^rd, 1521, from the Catholic Church, was a main cause for the Protestant Reformation.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation)

The Protestant Reformation began on 31^st October 1517, in Wittenberg, Saxony, where Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Thesis on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the door of the Castle Church, in Wittenberg which in turn quickly took hold and spread right across Northern Europe.  Various countries decided to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, sighting corruption and interpretation differences to what the Bible said amongst other reasons.  New rival Protestant churches now arose , separated only by denominations such as the Lutheran, the Puritans, the Presbyterian and Anglicanism in England with the English Reformation under Henry VIII, beginning in 1529.

1570 Pope Pius V issues a Papal Bull  titled Regnans in Excelsis, which declared "Elizabeth I, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime" to be excommunicate and declared a heretic.

The Introduction of Gregorian Calender.

24^th February 1582 marks a historic event to correct the chaotic state of using the Julian Calender at that time.  While this calender system was considered fairly accurate when it was first introduced, it was clearly evident after centuries of use that even small errors in it's computation were too large to ignore any further.  The motivation for this was that the Julian calendar assumes that the time between vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days, when in fact it is presently almost exactly 11 minutes shorter. The accumulated errors of about three days every four centuries, resulted in the equinox being on March 11^th (a cumulative error of about 10 days since Roman times). Because the spring equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Roman Catholic Church considered this undesirable. Therefore Pope Gregory XIII (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XIII) issued a Papal Bull on this date urging all Christians worldwide to adopt and use the Gregorian Calender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar) forthwith. 

QuoteThe Gregorian reform consisted of the following:

• Ten days were omitted from the calendar, and it was decreed that the day following (Thursday) October 4, 1582 (which is October 5, 1582, in the old calendar) would thenceforth be known as (Friday) October 15, 1582.
  
         
• The rule for leap years was changed. In the Julian Calendar a year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4. In the Gregorian Calendar a year is a leap year if either (i) it is divisible by 4 but not by 100 or (ii) it is divisible by 400. In other words, a year which is divisible by 4 is a leap year unless it is divisible by 100 but not by 400 (in which case it is not a leap year). Thus the years 1600 and 2000 are leap years, but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not.
  
         
• New rules for the determination of the date of Easter were adopted.
  
         
• The first day of the year (New Year's Day) was set at January 1st.
  
         
• The position of the extra day in a leap year was moved from the day before February 25th to the day following February 28th. 

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridolfi_plot)

Suddenly, Christians across the world had a more 'accurate' calender system by which they could calculate the fixed date of Easter according to their beliefs and criteria.  Something the First Council of Nicaea was unable to do themselves. However, most protestant countries rejected this new Calendar system outright as they rejected the authority of the church of Rome.

It is at this point a number political and religious inspired plans came into play.. And it is here our story begins...

Tensions between England (which was ruled by Queen Elizabeth I,  Supreme Governor of the English Protest Church) and the Roman Catholic church and it's supporters was running high at this time.  Pope Pius V issued a Papal bull in 1570 just 12 years previously which declared Elizabeth I to be excommunicated and branded a heretic . Plots against her life and attempts to install a Catholic Queen (Mary Queen of Scots) such as the Ridolfi plot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridolfi_plot) as it become later known was just a taste of what was to come. Spy Masters in the service of  Queen Elizabeth I such as Francis Walsingham, then secretary of state (1573-1590) along with a successful intelligence network began to formulate plans to not only counter the threat posed by the Catholic supporters but at the same time strengthen and push the sphere of Protestant influence wider a field.

There were many trusted and well connected advocates in Queen Elizabeth's court & privy council that believed England needed to exert her presence and influence if she was to compete on equal terms with her rivals such as Spain & France.  Spain in particular was a rich country and was getting richer day by day from it's systematic exploitation of the Americas and this, her ministers stressed, had to addressed or England will forever be a poor cousin to her rivals and enemies alike.  While religious & political constraints had hampered England's development in the past, commerce & colonization was seen as viable way to generate a profitable revenue without the need to start wars of conquest. Which were costly and draining on the economy, which England could ill afford.

QuoteFearing war with Catholic Spain and coveting Spanish wealth from Central and South America, Elizabeth saw the American coast as a potential haven for privateers such as Sir Francis Drake. The effective propagandists (and namesake cousins) Richard Hakluyt (the elder) and Richard Hakluyt (the younger) argued further for the region's commercial possibilities and endorsed the mission of converting Indians to the Protestant faith.

Source (http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Roanoke_Colonies_The)

Key Figures and Motives Behind The Plan..


As history has clearly shown, England pursued a heavy and organized program starting in the Elizabethan era in colonizing not just the Americas, but shortly after, elsewhere in known world.  The problem is that only fragments of written evidence from this era (such as personal correspondence, manuscripts etc) survives to this day in support of the 'Elizabethan Calender or Dee's Calender according to Cassiddy' theory.   However, as I will attempt to show, the main ingredients leading up to such a conclusion, (which were all present at that time) to  install a counter Calender Reform (The Elizabethan Calender or, Dee's Calender as is often quoted by Cassidy) in opposition to the Gregorian Reform is not really as far fetched as it may first appear.



Key Figures...
(The Planners)

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/Queen_Eliabeth_I.jpg) Elizabeth I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England) (7th September 1533 – 24st March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17th November 1558 to 24th March 1603

By 1582 AD Elizabeth was more moderate and tolerant to religious affairs than had been her previous successors despite having spent almost a year of her life imprisoned on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels against Mary, Queen of Scots.  After Pope Pius V had issued a Papal Bull in 1570 AD declaring her illegitimate and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies had been carried out to replace her with a Catholic Queen (Mary Queen of Scots). All of which were unsuccessful thanks mainly to her ministers who operated a highly successful secret intelligence network. In matters of foreign affairs she was cautious and defensive. Publicly she denounced the exploits of those privateers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer) such as Sir Francis Drake, (1540-1596), Sir George Somers (1554-1610), Captain Christopher Newport( c. 1561-1617) and others who raided the rich Spanish trading routes, but privately encouraged them.   In light of the above, it is highly conceivable that Elizabeth I would indeed sanction and encourage the development of the Elizabethan Calender since this was conceived in secrecy and would be carried out secrecy and therefore, would not bring her in direct confrontation with Spain, France or the Holy Roman Catholic Church. If, for whatever reason the plan was leaked, she could then deny her involvement as she often did with the exploits of her privateers, much to the annoyances of Spain.  This was after-all, one of many such 'covert' strategies employed by, not just England, but many other countries using privateers to wage an undeclared war against the trade routes of others without actually officially declaring a War.  This 'behind the scenes', non confrontational strategy typically exemplifies as history has shown, how Elizabeth I chose to rule by. One of her supposedly motto's was "video et taceo" -   "I see, and say nothing".

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/William_Cecil_1st_Baron_Burghley.jpg) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cecil,_1st_Baron_Burghley)  (13thSeptember 1521 – 4th August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I

William Cecil, was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1572.  The Duke of Northumberland had employed Cecil in the administration of the lands of Princess Elizabeth. Before Mary died he was a member of the "old flock of Hatfield", and from the first, the new Queen relied on Cecil. She appointed him Secretary of State. His tight control over the finances of the Crown, leadership of the Privy Council, and the creation of a highly capable intelligence service under the direction of Francis Walsingham made him the most important minister for the majority of Elizabeth's reign. Source. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cecil,_1st_Baron_Burghley)

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/Sir_Francis_Walsingham.jpg) Sir Francis Walsingham (http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/FrancisWalsingham.htm) (c. 1532 – 6th April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 1573 and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".

Walsingham rose from relative obscurity to become one of the small coterie who directed the Elizabethan state, overseeing foreign, domestic and religious policy. He served as English ambassador to France in the early 1570s and witnessed the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre). As principal secretary, he was a supporter of exploration, colonization, the use of England's maritime power. He worked to bring Scotland and England together. Overall, his foreign policy demonstrated a new understanding of the role of England as a maritime, Protestant power in an increasingly global economy. He oversaw operations that penetrated the heart of Spanish military preparation, gathered intelligence from across Europe, disrupted a range of plots against Elizabeth, and secured the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Source. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Walsingham) While Walsingham was a trusted and loyal servant to Elizabeth throughout his lifetime, for his part he made no secret of his impatience with her for reserving final decisions for herself: 'I would to God her Majesty would be content to refer these things to them that can best judge of them, as other princes do'. Her procrastination he particularly detested: 'For the love of God, madam, let not the cure of your diseased state hang any longer on deliberation. Diseased states are no more cured by consultation, when nothing resolved on is put into execution, than unsound and diseased bodies by only conference with physicians, without receiving remedies by them prescribed'.

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/Dee3.jpg) John Dee (http://www.ptmistlberger.com/essays.php) (b. July 13th, 1527 - 1608 or 1609) English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, navigator, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.

John Dee is a somewhat mysterious figure of this time, often portrayed as an Oculist for his activities in Alchemy & summoning spirits and of his 5 year association with Edward Kelly (from 1582-87). Only in recent times have academic scholars started to take him more seriously and in doing so are finding that he was a highly learned man with considerable ancient knowledge that proved valuable in his era.  In his lifetime he built up a personal library of books collected from around the world including works by Copernicus that was reputed to contain several thousand books, the largest library in England at that time. Such was his thirst for knowledge.  A main passion of his at that time was mathematics and science, geometry, cartography, and navigation. He was an official advisor to many of England's first marine explorers, training them in navigation. He is also credited with coining the expression 'The British Empire'. By the time 1582 AD had arrived with advent of the new Gregorian Calender, John Dee had traveled extensively around the continent, gaining the trust of Royalty & nobles a like. Some modern day historians believe that due to his close ties with Queen Elizabeth and more importantly, her trusted adviser Francis Walsingham that he was a kind of modern-day spy,  such was his dedication towards the 'British Empire'. Dee had been instrumental (via his knowledge of navigation and cartography) in Sir Martin Frobisher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frobisher) voyages to the New World, and is generally believed to have assisted on the initial planning of Sir Francis Drake's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Francis_Drake) epic circumnavigation of the world (from 1577-80).

(Colony Planter)

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/Sir_Walter_Ralegh.jpg) Sir Walter Raleigh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Walter_Raleigh), (b. ca. 1554 – 29th October 1618) was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer.

Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne. Raleigh's family was highly Protestant in religious orientation and had a number of near-escapes during the reign of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I of England. During his childhood, Raleigh developed a hatred of Roman Catholicism and proved himself quick to express it after the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England came to the throne in 1558 AD. By 1582 Raleigh had some sailing experience having joined his half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert expedition in 1578 "to discover and occupy in the next six years a site for a colony not already in European hands." While this expedition of discovery of eastern North America was a failure, commanding his ship The Falcon  with Simon Fernandez  as his pilot Raleigh reached the Canary Islands and made out to sea for the West Indies and the eastern coast of North America before being forced to return to England. As evidence of the events that followed Raleigh's attempts in planting a colony in the Americas would show, he would have been kept completely in the dark of Walsingham's secondary plans.  He was used as a pawn while he was considered useful, but as his popularity with Queen Elizabeth began to diminish, (he would be later imprisoned by her and then executed by her successor) his support from Walsingham would be removed to a point where he would find his efforts being sabotaged by Walsingham himself.

(Scientific Adviser to DR John Dee & Sir Walter Raleigh)

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/ThomasHarriot.jpg) Thomas Harriot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Harriot), (Oxford, ca. 1560 – London, 2nd July 1621)  was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, translator & explorer.

By 1852 Thomas was around 22 years old, he graduated from  St Mary Hall, Oxford 1580, just two years previously and was then employed by Sir Walter Raleigh as a mathematics tutor, using his knowledge of astronomy/astrology to provide navigational expertise , help design Raleigh's ships, and serve as his accountant. Prior to his expedition with Raleigh, Harriot wrote a treatise on navigation. He was brought into the expeditions by Raleigh because of his sound scientific knowledge and his skills in Cartography and Navigation. In all likelihood, along with Raleigh, he would not have been aware of Walsingham's secondary plan, other than to fix the exact location of longitude of 77°, which, considering his other duties, would not have seem out of the ordinary.

Walsingham and Dee in particular were strong Protestant supporters, loyal to Queen Elizabeth I and who, all shared a passion both publicly & privately to expand England's horizons and influences across the world via it's growing maritime fleet (an earlier form of Blue Water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-water_navy) foreign policy). Compared to the Spanish, French and Dutch explorers England was seriously lagging behind in the colonization of the Americas, a land of unlimited wealth and trade and which, with the exception of the recent discovery of Newfoundland, had no claims of ownership what-so-ever.  The Spanish colonization of the Americas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas) which began in 1492 AD was already proving highly successful in claiming huge areas of the Americas under the control of the Spanish Monarchy with the primary aim of converting it's indigenous peoples to Catholicism, thereby also increasing the wealth and power of the Holy Roman church and depriving England of it's 'rightful' heritage to rule the world.  Just 61 years previously Hernán Cortés (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s), a Spanish Conquistador, had conquered in just three years, the mighty Aztec Empire in 1521 AD (See Spanish colonization of the Americas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas) & Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire) for more info). This would prove to be a major development in the formation of New Spain in the Americas.


Francis Walsingham, William Cecil, John Dee and possibly others from the queen's privy counsel, were consulted with the primary aim of finding a solution to how England could conceivably make up for lost time in the colonization of the Americas and exert her power over of the existing Spanish colonies. A task that at that time, would have seemed hopeless because of the turmoil at home and abroad that existed at that time.  The introduction of the Gregorian Reform would certainly have been seen as a major setback towards any intentions England may have had in it's early foreign expansion plans. 

However, John Dee having examined the proposed change over from the Julian Calender to the newer, Gregorian Calender found that it to was flawed and which, according to him, could be improved considerably if they used his 'Elizabethan Calendar' with a 33-year cycle (based on the life of Jesus) including eight leap years and with the Spring Equinox always occurring on March 21^st.  On 26^th February 1583 AD he produced a treatise (with an eleven-day correction as opposed to the ten correction of the Gregorian calender) explaining his thoughts and proposals for a superior calendar. The treatise ran to 62 pages. This treatise was entitled "A playne Discourse and humble Advise for our Gratious Queen Elizabeth, her most Excellent Majestie to peruse and consider, as concerning the needful Reformation of the Vulgar Kalendar for the civile years and daies accompting, or verifyeng, according to the time truely spent." or "A Playne Discourse" for short.  A hand-written copy dating back to the time of this treatise exists at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

In essence, Dee's treatise was split up into two sections.. One part based on scientific observations, the other polemic, where, he argued, that unlike the proposed Gregorian Reform where it was based from the time of The First Council of Nicaea 325 AD it should in fact, have been based from the time of Jesus Christ.  The arguments against and for Dee's treatise by scientific, religious community at that time is quite extensive as were his proposed 'restorations' and is beyond the scope of this post. I have therefore provided links at the end of this post where they are dealt and considered in more detail. One place to start can be found here (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/jdee.html).

After Dee's treatise (A playne Discourse) was published there followed months of consultations with the Scientific & Religious community which pondered on the pros and cons of implementing such a counter reform to the one proposed the Catholic Church. However,  the idea of implementing a Calender system that was based from the time of Jesus Christ & on his 33 year life time was some-what appealing to some religious institutions, although they feared, this could cause further Schism both at home and abroad with their other protestant allies.

However, according to Dee's proposal, by implementing this Calender system it would create a small narrow band of Longitude (77° west of Greenwich) that would be promoted as God's Chosen meridian.  At this longitude the Vernal Equinox will always occur on the same calendar date: March 21^st  (in accord with the ecclesiastical spring equinox date), or March 20^th in the Dee-Cecil variant (involving a ten day correction in keeping with the Gregorian Calender) during the 300 years from 1580 through 1879.

An Ingenious And Daring Plan...


By adopting this new calendar system (with it's 'God's Chosen meridian' that not only uses the 33 years life of Jesus as it's basis, but also has a fixed Vernal Equinox that will always occur on the same calendar date: March 21^st)  would strengthen England's proposal to adopts its own calender reform and give her Catholic rivals a good reason to also reject the Gregorian Reform and in doing so set a precedence for others to follow suit.

At that time there was no way of knowing for sure exactly where the 77° Longitude was without carrying astronomical tests in and around that area, Dee had a good idea where it was but  were under Spanish rule and hence, Catholic control.  To get the equinox to remain on one calendar day throughout the 33-year cycle they would have to use as a prime meridian for time-keeping a longitude band which would be just right, and quite narrow.

What was was needed therefore, was to establish an initial (secret) colony in the Americas that would be privately funded and from there, explore further inland until the exact 77° degrees longitude could be worked out.  Having then established a successful and long running colony, further colony's would be initiated to secure as much land as was available to further stamp their claims on this narrow longitude.  Secrecy was paramount, no hint of this plan could be leaked to the Spanish who, at that time, had already a major military presence in that part of the world and their spies were everywhere.  It is highly likely that this plan was known to only a select few of trusted people, those certainly listed above, who had proven their allegiance time and time again to their queen and just as importantly, were in a position of power and with sufficient finances to carry out this plan.

It is here that from my understanding of this plan and the research I have carried out, differs in two significant ways from Cassidy's..

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/one.png) That instead of John Dee pushing for the implantation of this plan with Elizabeth and her privy council, that it was actually Sir Francis Walsingham who, more than Dee would have been in the position to push this plan forward with Elizabeth and her privy council.  There are a number of occasions from historic records of that time that shows Walsingham was very much active in England's early attempts in colonization. It was Walsingham who worked behind the scenes to obtained the necessary intelligence in order to mount voyages to NewFoundland. One such example of intelligence gathering can be found in The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques, and discoveries of the English nation 1598, by Richard Hakluyt, where he published an interview from 1582 between Walsingham and an English sailor by the name of  David Ingram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ingram_%28explorer%29) QuoteDavid Ingram (dates uncertain) was a 16th century English sailor and explorer who claimed to have walked across the interior of the North American continent from Mexico to Nova Scotia in 1568. Ingram signed on with English privateer John Hawkins in 1567 to raid and trade off the coasts of Portuguese Africa and Spanish Mexico. In November 1567, he was marooned with some 100 of his shipmates near Tampico on the coast of Mexico, about 200 miles south of the present Texas/Mexico border. Ingram and two dozen of his party struck out northward into the interior to avoid capture by the Spanish, and disappeared off the map. 11 months and 3000 miles later, in October 1568, Ingram and two others of his original party were picked up from the coast of Nova Scotia by a French fishing vessel. How they got there is attested only by Ingram's own account, written down 13 years later in 1582 by Sir Francis Walsingham (Ingram himself was illiterate) and published in 1589 in Richard Hakluyt's "The Principall Navigations Voiges and Discoveries of the English Nation of 1589." Ingram returned to the new world in 1583 with Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his unsuccessful attempt to establish an English settlement in Newfoundland. Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ingram_%28explorer%29) Walsingham was the backer and supporter of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's (http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=307) two voyages to NewFoundland a year before. Walsingham also supplied pilot Simon Fernandez for Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland. Without Walsingham help, Gilbert would have certainly struggled in obtaining the necessary letters patent from Elizabeth. In 1584 he was appointed to a committee concerning letters patent granted to Sir Walter Raleigh. Clearly from these examples, Walsingham demonstrates his influence and commitment towards motivating England's pursuit of colonization and expansion of England's domain.

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/two.png) Rather than this plan being the 'main' motive for England's push into the Americas, it is more probable that Walsingham would have piggy backed this plan on a military conquest to gain a foothold in the Americas. England's privateers in particular would have needed a 'safe' base to operate from that was close to the richly laden Spanish trade routes coming up from the Americas and with this base new trading opportunities for her merchants would have been there-after opened up from with the the resources provided from the exploitation of the Americas.  Walsingham was constantly kept in check from both Cecil & Elizabeth as his advice on foreign policy was often not inline with the softly softly approach they both advocated. England was not yet ready for a costly war with Spain that could see her growing maritime fleet decimated before it had the chance to take off. However, since this plan avoided such direct confrontation it would have been seen as a positive step in the right direction for England to take.

In 1583 Walter Raleigh inherits his half-brother's (Sir Humphrey Gilbert (http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=307)) letters patent for the colonization of Newfoundland  and in 1584 is revised with Newfoundland excluded from its scope. This revised patent (Virginia patent) of colonization stated  it was to establish a colony north of Spanish Florida in an area named Virginia by Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I. This expedition was to be funded and equipped by Raleigh and his backers.

On April 27^nd, 1584 one year after being given the charter to colonize Virginia, Raleigh dispatched a reconnaissance  expedition led by Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Eastern coast of North America. On July 4^th 1584  they arrived at the Outer Banks, or Barrier Islands, and explored Roanoke Island as well as parts of the surrounding area.  Having established relations with the Secotans and Croatans tribes it was decided that two Native Americans would return to England with the expedition,  Manteo, a Hatteras Indian of the village of Croatoan on the Outer Banks, and Wanchese, a Roanoke Indian, cousin to the brothers and chiefs Granganimeo and Wingina.  Based on the information provided by Manteo and Wanchese Raleigh organized a second expedition, to be led by Sir Richard Grenville.

In April 1585, Raleigh's fleet of seven ships, commanded by his cousin Sir Richard Grenville, set sail for the Americas with 600 men, among them Scientist Thomas Harriot and Cartographer John White. The ships reached Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds by June. The colonists under Governor Ralph Lane built Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island and explored the region.

Given that one of the secondary objectives of this first English colony in Virginia was to establish the exact location of the 77° Longitude, we can assume the following...

1. This was a 'military/scientific expedition' to gather as much data as was necessary to find the exact location of  the 77° Longitude. Hence why these so called 'colonists' were NOT settlers but soldiers, with the exception of those like Thomas Harriot, John White with scientific and mapping skills.

2. To catalog any and all potential resources that could be mined/harvested. This meant spending considerable amount of time exploring the surrounding areas, carefully ensuring everything was mapped and cataloged. This was particularly important to Raleigh and his backers as it would help to recuperate their initial funding costs when future settlers would arrive where they would be put to work in the mines and plantations as part of their indenture to Raleigh. 

It was always intended that their initial camp at Roanoke Island would be a temporary settlement, fortified to be able to provide safety for those living there at the time but a temporary one never-the-less.       

Around the middle of June 1586  the expedition, no longer able to support themselves and with hostilities rising with the local Indian tribes departed Roanoke Island with the visiting fleet of Sir Francis Drake.  Coincidence that almost a year after Raleigh's colonists had setup their first colony, that Drake and his fleet decides to stop their profitable privateering of Spanish Ships, takes a few days detour and drops by Roanoke Island to see how the colony were doing?. 

In May 1587, another fleet set sail from England for North America. The 150 colonists in Raleigh's second attempt at a colony, with John White as governor, included women and children.  The intended place this time of the settlement was to be Chesapeake Bay to the north. However. Simon Fernandes, the pilot of the fleet, on reaching the Roanoke Island region in July, refused to take the colonists any farther. The colonists were therefore forced back to the original settlement that had been abandoned earlier before and hoped to find the 15 men Grenville (who arrived with relief ships soon after the colony was first abandoned) had left there.

August 1587 the colonists persuade John White, Governor of the colony to return to England for fresh supplies and more colonists.

March 7^th, 1589, Raleigh now finding his finances stretched thin, signs over his Virginia charter (except a fifth of all gold and silver ore) to a group of London merchants and adventurers and to White and nine other gentlemen. At least seven of them were planters whom White had left in Virginia, such as Ananias Dare, his son-in-law and father of Virginia Dare. Others included in the group were Richard Hakluyt and Thomas Smythe.

And Then...

In England, at White's request, Raleigh organized a relief expedition under Grenville for March 1588 AD, but it was ordered not to sail because of hostilities with Spain. The invasion of the British Isles by the Spanish Armada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada) in July–August 1588 further delayed his return. White eventually lines up two small ships for a crossing with fresh supplies and more colonists, but the ship's captains change their mind and will only accept White and his baggage .  When White finally reached Roanoke Island in August 1590, the colonists had disappeared and so the Mystery of the lost colonists was born.



Final Notes...

In adopting a straight forward approach to present Casssidy's hypothesis more clearly, a number of historical incidental events were not mentioned in this post.  While these 'events' certainly did occur, they were not covered as their historical significance in Raleigh's attempt to colonize Roanoke is debated by many historians and therefore, fell outside the scope of this post.  Such as:-


1.  The real reason why captured Portuguese marina, Simon Fernandes,  a convicted pirate, was saved from the English Gallows by the intervention of Francis Walsingham in 1577, who would then recruit him to assist in all England's endeavors for the colonization of the Americas.

2.  Walsingham [allegedly] attempts to sabotage Raleigh's colonization of Virginia.  As with anthropologist Lee Miller, author of Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony (Arcade, 2001) she too can only elude to what his motives might have been.

3. The curious case of an Irishman by the name of Darby Glande who was part of White's 1587 colony expedition. 

4. The deposition taken from Pedro Díaz Franco in Havana on 21^st March 1589 to the Spanish authorities concerning the Roanoke Colony.

5. May 1588, Spanish Vicente Gonzalez sailed a reconnaissance ship from St. Augustine to Chesapeake Bay to find the location of the English colony. On his return he accidentally finds Port Fernando and the then, abandoned Roanoke colony.


I have therefore decided to follow this up in more detail in a future Post, time permitting.   



Further References & Resources

(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	The History of the Thirteen Colonies Of North America (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40244/40244-h/40244-h.htm) - Reginald W. Jeffery 1908
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	History of the Ancient Dominion of Virginia (//http://) - Charles Campbell 1860
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	John Dee's Calendar and God's Longitude (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/gods_longitude.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hariot/hariot.html) A Treatise by Thomas Harriot published 1585
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	FORT RALEIGH - National Historic Site (http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/16/hh16toc.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	The Dee-Cecil Calendar and its Date Conversion Algorithms (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/dst01.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Lost Colony Roanoke Island (http://www.englisharticles.info/2011/02/18/lost-colony-roanoke-island/)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Julian-Gregorian-Dee Date Calculator (http://www.hermetic.ch/jgdc/jgdc.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	John Dee's Calendar and God's Longitude - Peter Meyer (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/gods_longitude.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	4-1/8 yr. Leap Rule responses of Richard, Jim and Amos - Simon Cassidy (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/leapyear.htm) East Carolina University Calendar Discussion List
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Implementing a correct 33-year calendar reform (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/33yr-cal.htm) East Carolina University Calendar Discussion List
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	The Non-implemented 33-Year English Protestant Calendar - Duncan Steel (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/dst01.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	John Dee and the English Calendar: Science, Religion and Empire - Dr Robert Pool (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/jdee.html)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Simon Cassedy Bio (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/index.html)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	The Virginia Dare Stone (http://www.angelfire.com/ego/iammagi/DARE_INDEX.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	How Britain got the Calendar Wrong - Duncan Steel (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/dst02.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Two Perpetual Calendars - William Becker (http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/becker.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	John Dee's 1563 cover story (http://www.drjohndee.info/Home/john-dees-1563-cover-story/)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Dee's Years and Legacy (http://www.drjohndee.info/Home)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Leap second decision is postponed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16625614)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Millennium - The Enterprise Mission (http://www.enterprisemission.com/millenn3.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Francis Drake Biography 1 (http://www.biography.com/people/francis-drake-9278809)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Francis Drake Biography 2 (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDdrakeF.htm)
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Colony of Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_and_Dominion_of_Virginia) Wikipeadia
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Roanoke Colony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony) Wikipeadia
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Jamesyown, Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia) Wikipeadia
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	British colonization of the Americas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas) Wikipeadia
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Virginia Dare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Dare) Wikipeadia
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	Account of the Roanoke settlements (http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_Vol_1/roanokei_dc.html) - From Volume I of Our Country, published late 1800's.
(http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o589/Freelancer62/redpin.gif)	JOHN WHITE - Governor: 1587-1590 (http://ncpedia.org/biography/governors/white) NCpedia