Madimi is a memorable name in the story of Dee and Kelley, partly because the reported figure looks and speaks like a young girl. That image has often been retold as a free-standing supernatural biography. The better starting point is a pair of documents. The British Library catalogues Sloane MS 3188 as an earlier set of Dee’s conferences, preceding the episodes Casaubon printed in 1659. The first page of that printing reports a figure who calls herself Madini. Modern discussion also uses Madimi, and the earlier manuscript tradition gives that form.
- Earlier witness
- Sloane MS 3188, 1582–1583
- Printed witness
- Casaubon, 1659, p. 1 and later
- Variant spelling
- Madimi / Madini
The earlier and later witnesses
Sloane MS 3188 covers Dee’s conferences from late 1581 into 1583. Its catalogue explicitly says it precedes the conferences in Casaubon’s publication. Joseph Peterson’s editorial chronology places Madimi with Esemeli and Ath in the earlier 1582 material. That chronology is a finding aid; it should not be replaced with the misleading claim that Madimi first appeared on page 1 of the 1659 book. The first printed page is only the opening of the portion Casaubon chose to publish.
In that printed opening, dated May 1583, Kelley reports a childlike figure moving through Dee’s study. The speaker identifies herself as Madini, while later passages of the same printed record use Madimi. The two spellings occur within the transmission of one reported figure and do not automatically imply two different beings.
A participant in the recorded dialogue
The figure in the diary responds to Dee’s questions, refers to family members, and becomes involved in practical concerns about travel and the setting for further actions. In an early 1584 passage, Dee asks about Nalvage and Madimi responds. The printed dialogue thus links the two names, but it does not turn Madimi into a letter in the Great Table or a governor of an Aethyr. The text is an account of what Kelley reportedly saw and heard and of what Dee wrote down in response.
The girl-like description is a description inside a visionary report. It cannot be used as a portrait of a known living child. Nor does it establish a stable rank in a universal hierarchy of angels. Casaubon’s seventeenth-century prefatory argument about the spirits belongs to Casaubon. A present-day catalogue establishes that the manuscripts and printed edition exist; it is not a ruling on the spiritual status of any name in the story.
Madimi, Madini, and later angel lists
The May 1583 episode opens Casaubon’s printed account with the spelling Madini. Later passages in the same book use Madimi, while the earlier Sloane MS 3188 chronology also places Madimi in the 1582 conferences. The two spellings occur in different parts of a longer record; the opening of the 1659 printing is not the first appearance of the figure in Dee’s surviving material.
Madimi is a named participant in the reported dialogues, not one of the four Watchtowers, a letter in the Angelical alphabet, or one of the seventy-two Ars Goetia spirits. Her exchange with Dee about Nalvage belongs to the later printed sequence, while the earlier material belongs to a separate manuscript book. Those episodes explain why her name recurs across accounts without making it a rank in a fixed angelic hierarchy. A search for only Madimi may miss the printed Madini passage; a search for only Madini may miss the earlier material and later references. The modern transcription locates the 1659 print, while the British Library catalogue establishes the earlier Sloane volume. Neither alone supplies an uninterrupted, firsthand account of every reported appearance.
These records document a reported experience and its later printing. They do not independently verify a supernatural being or ritual effect.
Sources and records
- British Library: Sloane MS 3188 ↗The earlier Dee conference book, 1581–1583; distinct from the Cotton diary and the 1659 print.
- Joseph H. Peterson: Sloane MS 3188 contents and chronology ↗Editorial contents locating an earlier 1582 Madimi entry.
- Casaubon, Relation, p. 1: the May 1583 Madini/Madimi episode ↗May 1583 passage in the 1659 printing; distinct from the earlier Sloane MS 3188 entry.
- Casaubon, Relation, pp. 63–69: Nalvage and Madimi ↗Printed report of Nalvage’s named appearance, the round table, and Madimi’s subsequent exchange.
- Wellcome Collection: A True and Faithful Relation (1659) ↗Digitized copy and bibliographic record of Casaubon’s edited printing.
- Christopher L. Whitby, John Dee’s Actions with Spirits, vol. 1 ↗Scholarly comparison of the early manuscript chronology and later print.