''De praestigiis daemonum'', translated as ''On the Tricks of Demons'', is a book by

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, mai ...

Johann Weyer Johann Weyer or Johannes Wier ( la, Ioannes Wierus or '; 1515 – 24 February 1588) was a Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist, disciple and follower of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. He was among the first to publish agains ...

, also known as Wier, first published in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

in 1563. The book argues that

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

does not exist and that those who claim to practice it are suffering from delusions, which should be treated as mental illnesses, rather than punished as witchcraft.Stuart Clark, ''Thinking with demons: the idea of witchcraft in early modern Europe'' (Oxford University Press, 1999; ), pp
198 - 202
/ref> It was influential in the abolishment of witchcraft trials in the Netherlands.

Synopsis

Weyer disagreed with certain contemporaries about the justification of

witch-hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern pe ...

ing. Weyer believed that most, probably all, cases of alleged witchcraft resulted from delusions of the alleged witch, rather than actual, voluntary cooperation with spiritual evil. In brief, Weyer claimed that cases of alleged witchcraft were psychological rather than supernatural in origin. The book contains a famous appendix also circulated independently as the ''

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum ''Pseudomonarchia Daemonum'', or ''False Monarchy of Demons'', first appears as an Appendix to '' De praestigiis daemonum'' (1577) by Johann Weyer.Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Liber officiorum spirituum); Johann Weyer, ed. Joseph Peterson; 2000. Avai ...

'', a listing of the names and titles of infernal spirits, and the powers alleged to be wielded by each of them. Weyer relates that his source for this intelligence was a book called ''Liber officiorum spirituum, seu liber dictus Empto Salomonis, de principibus et regibus demoniorum'' ("The book of the offices of spirits, or the book called Empto, by Solomon, about the princes and kings of demons). Weyer's reason for presenting this material was not to instruct his readers in diabolism, but rather to "expose to all men" the pretensions of those who claimed to be able to work magic, men who "are not embarrassed to boast that they are mages, and their oddness, deceptions, vanity, folly, fakery, madness, absence of mind, and obvious lies, to put their hallucinations into the bright light of day." Weyer's source claimed that

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

arranged itself hierarchically in an infernal court which is divided into princes, ministries and ambassadors.

Reception and legacy

''De Praestigiis'' has been translated into English, French, and German; it was one of the principal sources of

Reginald Scot Reginald Scot (or Scott) ( – 9 October 1599) was an Englishman and Member of Parliament, the author of '' The Discoverie of Witchcraft'', which was published in 1584. It was written against the belief in witches, to show that witchcraft di ...

's sceptical account of witchcraft, '' The Discoverie of Witchcraft''.Peterson, supra

References

{{Authority control Occult books 1563 books Demonological literature 16th-century Latin books Witch hunter manuals Witchcraft treatises Magic (supernatural) Philosophy of science literature Philosophy of religion literature History of psychiatry Critics of witch hunting

Synopsis

Reception and legacy

See also

References