6 - Demons, sorcerers, and witches

Summary

Abstract

Wier's demonological thought centred around the primary role given to the devil and the demons, with an accurate discussion of demonology past and present: from the Malleus Maleficarum to the Malleus daemonum. Drawing upon these primary considerations, Wier distinguishes the category of magicians, who he considered responsible for their own actions, from the category of witches, who were physical and moral victims of demonic action. On philological, legal, philosophical, and medical grounds, Wier maintained that witches needed to be re-educated and not punished with capital punishment, whereas magicians, and especially poisoners, warranted more severe punishments. Wier systematically addresses all salient issues, from the pact with the devil to metamorphosis.

Key words: Devil, Magicians, Witches

Satan and his army

The witch-hunts arose from the idea that some people make a pact with the devil through which they acquire the power to cause maleficia (illnesses, material damages, or harmful events). Whether these powers were real or not, a consequence of this recourse to supernatural devilry was that witches had to be punished because Scripture ordered it. Johann Wier opposed this interpretation and, from the very title of his work De praestigiis daemonum et incantationibus, intended to reveal these tricks by the devil and his demonic army.

Over the sixteenth century, even though Aristotelian theories continued to be dominant, especially at universities, Neoplatonic demonological theories surged in the works of Marsilio Ficino as a result of the rediscovery of Plotinus's works, of Porphyry's De abstinentia, of Proclus's Commentarium in Alcibiadem Primum Platonis, of Iamblichus's De mysteriis, and of Psellus's De operatione daemonum. This renewed interest spurred intense reflection on the devil, leading in turn to the publication, in Basel, of at least three works within a 5-year period (1563–1568), including titles referring to the spells and strategies of Satan. These works include Wier's work, the Stratagemata Satanae of Jacopo Aconcio, which maintains that Satan created doctrinal divisions, and the work of an English doctor called Richard Argentine.

Argentine had already translated the sermons of Bernardino Ochino (1548), another writer who combined heterodoxy and demonological reflection.