7-563: The Pseudomonarchia Daemonum ( lit. ' False Monarchy of Demons ' ) first appears as an appendix to De praestigiis daemonum (1577) by Johann Weyer . An abridgment of a grimoire similar in nature to the Ars Goetia (first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon ), it contains a list of demons , and the appropriate hours and rituals to conjure them. The Pseudomonarchia predates, and differs somewhat from, Ars Goetia . The Pseudomonarchia lists sixty-nine demons (in contrast to
14-443: 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
21-612: The Tricks of Demons , is a book by medical doctor Johann Weyer , also known as Wier, first published in Basel in 1563. The book argues that witchcraft 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. It was influential in the abolishment of witchcraft trials in the Netherlands. Weyer disagreed with certain contemporaries about
28-514: The book called 'Empto'. Solomon, concerning the princes and kings of demons. ) This work is likely related to a very similar 1583 manuscript titled The Office of Spirits , both of which appear ultimately be an elaboration on a fifteenth-century manuscript titled Le Livre des Esperitz (of which 30 of its 47 spirits are nearly identical to spirits in the Ars Goetia ). De praestigiis daemonum De praestigiis daemonum , translated as On
35-497: The justification of witch-hunting . 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 ,
42-459: The later seventy-two), and their sequence varies, along with some of their characteristics. The demon Pruflas appears only in Pseudomonarchia , and Pseudomonarchia does not attribute any sigils to the demons. Weyer referred to his source manuscript as Liber officiorum spirituum, seu Liber dictus Empto. Salomonis, de principibus et regibus daemoniorum. ( Book of the offices of spirits, or
49-452: 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 arranged itself hierarchically in an infernal court which
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