Demonolatry

by Nicolas Remy

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In an era when the church and its people actually believed in a universal infection of heresy and sorcery, they turned to this book for guidance. Daemonolatreiae, first published in France in 1595, was the leading witchcraft handbook of its day. In addition to defining the black arts and their practitioners--making it possible to "recognize" witches--it offered civil and religious authorities directives for persecution of the accused and punishment of the condemned. This book amplified and show more updated Malleus Maleficarum, the 1486 opus that established trial procedures for charges of heresy and witchcraft. Its author, Nicolas Remy, was a notorious magistrate who boasted of having personally condemned and burned hundreds of witches. Remy's collection of notes, opinions, and court records features lurid details of satanic pacts and sexual perversity as well as the particulars of numerous trials. A work of tremendous historical significance, this volume is complemented by an introduction and notes by Montague Summers, a celebrated occult historian and expert on witchcraft and supernatural lore. show less

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2 reviews
It's hard to know how to rate this book, because I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think I agreed with anything inside. It is a curiosity, a remnant of the European witch trials, written 4 centuries ago by a French witchcraft judge who sent many women, and some men, to their death for an imagined crime, using evidence that no court of law would possibly accept today. This book is a rare look inside the mind of a true believer, and demonstrates just how little actual evidence was required to convict someone of a capital crime. The most frightening thing, to me, was the forward and footnotes written in 1929 that demonstrated how very close we still are to this sort of thinking.
A full-blooded account of witchcraft in France

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3+ Works 95 Members

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Ashwin, E. Allen (Translator)
Shepard, Leslie (Foreword)

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Common Knowledge

Original title
Dæmonolatreiæ libri tres
Original publication date
1595

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, History, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government
DDC/MDS
133.4Philosophy & psychologyParapsychology & occultismSpecific topics in parapsychology and occultismDemonology and witchcraft
LCC
BF1520 .R413Philosophy, Psychology and ReligionPsychologyOccult sciencesDemonology. Satanism. Possession
BISAC

Statistics

Members
83
Popularity
384,034
Reviews
2
Rating
(3.83)
Languages
English, French
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
10
ASINs
2