Demonolatry

Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical reference.
Review: Although from a Christian POV, this book delves into historic thoughts on witchcraft, satanism, demon worship, et al and outlines some alleged practices. While some of its accounts do resemble the demonolatry rituals of the middle ages, most of the book resembles something akin to the embellished hysteria outlined in the Compendium Maleficarum and The Malleus Maleficarum. There were only 1,275 copies of this book printed. They are hand numbered. Regardless, a valuable and rare title worth the price and wait.

Rating:
Summary: An Important 16th Century Work on Demonology
Review: This is the Montague Summers' edition of Nicholas Remy's infamous work "Daemonolatreiae libri tres", first published in France in 1595 and is generally considered one of the most important early works on demons and witches.

Remy was a judge for the Duchy of Lorraine and tried many hundreds of witchcraft cases, sending as many as 800 of the accused to a slow and terrible death at the stake. As a result of his vast "experience", this present work was considered one of the most influenctial of the many works on witchcraft and demonology that came about as a result of the great witchcraze of the 16th and 17th centuries. It definately influenced the work of several later demonologists such as Francesco Maria Guazzo and Martin Del Rio. Remy's work described a number of witchcraft cases and emphasised the truth of the diabolic pact supposedly made between a witch and the Devil himself and the horrible acts claimed to take place at the witches Sabbat. It also highlighted the fact that many witches were forced into the Devil's service either through trickery or violence, which was a change from several earlier works which claimed that witches made a willing choice to do evil. This in no way meant that Remy urged mercy for those who chose the dark path. Quite the opposite was true in fact. Remy draws on many ancient and contemporary sources for his arguments and stressed that the evil power of witches and other adherents to the Devil must be thoroughly rooted out of society by rope and flame.

Remy is generally considered one of the more virulent demonologists, in line with other anti-witch writers like Jean Bodin or Heinrich Kramer. His work was influential until the end of the 17th century, when a belief in witches and demons was on a steep decline, and this book was frequently cited and reprinted. Montague Summers, the eccentric early 20th century occult historian, lauds praise on Remy for his determination to root out witchery by any means possible, even if that meant the torture and death of innocents. While repugnant to our modern morality, this work is important to an understanding of the witchcraze of the early modern period.