Pseudomonarchia Daemonum – Johann Weyer (Black Letter Press)

Translated, with a commentary by Paul Summers Young

In 1577, Johann Weyer appended a short work titled Pseudomonarchia Daemonum to his treatise on the falsehoods of witchcraft and the magical arts, De Praestigiis Daemonum. Thanks in very large part to Reginald Scot’s inclusion of a translation in his own Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), this short satirical play upon the Book of Spirits has attained an afterlife Weyer could not have foreseen. Our edition presents the original Latin text with a new Modern English translation by Paul Summers Young, featuring wide-ranging notes contextualizing the work. The appendix includes Scot’s translation, and a new translation of the French Livre des Esperitz, as representative of the genre Weyer drew upon for inspiration.

Weyer’s text has cast a long shadow among occultists, but it is also an entertaining work of fantasy in its own right. His world-building and characterization of the various spirits are a delight.