Inflating the Prestige of Demons: Johan Wier’s Role-Playing
Abstract In the sixteenth century, witchcraft was generally thought to be a grave danger. Specific people, a majority of them women, were believed to threaten the world as servants of the Devil. In his De praestigiis daemonum , published in 1563, the Dutch / German physician Johan Wier argued that h...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Church history and religious culture
Year: 2021, Volume: 101, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 234-262 |
| Further subjects: | B
Witchcraft
B Johan Wier B Matthias Wier B Tolerance B demonic power |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Abstract In the sixteenth century, witchcraft was generally thought to be a grave danger. Specific people, a majority of them women, were believed to threaten the world as servants of the Devil. In his De praestigiis daemonum , published in 1563, the Dutch / German physician Johan Wier argued that human beings were unable to perform witchcraft and that the women who were accused were innocent but often deluded by demons into believing that they were guilty. In his plea for tolerance Wier was inspired by his brother Matthias and the spiritualist prophet David Joris. In order to convince his readers he used their prejudices, that he himself rejected, about the power of demons and the intellectual capacities of women. |
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| ISSN: | 1871-2428 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Church history and religious culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18712428-bja10030 |
