Johann Weyer (1515-1588)
Johann Weyer was one of the most important figures of the Central European Renaissance, coming from the Netherlands in the 16th century.
He studied medicine at the University of Paris, one of the most prestigious in Europe at the time, where he received a rigorous education based on the Greco-Roman medicine of Galen as a scientific paradigm, while also showing interest in the world of the occult.
He became a disciple of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, who is credited with the Celestial Language and was well-versed in the Kabbalah, along with authoring three books that were included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, those heretical publications that opposed the morality of the Catholic Church. In 1529, Agrippa published a book called "De nobilitate et praeccellentia faemini sexus" on the moral and theological superiority of women, displaying a feminist sensibility that would influence Weyer's later worldview. For this reason, he opposed witch hunts, arguing that the accused were victims of mental illness, leaving his legacy in the field of medicine as one of the pioneers in the field of psychiatry.
Upon returning to the Netherlands, his reputation as a physician grew until, in 1548, he was asked to give his expert opinion in the trial of a fortune teller, highlighting his critical view of witchcraft trials.
These approaches were presented as a critique of the Catholic Church, which was associated with inquisitorial conduct at the height of Protestantism. Confronting ecclesiastical authority, Weyer sought to surpass the "Malleus Maleficarum" as a manual for inquisitors. With his work "De praestigiis daemonum" (On the Deceptions of Demons, 1563) and "De Lamiis" (On Witches, 1577), he argued that many of the women accused of witchcraft were actually elderly and other vulnerable women. These women, who were truly ill, came to believe they were prey to supernatural powers or possessed by demons.
Despite rationalizing this fact, Weyer continued to believe in God and a force called the "Evil One," which he claimed was the origin of these visions, thus explaining other phenomena such as lycanthropy, since he lacked the same empirical evidence for this phenomenon as he did for the women afflicted with "melancholy" he defended.
In this regard, Weyer's work "Pseudomonarchia daemonum" (The False Monarchy of Demons), published as an appendix to "De praestigiis daemonum," had the opposite effect: the Pseudomonarchia presented an exhaustive catalog of demons, as a way of discrediting the absurd beliefs about witchcraft of the time. However, this work has become a reference source for the development of demonology as a discipline, intensifying the witch hunts Weyer sought to combat.
The following quote appears in that book:
"Witches are more worthy of mercy than punishment, for they are victims of illusions caused by their melancholy and the deceptions of the devil."
Although, as previously stated, this statement did not achieve the desired effect, since the work as a whole presents demons classified both by appearance and by their powers, indicating the ways to invoke them in the manner of a grimoire: another tool for false testimony and for questions in trials, in a more diverse manner.
Other editions of later grimoires, such as the Legemeton or Keys of Solomon, include some of Weyer's descriptions, as do the infernal hierarchies in the Ars Goetia by S. L. Mathers and Aleister Crowley, notable members of the British Golden Dawn in the 19th century.
As a synthesis of his entire thinking, Johann Weyer published in French the work "Histoire, Disputes et Discours des Illusions et Diables, des Magiciens Infame, Sorcieres et Empoisonneurs: des Ensorcelez et Demoniaques et de la Guerison D'Iceux: Item de la Punishment que Meritent les Magiciens les Empoisonneurs et les Sorcieres" (History, Disputes and Discourses of Illusions and Demons, of Infamous Magicians, Witches and Poisoners, of Sorcerers and Demonic Persons, and of Their Healing: Element of the Punishment Deserved by Magicians, Poisoners and Witches) in 1579, setting forth the key medical and legal aspects of the alleged demonic possessions that affected the witchcraft of the time.
His work was defended by some, such as Scot (1535-1599), who published a work following these theories in 1584, about the "discoveries" about witchcraft, and other German physicians, but was largely criticized for its religious implications. Therefore, most of his works did not see the light of day directly in the world of medicine and psychiatry until the 20th century, having been suppressed by the Church. Although his writings had an unintended impact on the religious and occult worlds, Johann Weyer's work laid the foundations for a scientific approach to mental disorders, marking the transition from medieval thought to the beginning of modern science.
Nuria Acquaviva - nacquavivaps@gmail.com
Bibliography:
-Clark, S. Thinking with Demons. The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe, Oxford University Press, 1999.
-Vallejo Ruiloba, J. Introduction to Psychopathology and Psychiatry, Ed. Masson, 2006
Related articles:
> History of Occultism (III). The Early Renaissance
> History of Occultism (IV). The High Renaissance
> Modern Age and Pagan Cults: Witchcraft in Western society
> Magiology (II). A Distorted picture
