Johann Weyer
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Wierturm_Tecklenburg.jpg
Johann Weyer, aka Wier, Wierus, Piscinarius, first name also Johannes (born between February 24, 1515 and February 24, 1516 — died February 24, 1588) was a Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist, disciple and follower of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. He was among the first to publish against the persecution of witches. His most influential work is De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantatiponibus ac Venificiis (On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons, 1563).
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Biography
Weyer was born in Grave. His father was a merchant in hop. He attended the Latin schools in 's-Hertogenbosch and Leuven and when he was about 14 years of age, he became a live-in student of Agrippa, in Antwerp. Agrippa had to leave Antwerp in 1532 and he and his student then settled in Bonn, under the protection of prince-bishop Hermann von Wied. After completing a work on demons in 1533, Agrippa died in 1535, during a trip to France. From 1534, Weyer studied medicine in Paris and later in Orleans (It appears unlikely that he obtained the title of Doctor through these studies). Subsequently, he practiced as a physician in his native Grave. In 1545, he was appointed town physician of Arnhem. In this capacity, he was asked for advice on witchcraft in a 1548 court case involving a fortune teller. In spite of a subsidy from emperor Charles V, Arnhem was no longer able to pay Weyer's salary in 1550 and Weyer moved to Cleves, where he became court doctor to duke Wilhelm V von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, through mediation by humanist Konrad Heresbach. Here he published his major works on demons. He retired from his post in 1578 and was succeeded by his son, Galenus Wier. After retirement he completed another work on a subject unrelated to witchcraft. He died on February 24, 1588 in Tecklenburg, while visiting somebody who had fallen ill. He was buried in the local church, a fortified church which was later destroyed.
Work and Critical Reception
Weyer's works include
- De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantatiponibus ac Venificiis (On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons), 1563.
- De Lamiis Liber (Book on Witches), 1577
- Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (The Pseudo-monarchy of the Daemons), an appendix to De Pretigiis Daemonum, 1583.
Weyer criticised the Malleus Maleficarum and the witch hunting by the Christian authorities; he was said to have been the first person that used the term "mentally ill" to designate those women accused of practising witchcraft. In a time of great number of witch trials and executions, he sought to derogate the law concerning witchcraft prosecution.
Some scholars have said that Weyer intended to mock the concept of the hellish hierarchy that previous grimoires had established by writing those two books and entitling his catalogue of demons Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (The Pseudo-monarchy of the Demons).
Nevertheless, meanwhile in De Prestigiis Daemonum (The Illusions of the Demons) he defended the idea that the Devil's power was not so strong as it was said by the Christian church, he defended also the idea that demons had power and could appear before people who called upon them, creating illusions; but he commonly referred to magicians and not to witches when speaking about people who could create illusions, saying they were heretics, using the Devil's power to do it, and when speaking on witches, he used the term mentally ill.
More, Weyer did not only write the catalogue of demons Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, but also gave their description and the conjurations to invoke them in the appropriate hour and in the name of God and the Trinity, not to create illusions but to oblige them to do the conjurer's will, given advice on how to avoid certain perils and tricks if the demon was reluctant to do what he was commanded or a liar; this, together with the fact that he wanted to abolish the prosecution of witches, and that when speaking on those who invoke demons, which he called spirits, he carefully used the word exorcist, suggests the idea that the title Pseudomarchia Daemonum was an attempt to disguise the reality that he could have been not only an investigator on the subject but also a practitioner.
Weyer never denied the existence of the Devil and a huge number of other demons, of high and low hierarchy.
Having been a follower of a renowned occultist like Agrippa, having criticised the Malleus Maleficarum and the witch prosecution, having written two books on demonology, and having been credited as a pioneer in Psychiatry just for using the term mentally ill, Weyer is considered a contradictory character by many authors, but they could never make clear the reason for his alleged contradictions. Perhaps the answer to his contradictions is on the same Malleus Maleficarum: To invoke a demon and oblige him to serve a person in the name of God is not a sin, the sin and heresy consist in asking him.
However it is, he had to read previous grimoires and compilations to write his two works, and books on magic were not at hand to every people. His work was an inspiration for other occultists and demonologists, including an anonymous author who wrote the Lemegeton (The Lesser Key of Solomon). There were many editions of his books (written in Latin), especially Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, and several translations into English, the first by Reginald Scot.
Tributes
The church of Tecklenburg displays a plaque in memory of Weyer and the town has also erected a tower in his honour, in 1884. Also, the Johannes Wier Foundation, the Dutch human rights organisation for health workers, is named after him.
External links
- To Prevent a "Shipwreck of Souls": Johann Weyer and "De Praestigiis Daemonum" (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH36/slattery1.html), an essay by Elisa Slattery
- the Johannes Wier Foundation (http://www.johannes-wier.nl/index.php?newlang=english)de:Johann Weyer