Everything about Johann Weyer totally explained
Johannes Wier a.k.a.
Johann Weyer, in Latin
Ioannes Wierus and
Piscinarius, (c.
1515,
Grave –
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 Incantationibus ac Venificiis (On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons,
1563).
Biography
Wier was born in a small town in the
Duchy of Brabant in the
Habsburg Netherlands. His father was a merchant of
hops. 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, Wier 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 Wier's salary in
1550 and Wier moved to
Cleves, where he became court doctor to duke
William the Rich, 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 a medical work on a subject unrelated to witchcraft. He died on
February 24 1588 at the age of 73 in
Tecklenburg, while visiting somebody who had fallen ill. He was buried in the local churchyard, which is no longer extant.
Work and Critical Reception
Wier's works include
"About 40 people at Casale in Western Lombardy smeared the bolts of the town gates with an ointment to spread the plague. Those who touched the gates where infected and many died. The heirs of the dead and diseased had actually paid people at Casale to smear the gates in order to obtain their inheritances more quickly." -From The Deceptions of Demons, 1583
Wier criticised the
Malleus Maleficarum and the
witch hunting by the
Christian and
Civil authorities; he's said to have been the first person that used the term "mentally ill" to designate those women accused of practicing witchcraft. In a time of a great number of
witch trials and executions, he sought to derogate the law concerning witchcraft prosecution.
Some scholars have said that Wier 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 False Kingdom of the Demons).
Nevertheless, while he defended the idea that the
Devil's power wasn't as strong as claimed by the Christian church in
De Praestigiis Daemonum, he defended also the idea that demons
did have 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 who were using the Devil's power to do it, and when speaking on witches, he used the term
mentally ill.
Moreover, Wier didn't 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, as well as advice on how to avoid certain perils and tricks if the demon was reluctant to do what he was commanded or a liar. In addition, he wanted to abolish the prosecution of witches, and when speaking on those who invoke demons (which he called
spirits) he carefully used the word
exorcist. All these facts 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.
Wier never denied the existence of the Devil and a huge number of other demons of high and low order. 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 Wier and the town has also erected a tower in his honor, in
1884. Also, the
Johannes Wier Foundation, the Dutch
human rights organization for
health workers, is named after him.
Further Information
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