"The fearful abounding, at this time and in this country of these detestable slaves of the devil, the witches (...) hath moved me to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine (...) to resolve the doubting (...) both that such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised, and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be punished." "King James the VI of Scotland
and King James the I of England"
and King James the I of England"
From the tale of "Macbeth," the history of Daemonologie is shown in the book that he approves and supports the truth of witchcraft and the practice of witch hunting. Demonologie goes as far back as the 1500's till the 1700's. It was then that King James the VI of Scotland (later known as the I of England) was first introduced to the North Berwick Witch Trials, Scotland's first major incident. It all began when King James the VI was traveling to Denmark to marry the Princess Anne, sister to Christan the IV. On their return, a horrible storm had forced them to take shelter for several weeks in Norway before they could continue and this is when it started to get bad.
After they had made it home, the admiral of the escorting Danish fleet, accused a women, a wife of a Scottish noble, of being responsible for their misfortune on the sea believing that it had happened because he had insulted her before the voyage. This then caused gossip and with that speculation spread that the several nobles of Scottish court were involved in witchcraft.
Soon hundreds of people were accused and tortured by the speculations of witchcraft. Overseeing each of theses accusations was King James. Watching each trial he saw hundreds more confessing that they had done dealings with the devil and tried to plot his demise on the ship after endless torture. . These trials are what drove King James to write the books of daemonologie, truly believing that the Witchcraft had spawned into the world and the Devil, Satan was at their doorstep.
In his writings King James wrote two books known as, "The first and Second Booke of Daemonologies." In the books describes about GOD's willing and the fall of the ones who dwell in witchcraft. Both books rely on the support of witch hunting, but the two separate how there are different types of witches and which deserves what punishment. Some would be chained to drown, hanged upside down, pulled apart, and burned alive! Within these readings some people would hope to find evil and destroy it but is it really just causing us to become that evil?
To Learn more:
The life of King James VI of Scotland:
description of Sorcerie and Witchcraft(Books I and II of Daemonologie) can be found at:
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/
The Divided Chapters of each book can be found at:
Images can be located via: Google Images ( James the 1st of England, Devil, and Daemonologie, and filkr.com)
6 comments:
hmm... intersting question. I do believe that the readings could have resulted in more evildoings becuase it opened a door. Everyone that was curious about what witchcraft and evil were now had a book full of ideas and possibilities. So, is it best to inform the public about everything? I suppose that sometimes it is not- because it opens a can of worms. Now, people know what is really going on out there, and everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame.
However, one could argue that it is the right of the people to know what is going on with everything, all the time. I am not sure where I stand on this- and I suppose things like this are best to be taken on a case by case manner.
Yes, I do believe publishing a book about evil will in turn create a society with thoughts revolving around evil. When people read about wicked characteristics people around them may possess it makes people look for those characteristics. For example, I know when I learn new things about the human body in A and P I try to apply them to the real world. It's just how the human brain works... We fixate on things that interest us. Look at the Salem witchcraft trials for example. These trials took place many years after King James but still revolved around the same concepts of daemonology. This proves that the idea of evil lives on because future generations are able to bring it up again once reading the books provided about such concepts. If we truly want to forget about something in the world it is best to leave it in the past. Saying this however, I believe future generations would have uncovered witches and evil in the future even if the books had not been written. Evil lives on no matter what century we are in or what events going on in the world.
I dont think that it is best for the public to be informed about everything. A lot of the times i think it could make it worse because now everyone can hear different stories through different people and then it gets to the point where half of it isn't true. I think that publishing a book about evil would definitely make it easier for future generations to get caught up on the concept. I agree with Kellie that even if the book wasnt created, someone probably would have made up stories about witchcraft, but the book made it possible for them to give proof.
I disagree. I think that the public should know and that not publishing a book because it may open people up to ideas would be censorship. I think a lot of people have this whole mentality of ignorance is bliss.
I agree with absolutelyido- people have a complete right to be informed in what is going on in their world, because, in one way or another, it will affect them.
i agree with AutoBahnForAll i think that the public should be informed about what is going on, because they will end up finding out in some way or another and it will end up effecting them in them long run, and not publishing a book bc it might give people ideas about something is dumb, even if its not published in a book or whatever someone is going to get the idea from somewhere and will do it anyways.
I will try to keep this short, First, would any of you say that you know everything there is to know about the world around you? Second, are any of you totally discombobulated by this ignorance? Finally, If not knowing everything doesn't harm you then why would you to change that, by giving people access to tentative, or controversial information? I am all for freedom, but I also understand that somethings are better left unknown, everything is connected, so learning about positive things leads to knowledge about negative things, so knowing too much about anything can't possible be good for anyone, but that is just my opinion.
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