Pseudomonarchia Daemonum is a printed spirit catalogue appended to Johann Weyer’s 1577 fifth edition of De praestigiis daemonum. Its names later travel through English and manuscript traditions, whose dates and editorial settings differ.
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Three frequently conflated dates and counts
The shortcut “Weyer’s 1563 list of 72 Goetia demons” conflates three objects. De praestigiis first appeared in 1563; its 1577 fifth edition names Pseudomonarchia as an addition; the later Ars Goetia has seventy-two entries while Weyer’s appendix has sixty-nine. The dates, titles, and totals establish bibliographic and textual differences among the three.
Weyer’s 1577 Latin appendix, Scot’s 1584 English intermediary, and the later Goetia manuscripts preserve related descriptions in different sequences. The spirit offices remain historical claims made by those texts. Their changing names, counts, and seals show how the catalogue was translated and reorganized.
Sources and editions
- Weyer, De praestigiis daemonum (1563), Open Library edition record and linked scan ↗
- Indiana University, 1577 fifth-edition catalogue record ↗
- Weyer, 1577 fifth edition, digitized book ↗
- Wellcome Collection, Reginald Scot, The discoverie of witchcraft (1584), public-domain scan ↗
- British Library, Sloane MS 3648 catalogue record ↗