King James, the First: Dæmonologie (1597).

1924·6.8 MB·English

by  James I, King of England, 1566-1625

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KING JAMES the FIRST
D^MONOLOGIE (1597)
NEWES FROM SCOTLAND
(1591)
IX
BODLEY HEAD QUARTOS

THE BODLEY HEAD QUARTOS
EDITED BY G. B. HARRISON
KING JAMES the FIRST
D^MONOLOGIE
(1597)
NEWES FROM SCOTLAND
declaring the Damnable Life and death of
T>ocior Fian, a notable Sorcerer who was burned at
Edenbrough in January last.
('591)
Published by John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd
Vigo Street, London, W.i, and by
E. P. Dutton & Company, New York
boston cotteoe
chestnut hile, mass.
THE ORIGINAL of this
text is in the Bodleian Library
(Douce. I. 23O5 which, how¬
ever, lacks pp. 9 and i o ; these
have been taken from ‘Wood
B21’). The text {not the Pre¬
face) is reprinted line for line
and page for page; pages are
numbered as in the original.
The few corrections which I
have made are noted on p. 82.
G. B. H.
This reprint first published in 1924
fCMade and Printed in Great Britain at the
CUBWEN TRESS, Tiaisto’w, London, E.i^
INTRODUCTION
HE Damonologie of King James,
the Sixth of Scotland and First of
England, was written, as the
Royal author states in his Preface,
to prove that ‘the assautes of
Sathan are most certainly prac¬
tized, & that the instrumentes
thereof, merits most severly to be punished.’ Such
a work has more than a passing interest. It gives the
student of history and literature a brief and authori¬
tative guide to the darker beliefs of our ancestors j
there is, too, much.to interest the theologian and the
psychologist, whilst the philologist will find the book
a mine of rare and curious phrases.
To the modern mind, after three centuries of
scientific discovery, many of Epistemon’s arguments
will appear somewhat naive, and, it must be con¬
fessed, that Philomathes, in his laudable efforts to
draw out his companion’s erudition, sometimes puts
questions which are very inadequately answered.
Our greater discernment and weaker faith will
scarcely be convinced by the example: ‘Thirdly, said
not Samuell to Saull^ that disobedience is as the sinne
of Witch-craft} To compare to a thing that were
not, it were too too absurd.’ Still, given the implicit
INTRODUCTION
VI
belief, the conclusions are not illogical. King James
makes many shrewd observations, and the twentieth-
century medium would probably confirm ‘that there
are twentie women giuen to that craft, where ther is
one man.’ The explanation (given on pp. 43-4)
would not, perhaps, be as readily accepted.
The Newes from Scotland^ which is also included
in this volume of the Bodley Head Quartos^ claims to
give a true account of a very notable witch trial
wherein King James took a prominent part. The
influence of the ‘revelations’ then made can clearly
be seen in the Damonologie. Although at first sight
the cruelty and barbarity of the whole business is
revolting, it must not be put down as solely due to
panic and terror. These poor women when their
heads were ‘thrawen with a rope according to the
custom of that Country ’ were ready to confess any¬
thing, but the credulity of the judges was under¬
standable after Agnis Sampson had drawn the King
aside and ‘declared vnto him the verye woordes which
passed betweene the Kings Maiestie and his Queene
at Vpslo in Norway the first night of their marriage,
with their answere each to other.’ Even a stouter
hearted scholar would have found remarkable con¬
firmation of his worst fears in this alarming revela¬
tion. Moreover, in destroying the Devil’s ministers
the King really thought that he was only carrying
out his plain duty towards God.
Of King James himself one of the most vivid
accounts is to be found in a letter of Sir John