Demonology
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Demonology. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) That branch of magic which deals with malevolent spirits. In religious science it has come to indicate knowledge regarding supernatural beings who are not deities. But, it is in regard to its magical significance only that it falls to be dealt with here. The Greek term Daimon, originally indicated "genius" or "spirit," but in England it has come to mean a being actively malevolent. Ancient Demonology will be found dealt with in the articles Egypt, Semites, Genius and Devil-Worship, and savage demonology under the heads of the various countries and races where it had its origin. According to Michael Psellus, demons are divided into six great bodies. First, the demons of fire. Second, those of the air. Third, those of the earth. The fourth inhabit the waters and rivers, and cause tempests and floods; the fifth are subterranean, who prepare earthquakes and excite volcanic eruptions. The sixth, are shadows, something of the nature of ghosts. St. Augustine comprehends all demons under the last category. This classification of Psellus is not unlike that system of the middle ages , which divided all spirits into those belonging to the four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, or salamanders, sylphs, undines, and gnomes. The mediæval idea of demons was, of course, in a direct It line from the ancient Christian and Gnostic supposition. The Gnostics, of early Christian times, in imitation of a classification of the different orders of spirits by Plato, had attempted a similar arrangement with respect to an hierarchy of angels, the gradation of which stood as follows:-The first and highest order was named seraphim, the second cherubim, the third was the order of thrones, the fourth of dominions, the fifth of virtues, the sixth of powers, the seventh of principalities, the eighth of archangels, the ninth, and lowest, of angels. This classification was, in a pointed manner, censured by the apostles, yet still, strange to say, it almost outlived the pneumatologists of the middle ages. These schoolmen, in reference to the account that Lucifer rebelled against heaven, and that Michael, the archangel, warred against him, long agitated the momentous question : "What orders of angels fell on this occasion?" At length, it became the prevailing opinion that Lucifer was of the order of Seraphim. was also proved after infinite research, that Agares , Belial, and Barbatos, each of them deposed angels of great rank, had been of the order of virtues; that Bileth, Focalor, and Phenix, had been of the order of thrones; that Goap had been of the order of powers, and that Purson had been both of the order of virtues and of thrones; and Murmur, of thrones and of angels. The pretensions of many other noble devils were likewise canvassed, and, in equally satisfactory manner, determined. Afterwards, it became an object of enquiry to learn : How many fallen angels had been engaged in the contest?" This was a question of vital importance, which gave rise to the most laborious research, and to a variety of discordant opinions. It was next agitated: "Where the battle was foughtin the inferior heaven, in the highest region of the air, in the firmament, or in Paradise?" How long it lasted ?whether during one second, or moment of time (punctum temporis), two, three, or four seconds?" These are queries of very difficult solution, but the notion which ultimately prevailed was, that the engagement was concluded in exactly three seconds from the date of its commencement; and that while Lucifer, with a number of his followers, fell into hell, the rest were left in the air to tempt man. still newer question rose out of all these investigations: "Whether more angels fell with Lucifer, or remain in heaven with Michael?" Learned clerks, however, were inclined to think that the rebel chief had been beaten by a superior force, and that, consequently, devils of darkness were fewer in number than angels of light. 66 66 A These discussions which, during the number of successive centuries interested the whole of Christendom, too frequently exercised the talents of the most erudite persons in Europe. The last object of demonologists was to collect, in some degree of order, Lucifer's routed forces, and to reorganise them under a decided form of subordination or government. Hence, extensive districts were given to certain chiefs who fought under this general. There was Zimimar, "the lordly monarch of the north," as Shakespeare styles him, who had his distinct province of devils; there was Gorson, the King of the South; Amaymon, the King of the East; and Goap, the Prince of the West. These sovereigns had many noble spirits subordinate to them, whose various ranks were settled with all the preciseness of heraldic distinction; there were Devil Dukes, Devil Marquises, Devil Counts, Devil Earls, Devil Knights, Devil Presidents, and Devil Prelates. The armed force under Lucifer seems to have comprised nearly twenty-four hundred legions, of which each demon of rank commanded a certain number. Thus, Beleth, whom Scott has described as a great king and terrible, riding on a pale horse, before whom go trumpets and all melodious music," commanded eighty-five legions; Agares, the first Demonology duke under the power of the East, commanded thirty-one legions; Leraie, a great marquis, thirty legions; Morax, a great earl and a president, thirty-six legions; Furcas, a knight, twenty legions; and, after the same manner, the forces of the other devil chieftains were enumerated. Such were the notions once entertained regarding the history, nature, and ranks of devils. Our next object will be to show that, with respect to their strange and hideous forms the apparitions connected with the popular belief on this subject, were derived from the descriptive writings of such demonologists, as either maintained that demons possessed a decided corporeal form, and were mortal, or that, like Milton's spirits, they could assume any sex, and take any shape they chose. When, in the middle ages, conjuration was regularly practised in Europe, devils of rank were supposed to appear under decided forms, by which they were as well recognised as the head of any ancient family would be by his crest and armorial bearings. Along with their names and characters were registered such shapes as they were accustomed to adopt. A devil would appear, either like an angel seated in a fiery chariot, or riding on an infernal dragon, and carrying in his right hand a viper; or assuming a lion's head, a goose's feet, and a hare's tail; or putting on a raven's head, and mounted on a strong wolf. Other forms made use of by demons were those of a fierce warrior, or of an old man riding upon a crocodile with a hawk in his hand. A human figure would arise having the wings of a griffin; or sporting three heads, two of them being like those of a toad and of a cat; or defended with huge teeth and horns, and armed with a sword; or displaying a dog's teeth and a large raven's head; or mounted upon a pale horse, and exhibiting a serpent's tail; or gloriously crowned, and riding upon a dromedary; or presenting the face of a lion; or bestriding a bear, and grasping a viper. There are also such shapes as those of an archer, or of a Zenophilus. A demoniacal king would ride upon a pale horse; or would assume a leopard's face and griffin's wings; or put on the three heads of a bull, of a man, and a ram, with a serpent's tail, and the feet of a goose; and, in this attire, bestride a dragon, and bear in his hand a lance and a flag; or, instead of being thus employed, goad the flanks of a furious bear, and carry in his fist a hawk. Other forms were those of a goodly knight; or of one who bore lance, ensigns, and even a sceptre; or of a soldier, either riding on a black horse, and surrounded by a flame of fire, or wearing on his head a duke's crown, and mounted on a crocodile or assuming a lion's face, and, with fiery eyes, spurring on a gigantic charger; or, with the same frightful aspect, appearing in all the pomp of family distinction, on a pale horse; or clad from head to foot in crimson raiment, wearing on his bold front a crown, and sallying along on a red steed. Some infernal duke would appear in his proper character, quietly seated on a griffin; another spirit of a similar rank would display the three heads of a serpent, a man, and a cat; he would also bestride a viper, and carry in his hand a firebrand. Another of the same type would appear like a duchess, encircled with a fiery zone, and mounted on a camel; a fourth, would wear the aspect of a boy, and amuse himself on the back of a two-headed dragon. A few spirits, however, would be content with the simple garbs of a horse, a leopard, a lion, an unicorn, a night raven, a stork, a peacock, or a dromedary, the latter animal speaking fluently the Egyptian language. Others would assume the more complex forms of a lion or of a dog, with a griffin's wings attached to each of their shoulders, or of a bull equally well gifted; or of the same animal, distinguished by the singular feature of a man's face; or of a crow clothed with human flesh; or of a hart with a fiery tail. To certain other noble devils were assigned such shapes as those of a dragon with three heads, one of these being human; of a wolf with a serpent's tail, breathing forth flames of fire; of a she-wolf exhibiting the same caudal appendage together with griffin's wings, and ejecting from her mouth_hideous matter. A lion would appear, either with the head of a branded thief, or astride upon a black horse, and playing with a viper, or adorned with the tail of a snake, and grasping in his paws two hissing serpents. These were the varied shapes assumed by devils of rank. "It would, therefore," says Hibbert, "betray too much of the aristocratical spirit to omit noticing the forms which the lower orders of such beings displayed. In an ancient Latin poem, describing the lamentable vision of a devoted hermit, and supposed to have been written by St. Bernard in the year 1238, those spirits, who had no more important business upon earth than to carry away condemned souls, were described as blacker than pitch; as having teeth like lions, nails on their fingers like those of a wild-boar, on their fore-head horns, through the extremities of which poison was emitted, having wide ears flowing with corruption, and discharging serpents from their nostrils. The devout writer of these verses has even accompanied them from drawings, in which the addition of the cloven feet is not omitted. But this appendage, as Sir Thomas Brown has learnedly proved, is a mistake, which has arisen from the devil frequently appearing to the Jews in the shape of a rough and hairy goat, this animal being the emblem of sin-offering." It is worthy of further remark, that the form of the demons described by St. Bernard differs little from that which is no less carefully pourtrayed by Reginald Scot, three hundred and fifty years later, and, perhaps, by the demonologists of the present day. "In our childhood," says he, "our mother's maids have so terrified us with an ouglie divell having horns on his head, fier in his mouth, and a tail on his breech, eies like a bason, fangs like a dog, clawes like a beare, a skin like a niger, and a voice like a roaring lion-whereby we start and are afraid when we hear one cry bough." Wit the view of illustrating other accounts of apparitions, we must advert to the doctrines of demonology which were once taught. Although the leading tenets of this occult science may be traced to the Jews and early Christians, yet they were matured by our early communication with the Moors of Spain, who were the chief philosophers of the dark ages, and between whom and the natives of France and Italy much communication subsisted. Toledo, Seville, and Salamanca, became the great schools of magic. At the latter city, prelections on the black art were, from a consistent regard to the solemnity of the subject, delivered within the walls of a vast and gloomy cavern. The schoolmen taught that all knowledge and power might be obtained from the assistance of the fallen angels. They were skilled in the abstract sciences, in the knowledge of precious stones, in alchemy, in the various languages of mankind and of the lower animals, in the belles lettres, in moral philosophy, pneumatology, divinity, magic, history, and prophecy. They could control the winds, the waters, and the influence of the stars; they could raise earthquakes, induce diseases, or cure them, accomplish all vaster mechanical undertakings, and release souls out of purgatory. They could influence the passions of the mind, procure the reconcilation of friends or foes, engender mutual discords, induce mania and melancholy, or direct the force and objects of the sexual affections. According to Wierus, demons are divided into a great many classes, and into regular kingdoms and principalities, nobles and commoners. Satan is by no means the great sovereign of this monarchy, but his place is taken by Beelzebub. Satan is Deoca 66 Alalluded to by Wierus as a dethroned monarch, and Chief of the Opposition: Moloch, Chief of the Army; and Pluto, Prince of Fire; and Leonard, Grand Master of the Sphere. The masters of these infernal courts are, Adramelech, Grand Chancellor; Astaroth, Grand Treasurer; and Nergal, Chief of the Secret Police; and Baal, Chief of the Satanic Army. According to this authority, each state in Europe has also its infernal ambassadors. Belphegor is thus accredited to France, Mammon to England, Belial to Turkey, Rimmon to Russia, Thamuz to Spain, Hutjin to Italy, and Martinet to Switzerland. Berbiguier, writing in 1821, has given a sketch of the Infernal Court. He says: "This court has representatives on earth. These mandatories are innumerable. I give nomenclature and degree of power of each: Moreau, magician and sorcerer of Paris, represents Beelzebub; Pinel, a doctor of Salpétrière, represents Satan; Bouge, represents Pluto; Nicholas, a doctor of Avigum, represents Moloch; and so on. together," says Wierus, "there are in the infernal regions 6666 legions, each composed of the same number of devils." Demonology and Witchcraft by Sir Walter Scott: This work occupies a curious and pathetic place in Sir Walter Scott's vast literary output. Four years subsequent to his financial débâcle, in 1826, the author sustained a mild apoplectic shock, and it was shortly after this that John Murray, who was then issuing a series known as "The Family Library," asked Sir Walter to contribute thereto a volume on demonology. Consent was given readily, but, as an entry in Scott's journal makes manifest, he did not care greatly for the work, and really engaged in it just because he was still in the throes of writing off his debts, and had to accept every commission which was offered him. In short, the book was begun from a purely commercial motive, and was composed when the writer's mental faculties were perforce sluggish, the natural result being that it is infinitely inferior to his other writings. But despite its inferiority herein, Sir Walter's volume has its interest for students of occultism. The writer is lame enough in what might be called the speculative parts of his book-those pages, for instance, in which he tries laboriously to account for the prevalence in the middle-ages of belief in witchcraft and the like but his wonderful and well-stored memory stood him in good stead when writing those passages concerned purely with facts, and thus there is considerable value in his account of demonology in France and in Sweden, and in all that he says about Joan of Arc. Moreover, his intimate knowledge of early Scottish literature gives a singular importance to all those of his chapters which are concerned with his native land, while it is interesting to find that here and there, he offers something of a sidelight on his own immortal novels, as for example, when he treats of those spectres which he had dealt with previously in Woodstock. 4
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) the doctrine that reings inferior in rank to deities proper, but yet capable of influencing human affairs. The earlier and more widely spread conception of the demon was merely that of a more or less powerful and intermediate agent between gods and men at one time resolving himself tron-spirit, at another acti into a kind of special guardian or paminister of the divine displeasure. acting as the one of the thousand spiritual beings who To primitive man the demon was but controlled every one of the causes of nature, and whose favor must be purchased by constant tributes of respect and worship. It was perfectly consistent with primitive philosophy that the tinue after death the influence they enmanes or ghosts of the dead should conjoyed in life, and thus should pass into the higher class of deities. It is not merely family affection, but actual fear and considerations of prudence, that lead to the worship of ancestors and of 21-Vol. III-Cyc the dead; and the good or bad fortune of living men is attributed to the direct interference of the invisible spirits with which the whole air around is swarming. These spirits may not only affect the fortune of the individual, but may even enter into his body, and cause internal diseases and such other inexplicable phenomena as frenzy, wild ravings, hysterical epilepsy, and the like. The very etymology of such words as catalepsy and ecstasy points plainly to a time when there was no metaphor in their meaning. Such is the explanation of disease offered at the present day by savage man all over the world, and such was also the belief of the semi-civilized ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Indeed, it disappeared but slowly before the progress of scientific medicine, and continued to reappear in survivals strangely perplexing on any other explanation. Hence the function of the exorcist arises naturally as a means of effecting a cure by expelling the demon, and we find him daily exercising his skill in Africa, and even in China and India. In early Christian times those demoniacally possessed, or energumens, were grouped into a class under the care of a special order of clerical exorcists, and after the time of St. Augustine the rite of exorcism came to be applied to all infants before baptism.