Although he did not know it at the time, the author of this book, King James, was to become one of the most influential people in mankind's religious history. He was responsible for the widely accepted King James Bible, based in part on the beliefs set forth in this book. Written directly by his own hand, it is shown that he believed himself to be an instrument of God. He believed in Satan and that his mission was to seek out and kill "witches" (the Devil's ministers). He was convinced that they had tried to cast spells and kill him on numerous occasions. This book provides the reader with an interesting psychological profile of this man -- revealing his mindset and the tactics used to hold sway over his people.

2008-01-23 A Right Royal Demonological Discourse

Underrated and dismissed by many as a rampant perverted social misfit, James VI & I was the archetypal renaissance King in that he was intellectually irrepressible and in many ways, brilliant. This work is testament to that, as he turns his attention to witchcraft, a source of some ire for him as witches had supposedly recently made an attempt on his life. "Demonology" is well written, and this edition is bundled with "Newes From Scotland", another invaluable source for the study of the paranormal in the early modern period.

There is one gripe - the edition I received (the one with the cartoon of the winged, sword wielding demon on the cover) had a new preface written by someone who quite obviously has no grasp of the history of the period and can only be pushing some sort of religio-political agenda: the King James version of the Bible comes in for particularly venomous treatment and one can only assume that this is tied in with that self same agenda. The preface labels James as a bestial blood thirsty pervert who sought carnal pleasure from freshly slain animals (untrue), who was the product of an affair between Rizzio and Mary, Queen of Scots (untrue), places the capital of Scotland at Edinburg (sic) and places Elizabeth I of England on the throne of Scotland for some insane and woefully inaccurate reason.

The actual sources are priceless. The preface is good for a laugh and a great demonstration of how history should not be written.