Chapter 14 Early Modern Demonologies
In: A Companion to the Devil and Demons, c.1100â1750Search for other papers by David J. Collins SJ in
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Stuart Clark has famously described how demons were good to think with, that the analysis of demonic interests, activities, qualities, etc. also provided medieval and early modern thinkers with ways of working through major questions in history, science, law, and linguistics, among other categories. This field of study is known collectively as demonology. This chapter describes the development of treatises devoted to demonology in the later Middle Ages and their expansion and influence in early modern Europe. It traces the many ways that demons were good to think with, but also considers the constraints on this practice. The study of demonology thus complements the analysis of confessionalization, because demonologists were surprisingly ecumenical when it came to borrowing from each other. As such, they created a relatively consistent interpretation of demons, but one that, famously, might have little to do with lived experience.