The sixteenth century saw the world as being mortally threatened by Satan who was encouraged by the widespread popularity of magic and other occult practices. Church and society struck back to defend people from this tidal wave of wickedness. Del RÃoâs panoramic and detailed treatise provided a powerful weapon in that battle. Far from dry scholarship, however, âInvestigationsâ is an engaging, fascinating, earnest conversation between Del RÃo and his readers and a major contribution to understanding key aspects of everyday sixteenth century behaviour and the problem of evil.
Peter Maxwell-Stuart, Ph.D. (1994), FRHS, FSAC Scotland, is Reader in History at the University of St Andrews. He has widely published on classical subjects and occult sciences, as well as translations including Gómez Pereira's Antoniana Margarita (Brill, 2019).
Book 6: The Duty of a Confessor
âChapter 1: The Duty of a Confessor as Judge
âChapter 2: The Duty of the Confessor as physician
âChapter 3: A Defence of a Number of the Churchâs Remedies against the Malicious Accusations of Heretics
âA Summary of Twelve Wholesome Pieces of Advice Which Confessors Ought to Have at Hand
Appendix: The Life of MartÃn Del RÃo of the Society of Jesus, by Heribert Rosweyde SJ, (1609) Bibliography Index
Academic libraries, Mediaeval and Early Modern historians, post-graduate students, neo-Latin scholars.