About book The History Of Witchcraft And Demonology (1999)
This book is most definately not for everyone. And if you don't know what you're getting into you will most likely hate it. It is not a history of esoteric occult practices, or of hermeticism, paganism, witchcraft in the modern sense, folk magic, or even Christian theological mysticism. This book IS an astounding scholarly history of Christian heresy, with the strongest leaning being towards the witch trials of the 16th to the 18th centuries. I began this book with an extremely sceptical view of Montague Summers as a scholar and I checked nearly every fact he stated for it's historical validity. I was soon relieved of my doubts. I only caught two anecdotes he presented as false, one of which was only recently decided as being a fictionalization (the case of John Ruddle and the ghost), the other was one he didn't source and which seemed dubious to begin with (the 12 vampires in Tyrnau, which interestingly enough is a well documented case of anti-semitic blood libel where a woman under torture was forced to implicate much of the jewish community in gruesome murders). There were a handful of other cases Summers presented with no source which seem a little questionable, but nothing that would hurt the overall quality of the book. I've read a couple of reviews where people have disagreed with the authors own beliefs on the subject matter. He does write with a bias (and is a little "eccentric"), but this truly does not affect the indispensible quality and encyclopaedic scope of the book. His bias and erratic conclusions are not prominent throughout, they just pop up here and there, making them more than tolerable. And even he himself states regularly that the cases he is presenting are quite possibly incorrect or fabrications, as well as naming many known cases of malicious fraud. But he always comes to the conclusion (and not an illogical one) that considerning the scope of evidence some must be at least partially true. Who cares if Summers ends every chapter saying that witches were among us performing black masses if the last 80 pages were spent in presenting solid information in a very readable way. As for the content of the book itself, as I've said a few times it is quite the accomplishment as far as the subject matter is concerned. There is copious information on the heretical and gnostic sects of early christianity, some of which do tie in with the supposed practices of later witches, many of which do not (Summers just wishes they do). The info on the actual witch trials is of course also excellent, there's great explanations of christian and pagan symbolism, little known historical tales, quotes, and endless lists of obscure and well known works that are worth discovering on their own. Also there is an odd chapter on the witch in drama, primarily english, which was surprisingly very interesting and informative. It seemed like a point where Montague shed his overt piousness and did a sort of "the witch in pop culture" segment. The pop culture of the 16-19th century of course. The final detriment I found in the book was the short focus on Spiritism, something almost entirely fraudulent and a complete and utter fad. Luckily Summers treats it briefly enough and with wholehearted skepticism as well.
A lot of people hate Montague Summers, but I have a big, warm, soft spot in my heart for the man. He was clearly either so convinced of his position that he could not imagine any other, or else so unconvinced of his own position that he was trying harder to convince himself of it than his readers. I find Summers to be fascinating not so much for his information (spurious, at the best of times), but for what seems to be his own passion and the fervor with which he writers. His views on witchcraft could just as easily have come from the pen of a cloistered monk in medieval Germany, with the caveat that most medieval people were considerably more aware of what "witches" actually were and wrote against them for openly polemical reasons more than attempting to produce a real, historically useful record. In sum, Montague Summers is extremely interesting from the perspective of occult history, but not for his factual accuracy as much as his fervent stance against what he saw as a dangerous rise of witchcraft in his own lifetime and society. There's also the sheer entertainment of it.
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Montague Summers seems entirely convinced that witchcraft happened, but he overlooks the fact that these demonic activities and black magic rituals were largely conceived out of irrational fear. I don't agree with his views on witchcraft at all (I've always been more favourable to magical practice and sorceresses), but I am always amazed with his impressive bibliography and findings. I enjoyed the bits about Pythagorean treatment of demons and his inclusion of the rite of exorcism, as well as the rooster's relationship with witches. I don't know how accurate his information is, and I could argue with him all day long , but this book is very entertaining, to say the least, and introduces the reader to the vast realm of demonological scholarship.
—Curtis Runstedler
More pseudo-academic religious quibble from Montague. This man writes about the supposedly lewd practices of the devil-worshiping diabolical witch as though he wishes he could have been there. He tends to wander a bit in his writing. One begins to wonder exactly what his point could be, other than "I wish I could attend a Black Mass!" I rate it high simply by merit of its entertainment value. Having read his entry on werewolves before picking up any of his other works I find it impossible to take anything he says seriously.I see that some other readers on here have it tagged as belonging in Wiccan reference? This book's subject has absolutely nothing to do with the Wiccan religion, its beliefs or its practices. It's Christian propogated folklore, amusing and at one time dangerous.
—Eishexe
