The devil's school: superstition in James VI's demonology

Abstract

This article analyzes the relevance of the concept of superstition with respect to James VI of Scotland’s Daemonologie (1597), with a particular focus on Book III of the treatise. It aims to show how the use of this particular analytical model helps to understand the way spirits and folk entities are conceived. The notion of the tacit pact will be emphasized as a common denominator between the different books that compose the Daemonologie. Additionally, this interpretation allows us to link James’s work with the 1563 Witchcraft Act and the broader Calvinist conceptions regarding superstitions.