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King James' Daemonologie in the Form of a Dialogue, Divided into Three Books. Originally Printed in Edinburgh 1597, Modified for Easy Reading, with a Glossary

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Published in 1597, this is a short work on witchcraft and demonology written by King James I of England. This work was written essentially to counter the works of rationalists like Reginald Scot and Johann Weyer who argued against the belief in witchcraft and demonic magic. James I was in his younger years a firm believer in the power and danger of witchcraft and was himself convinced of a plot by witches to kill him and his queen during a sea voyage in 1590. The case of the North Berwick Witches is famous even today and was definately the motivating factor in James intense support for the trying and execution of witches in Scotland prior to his accendancy to the English throne in 1603. Following his rise to the throne of England, James seems to have lost much of his interest in witchcraft, but maintained enough mistrust to see that his official English edition of the Bible included the translation of Exodus 22:18 as "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live".