Whether you know him as Johann Weyer, Johannes Wier or Joannus Wieri, he’s a scholar who certainly left his mark on occultism. Weyer was ahead of his time in arguing that the people accused in witch trials were innocent, and his Pseudomonarchia Daemonum is a key text in demonology. Less well-known is that he also wrote skeptically on the topic of werewolves.
His 1577 book De lamiis liber contains a chapter devoted to lycanthropy. The whole book is in Latin and I’ll admit that I resorted to Google Translate, but I was able to discern the thrust of his argument. Weyer begins by expressing incredulity at reports of men having transformed into wolves, goats, dogs, cats or any other animals. After all, he argues, man was created in the image of God and by divine law placed above the beasts.
Pointing out that such transformations are said never to affect those of sound mind, Weyer concludes that any man who claims to become a wolf is merely deluded, and chastises his fellow Christians for being so gullible as to believe otherwise. Tales of Circe turning men into pigs, Demarchus becoming a wolf, or Lucius becoming a donkey, he stresses, are no more than fictions of poets.
Weyer is not a total skeptic about dark supernatural forces, of course. Moving to the topic of werewolves in Livonia (possibly influenced by Olaus Magnus, who identified this land as a werewolf hotbed) he theorists that the vicious Livonian wolves are indeed under the sway of the Devil. However, he continues to reject the idea that such animals could ever change into men. God alone has the power of creation, he argues; and so by extension, God alone could carry out such a transformation: it is simply beyond the power of the Devil.
For ease of reference, I’ve included a plain text transcription of the chapter below. Any errors are mine and mine alone, so any corrections will be most welcome. Many thanks to Steve J. Wright for help with the Greek. The volume abbreviated as “de Præst.dem” is, I believe, Weyer’s own De praestigiis daemonum.
HOMINES VLLIVS REI Potentia in bestias transformari nequire. Cap. XIIII.
Ad Lamiarum omnipotentiam tandem quoque refertur, quòd se in lupos, hircos, canes, feles aut alias bestias pro fuæ libidinis dele etu uerè & subftantialiter momento trásmutare, & tantillo tempore in homines rursus reformare posse fateantur, idq; deliramerum ab eximijs etiá uiris pro ipsa ueritate defendatur. Cæ terùm admirari satis nequeo, ullum mortalium saltem leuiter mentis sensu tin&tum inueniri, qui eò dementiæ sit dilapsus, ut hominem ad Dei similitudinem & imaginem creatum, conformatum q; ex corpore, anima & spiritu, Dei & ipiritussanetti templum, rationis hospitiu, cupidum scientiarum organum, sublimé, erectum, & ad cœli quasi cognationis domicilijq; pristini conspectum excitatú, imò μικρόςκόσμου, cui Deus omnia subiecit,oues, boues, campi pecora, uolucres cœli & pisces maris, eaq; propter solum hominem condidit, hunc inquá in lupum, bestiá irrationabilem, pestilentissimum brutorum gurgitem uoraginemq;, siue in ullam aliam creaturá, rei ullius potentia, uel uirtute manifesta, occulta aut specifica uerè trásmutari credat. Ordi nis enim diuini prouidétia no admittit, occlamat sacræ literæ, contradicút Decreta, ipse Augustinus aliquot locis, D. Thomas, ipsilsima rerú natura atq; ratio minimè patiuntur. Si itaq; obtinuero, illa metamorphosin no reuera fuisle facta, quod etiá nemo mentis sa næ inficiari poterit, & propterea imaginaria esse cófessioné, atq; hae in par te falsissima: quá fidé quelo merebun tur reliqua quæ cófitetur flagitia, que in ea transformatione & larua lupina solùm fuisse defignata, nec aliter eo modo sieri potuifle, iam in confessum uenit? At mera profectò sunt deliria,& plusquá nugae, imò insania. Dolédum sanè, prudentium uirorú oculos ha&te nus tá densa caligine fuisse obductos, ut sibi uel fidei momenti in his ludibrijs extorqueri permiserint. Sed ea fuit superioris potissimùm seculi labes & cæcitas, quo pro libidine cú ho minibus crassè nimis, ridiculè & nocétissimè collusit ueteratorille. Vtiná animo cuiuslibet hoc obstricti fascino etiamnum ex immensa Dei misericor dia insonet dulcissima illa uox Ephata:ut quemadmodú ea ex Christi ore potenter prolata surdo aures aperiebat, ueritati inde conuertendas: & lin guæ uinculum soluebatur, qua porrò ueritaté prædicaret: ita & ex hac gratia luminis diuini radius effulgeat, quo offufis tam impotenter à diabolo tenebris semel tandem cœlesti luce discussis profligatisque, in clarissimæ ueritatis confpe&tum & cognitio nem citra præstigiarum impedimentum rectà perueniri pofsit. Facessant hic poëtarum figmenta, Circes omnipotentia, Demarchi fabula, Apulei metamorphofis, & Luciani transformatio. De lycanthropia morbo, quo se in lupos conuerti credunt homines, consule lib.4.cap.23.de Præst.dem. & de naturali sexus humani mutat. cap.sequens eiusdem libri.
Si qui uerò obuagari in Liuonia & locis finitimis uideantur lupi noxij, quos lamias putant, Germanis Wer-wolff dicti: ij certè uel ueri funt lupi, in eiusmodi tragœdiá exagitati à dæmo ne, qui interim horum uagis erroribus & actionibus, delirorum λυκανθρωπων phantafiæ organa imbuit uitiatq;, ut ij se esse excursionum erronearum & actionum authores corrupta imaginatione arbitrentur fateanturque: quod quidem diabolo non esse difficile, ex descripτο λυκανθρωπίας morbo cuiliber non omnino rudi constat, dum humores & spiritus in hæc ludibria idoneos commouet, potissimùm quibus atræ bilis nebulæ cerebrum uitiare so lent: cuiusmodi existit fatuum monstrosumque id genus hominum. uel certè dæmones censendi sunt eiuscemodi lupi, qui eam affumpfere formam, ut malè credulos hos homines magis irretirent suis uaframentis, insontes grauarent, & sanguinis innocentis reum redderent magistratum. Interea ij qui se in lupos credit transformatos, alto immersi somno diaboli studio, alicubi iacere comperiuntur, quorum somnia ijs confundit ima ginibus, quas hominum oculis præsti giosè in pueris uel insectandis uel uorandis, siue arméto lædendo, aut longe lateq; hinc inde uagado, aut uario impetu insiliendo obijcit ueterator ille:ut profectò no leuiter denuò mirer, cordatos inueniri uiros, qui delusoru horum hominú confessioni tanquam ucracissimæ innixi, mortis sententia contra eosdem pronunciare non grauentur. Sed uno ab illis uerbo catego ricè mihi uelim responderi, utrum uerè in lupos transmutari homines credant, nee’ne. Nihil condere aut uerè unquam transmutare diabolum potuisse, multò minus eiusdem clientelam, copiosè in nostris de Præstigijs dæmonum libris demonstraui. Solius id Dei munus & opus est, cuius priuilegij prærogatiua neminem dignatus is est unquam, occlamentut uolent, su riantq; quicunq; uiri sanguinum.
Doris V. Sutherland 