Cornelius Loos - De Vera Et Falsa Magia Discovered

De Vera Et Falsa Magia Discovered

In 1886, George Lincoln Burr discovered the manuscript of True and False Magic in the Jesuit Library in Trier (a remnant of the University, which was dissolved in 1798). Although the title page was missing and no author was listed, Burr was able to authenticate the document by comparing the points made in the text with the points recanted in Loos’s confession to the Inquisition. A copy can be found in the rare manuscript collection at Cornell University, and the original is in the Trier Municipal Library.

In the manuscript, Loos argues against the existence of witchcraft and especially against the validity of confessions obtained under torture. (Binsfeld had in 1589 published his own book on witchcraft, in which he supported confessions and denunciations obtained through torture.) In his work, Loos is believed to have been influenced by the arguments of Johann Weyer, a Protestant Dutch physician, who in 1563 put forth a book attacking the persecution of witches while also categorizing kinds of magical demons. After recanting, Loos was under constant watch by religious officials, and was briefly imprisoned several more times, under the accusation that he had relapsed into theological error. This continued persecution was conducted by his nemesis, a priest in the Jesuit order named Martin Del Rio. Loos died February 3, 1595, in Brussels, succumbing to the Plague; Del Rio lamented that Loos had died before Del Rio could have him executed.