Magical Investigations by Martin del Rio

I've introduced witchcraft into my campaign. This has caused the scholarly PCs to consult experts and to want to do some research of their own about witchcraft. One of the aspects of Call of Cthulhu that I like is the occult tomes. So I wanted to replicate a bit of that. I'm also aware that the period in which my campaign is set saw the publication of more than a few books about magic and witchcraft and I wanted to include some of the real books in response to these requests by the players. In a previous post I highlighted Discours des Sorceirs. In this post I highlight Magical Investigations.

Magical Investigations (Latin: Disquisitiones Magicae) by the Jesuit Martin del Rio, a six book work on magic, superstition, and witchcraft which first appeared in three volumes published in Leuven in 1599 and 1600 by Gerard Rivius. In 1624 version in six volumes was published under the name Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex. The work contains many ideas of the Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of the Female Witches", 1486) as well as de Rio’s experience as a young magistrate and colleague of Nicolas Remy, the famous magistrate and hunter of witches. Delrio also drew on histories of other countries and continents, as well as Jesuit reports from the New World. Delrio also drew on histories of other countries and continents, as well as Jesuit reports from the New World. The work associates witchcraft with both heresy and the Devil. A French translation was published in 1611. Among other things the text explains that Witches can render themselves invisible with the help of the Devil. 

The French National Library hosts an online version of Disquisitiones Magicae.

Here are a couple of previous postings for books on witchcraft: Discours des Sorceirs and the Malleus Mallificarum. And for the book collectors, here's a posting on the cost of books in the period.