Roger Bacon names, as one of the pseudo-Solomonic works circulating in the 1260s, a Book of the offices of the spirits, and the German abbot Trithemius still refers, in 1508, to a work called Concerning the office of the spirits. This work, or these works, must have had much the same character and purpose as the first part of Lemegeton, entitled Goetia.(11) A variant of Goetia was published by the Dutch medical doctor Johannes Weyer in 1577, under the title Pseudomonarchia daetnonum, and was later translated into English by Reginald Scot and incorporated into the fifteenth book of his Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). There we find descriptive lists of some scores of principal demons; detailing not only the forms in which each individual demon appears but also what offices he discharges and what powers he possesses. A few samples from Reginald Scot will convey something of the atmosphere:
Purson, alias Curson, a great king, he commeth forth like a man with a lions face, carrieng a most cruell viper, and riding on a beare; and before him go alwaies trumpets, he knoweth things hidden, and can tell all things present, past, and to come: he bewraieth treasure, he can take a bodie either humane or aierie; he answereth truelie of all things earthlie and secret, of the divinitie and creation of the world, and bringeth forth the best familiars; and there obeie him two and twentie legions of divels, partlie of the order of vertues, & partlie of the order of thrones....
Leraie, alias Oray, a great marquesse, shewing himselfe in the likenesse of a galant archer, carrieng a bowe and a quiver, he is author of all battels, he dooth putrifie all such wounds as are made with arrowes by archers, Quas optimos obijcit tribus diebus, and he hath regiment over thirtie legions....
Glasya Labolas, alias Caacrinolaas, or Caassimolar, is a great president, who commeth forth like a dog, and hath wings like a griffen, he giveth the knowledge of arts, and is the captaine of all mansleiers:* he understandeth things present and to come, he gaineth the minds and love of freends and foes, he maketh a man go invisible, and hath the rule of six and thirtie legions....
Berith is a great and a terrible duke, and hath three names. Of some he is called Beall; of the Jewes Berith; of Nigromancers Bolfry: he commeth forth as a red souldier, with red clothing, and upon a horsse of that colour, and a crowne on his head. He answereth trulie of things present, past and to come. He is compelled at a certeine houre, through divine vertue, by a ring of art magicke. He is also a lier, he turneth all mettals into gold, he adorneth a man with dignities, and confirmeth them, he speaketh with a cleare and a subtill voice, and six and twentie legions are under him....
Malphas is a great president, he is seene like a crowe, but being cloathed with humane image, speaketh with a hoarse voice, he buildeth houses and high towres wonderfullie, and quicklie bringeth artificers togither, he throweth downe also the enimies edifications, he helpeth to good familiars, he receiveth sacrifices willinglie, but he deceiveth all the sacrificers, there obeie him fourtie legions....
Shax, alias Scox, is a darke and a great marquesse, like unto a storke, with a hoarse and subtill voice: he dooth marvellouslie take awaie the sight, hearing, and understanding of anie man, at the commandement of the coniuror: he taketh awaie monie out of everie kings house....
Focalor is a great duke comming forth as a man, with wings like a griphen, he killeth men, and drowneth them in the waters, and overturneth ships of warre, commanding and ruling both winds and seas. And let the coniuror note, that if he bid him hurt no man, he willinglie consenteth thereto: he hopeth alter 1000. yeares to returne to the seventh throne, but he is deceived, he hath three legions....
Such were the demons of ritual magic. Essentially they belong to the hosts of hell, as these were imagined by medieval Catholicism: they are fallen, evil angels. Not that astrological links are altogether lacking: some books of magic do try to relate specific demons to specific planets, and insist that a conjuration will succeed only if it is timed with due regard to planetary influences. But this is a very minor theme. By and large the demons with which a magician concerns himself are indistinguishable from the demons whose operations we considered in Chapter 4. In some cases even the names are derived from the Bible. Thus the ruler of all the demons is Baal, the sun-god of the Canaanites, who in the Old Testament is portrayed as the greatest and more fearsome of all heathen gods and the lord of all abominations; while the “mighty king” Belial is familiar from Jewish apocalyptic, where he figures as the chief power of evil, and the “terrible duke” Berith is mentioned in the Book of Judges as the god of the infidels. Other demons bear names that are quite unknown outside the ritual magic of Europe and were obviously invented ad hoc; but clearly they too are thought of as belonging to the same infernal hierarchy. Some of the formulae of conjuration are quite explicit on the matter: “I conjure you divels… I conjure you, and everie of you, ye infernall kings.... by your hell, and by all the divels in it…”(13)
Moreover, the demons who are conjured up by name — the sixty-nine demons listed by Weyer and Scot, the seventy-two listed in Goetia — command the services of numberless lesser demons; and these are the demons whose ubiquity and incessant activity so appalled Abbot Richalmus of Schönthal.(14) Only, in the context of ritual magic these denizens of hell, instead of wreaking havoc according to their own desires, are harnessed to the magician's will.
Many of the benefits which a magician aimed to secure through his demonic contacts, whether for himself or for his employer, carried no harmful implications for other human beings. Through ritual magic one could, without effort, master the arts and sciences; one could compel the love of the mate one wanted; one could win the favour of the great and so advance one’s career; one could discover the whereabouts of hidden or buried treasure; one could foresee one’s future. Much the same demands exists today — and are catered for by a variety of industries, from cosmetics to sweepstakes, from personality courses to horoscopy. But if these were the commonest aims of ritual magic, they were not the only ones. Causing disease, deafness, blindness, insanity; provoking men to theft and murder; producing putrid wounds, leading to death within three days; burning the magician’s own enemies— these are true maleficia, and all of them figure amongst the “offices of the spirits”. In addition ritual magic was often sponsored by the rich and powerful, for their particular purposes: some demons specialized in producing wars and battles, sinking warships, demolishing walls, burning towns to the ground.