King James believed he was the target of an international Satanic conspiracy - he was personally involved in the infamously lethal North Berwick Witch Trials of the 1590s, an experience which had a profound impact on him and inspired him to write Demonology. If you'd like to learn more about the book's historical context, check out this companion video by Dr. Justin Sledge, an expert on western occultism, over on ESOTERICA: th-cam.com/video/BkAbfABZOwA/w-d-xo.html
It might just be the language shift but somehow 16th century conspiracy theories just seem more classy then the modern ones. No less insane but somehow more classy.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat I agree, if you listen to 20:30 it's practically Lovecraftian. Such deep and philosophical fear. In comparison, Qanon is resurrecting JFK Jr because they remember seeing him in a supermarket tabloid
@@yrobtsvt The JFK thing might be the forest for the trees a lot of the individual activities the witches were attributed make just as little sense. It might even just be that this was a single writer who took who knows how long rather then a wide assortment of contributors feeding off each other and posting one step removed from stream of consciousness. But if you imagine Qanon posts written by Shakespeare this is pretty close to what you get, maybe not in the specifics but in the feeling.
@@Terminalsanity to be fair that likely played a part in it though Werewoves can be seen as a Christian being too based on Folklore but its not in the bible like say Demons and well witches somewhat.
Love that our sweet King opens by saying “the gentleman defending the witches in print is surely a witch,” I’m sure this socratic dialogue will surely be in good faith and strictly in pursuit of truth
I just finished watching this and don't know where to start, but can safely say I've never seen a video covering a treatise or historical document and brought to life like this, especially in the accent/dialect of the time...frickin' awesome!
@@ii121 there’s a short video on TH-cam of the very beginning in what we think Sumerian sounded like- with a Sumerian instrument too! I think the videos by Peter Pringle
King James's insistence that werewolves aren't real is a weirdly specific thing to deny the existence of in the middle of a treatise on the supernatural...
"They can't be insane, because they're fat." "They can't shrink to microscopic sizes, because transubstantiation is Catholic." Logical with a capital L.
Atun-shei: says he actually hates the dialogue format videos and would rather do others Also Atun-Shei: makes an hour and a half long dialogue format video I for one am very happy, thank you
@@AtunSheiFilms Have you thought about making a dialogue with material that can more persuasively be argued one way or the other as opposed to those topics that are easier to debunk?
Legitimately though I love dialogue formats, for writing too. So much easier to present an argument as a conversation than as an essay, and more engaging as wel
this made me realize that historical texts written as dialogues are literally just podcasts Edit because the amount of likes on this makes me wanna be more nuanced: the similarity between scripted podcasts and writing framed as a dialogue becomes more readily apparent when the latter is recorded audiovisually instead of just reading the texts. That's what I was getting at. Please. I know that the use of literally meaning "figuratively, but like, more accurately than you'd expect" is a contentious one but please. Let me live. I was just trying to be funny in cannibalismboy's comment section have mercy on me
This is going to be shown in sooooo many history classes in the UK. It’s great though, only you could make this video and I’d actually watch it all lol.
I’m concerned that the entire content will be shown at various republican political meetings across the country in the coming months. It also may be used by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alioto in reference to upcoming decisions he makes from the bench in the coming years.
@@logo2462 I actually found Atun-Shei Films thru Stefan Milo's channel! Or wait no, was it the reverse 🤔 Either way, I'm incredibly grateful as I really enjoy them both.
I think a lot about how the articles, books, videos and news reports we make today may seem as ridiculous and backward to people 400 years from now as this seems to us today
This is exactly the kind of content I didn't realize I wanted until now; I have a handful of learning disabilities that make reading of any kind extremely difficult, but I can listen to audiobooks and watch videos just fine. This is exactly the thing I needed to make old texts like this excessible and I am deeply greatful for it!
In a way, listening to the rationale behind witch hunts being laid out in such a kindly and "academic" manner is far more chilling than the usual depictions of witchhunters as obvious raving lunatics.
They weren't lunatics. That's the whole point. According to the world view and knowledge they had they were very sensible. That's the interesting part.
One thing I have always found interesting about the story of Saul and the Witch is that in the text when Samuel appears, the witch herself is shocked. This seems to imply she did not expect a spirit to actually appear. Therefore I have always concluded that what was actually going on was that the witch of Endor was nothing more than a con artist. I find it odd that so many have interpreted this passage the way King James did. The text seems to pretty clearly imply that the witch was in disbelief about what was happening before her eyes and that the appearance of Samuel was actually done by God in order to rebuke Saul for what he was trying to do. It would seem that the intended lesson of that story is that God alone has power over life and death. Of course that interpretation isn't very helpful if you want to burn a few people at the stake.
I mean, I understand that, but when I came in contact with that passage my 1rst impression was that she could indeed summon the dead, but not the spirit of a man of God, hence her surprise. I think both are valid interpretations and I'm sure there are others we haven't thought about...
That interpretation might work more in the modern era than the medieval and ancient. People back then thought of spirituality as an explanation of natural forces, not something outside of them. So Samuel appearing to the witch might be shocking because she believed in something else entirely.
The actual lesson is not that it was Samuel who was foretelling the future but God through Samuel. Saul had made the mistake of taking the words and powers of God as the words and powers of Samuel. The witch was shocked when Samuel came back because she was a con artist. God let Samuel come back to teach that he was in control and that Saul as the King of his chosen people did not need a prophet to lead his people because God was in control. I think your assessment of wanting to burn your opposition at the stake to be spot on. It's quite ironic that one king uses the tale of a failing to put trust in God as justification for burning people at the stake. to his credit if his opposition actually did practice witchcraft he was exercising his power in a proper manner according to scripture. Sadly much of history has revealed that witch hunts were propaganda made to target specific opposition when no other means of finding them guilty could be easily attained. Although we shall never know the truth of the matter I like to consider this whole pamphlet as well versed propaganda.
I think this may be very useful for my students. I can’t expect them to watch the whole thing, but when I teach a relevant play, such as the Scottish play, I might recommend it as an extra credit assignment. I have used it myself in my research on werewolves, as French werewolf trials are very similar to witch trials, with the exception that wolves were virtually eliminated in England at that time.
Shakespeare definitely read Demonology and took inspiration from it, namely the three witches from Macbeth and the theological explanations for the ghost of Hamlet's father.
@@AtunSheiFilms Reading Daemonology was suggested reading for Macbeth in my Shakespeare's Tragedies class! It helped a lot with understanding the ironies in that play, as well as its rhymes.
I think my favorite part is that in the middle of all this blatant trash talk thrown at women, catholics, foreigners, and everyone practicing the wrong religion, and all the long winded ranting about ghosts, fairies, and goblins, the author's self insert took the time to assure the strawman that werewolves don't exist.
As a Scotsman it is fascinating to hear an attempt at an OP style of Scots for the opening segment, and also to see words translated that I naturally understand the meaning of since they still form a part of the language today. Amazing production.
As a a character, James is definitely one of the most underrated British kings- he deserves to be featured more in fiction. He's just such an utterly bizarre kook. Whether it was writing very scholarly but demented tracts about Witchcraft, building secret passages so he could sneak his male lovers into his bedroom or having the dead bodies of his would-be assassins stuffed so he could put them on trial and confiscate their land, he was always up to something deeply weird.
@@missZoey5387 Yeah, James had a bunch of kids with Anne of Denmark but he seems to have been bisexual, possibly gay by preference. He was widely suspected of having gay relationships during his reign, and the suspicions have only been confirmed in the years since. James spent a heap of money renovating Apethorpe Palace, and built secret passages so his male lovers could visit his bedroom there, including the infamous George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham.
@@chrisball3778 Yeah, I remember reading that he got super bored of Anne pretty quickly, but that he was extremely close to the 1st Duke of Buckingham for quite a while. The reactions of the public remind me of modern conservative reactions to visible homosexuality.
I found it very amusing that believing in werewolves is where he drew the line of incredulity. He didn't exactly hide his anti Catholicism or misogyny either. What a peach. You did an excellent job re enacting this piece of literary history. Thank you.
Early On: "How can I be sure witches are even real. Could they not be overcome with melancholy and deluding themselves?" "Such extreme symptoms are beyond what doctors attribute to melancholia. That illness does not cause one to engage in such gross delusion, merely a desire for loneliness and mania." Later: "What about werewolves, do those exist?" "I doubt it. Chances are those were melancholics. Why, there is one case where a man believed himself to be a pitcher!"
I had to laugh about the way the king is writing down compliments to his own line of argument instead of letting the reader decide. What a humble man he was.
Damn the part where James basically says "people don't confess until we torture the fuck out of them because they know how bad what they did is", is crazy. Did it not cross his mind that they were innocent and gave up to stop being tortured?
Heres the thing, worst case scenario you kill one person, not really a big deal, they probably deserved it if god didn't save them anyway. Best case, you're a fking hero and just saved the souls of god knows how many people AND got to have even the mildest bit of excitement in your miserable existance.
Sledge is wonderful. Is perhaps the only content creator on the platform that knows his shit about gnosticism and mysticism in Philosophy. I'm also a person who is engage in philosophy in a more professional level and is always cool to see fellow philosophers take things seriously and with academic rigour, specially in a field like theology and medieval metaphysics that normally have conmen and idiots spreading shit.
This is a genius film, *BECAUSE IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND, YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION* in order to understand the subject matter. If you allow yourself to be stop focusing on the dialect and translations, things will become harder to keep up with. A very subtle and solid tactic. I ended up listening to every single second closely. Brilliantly done as always!!!
This is so good. I can’t describe how epic it is to have such a wonderful experience in listening to this treatise in play form. Daemonogie is an essential companion to historians of the occult, and this video is a must extra addition to their studies! I hope you get to do more in the future. Plato’s Republic in this form would be epic as well.
I love whenever his straw man presses him for details he's all "Nah you wouldn't want to know about that, too evil, and also it'd take to long to explain, and also we're getting off topic, and also I think I hear my mom calling me."
@@HighOctane01 They learned the mistakes of the early heresiologists who's works are now mainly consulted for the quotations they took from Gnostic texts that are now otherwise largely or completely lost haha
You know from a modern perspective it’s incredibly hard to imagine how the most educated and intelligent people in society could ever have believed in something as ridiculous as witchcraft or demons, but when you consider how every accepted authority of the time, from ancient Roman writers to theologians to early scientists to just ordinary laypeople reporting their personal experiences, took it for granted that magic existed, denying its existence wouldn’t have been all that different from being a flat earther today in terms of how it was viewed by society.
In their defense, they lived at a time when their nations tended towards a religious/cultural hegemony. In such societies there WERE small enclaves of different faiths/values who operated in secret. Catholicism and Protestantism both at different times fit this description here in England. Not a stretch then to imagine similarly clandestine gatherings of Devil worshipers, as they perceived Witches to be.
Well, consider the fact that in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lot of otherwise highly intelligent and learned individuals became convinced of an International Jewish Conspiracy of some sort. It's a conspiratorial mindset that everyone is susceptible to, regardless of their station in life.
39:00 "But I pray you before you go further, let me interrupt you here with a short digressions..." I was 100% expecting Philomathes to be leading up to the Skillshare ad read.
This video is absolutely masterful. I've been meaning to read the Demonology for ages, but I was incredibly intimidated by the language [not to mention the spelling]. This made the text infinitely more accessible. Also, your ease with OP and the flow, cadence, and pacing of the language is astonishing.
Performing this all in 16th Century English pronunciation is an amazing feat and I really congratulate you for it! However, the Latin is frequently pronounced in, a modern "reconstructed" form (or influenced by it) that didn't exist until the late 19th Century, which can be distinguished by pronouncing the v as a w, a hard c before i and e, and pronouncing a as "broad" and i as e. In the 16th Century England, Latin words would pronounced as if they were English, the only major differences being following classical rules for stress placement, pronouncing æ and œ as if they were e, and c and g always soft before e (likewise æ and œ) and i (likewise y). Like I said, this was a fantastic work and I don't want my nitpicks to diminish or detract from it, but only provide some help for the next such project.
As a Christian, it was genuinely kind of surreal to hear King James's mouthpiece making somewhat-logical arguments grounded in scripture, and then taking them in directions I personally wouldn't've. And that little scoff before he addresses the subject of werewolves was *amazing*. I did not miss the obvious overlap with *Checkmate Lincolnites!* either! Overall, I liked the whole thing and the post-script, although I am still curious: was King James blue historically? I know that's a real thing that happens to people who handle silver.
Well this isn't exclusive to Christianity either, the Communists especially Stalinism twisted Marxism to a call for Totalitarianism something Marx wouldn't support as in his views Communism is very Anarchistic.
Excellent film! Years ago I wrote my master's thesis regarding Daemonologie and how it relates to the political struggles of the time in Scotland. Seeing a quality production such as this depicting the book(s) is awesome.
Excellent! As an Brit I find this pretty easy to understand, but I can only imagine listening to this is a nightmare for much of the audience. Also, if I didn't know better I wouldn't be able to tell you were an American - excellent job.
It's ok, especially since it's not so different from an Irish accent (I think the reason is that's the time when you really started to colonise the shit out of Ireland thanks to Cromwell).
this was an incredible video! such an engaging way to present such an old, seemingly-inaccessible book. the set and lighting were perfect for the tone, and using original pronunciation made it easier, at least for my ADHD brain, to stay attentive and focused on the text, with the necessary and appreciated help of the subtitles. the increased political influence of christians in the recent years (not that they've ever been uninfluential) makes this a timely source of insight into how their religion guides their political goals and methods, even 400+ years ago. thank you so much for making this!
I’m honestly having a hard time remembering atun shai isn’t British, I live in the sounthwest of Britain and original pronunciation isn’t too far away from our accents so this is making my head spin
Congrats on the Lincolnites Cinematic Universe. Who'd have thought the series would take us all the way back to the sixteenth-seventeenth century? In all seriousness, this is a work of art. You've put out some good stuff, but this is another level of excellent. Good on you for helping educate the public.
Atun-Shei, long time lurker with a Ph.D. in History, first time commentator here. I have worked with the Daemonologia before, and this is genuinely one of the best examples of historical recreation I have seen in years. I shall continue my congratulations in Early Modern, forthwith: Goodman Shei, we greete yow well/ Keepe upp ye goode worke even if ye ‘witchfinder-general’ art a traytor and rebell against owr DREAD SOVERAIGNE LORD His Matie the KINGE and ye trew protestant religione by lawe established/ I confess I am in greate confusione aboute ye p*formeance calld ‘Checkmate Lincolnites’ for ye ‘confederate’ is nott Irish & yere is nowe sight of ye covenanters or cavaliers at all/ art yow sure ys is ye civil warre? But yow art warninge ye ignorante multitude aboute ye dangers of ye Apparitions, Oracles, Prophecies, and Predictions, with Dreams, Visions, And Revaltions. and the Cunning Delusions of the DEVIL soe I guess yow art alrighte. I remaine sir yowr trew and obdnt seruante.
I really cannot overstate how much I love this channel and your work here. A friend with a similar interest in the US civil war recommended Checkmate Lincolnites! to me once, and while I did enjoy that series greatly it has been your other historical and media analysis content that kept me coming back. I never saw anyone even acknowledge the existence of Ravenous outside some other weirdos I associate with who still go shopping for DVDs and Bluerays at our local record/video store (hipster self-report, haha), but seeing your love letter of a review to the film helped both put my thoughts about it into better order, and provided some great extra context I was lacking in regard to its production. Your Dracula video, the witchfinder general, and of course frozen 50's man were also incredibly enjoyable, and all provided a clear examples of the passion you put into your work. The series on King Philip's war is a great primer for the subject, and something I may show to some of the undergrads I tutor in history. This video has further surprised me, both with how engaging it proved to be to listen to this dialogue in the original pronunciation (which reminded me fondly of our teacher's reading of the Catilinarian orations back in high school latin), and with how fascinating I ended up finding the subject. Suffice it to say you have enticed me to further reading on the matter, and earned a new subscription to Dr. Pledge's channel.. Thank you for making such consistently great content, and for exposing us to so much of the lesser widely known aspects of history.
Seriously, this was amazing. Your acting really kept this compelling. There were times that I actually forgot you were the only one in it. Super interesting.
I am so excited to watch this every time you release a video I am so thrilled and this one is 2 hours long! Such a thrill to get this much new atun shei content. Love your work.
I'm really, really glad to see this. I read Demonology for college a few years ago, and it... kind of blew my mind because, as you say in your Afterword, it's very logical in its execution. These people had... strange beliefs, to be sure, but they weren't wholly illogical, ultimately. They used the Socratic method as best they could with the observational tools they had at the time, and well, this happened to be the result.
Well, if someone weighs as much as a duck means they would float. And things that float that aren't ducks must be made of wood. Wood burns. What do we do with witches? QED.
@@waltonsmith7210 I think most things we call vices are vices. Avarice, Gluttony,Wrath, Sloth. Plenty of others. It heavily depends on religion though. I am a christian so naturally i try and get rid of vices. If you are an atheist, not so much. Their world view basically amounts to YOLO LOL.
This is a fantastic video, in terms of quality in the cinematography, acting, and just presentation. I am curious on your thoughts on the Malleus Maleficarum, which seems to be written by a Claude Frollo-esque spiteful monk as opposed to the self-righteous/genuinely concerned King James.
It's a pretty vile book. Demonology I can kind of separate myself from emotionally but with Malleus, the sheer misogyny and hatefulness just gives me the creeps.
That’s the Hammer of the Witches right? From what I’ve heard, the contents of that book wouldn’t look out of place in some Alex Jones-esque crazy conspiracy theorist forum
@Jacqueline Davis It is *comically* sexist. Imagine a liberal comedian, lampooning elderly super-conservative religious bigots by making up over-the-top absurd offensive remarks, about FEEEMALES being dirty and ugly and stupid and evil with magic seduction-powers to control my mind and every single one is a wh-re who needs to be punished and they're all conspiring to give me STDs! ... It's basically that. When I read it I laughed out loud, then got depressed and angry because of all the judicial-murder that it inspired.
Heinrich Kramer was an outright convicted sex offender (he got exiled from Innsbruck by the local bishop for sexually harassing a woman he was prosecuting in a witch trial).
My favorite content that you make is the Witchfinder General, and any of these videos that relate to witchcraft. I know everyone wants you to make this channel into only Checkmate, Lincolnites! but I love and appreciate your Puritan stuff the most! Also, your accent makes me want to saddle up my horse and ride to Salem.
Weirdly, one of the most startling things to me that King James VI and I proposes in this isn’t all the crazy stuff about witches, sorcery, necromancy, and ‘scopers (I’m an Aquarius) - it’s the utter confidence he has that Pharaoh’s magicians’ rods did not really turn into snakes. I’d never even considered the possibility - I always thought the point was that even when Pharaoh’s magicians could perform similar works, God’s miracles were far more powerful. The doctrine that the devil’s works are not manifest in the same way as miracles... I’m kind of curious if that was the accepted doctrine of the time? Is it still the accepted doctrine? He just declares it with such confidence...
I fear I am but a dullard in not knowing of the nature of humors nor the ways of the devil's servants. I was quite unable to receive all the knowledge put forth by this great text. Truly, I am but a wretched sinner, utterly unworthy of God's love. A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature and I livith as a winter tree; unprofitable, fit only to be hewn down and burned. I shal steep my life in prayer, and hope that God sees fit to show mercy on my corrupted soul.
1:17:33 “You know how some people talk about spirits that fuck people? Could you tell me more about them, especially if they’re real and if some of them might be big-titted women?”
This is amazing and somewhat terrifying at the same time. The same cadence and style of "debate" feels so close to modern conspiracy and extreme fringe thinking.
They both come from the same place. It's wild to think about how that same narrative has been transmitted through our culture for hundreds of years with only very superficial updates to make it *seem* new.
the opening to this is ***fascinating*** to me. That a king would speak to the reader directly as "beloved reader" and offer up this writing as something of an argumentative text, perhaps with the pretension of it being scientific... it feels like the king is somehow lowering himself to the station of those beneath him socially, in order to communicate these things. My perception of monarchs was quite different, that they wouldn't stoop to such things because they didn't need to offer argument and justification for anything they did, and as such wouldn't be literate in the rhetoric required. I guess my understanding was ahistorical
James had a couple of other tracts discussing social contract theory*, dude was a polymath *technically that term doesn’t originate until later, but that’s essentially the topic of his “The True Law of Free Monarchies” and to a lesser degree “Basilikon Doron”
Ironically, his son and heir Charles I was very much that stereotypical “I don’t need to explain my decisions to the commons” king, and largely lost his head because of it
The argument of being scientific are also evident of him appealing to Astronomy and Medical science (Physic). From what I gathered here, He essentially went "Dude, I totally believe in Science, I trust the Astronomers and the Physicians... But sometimes we went a little to far though"
From the writing, to the acting, to the lighting to the make-up. It all screams that this is a subject you care about enough to pour your creativity and passion into and I'm now smarter for it. At so many points I would be too self-conscious or too nervous to produce something so out there but so grounded. Please please please keep producing more out of the box content like this. I'll hold up my end of the bargain and get as many t-shirts as I can o7
Awesome video, Atun never disappoints! As a Finn it's very interesting to me that Finland and Lapland get namedropped, but I have a vague theory as to why: we're back then a part of the Swedish kingdom, even though finnish and swedish are 2 completely different languages. Officially the whole kingdom had turned from catholicism to the lutheran faith, but in finland many of the remote villages still maintained the old pagan animistic and shamanistic beliefs. The church did their best to eradicate these, but the traditions carried on, especially in the more remote parts of the country. When you combine this with the fact that even prior to the christianization of Sweden and Finland, there's some evidence to suggest that the vikings used (in a rune-stone) the phrase 'sea witches' to refer to the Finns, the tradition and history of the Swedes thinking of us as heathens, sorcerers and witches goes back a long way. Add to that the fact that Lapland is also inhabited by the native Sámi people who have their own animistic pagan faith, and it's no wonder that even during the 800 or so years of Swedish reign, Finland (or Österland, 'the east land', as the province was then named) was probably the topic of many a ghost and witch story among the christians and the nobility in Sweden, as most of them would never visit the country other than maybe stop by a port quickly to offload some mechandise. Some of these tales must've spread to the British isles as well along the sailors, as we used to sell A LOT of tar and lumber to the shipbuilders of England and Scotland. But I assure you: do not buy into these rumors, we are no servants of the dark forces! Now if you'll excuse me, it's slightly past midnight, I gotta go climb up a nearby hill in moonlight to see a man hooded in black about a horse.
Brilliant, did not expect a dialogue made with authentic pronunciation of the era when I clicked on the video. Visual aesthetics were also spot on. Great work!
Dam U R good and the devotion to character is extremely admirable and passionate... May the good Lord keep us all safe 🙏🙏🙏. Deep respect from Europe...
He has many great videos covering mysticism, esoteric and apocryphal religious texts and practices, and on philosophical and magical texts of the same ilk.
Like you say in your conclusion, it was really enlightening to hear a consequent, scholarly logic on the basis of James' writing! The man lays open his intentions and the purpose of his text, is very clear about which side of the debate he stands on (and, to an extent, why), and clearly knows his stuff on the topic: He cites his sources and it was even made clear that he is acquainted with the relevant reading of the time, not to speak of the biblical source text. In an unrelated note, I have always been saying that performing old texts or reading them out aloud makes it much easier to follow what is going on for a modern reader/listener. Big kudos for doing that; it makes the source leagues more accessible.
I can always count on Atun-Shei Films to create something I will immediately click and watch fully. Clearly a well-rounded and educated fellow; as a Brit I get a real hoot out of the early colonial English accents as well as these insights into the history of my dear, mad, beloved brutal kingdom. I really hope that small instances of "internet schizophrenia", these far-right radicalizing online bodies, the "Twitter thoughtmob"... Well, I hope that in the far future humanity conquers these - a reincarnated Atun-Shei creating media that displays how silly and how, without context, stupid, humanity's current modern predicament will look with a few hundred years of hindsight. Cheers from across the pond :)
I love how the lighting implies that these people in debate are ghostlike, which further implies that these people exchange their ideas of these things even in the afterlife. A fascinating picture to paint!
I really enjoy your presentations of early modern history and texts. Both this and In Defence of Puritanism are both very well crafted and give very useful insight into the culture of that time period. Well done!
![ละลาย (LALALYE) - DAOU PITTAYA ต้าห์อู๋ พิทยา [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wo6r9TgausI/mqdefault.jpg)
King James believed he was the target of an international Satanic conspiracy - he was personally involved in the infamously lethal North Berwick Witch Trials of the 1590s, an experience which had a profound impact on him and inspired him to write Demonology. If you'd like to learn more about the book's historical context, check out this companion video by Dr. Justin Sledge, an expert on western occultism, over on ESOTERICA: th-cam.com/video/BkAbfABZOwA/w-d-xo.html
Hey man. Good work.
Good job 👍
It might just be the language shift but somehow 16th century conspiracy theories just seem more classy then the modern ones. No less insane but somehow more classy.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat I agree, if you listen to 20:30 it's practically Lovecraftian. Such deep and philosophical fear. In comparison, Qanon is resurrecting JFK Jr because they remember seeing him in a supermarket tabloid
@@yrobtsvt The JFK thing might be the forest for the trees a lot of the individual activities the witches were attributed make just as little sense.
It might even just be that this was a single writer who took who knows how long rather then a wide assortment of contributors feeding off each other and posting one step removed from stream of consciousness.
But if you imagine Qanon posts written by Shakespeare this is pretty close to what you get, maybe not in the specifics but in the feeling.
Witchcraft: real
Necromancy: real
Sorcery: real
Spirits: real
But werewolves? Pfft. C'mon bro, really? Those aren't a thing.
I love it.
King James werewolf confirmed.
Reminder that in Dracula the titular vampire can turn into a werewolf in addition to his other powers
Well they weren't mentioned in the bible so of course they can't be real....🤣
@@Terminalsanity to be fair that likely played a part in it though Werewoves can be seen as a Christian being too based on Folklore but its not in the bible like say Demons and well witches somewhat.
@@jamesbechtel7736 He's the hairy-handed gent who ran amok in Kent. Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.
Love that our sweet King opens by saying “the gentleman defending the witches in print is surely a witch,” I’m sure this socratic dialogue will surely be in good faith and strictly in pursuit of truth
"Also anyone saying witches don't exist are witches too"
It's a good lesson in how bad faith arguments can couch themselves in the aesthetics and language of reason
>Atun-Shei flick
>Two people sitting across a table from eachother, both played by him
CHECKMATE, SATANITES!
182 likes, no comments? Lemme change that
I was just thinking the same thing
funniest thing i’ve read all day
>flick
This is kino
I choose to believe that it was divine providence that this dropped just as I was sat by myself in the woods
Nae, ‘twas the influence of the devil himself!
And by "woods" you mean the john.
@@johnqpublic2718 This video wasn't the only thing that dropped while that guy was sitting by himself
@@AtunSheiFilms 🤣
It's the only logical explanation.
Great working with you on this project - brought together by our shared love of demonology. Man the internet is weird...
Is esoteric studies finally hitting the big time? Next stop, Hollywood adaption of John Dee!
Super fan of your work, Dr. Sledge!!!
Dr. Sledge, u rock man
Made my day to see you on this channel
One of my good friends has a PhD in Esotericism and Demonology.
I just finished watching this and don't know where to start, but can safely say I've never seen a video covering a treatise or historical document and brought to life like this, especially in the accent/dialect of the time...frickin' awesome!
@@ii121 there’s a short video on TH-cam of the very beginning in what we think Sumerian sounded like- with a Sumerian instrument too! I think the videos by Peter Pringle
One of the best history shows. Ever
King James's insistence that werewolves aren't real is a weirdly specific thing to deny the existence of in the middle of a treatise on the supernatural...
Grains of truth make lies more believable
@@MrHat. Or he was a werewolf.
Probably a reaction to the occurrence of werewolf trials in France.
Maybe people with wolf masks or bear leather, like viking berserker ¿?
He was like yesterday we killed 20 demons turning the evil spirits of black magic against them.... btw werewolves aren't real let's not be silly now 😂
"They can't be insane, because they're fat."
"They can't shrink to microscopic sizes, because transubstantiation is Catholic."
Logical with a capital L.
Atun-shei: says he actually hates the dialogue format videos and would rather do others
Also Atun-Shei: makes an hour and a half long dialogue format video
I for one am very happy, thank you
I dislike the "debunking" aspect more so than the dialogue aspect, but yeah
@@AtunSheiFilms I get you
@@AtunSheiFilms Have you thought about making a dialogue with material that can more persuasively be argued one way or the other as opposed to those topics that are easier to debunk?
Legitimately though I love dialogue formats, for writing too. So much easier to present an argument as a conversation than as an essay, and more engaging as wel
this made me realize that historical texts written as dialogues are literally just podcasts
Edit because the amount of likes on this makes me wanna be more nuanced: the similarity between scripted podcasts and writing framed as a dialogue becomes more readily apparent when the latter is recorded audiovisually instead of just reading the texts. That's what I was getting at. Please. I know that the use of literally meaning "figuratively, but like, more accurately than you'd expect" is a contentious one but please. Let me live. I was just trying to be funny in cannibalismboy's comment section have mercy on me
And Caesar wrote audiobooks.
That's what scribes we're for, you literally walked around and wrote everything an individual said. This is why modern courtrooms still have them.
Yeah enjoying someone else's conversation is as old as writing. Just in audio format now.
This perspective makes Plato’s republic infinitely more hilarious
"literally"
This is going to be shown in sooooo many history classes in the UK.
It’s great though, only you could make this video and I’d actually watch it all lol.
I’m concerned that the entire content will be shown at various republican political meetings across the country in the coming months. It also may be used by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alioto in reference to upcoming decisions he makes from the bench in the coming years.
Two of my favorite corners of TH-cam are mixing right here. Thank you all for all that you do!
Peeking out from under the boot of Big Spoon to drop a compliment to another creator; what a man! I love your work!
@@logo2462 I actually found Atun-Shei Films thru Stefan Milo's channel! Or wait no, was it the reverse 🤔 Either way, I'm incredibly grateful as I really enjoy them both.
@@briangarrow448 god tier joke
We've made so much progress, and yet so many still believe only what they want to believe.
I think a lot about how the articles, books, videos and news reports we make today may seem as ridiculous and backward to people 400 years from now as this seems to us today
hi mr. beat
@@AtunSheiFilms Yo where did you get that crown from? It looks amazing
@Arbane's Sword Wow, are you ever barking up the wrong tree.
Including you
This is too cool! I always hoped a more accessible form of this particular media would someday be made, and here it is!
This one's for you, and the three other people beside us who felt the same!
@@AtunSheiFilms I’m happy to say I’m one of the three!
@@AtunSheiFilms oh come on man, 7k views in 2hrs? There's AT LEAST a dozen of us.
@@thatcanuck5670
There are DOZENS of us!
This is exactly the kind of content I didn't realize I wanted until now; I have a handful of learning disabilities that make reading of any kind extremely difficult, but I can listen to audiobooks and watch videos just fine. This is exactly the thing I needed to make old texts like this excessible and I am deeply greatful for it!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Same
Same!
Same.
In a way, listening to the rationale behind witch hunts being laid out in such a kindly and "academic" manner is far more chilling than the usual depictions of witchhunters as obvious raving lunatics.
The evil, cloaked in reason and “scientific proof” is far more terrifying and malevolent than evil which makes itself plain and wholly detestable.
They weren't lunatics. That's the whole point. According to the world view and knowledge they had they were very sensible. That's the interesting part.
One thing I have always found interesting about the story of Saul and the Witch is that in the text when Samuel appears, the witch herself is shocked. This seems to imply she did not expect a spirit to actually appear. Therefore I have always concluded that what was actually going on was that the witch of Endor was nothing more than a con artist. I find it odd that so many have interpreted this passage the way King James did. The text seems to pretty clearly imply that the witch was in disbelief about what was happening before her eyes and that the appearance of Samuel was actually done by God in order to rebuke Saul for what he was trying to do. It would seem that the intended lesson of that story is that God alone has power over life and death.
Of course that interpretation isn't very helpful if you want to burn a few people at the stake.
God: “are they really down there trying to summon the dead, well…I’ll give them a show they won’t soon forget”
I mean, I understand that, but when I came in contact with that passage my 1rst impression was that she could indeed summon the dead, but not the spirit of a man of God, hence her surprise. I think both are valid interpretations and I'm sure there are others we haven't thought about...
That interpretation might work more in the modern era than the medieval and ancient. People back then thought of spirituality as an explanation of natural forces, not something outside of them. So Samuel appearing to the witch might be shocking because she believed in something else entirely.
I was always under the impression that it was a demon playing the part of Samuel to reinforce false beliefs.
The actual lesson is not that it was Samuel who was foretelling the future but God through Samuel. Saul had made the mistake of taking the words and powers of God as the words and powers of Samuel. The witch was shocked when Samuel came back because she was a con artist. God let Samuel come back to teach that he was in control and that Saul as the King of his chosen people did not need a prophet to lead his people because God was in control.
I think your assessment of wanting to burn your opposition at the stake to be spot on. It's quite ironic that one king uses the tale of a failing to put trust in God as justification for burning people at the stake. to his credit if his opposition actually did practice witchcraft he was exercising his power in a proper manner according to scripture. Sadly much of history has revealed that witch hunts were propaganda made to target specific opposition when no other means of finding them guilty could be easily attained. Although we shall never know the truth of the matter I like to consider this whole pamphlet as well versed propaganda.
I think this may be very useful for my students. I can’t expect them to watch the whole thing, but when I teach a relevant play, such as the Scottish play, I might recommend it as an extra credit assignment. I have used it myself in my research on werewolves, as French werewolf trials are very similar to witch trials, with the exception that wolves were virtually eliminated in England at that time.
Shakespeare definitely read Demonology and took inspiration from it, namely the three witches from Macbeth and the theological explanations for the ghost of Hamlet's father.
@@AtunSheiFilms Reading Daemonology was suggested reading for Macbeth in my Shakespeare's Tragedies class! It helped a lot with understanding the ironies in that play, as well as its rhymes.
To someone who speaks english as a second language, this is like the ultimate test in listening comprehension. Beautifully excecuted!
@@gluehfunke1547 Damn. First try and you got it right by my name 😂
i am suffering trying to understand the words spoken in this video. i love it.
I think my favorite part is that in the middle of all this blatant trash talk thrown at women, catholics, foreigners, and everyone practicing the wrong religion, and all the long winded ranting about ghosts, fairies, and goblins, the author's self insert took the time to assure the strawman that werewolves don't exist.
Such fantastical foolery cannot be countenanced by the serious man
This is a brilliant and, frankly, terrifying performance.
As a Scotsman it is fascinating to hear an attempt at an OP style of Scots for the opening segment, and also to see words translated that I naturally understand the meaning of since they still form a part of the language today. Amazing production.
Epistemon and Philomathes walked so Billy Yank and Johnny Reb could run.
Clever
Checkmate witchcraft-ites
Checkmate witchcraftites
As a a character, James is definitely one of the most underrated British kings- he deserves to be featured more in fiction. He's just such an utterly bizarre kook. Whether it was writing very scholarly but demented tracts about Witchcraft, building secret passages so he could sneak his male lovers into his bedroom or having the dead bodies of his would-be assassins stuffed so he could put them on trial and confiscate their land, he was always up to something deeply weird.
Didn't he sleep with his mother, as well?
Wait, he had male lovers? FR
@@missZoey5387 Yeah, James had a bunch of kids with Anne of Denmark but he seems to have been bisexual, possibly gay by preference. He was widely suspected of having gay relationships during his reign, and the suspicions have only been confirmed in the years since.
James spent a heap of money renovating Apethorpe Palace, and built secret passages so his male lovers could visit his bedroom there, including the infamous George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham.
There was an audible record scratch in my head when it got to the bodies of the assassins.
@@chrisball3778 Yeah, I remember reading that he got super bored of Anne pretty quickly, but that he was extremely close to the 1st Duke of Buckingham for quite a while. The reactions of the public remind me of modern conservative reactions to visible homosexuality.
Am I really about to listen to all of demonology by King James read in an authentic accent while I'm at work? Yes
I felt like it was worth it. Pretty dope if I may say so myself good sir
I found it very amusing that believing in werewolves is where he drew the line of incredulity.
He didn't exactly hide his anti Catholicism or misogyny either. What a peach.
You did an excellent job re enacting this piece of literary history. Thank you.
Early On: "How can I be sure witches are even real. Could they not be overcome with melancholy and deluding themselves?" "Such extreme symptoms are beyond what doctors attribute to melancholia. That illness does not cause one to engage in such gross delusion, merely a desire for loneliness and mania."
Later: "What about werewolves, do those exist?" "I doubt it. Chances are those were melancholics. Why, there is one case where a man believed himself to be a pitcher!"
I had to laugh about the way the king is writing down compliments to his own line of argument instead of letting the reader decide. What a humble man he was.
He was an Early Absolutist.
Ah demonology, also known as “crazy Scottish man rambles to himself about Harry Potter characters”
I’m here for when Atun-Shei reads the divine comedy in the original florentine Italian
Damn the part where James basically says "people don't confess until we torture the fuck out of them because they know how bad what they did is", is crazy. Did it not cross his mind that they were innocent and gave up to stop being tortured?
A devilish thought
Heres the thing, worst case scenario you kill one person, not really a big deal, they probably deserved it if god didn't save them anyway.
Best case, you're a fking hero and just saved the souls of god knows how many people AND got to have even the mildest bit of excitement in your miserable existance.
more likely that he did not care
you underestimate evil
If it's the Devil's doing, then of course the accused will say "no". That's the mindset.
Sledge is wonderful. Is perhaps the only content creator on the platform that knows his shit about gnosticism and mysticism in Philosophy. I'm also a person who is engage in philosophy in a more professional level and is always cool to see fellow philosophers take things seriously and with academic rigour, specially in a field like theology and medieval metaphysics that normally have conmen and idiots spreading shit.
This is a genius film, *BECAUSE IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND, YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION* in order to understand the subject matter. If you allow yourself to be stop focusing on the dialect and translations, things will become harder to keep up with. A very subtle and solid tactic. I ended up listening to every single second closely. Brilliantly done as always!!!
It’s crazy how the world was thought to be something like D&D just a few hundred years ago.
This is so good. I can’t describe how epic it is to have such a wonderful experience in listening to this treatise in play form. Daemonogie is an essential companion to historians of the occult, and this video is a must extra addition to their studies!
I hope you get to do more in the future. Plato’s Republic in this form would be epic as well.
I love whenever his straw man presses him for details he's all "Nah you wouldn't want to know about that, too evil, and also it'd take to long to explain, and also we're getting off topic, and also I think I hear my mom calling me."
@@HighOctane01 They learned the mistakes of the early heresiologists who's works are now mainly consulted for the quotations they took from Gnostic texts that are now otherwise largely or completely lost haha
That striking image of a pale blue King James at 4:23 has got to be one of the best things ever uploaded to TH-cam. Fantastic job.
You know from a modern perspective it’s incredibly hard to imagine how the most educated and intelligent people in society could ever have believed in something as ridiculous as witchcraft or demons, but when you consider how every accepted authority of the time, from ancient Roman writers to theologians to early scientists to just ordinary laypeople reporting their personal experiences, took it for granted that magic existed, denying its existence wouldn’t have been all that different from being a flat earther today in terms of how it was viewed by society.
Well at this time, arguably the most educated were skeptics already
In their defense, they lived at a time when their nations tended towards a religious/cultural hegemony. In such societies there WERE small enclaves of different faiths/values who operated in secret. Catholicism and Protestantism both at different times fit this description here in England. Not a stretch then to imagine similarly clandestine gatherings of Devil worshipers, as they perceived Witches to be.
Well, consider the fact that in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lot of otherwise highly intelligent and learned individuals became convinced of an International Jewish Conspiracy of some sort. It's a conspiratorial mindset that everyone is susceptible to, regardless of their station in life.
39:00 "But I pray you before you go further, let me interrupt you here with a short digressions..."
I was 100% expecting Philomathes to be leading up to the Skillshare ad read.
This video is absolutely masterful. I've been meaning to read the Demonology for ages, but I was incredibly intimidated by the language [not to mention the spelling]. This made the text infinitely more accessible. Also, your ease with OP and the flow, cadence, and pacing of the language is astonishing.
Performing this all in 16th Century English pronunciation is an amazing feat and I really congratulate you for it! However, the Latin is frequently pronounced in, a modern "reconstructed" form (or influenced by it) that didn't exist until the late 19th Century, which can be distinguished by pronouncing the v as a w, a hard c before i and e, and pronouncing a as "broad" and i as e. In the 16th Century England, Latin words would pronounced as if they were English, the only major differences being following classical rules for stress placement, pronouncing æ and œ as if they were e, and c and g always soft before e (likewise æ and œ) and i (likewise y). Like I said, this was a fantastic work and I don't want my nitpicks to diminish or detract from it, but only provide some help for the next such project.
As a Christian, it was genuinely kind of surreal to hear King James's mouthpiece making somewhat-logical arguments grounded in scripture, and then taking them in directions I personally wouldn't've. And that little scoff before he addresses the subject of werewolves was *amazing*.
I did not miss the obvious overlap with *Checkmate Lincolnites!* either! Overall, I liked the whole thing and the post-script, although I am still curious: was King James blue historically? I know that's a real thing that happens to people who handle silver.
Well this isn't exclusive to Christianity either, the Communists especially Stalinism twisted Marxism to a call for Totalitarianism something Marx wouldn't support as in his views Communism is very Anarchistic.
This is something you'd expect to be produced by the BBC. You did us a service adapting this text for the Internet Age!
The conversation format is perfect. We should all sit back and relish in that fine meeting point of knowledge, talent, and technology. Thank you!
Excellent film! Years ago I wrote my master's thesis regarding Daemonologie and how it relates to the political struggles of the time in Scotland. Seeing a quality production such as this depicting the book(s) is awesome.
Excellent! As an Brit I find this pretty easy to understand, but I can only imagine listening to this is a nightmare for much of the audience.
Also, if I didn't know better I wouldn't be able to tell you were an American - excellent job.
It's ok, especially since it's not so different from an Irish accent (I think the reason is that's the time when you really started to colonise the shit out of Ireland thanks to Cromwell).
I don’t understand how this isn’t the most popular channel on youtube
this was an incredible video! such an engaging way to present such an old, seemingly-inaccessible book. the set and lighting were perfect for the tone, and using original pronunciation made it easier, at least for my ADHD brain, to stay attentive and focused on the text, with the necessary and appreciated help of the subtitles. the increased political influence of christians in the recent years (not that they've ever been uninfluential) makes this a timely source of insight into how their religion guides their political goals and methods, even 400+ years ago. thank you so much for making this!
I’m honestly having a hard time remembering atun shai isn’t British, I live in the sounthwest of Britain and original pronunciation isn’t too far away from our accents so this is making my head spin
Amazing compliment, thank you
I'm a bristolian and his accent reminds me of the wurzels🤣
@@Silent_Speaker Oi've gotta bran' new copy o' Solomon, an' Oi'll give you the Greater Key.
Where's it to?!?
This is incredible. I can't imagine how much work this took to make. Awesome stuff as always dude.
"Up yours, woke witches. We'll see who curses who!"
-King James "The Lobster" Stuart
Im going to share this with listeners of Last Podcast on the Left. I know they will love it!
It's been really cool watching you publish increasingly good content. Thanks for the hard work, I can't wait to see what's next.
I never tire of watching this. I find it most enthralling. Spellbinding, even.…
Congrats on the Lincolnites Cinematic Universe. Who'd have thought the series would take us all the way back to the sixteenth-seventeenth century?
In all seriousness, this is a work of art. You've put out some good stuff, but this is another level of excellent. Good on you for helping educate the public.
The real question is, what quotes would be displayed in the Lincolnites Cinematic Universe intro?
Atun-Shei, long time lurker with a Ph.D. in History, first time commentator here. I have worked with the Daemonologia before, and this is genuinely one of the best examples of historical recreation I have seen in years. I shall continue my congratulations in Early Modern, forthwith:
Goodman Shei, we greete yow well/
Keepe upp ye goode worke even if ye ‘witchfinder-general’ art a traytor and rebell against owr DREAD SOVERAIGNE LORD His Matie the KINGE and ye trew protestant religione by lawe established/ I confess I am in greate confusione aboute ye p*formeance calld ‘Checkmate Lincolnites’ for ye ‘confederate’ is nott Irish & yere is nowe sight of ye covenanters or cavaliers at all/ art yow sure ys is ye civil warre? But yow art warninge ye ignorante multitude aboute ye dangers of ye Apparitions, Oracles, Prophecies, and Predictions, with Dreams, Visions, And Revaltions. and the Cunning Delusions of the DEVIL soe I guess yow art alrighte.
I remaine sir yowr trew and obdnt seruante.
I don't know what I did to deserve movie length content from you today but thank you! ❤️
I really cannot overstate how much I love this channel and your work here. A friend with a similar interest in the US civil war recommended Checkmate Lincolnites! to me once, and while I did enjoy that series greatly it has been your other historical and media analysis content that kept me coming back. I never saw anyone even acknowledge the existence of Ravenous outside some other weirdos I associate with who still go shopping for DVDs and Bluerays at our local record/video store (hipster self-report, haha), but seeing your love letter of a review to the film helped both put my thoughts about it into better order, and provided some great extra context I was lacking in regard to its production. Your Dracula video, the witchfinder general, and of course frozen 50's man were also incredibly enjoyable, and all provided a clear examples of the passion you put into your work. The series on King Philip's war is a great primer for the subject, and something I may show to some of the undergrads I tutor in history. This video has further surprised me, both with how engaging it proved to be to listen to this dialogue in the original pronunciation (which reminded me fondly of our teacher's reading of the Catilinarian orations back in high school latin), and with how fascinating I ended up finding the subject. Suffice it to say you have enticed me to further reading on the matter, and earned a new subscription to Dr. Pledge's channel.. Thank you for making such consistently great content, and for exposing us to so much of the lesser widely known aspects of history.
Seriously, this was amazing. Your acting really kept this compelling. There were times that I actually forgot you were the only one in it. Super interesting.
I am so excited to watch this every time you release a video I am so thrilled and this one is 2 hours long! Such a thrill to get this much new atun shei content. Love your work.
Thanks! Really enjoyed it, great work 👍
I'm really, really glad to see this. I read Demonology for college a few years ago, and it... kind of blew my mind because, as you say in your Afterword, it's very logical in its execution.
These people had... strange beliefs, to be sure, but they weren't wholly illogical, ultimately. They used the Socratic method as best they could with the observational tools they had at the time, and well, this happened to be the result.
Well, if someone weighs as much as a duck means they would float. And things that float that aren't ducks must be made of wood. Wood burns. What do we do with witches?
QED.
@@boomanchu2 Build a bridge out of them!
@@Nofixdahdress But can you not also build a bridge out of stone?
@@boomanchu2 Thus proving the point that really small rocks must float.
fascinating isnt it?
iam just coming there to tell you put soo much effect in your video there just like a movie man love them
I have wanted to read this forever, now I have an excellent performance from one of my favourite TH-camrs instead. Keep it up man!
“Be careful when you cast out your demons that you don’t throw away the best of yourself.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Ok but this isn't about that
@Arbane's Sword "destroyed his whole race"
What the fuck are you talking about
Implying that the best part of yourself is connected to a vice furtther validates the point that you should 'purge' your soul of impurites.
@@timothyodeyale6565 I think it means that not everything called vice is actually vice
@@waltonsmith7210 I think most things we call vices are vices. Avarice, Gluttony,Wrath, Sloth. Plenty of others. It heavily depends on religion though. I am a christian so naturally i try and get rid of vices. If you are an atheist, not so much. Their world view basically amounts to YOLO LOL.
This is a fantastic video, in terms of quality in the cinematography, acting, and just presentation. I am curious on your thoughts on the Malleus Maleficarum, which seems to be written by a Claude Frollo-esque spiteful monk as opposed to the self-righteous/genuinely concerned King James.
It's a pretty vile book. Demonology I can kind of separate myself from emotionally but with Malleus, the sheer misogyny and hatefulness just gives me the creeps.
That’s the Hammer of the Witches right? From what I’ve heard, the contents of that book wouldn’t look out of place in some Alex Jones-esque crazy conspiracy theorist forum
@Jacqueline Davis It is *comically* sexist. Imagine a liberal comedian, lampooning elderly super-conservative religious bigots by making up over-the-top absurd offensive remarks, about FEEEMALES being dirty and ugly and stupid and evil with magic seduction-powers to control my mind and every single one is a wh-re who needs to be punished and they're all conspiring to give me STDs! ... It's basically that. When I read it I laughed out loud, then got depressed and angry because of all the judicial-murder that it inspired.
Heinrich Kramer was an outright convicted sex offender (he got exiled from Innsbruck by the local bishop for sexually harassing a woman he was prosecuting in a witch trial).
@@AtunSheiFilms You could say it was product of it's time, but no matter the time period humans nature never changes.
My favorite content that you make is the Witchfinder General, and any of these videos that relate to witchcraft. I know everyone wants you to make this channel into only Checkmate, Lincolnites! but I love and appreciate your Puritan stuff the most! Also, your accent makes me want to saddle up my horse and ride to Salem.
I enjoyed watching this so much. Thank you for this.
Weirdly, one of the most startling things to me that King James VI and I proposes in this isn’t all the crazy stuff about witches, sorcery, necromancy, and ‘scopers (I’m an Aquarius) - it’s the utter confidence he has that Pharaoh’s magicians’ rods did not really turn into snakes.
I’d never even considered the possibility - I always thought the point was that even when Pharaoh’s magicians could perform similar works, God’s miracles were far more powerful.
The doctrine that the devil’s works are not manifest in the same way as miracles... I’m kind of curious if that was the accepted doctrine of the time? Is it still the accepted doctrine? He just declares it with such confidence...
This is fantastic! This is assigned viewing for a class I'm taking at William & Mary. Well done, as usual.
this was amazing!
you do so much research and put a lot of effort into making these videos. It's really wonderful to see such dedication to history!
I'm stoked, dude! You two are among the best content producers on TH-cam.
Atun-Shei looks like he's about to stuff 6 kids into some animatronics
How did I not find this collab until now. Love Esoterica such an interesting channel.
An hour and forty five minutes.... Perfection.
This was greatly enlightening in how the people of that time understood the world around them.
Checkmate Lincolnites keeps getting weirder
I fear I am but a dullard in not knowing of the nature of humors nor the ways of the devil's servants. I was quite unable to receive all the knowledge put forth by this great text. Truly, I am but a wretched sinner, utterly unworthy of God's love. A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature and I livith as a winter tree; unprofitable, fit only to be hewn down and burned. I shal steep my life in prayer, and hope that God sees fit to show mercy on my corrupted soul.
This is the most niche thing and I adore it
Wonderful production. Thnx
1:17:33 “You know how some people talk about spirits that fuck people? Could you tell me more about them, especially if they’re real and if some of them might be big-titted women?”
This is an Immensely Immense Work of Immense Immensity. Bravo! Hiphiphooray!
This is amazing and somewhat terrifying at the same time. The same cadence and style of "debate" feels so close to modern conspiracy and extreme fringe thinking.
indeed
In a way, it was conspiratorial even back then. If James wasn't in a position of authority, nobody would have listened to him.
They both come from the same place. It's wild to think about how that same narrative has been transmitted through our culture for hundreds of years with only very superficial updates to make it *seem* new.
I just saw Dr. Sledge in a video on Genetically Modified Skeptic’s channel! Always great to see him involved in projects like this.
the opening to this is ***fascinating*** to me. That a king would speak to the reader directly as "beloved reader" and offer up this writing as something of an argumentative text, perhaps with the pretension of it being scientific... it feels like the king is somehow lowering himself to the station of those beneath him socially, in order to communicate these things. My perception of monarchs was quite different, that they wouldn't stoop to such things because they didn't need to offer argument and justification for anything they did, and as such wouldn't be literate in the rhetoric required.
I guess my understanding was ahistorical
James had a couple of other tracts discussing social contract theory*, dude was a polymath
*technically that term doesn’t originate until later, but that’s essentially the topic of his “The True Law of Free Monarchies” and to a lesser degree “Basilikon Doron”
Ironically, his son and heir Charles I was very much that stereotypical “I don’t need to explain my decisions to the commons” king, and largely lost his head because of it
The argument of being scientific are also evident of him appealing to Astronomy and Medical science (Physic).
From what I gathered here, He essentially went "Dude, I totally believe in Science, I trust the Astronomers and the Physicians... But sometimes we went a little to far though"
James was also bisexual and somewhat tolerant of Catholicism (though less tolerant than Elizabeth I, his predecessor, was)
@@bonniea8189 Even less?
From the writing, to the acting, to the lighting to the make-up. It all screams that this is a subject you care about enough to pour your creativity and passion into and I'm now smarter for it. At so many points I would be too self-conscious or too nervous to produce something so out there but so grounded. Please please please keep producing more out of the box content like this. I'll hold up my end of the bargain and get as many t-shirts as I can o7
This is the weirdest edition of Checkmate Lincolnites yet
Very interesting! It's fascinating how a lot of idioms and concepts have changed little over the centuries! And well done on the accents!
Awesome video, Atun never disappoints!
As a Finn it's very interesting to me that Finland and Lapland get namedropped, but I have a vague theory as to why: we're back then a part of the Swedish kingdom, even though finnish and swedish are 2 completely different languages. Officially the whole kingdom had turned from catholicism to the lutheran faith, but in finland many of the remote villages still maintained the old pagan animistic and shamanistic beliefs. The church did their best to eradicate these, but the traditions carried on, especially in the more remote parts of the country.
When you combine this with the fact that even prior to the christianization of Sweden and Finland, there's some evidence to suggest that the vikings used (in a rune-stone) the phrase 'sea witches' to refer to the Finns, the tradition and history of the Swedes thinking of us as heathens, sorcerers and witches goes back a long way. Add to that the fact that Lapland is also inhabited by the native Sámi people who have their own animistic pagan faith, and it's no wonder that even during the 800 or so years of Swedish reign, Finland (or Österland, 'the east land', as the province was then named) was probably the topic of many a ghost and witch story among the christians and the nobility in Sweden, as most of them would never visit the country other than maybe stop by a port quickly to offload some mechandise. Some of these tales must've spread to the British isles as well along the sailors, as we used to sell A LOT of tar and lumber to the shipbuilders of England and Scotland.
But I assure you: do not buy into these rumors, we are no servants of the dark forces!
Now if you'll excuse me, it's slightly past midnight, I gotta go climb up a nearby hill in moonlight to see a man hooded in black about a horse.
Brilliant, did not expect a dialogue made with authentic pronunciation of the era when I clicked on the video. Visual aesthetics were also spot on. Great work!
This is an absolute joy. Thank you for making this.
Dam U R good and the devotion to character is extremely admirable and passionate... May the good Lord keep us all safe 🙏🙏🙏. Deep respect from Europe...
Dr. Sledge has a really epic beard, and name.
Anyway, this is gonna be a very interesting video
He has many great videos covering mysticism, esoteric and apocryphal religious texts and practices, and on philosophical and magical texts of the same ilk.
@@hoathanatos6179 I'm gonna have to check him out
Like you say in your conclusion, it was really enlightening to hear a consequent, scholarly logic on the basis of James' writing! The man lays open his intentions and the purpose of his text, is very clear about which side of the debate he stands on (and, to an extent, why), and clearly knows his stuff on the topic: He cites his sources and it was even made clear that he is acquainted with the relevant reading of the time, not to speak of the biblical source text.
In an unrelated note, I have always been saying that performing old texts or reading them out aloud makes it much easier to follow what is going on for a modern reader/listener. Big kudos for doing that; it makes the source leagues more accessible.
It's a shame I can only "like" this once. I'll have to settle for sharing it lots!
This is the future of getting younger people interested in history, of all eras, love this channel.
I can always count on Atun-Shei Films to create something I will immediately click and watch fully. Clearly a well-rounded and educated fellow; as a Brit I get a real hoot out of the early colonial English accents as well as these insights into the history of my dear, mad, beloved brutal kingdom.
I really hope that small instances of "internet schizophrenia", these far-right radicalizing online bodies, the "Twitter thoughtmob"... Well, I hope that in the far future humanity conquers these - a reincarnated Atun-Shei creating media that displays how silly and how, without context, stupid, humanity's current modern predicament will look with a few hundred years of hindsight.
Cheers from across the pond :)
Join a communist party and get active if you want humanity to last that long.
I love how the lighting implies that these people in debate are ghostlike, which further implies that these people exchange their ideas of these things even in the afterlife. A fascinating picture to paint!
This is the most lit episode of Checkmate Lincolnites yet. 👍
I really enjoy your presentations of early modern history and texts. Both this and In Defence of Puritanism are both very well crafted and give very useful insight into the culture of that time period. Well done!