Jan Machielsen (DPhil in History, Oxford, 2011) is Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History at New College, Oxford. He is the editor, with Clare Copeland, of Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period (2013) and the author of a number of articles exploring the intersection of religious and intellectual history. This is his first monograph.

• IntroductionSection 1: Identities1: Magistrate2: Jesuit3: FriendSection 2: Humanism4: The Spoils of Egypt5: Youthful Adversaries6: A Tale of Two Senecas7: Divining Words8: Historical DramaSection 3: Demonology9: A Web of Demons10: A Textual Science11: Trials and TribulationsSection 4: Theology12: The Virgin and the Word13: Vehement Vituperation14: Editing Lives

a major scholarly achievement and a book that it is difficult to praise too highly for the scope of its engagement with all aspects of Delrio's work, not just those which are well known amongst scholars of early modern demonology. It is difficult to imagine Machielsen's book ever being surpassed as the definitive biography of Martin Delrio, but beyond this, it is also a book that ought to be read by all scholars of the Counter-Reformation, whether they are interested in demonologists and witchcraft or not ... This is a book that deserves to be on the reading list of every course on the Counter-Reformation.

Jan Machielsen (DPhil in History, Oxford, 2011) is Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History at New College, Oxford. He is the editor, with Clare Copeland, of Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period (2013) and the author of a number of articles exploring the intersection of religious and intellectual history. This is his first monograph.

• IntroductionSection 1: Identities1: Magistrate2: Jesuit3: FriendSection 2: Humanism4: The Spoils of Egypt5: Youthful Adversaries6: A Tale of Two Senecas7: Divining Words8: Historical DramaSection 3: Demonology9: A Web of Demons10: A Textual Science11: Trials and TribulationsSection 4: Theology12: The Virgin and the Word13: Vehement Vituperation14: Editing Lives

a major scholarly achievement and a book that it is difficult to praise too highly for the scope of its engagement with all aspects of Delrio's work, not just those which are well known amongst scholars of early modern demonology. It is difficult to imagine Machielsen's book ever being surpassed as the definitive biography of Martin Delrio, but beyond this, it is also a book that ought to be read by all scholars of the Counter-Reformation, whether they are interested in demonologists and witchcraft or not ... This is a book that deserves to be on the reading list of every course on the Counter-Reformation.

Jan Machielsen (DPhil in History, Oxford, 2011) is Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History at New College, Oxford. He is the editor, with Clare Copeland, of Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period (2013) and the author of a number of articles exploring the intersection of religious and intellectual history. This is his first monograph.

• IntroductionSection 1: Identities1: Magistrate2: Jesuit3: FriendSection 2: Humanism4: The Spoils of Egypt5: Youthful Adversaries6: A Tale of Two Senecas7: Divining Words8: Historical DramaSection 3: Demonology9: A Web of Demons10: A Textual Science11: Trials and TribulationsSection 4: Theology12: The Virgin and the Word13: Vehement Vituperation14: Editing Lives

a major scholarly achievement and a book that it is difficult to praise too highly for the scope of its engagement with all aspects of Delrio's work, not just those which are well known amongst scholars of early modern demonology. It is difficult to imagine Machielsen's book ever being surpassed as the definitive biography of Martin Delrio, but beyond this, it is also a book that ought to be read by all scholars of the Counter-Reformation, whether they are interested in demonologists and witchcraft or not ... This is a book that deserves to be on the reading list of every course on the Counter-Reformation.