Prince ranks just under king in the Ars Goetia's hierarchy, and a few spirits carry both titles depending on which manuscript is consulted. As with the rest of the scheme, the rank marks standing within a borrowed royal court rather than describing a distinct category of spirit.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe spirits the Ars Goetia ranks as princes. Rank in the Goetia is a literary grade assigned by the grimoire, borrowed from the titles of an earthly court; it governs how the text says a spirit is to be approached, and it says nothing about any spirit's standing in any religion. 2 Origins
Whose Classification This IsThe rank ladder is the Ars Goetia's, compiled in England in the mid-seventeenth century from older material including Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of 1577. Manuscripts differ, and some give a spirit more than one rank. 2Tradition: Ars Goetia (Lemegeton), mid-17th century Learn More
The Goetic Princes
This group gathers the spirits ranked as Princes (or Prelates) among the seventy-two demons of the Ars Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon, one of the noble ranks the grimoire assigns to the spirits it catalogues.
The browser will find the spirits of princely rank. The atlas describes each spirit's attributes and seal as the grimoire gives them, treating the Goetia as a historical textual tradition.
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Princes
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books
Owen Davies, Oxford University Press, 2009ch. 3, on the Lemegeton and the Solomonic grimoiresView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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