| Malleus Maleficarum | |
|---|---|
| Hammer of Witches | |
 Title page of the seventh Cologne edition of the Malleus Maleficarum, 1520 (from the University of Sydney Library)[1] | |
| Full title | Malleus Maleficarum |
| Also known as | Hammer of Witches |
| Author(s) | Heinrich Kramer |
| Language | Latin |
| Date | 1486 |
| Date of issue | 1487 |
The Malleus Maleficarum,[a] usually translated as the Hammer of Witches,[3][b] is the best known treatise about witchcraft.[6][7] It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institor) and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1486. Some describe it as the compendium of literature in demonology of the 15th century. Kramer presented his own views as the Roman Catholic Church's position.
The book was condemned by top theologians of the Inquisition at the Faculty of Cologne for recommending illegal procedures, and for being inconsistent with Roman Catholic doctrines of demonology.[8] However, Kramer was never removed and even enjoyed considerable prestige thereafter.[9][10]
The Malleus calls sorcery heresy, which was a crime at the time, and recommends that secular courts prosecute it as such. The Malleus suggests torture to get confessions and death as the only certain way to end the "evils of witchcraft." When it was published, heretics were often sentenced to be burned alive at the stake[11] and the Malleus suggested the same for "witches." Despite, or perhaps because of, being condemned by some members of the church, the Malleus was very popular.
In 1519, a new author was added, Jacob Sprenger. Historians have questioned why since this was 33 years after the book's first printing, and 24 years after Sprenger died. Kramer wrote the Malleus after he was expelled from Innsbruck by the local bishop. Kramer was accused of illegal behavior, and the tribunal was suspended because of Kramer's obsession with the sexual habits of the accused, Helena Scheuberin: the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (the "Witch-Bull”) which formed the basis of the investigation permitted the investigation of heresy, not sexual impropriety.[12]:160
The book was later revived by royal courts during the Renaissance, and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries.
- ^ The Latin title is "MALLEUS MALEFICARUM, Maleficas, & earum hæresim, ut phramea potentissima conterens." (generally translated into English as The Hammer of Witches which destroys Witches and their heresy as with a two-edged sword).The English translation is from this note Archived 2013-10-06 at the Wayback Machine to Summers' 1928 introduction Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2007-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ In his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, Christopher S. Mackay explains the terminology at length – sorcerer is used to preserve the relationship of the Latin terminology. '"Malefium" = act of sorcery (literally an act of 'evil-doing'), while "malefica" = female performers of sorcery (evil deeds) and "maleficus" = male performer of evil deeds; sorcery, sorceress, and sorcerer."
- ^ Guiley (2008), p. 223'.
- ^ Mackay (2009).
- ^ Mackay (2009), p. 1.
- ^ Summers (2012), p. vii, Introduction to 1948 edition: "It is hardly disputed that in the whole vast literature of witchcraft, the most prominent, the most important, the most authoritative volume is the Malleus Maleficarum" (The Witch Hammer) of Heinrich Kramer (Henricus Institioris) and James Sprenger."
- ^ Bergenheim, Åsa (2018). "The Lecherous Witch: Evil, Witchcraft and Female Sexuality in Early Modern Sweden" (PDF). Progressive Connexions.
- ^ Burns (2003), p. 160.
- ^ Summers, Montague (2000). Witchcraft and Black Magic. Dover Publications. p. 30.
- ^ Mackay (2009), p. 28: "but it was understood by everyone that the heretic was to be executed (normally by being burned alive) in accordance with secular laws against heresy"
- ^ Burton, Dan; Grandy, David (2004). Magic, mystery, and science: the occult in Western civilization. Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21656-4.
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