Malleus Maleficarum

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The Malleus Maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches", “Witch Hammer", or the "Hexenhammer") is arguably the most infamous treatise on prosecuting witches to have come out of the European witch craze which began in the late Middle Ages and peaked during the Renaissance. It is a comprehensive witch-hunter’s handbook first published in Germany between 1486 and 1487 that grew into fourteen editions from 1487 to 1520 and then sixteen editions from 1574 to 1669 in France, Italy, and Germany (Monter 24, Russell 79). These editions spread throughout Europe and had a profound impact on witch trials on the Continent for about 200 years. This work is notorious for its vivid misogyny and equating witchcraft with heresy.

Malleus Maleficarum: Forgeries and Translations

The Malleus was originally prefaced by the papal bull Summis desiderantes issued by Pope Innocent VIII on December 5, 1484, the main papal document on witchcraft. It mentions James Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer by name (as Iacobus Sprenger and Henrici Institoris) and directs them to combat witchcraft in northern Germany.

The book itself was not specifically ordered by the Roman Catholic Church. The writers attached a letter of approbation from the University of Cologne ostensibly signed by four teachers there. However, this letter was a forgery. The University had not approved the book, and had in fact condemned it for the use of unethical legal procedures, and because its demonology was not consistent with Catholic doctrine. Kramer was condemned by the Inquisition in 1490, but the book continued in publication, buoyed by the growing popular hunger for remedies against witchcraft.

Modern translations of the works include a 2000 German translation by the professors Jerouscheck and Behringer, titled Der Hexenhammer (the 1906 translation by J.W.R. Schmidt is considered very poor), and an English language translation (with introduction) by Montague Summers in 1928 which was reprinted in 1948 and is still available today as a 1971 reprint by Dover Publications isbn: 0486228029). A new, fully annotated translation by Christopher S. Mackay was made available in November 2006 by Cambridge University Press. The most recent (2007) edited translation by Dr P.G. Maxwell-Stuart provides a lean, unvarnished version of the Malleus in clear, readable English and is published by Manchester University Press isbn: 9780719064432 paperback).

Contents of the Malleus Maleficarum

The book is divided into three sections, each of which raises specific questions and purports to araswer them through opposing arguments. There is little original material in the book; it is mainly a codification of existing beliefs and practices with substantial parts taken from earlier works such as Nicolau Aymerich's Directorium Inquisitorum (1376), or Johannes Nider's Formicarius (1435.

Part I seeks to prove that witchcraft or sorcery existed. It details how the Devil and his followers, witches, perpetrate a variety of evils with “the permission of the Almighty God". Rather than explaining this as punishment, as many church authorities of the time did, the authors of this book claim that God permits the acts so that the Devil might not gain unlimited power and destroy the world.

Part of this section explains why women, by their weaker nature and inferior intellect, were supposedly naturally more prone to the lure of Satan than men. The book title itself contains the word maleficarum, the female form of the noun, and the writers (incorrectly) declare that the word femina (woman) is a derivation of fe+minus, faithless.

Part II of the Malleus Maleficarum describes the actual forms of witchcraft. This section details how witches cast spells and how their actions can be prevented or remedied. Strong emphasis is given to the Devil’s Pact and the existence of witches is presented as fact. Many of the book’s reports of spells, pacts, sacrifice, and copulation with the Devil were gained from inquisitions performed by Sprenger and Kramer.

Part III details the methods for detecting, trying, and sentencing or destroying witches. Torture in the detection of witches is dealt with as a matter-of-course; if the accused witch did not voluntarily confess their guilt, torture was to be applied as an incentive to confess. Judges are instructed to mislead the accused if necessary, promising mercy for confession.

This section also covers how much belief to place in witnesses' testimonies and the need to eliminate malicious accusations, but also states that public rumor is sufficient to bring a person to trial and that too vigorous a defense is evidence that the defender is bewitched. There are rules on how to prevent the authorities from becoming bewitched and the reassurance that, as representatives of God, investigators are shielded from all of the witch's powers.

Summary of Beliefs in the Malleus Maleficarum

Both Kramer and Sprenger were prolific writers, and part of the Malleus Maleficarum is an absorption of a comprehensive manuscript on witchcraft written by Kramer in 1485. Generally based on the biblical pronouncement, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18), the book also draws on the works of Aristotle, the Biblical Scriptures, St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Thomas Aquinas for support. The misogyny of the Malleus can’t be denied; the authors' belief that women were inferior, weak, and easily corruptible creatures is emphasized often throughout the writing.

Taken as a whole, the Malleus Maleficarum declares that some things confessed by witches, such as animal transformations, were mere delusions induced by the devil to ensnare them, while other acts, such as flight, causing storms, and destroying crops, were real. The book dwells at length on the immoral acts of witches, their ability to create impotence in men, and even gives space to the question of whether demons could father children of witches. The writing style is serious and utterly humorless – even the most hard-to-believe statements are presented as reliable information.

External links

History of the Malleus Maleficarum - Essay by historian Jenny Gibbons, presenting the accepted view among scholars.
Malleus Maleficarum - Online version of Latin text and scanned pages of Malleus Maleficarum published in 1580.
Malleus Maleficarum - An online version of the text in English, with an introduction that represents the popular view of the subject.

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Malleus Maleficarum