For nearly three centuries Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) was the professional manual for witch hunters. This work by two of the most famous Inquisitors of the age is still a document of the forces of that era's beliefs. Under a Bull of Pope Innocent VIII, Kramer and Sprenger exposed the heresy of those who did not believe in witches and set forth the proper order of the world with devils, witches, and the will of God. Even if you do not believe in witchcraft, the world of 1484 did. Contemporary cases illustrate methods by which witches attempt to control and subvert the world: How and why women roast their first-born male child; the confession of how to raise a tempest by a washwoman suspended "hardly clear of the ground" by her thumbs; methods of making a formal pact with the Devil; how witches deprive men of their vital member; and many others. Methods of destroying and curing witchcraft, such as remedies against incubus and succubus devils, are exemplified and weighed by the authors. Formal rules for initiating a process of justice are set down: how it should be conducted and the method of pronouncing sentence; when to use the trial by the red-hot-iron; how the prosecutor should protect himself; how the body is to be shaved and searched for tokens and amulets, including those sewn under the skin. As Summers says, it was the casebook on every magistrate's desk. Montague Summers has given a very sympathetic translation. His two introductions are filled with examples of witchcraft and the historical importance of Malleus Maleficarum. This famous document should interest the historian, the student of witchcraft and the occult, and the psychologist who is interested in the medieval mind as it was confronted with various forces which could be explained only by witchcraft.

The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (Dover Occult)

History

Heinrich Kramer

James Sprenger

Europe

Dover `

Malleus Maleficarum Volume One:the Latin Text (Volume 1:the Latin Text)

Cambridge University Press

Malleus Maleficarum: Volume 2, The Text in English: The Hammer of Witches

Literature & Fiction

Literary

The Malleus Maleficarum is a treatise on the prosecution of witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic clergyman. The book was first published in Speyer, Germany, in 1487. Jacob Sprenger is also often attributed as an author, but some scholars now believe that he became associated with the Malleus Maleficarum largely as a result of Kramer's wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible. Both purported writers of the work were Dominican clergy, and the work came about as "the result of a peculiarly Dominican encounter between learned and folk traditions, an encounter determined in part by the demands of inquisitorial office, and in part by the requirements of effective preaching and pastoral care." In 1490, three years after its publication, the Catholic Church condemned the Malleus Maleficarum, although it was later used by royal courts during the Renaissance, and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Hammer Of The Witches

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Malleus Maleficarum 1486 Hammer of the Witches Heinrich Kramer Translated by Montague Summers The Malleus Maleficarum usually translated as Hammer of Witches is the best known and the most important treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1487. It endorses extermination of witches and for this purpose develops a detailed legal and theological theory that is misogynistic. It was a bestseller, second only to the Bible in terms of sales for almost 200 years. It has been recognized even from the very earliest times, during the first gropings towards the essential conveniences of social decency and social order, that witchcraft is an evil thing, an enemy to light, an ally of the powers of darkness, disruption, and decay. Sometimes, no doubt, primitive communities were obliged to tolerate the witch and her works owing to fear; in other words, witchcraft was a kind of blackmail; but directly Cities were able to to co-ordinate, and it became possible for Society to protect itself, precautions were taken and safeguards were instituted against this curse, this bane whose object seemed to blight all that was fair, all that was just and good, and that was well-appointed and honourable, in a word, whose aim proved to be set up on high the red standard of revolution; to overwhelm religion, existing order, and the comeliness of life in an abyss of anarchy, nihilism, and despair. In his great treatise De Ciutate Dei S. Augustine set forth the theory, or rather the living fact, of the two Cities, the City of God, and the opposing stronghold of all that is not for God, that is to say, of all that is against Him.

Montague Summers

The Notorious Handbook Once Used to Condemn and Punish "Witches", by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This is one of the most notorious books in history. Thousands of innocent people, especially women, lost their lives at the expense of this book. It was first published around 1489, shortly after the invention of the printing press and five years after a papal bull was issued legitimizing the belief in witches. It went through at least 30 printings and became the handbook for witch hunters, both Protestant and Catholic. It gave permission to bishops and secular authorities to prosecute witches if there were no representatives from the Inquisition around, giving full directions. After the witch trials swept through Europe, some villages were left with as few as two women. So if this book is so bad, why should one read it? Because there are lessons to be learned, both psychologically and historically, and there is an ignorance to overcome. This is a fascinating study of mass hysteria, greed, and delusional behavior.

The Malleus Maleficarum

World

Book Tree

Malleus Maleficarum: the Classic Study of Witchcraft

Religion & Spirituality

Occult & Paranormal

Senate

The Malleus Maleficarum is probably one of the most notorious books of Catholic Church history. Originally put out when the Inquisition was in full force, this book and the text it contains condemned thousands of innocent people to needless deaths. Most of what today's society and culture thinks of the witches and the occult comes from these pages. Although this text is largely misguided and inaccurate from even a scriptural standpoint, the fact remains that it has molded our views on those who practice occult arts in many ways. Take a look into the past!

Christian Books & Bibles

Devoted Publishing

Diana

The Malleus Maleficarum (the witch-hammer) is the medieval witch-hunt best-seller, a manual written by two catholic priests with important information about how to identify a witch in trials etc.

Malleus Maleficarum

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