The Malleus Maleficarum

1 The Malleus Maleficarumfile:///C|/!! [2002-01-20 12:41:37 PM]THEMALLEUS MALEFICARUMof Heinrich Kramer and James SprengerUnabridged online republication of the 1928 edition. Introduction to the 1948 edition is also , notes, and two introductions by Montague Summers. A Bull of Innocent The Malleus Maleficaruml Search the Malleusl Introduction to Online Editionl Introduction to 1948 Editionl Introduction to 1928 Editionl A Note Upon the Bibliographyl The Bull of Innocent VIIIl Letter of Approbationdownloadsl Adobe PDF Versionl eBook Versionl MS Word Versionl Write Us The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer), firstpublished in 1486, is arguably one of the most infamousbooks ever written, due primarily to its position and regardduring the Middle Ages.

2 It served as a guidebook forInquisitors during the Inquisition, and was designed to aidthem in the identification, prosecution, and dispatching ofWitches. It set forth, as well, many of the modernmisconceptions and fears concerning witches and theinfluence of witchcraft. The questions, definitions, andaccusations it set forth in regard to witches, which werereinforced by its use during the Inquisition, came to bewidely regarded as irrefutable truth. Those beliefs are heldeven today by a majority of Christians in regard topractitioners of the modern revived religion ofWitchcraft, or Wicca. And while the Malleus itself islargely unknown in modern times, its effects have provedlong lasting. At the time of the writing of The MalleusMaleficarum, there were many voices within the Christiancommunity (scholars and theologians) who doubted theexistence of witches and largely regarded such belief as mere superstition.

3 The authors of theMalleus addressed those voices in no uncertain terms, stating: Whether the Belief that there aresuch Beings as Witches is so Essential a Part of the Catholic Faith that Obstinacy to maintain theOpposite Opinion manifestly savours of Heresy. The immediate, and lasting, popularity of theMalleus essentially silenced those voices. It made very real the threat of one being branded aheretic, simply by virtue of one's questioning of the existence of witches and, thus, the validity ofthe Inquisition. It set into the general Christian consciousness, for all time, a belief in the existenceof witches as a real and valid threat to the Christian world. It is a belief which is held to this day. It must be noted that during the Inquisition, few, if any, real, verifiable, witches were everdiscovered or tried.

4 Often the very accusation was enough to see one branded a witch, tried by theInquisitors' Court, and burned alive at the stake. Estimates of the death toll during the Inquisitionworldwide range from 600,000 to as high as 9,000,000 (over its 250 year long course); either is achilling number when one realizes that nearly all of the accused were women, and consistedprimarily of outcasts and other suspicious persons. Old women. Midwives. Jews. Poets. Malleus Maleficarumfile:///C|/!! (1 of 3) [2002-01-20 12:02:35 PM]Anyone who did not fit within the contemporary view of pieous Christians were suspect, andeasily branded "Witch". Usually to devastating effect. It must also be noted that the crime of Witchcraft was not the only crime of which one couldbe accused during the Inquisition.

5 By questioning any part of Catholic belief, one could be brandeda heretic. Scientists were branded heretics by virtue of repudiating certain tenets of Christian belief(most notably Galileo, whose theories on the nature of planets and gravitational fields was initiallybranded heretical). Writers who challenged the Church were arrested for heresy (sometimesformerly accepted writers whose works had become unpopular). Anyone who questioned thevalidity of any part of Catholic belief did so at their own risk. The Malleus Maleficarum played animportant role in bringing such Canonical law into being, as often the charge of heresy carriedalong with it suspicions of witchcraft. It must be remembered that the Malleus is a work of its time.

6 Science had only just begun tomake any real advances. At that time nearly any unexplainable illness or malady would often beattributed to magic, and thus the activity of witches. It was a way for ordinary people to makesense of the world around them. The Malleus drew upon those beliefs, and, by its very existence,reinforced them and brought them into the codified belief system of the Catholic Church. In manyways, it could be said that it helped to validate the Inquisition itself. While the Malleus itself cannot be blamed for the Inquisition or the horrors inflicted uponmankind by the Inquisitors, it certainly played an important role. Thus has it been said that TheMalleus Maleficarum is one of the most blood-soaked works in human history, in that its veryexistence reinforced and validated Catholic beliefs which led to the prosecution, torture, andmurder, of tens of thousands of innocent people.

7 The lasting effect of the Malleus upon the world can only be measured in the lives of thehundreds of thousands of men, women, and even children, who suffered, and died, at the hands ofthe Inquisitors during the Inquisition. At the height of its popularity, The Malleus Maleficarumwas surpassed in public notoriety only by The Bible. Its effects were even felt in the New World,where the last gasp of the Inquisition was felt in the English settlements in America (most notablyin Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials). It is beyond the scope of this article to adequately examine the role of the Malleus in worldhistory, or its lasting effects. At the very least, The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer)offers to us an intriguing glimpse into the Medieval mind, and perhaps gives us a taste of what itmight have been like to have lived in those times.

8 - Wicasta LovelaceSummation of the Malleus Maleficarum by Edo NylandThe Malleus Maleficarumfile:///C|/!! (2 of 3) [2002-01-20 12:02:35 PM]View CoverPurchase theMalleus Maleficarumfrom The Malleus Maleficarum was transcribed byWicasta Lovelace and Christie Scripting Copyright 1998-2001 by the Windhaven Network, Rights Malleus Maleficarumfile:///C|/!! (3 of 3) [2002-01-20 12:02:35 PM]THEMALLEUS MALEFICARUMT able of ContentsThe First Part - Treating on the three necessary concomitants of witchcraft which are the Devil, awitch, and the permission of Almighty The Second Part - Treating on the methods by which the works of witchcraft are wrought anddirected, and how they may be successfully annulled and The Third Part - Relating to the judicial proceedings in both the Ecclesiastical and Civil courtsagainst witches and indeed all The Malleus Maleficarum was transcribed byWicasta Lovelace and Christie Scripting Copyright 1998, 1999 by the Windhaven Network.

9 All Rights of Contentsfile:///C|/!! [2002-01-20 12:02:38 PM]THEMALLEUS MALEFICARUMTHE FIRST PARTTHE FIRST PART TREATING OF THE THREE NECESSARYCONCOMITANTS OF WITCHCRAFT, WHICH ARE THE DEVIL, A WITCH,AND THE PERMISSION OF ALMIGHTY GODQ uestion IWhether the Belief that there are such Beings as Witches is so Essential a Partof the Catholic Faith that Obstinacy to maintain the Opposite Opinionmanifestly savours of IIIf it be in Accordance with the Catholic Faith to maintain that in Order to bringabout some Effect of Magic, the Devil must intimately co-operate with the Witch,or whether one without the other, that is to say, the Devil without the Witch, orconversely, could produce such an IIIW hether Children can be Generated by Incubi and IVBy which Devils are the Operations of Incubus and Succubus Practised?

10 Question VWhat is the Source of the Increase of Works of Witchcraft? Whence comes it thatthe Practice of Witchcraft hath so notably increased?Question VIConcerning Witches who copulate with Devils. Why is it that Women are chieflyaddicted to Evil superstitions?Question VIIW hether Witches can Sway the Minds of Men to Love or VIIIW hether Witches can Hebetate the Powers of Generation or Obstruct theVenereal First Partfile:///C|/!!witch/part_ (1 of 3) [2002-01-20 12:02:38 PM]Question IXWhether Witches may work some Prestidigatory Illusion so that the Male Organappears to be entirely removed and separate from the XWhether Witches can by some Glamour Change Men into XIThat Witches who are Midwives in Various Ways Kill the Child Conceived in theWomb, and Procure an Abortion.