Malleus Maleficarum - The Hammer Of Witches

Witchcraft had long been forbidden by the Church. It stated that witchcraft and magic were delusions, and that those who believed in such things "had been seduced by the Devil in dreams and visions". In 1485 an Austrian woman named Helena Scheuberin, and six of her assisting women stood accused of witchcraft. The trial was held at Innsbruck, and she was accused for using magic to murder the noble knight Jörg Spiess.

At his sick bed, the knight was instructed by his doctors to stop seeing Helena Scheuberin if he wish to live.

But the trial ended in favor to Helena Scheuberin and the other six women where they received mild sentences in the form of penance.

The catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer, was very disappointed by the judgement. Kramer tried to convince the authorities to give proper punishment to the women, but he was expelled from the city of Innsbruck and dismissed by the local bishop as "senile and crazy". He got obsessed over Helena Scheuberin and the six women’s trial and traveled to Germany to investigate about witches. He was able to find much knowledge on witchcraft and again tried to convince the authorities yet found no use.

This led him to write “Malleus Maleficarum”, usually translated as the “Hammer of Witches”, which is one of the best known written work on witchcraft. This could be considered as the Kramer's act of self-justification and revenge towards the verdict he believed to be false.

In 1519, 33 years after the book's first publication, the name of Jacob Sprenger was added as a coauthor. But some scholars have disagreed with the idea that Sprenger was working with Kramer, arguing that the evidence shows that Sprenger was actually the opponent of Kramer.

The book challenged all arguments against the existence of witchcraft and to instruct authorities on how to identify, interrogate and convict witches. Kramer claim that those who practiced witchcraft were more often women than men. This developed a Gender-specific theory and laid the foundations for widespread consensus in early modern Germany on the evil nature of witches as women.

Later works on witchcraft have not agreed entirely with the Malleus but none of them challenged the view that women were more inclined to be witches than men. It was accepted so that very few authors saw the need to explain why witches are women.

In the Malleus, demons are the ones who tempt humans to sorcery and are the main figures in the witches' vows. They interact with witches sexually. This is a major part of human-demon interaction and demons do it "not for the sake of pleasure, but for the sake of corrupting."

Kramer requested explicit authority from the Pope to prosecute witchcraft. He received a papal bull “Summis desiderantes affectibus”, in 1484 by Pope Innocent 8th. It gave full papal approval to prosecute what was deemed to be witchcraft in general and also gave individual authorizations to Kramer and Dominican Friar Jacob Sprenger specifically.

The Malleus Maleficarum consists of mainly four parts. Justification which in Latin writes as Apologia auctoris, Papal bull, Approbation by professors of theology at University of Cologne, Table of contents and the Main text in three sections.

In the part of Justification, it is briefly explained that prevalence of sorcery which is a method of Satan's final assault motivated authors to write the Malleus Maleficarum.

The section Papal bull states the papal bull known as Summis desiderantes affectibus that is addressed to Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger. It states that they received the papal bull two years before they finish the book. They include this into the book with the intension of legitimizes the handbook by providing general confirmation of the reality of witchcraft and full authority in their preachings and proceedings.

The Approbation includes the unanimous approval of the Malleus Maleficarum by all the Doctors of the Theological Faculty of the University of Cologne signed by them personally.

After the table of content comes the main text. The Malleus Maleficarum asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft: the evil intentions of the witch, the help of the Devil, and the permission of God. It details how witches cast spells, and remedies that can be taken to prevent witchcraft, or help those who have been affected by it.

The section offers a step-by-step guide to the conduct of a witch trial, from the method of initiating the process and assembling accusations, to the interrogation including torture of witnesses, and the formal charging of the accused. Women who did not cry during their trial were automatically believed to be witches.

The Catholic Church banned the book in 1490 by placing it on the “Index Librorum Prohibitorum” which means “List of Prohibited Books”. The top theologians of the Inquisition at the Faculty of Cologne condemned the book as recommending unethical and illegal procedures, as well as being inconsistent with Catholic doctrines of demonology. The Malleus suggests torture to effectively obtain confessions and the death penalty as the only certain remedy against the evils of witchcraft.

The Malleus elevates sorcery to the criminal of denying the core doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. For that the book suggest the witches to be punished by burning them alive at the stake. The book had a strong influence on culture for several centuries. For a time period this book became the handbook of authorities and many were punished and killed believing their practice of witchcraft. Of the victims, majority of them were women.

Even though some justify the book to be true and should be followed, it seems to be of a book of superstitious beliefs. Women were tortured and viewed as weaklings for not having enough faith and for allowing satan to manipulate them. It’ll be much better if one could reason what actually reflects in this book than simply going with someone’s perspective.