#henricus institor

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger's Malleus Maleficarum read by Ian Richardson - Caedmon - 1974 (cover illustration by N.B. Ward)

[mask131]

Magical summer: The Malleus Maleficarum

MALLEUS MALEFICARUM

Category : Christian Europe belief and folklore / Demonology and witch-hunting

The Malleus Maleficarum… also known by its popular and approximative English translate, “Hammer of Witches”, is without a doubt one of the most infamous and darkest books that European history ever saw. If it is titled the “Hammer of Witches”, it is in the sense “A hammer to use against witches” – because The Malleus Maleficarum is still known to this day as THE guide that witch-hunters used during the great witch-trials hysteria that swept Europe. It was THE book used to torture and put to death thousands and thousands people under accusations of witchcraft. It became THE symbol of the great witch persecution in Europe.

But what exactly is this book?

 THE ORIGINS

# The Malleus Maleficarum is German of origin. It was written by a certain Heinrich Kramer (under his Latin name Henricus Institor), a Catholic clergyman and inquisitor. It was first published in Speyer, in 1486 and quickly became one of the most iconic and best-selling demonology compendium of the 15th century. At the time the book simply had a great influence over popular culture and folk belief… But starting with the 16th century, all the way to the 17th, it because used as the main tool and guide to hunt and prosecute witches throughout Europe, to the point it is considered to have been one of the reasons witch-hunting and witch-killings in the continent became so strong, vicious and “popular”. Because this is what the Malleus Maleficarum is: a long treaty that analyzes, describes and explains the nature, behavior and activity of witches, followed by a manual on how to hunt them, torture them, organize their trials and punish them for their crimes.

# What is quite “funny” (in a sad and tragic way) is that people remember this book as “The book inquisitors used to torture witches”. And this… is untrue. In fact, it was the reverse: the Inquisition wanted NOTHING to do with this book. You see, its author, Heinrich Kramer, was indeed part of the German Inquisition… but he had been embroiled into some scandals and dubious business beforehand, which made him not a respected or well-considered member of the Inquisition. People thought he was a senile old man, a pervert leech obsessed with sex, and a criminal that tried to act in illegal ways. The Inquisition did not approve much of him – and when he published his so-called “treaty”, despite it having a HUGE popularity among common folk, the Inquisition AND the faculties of theology deeply hated and rejected this book. The Malleus Maleficarum was accused of being not actually a Christian (well Catholic) book, due to several of its teachings and “facts” going against the canon and preaching of the Church and the catholic religion. Even worse: famous and renowned theologians such as those of the Faculty of Cologne clearly said that several of the methods and procedures the Malleus advised were purely unethical and illegal. But here’s the thing… The Church might be against it, but the non-Church people loved it. And Kramer was understanding that very well. In fact, the Malleus was designed to be a guide not to religious courts and judges… BUT TO SECULAR COURT AND JUDGES. It gave all the tips and ways for witch trials to completely escape the hands of the Church and be organized by non-religious tribunals. The Malleus Maleficarum was mostly used by political bodies such as city councils or royalty: the witch-trials it organized were not those of the Inquisition or the Church, but witch trials orchestrated by judiciary judges, mayors and other non-religious authority figures. But given people BELIEVED it was a real “religious” text, and given it was written by an inquisitor (though a disgraced one), it became a common and general idea that the Malleus Maleficarum was an “official” text of the church and endorsed by the Inquistion (which comforted people into using it). All a vicious cycle…

# The “strengthening” of the reputation of the book also was due to a bizarre incident in 1519, 33 years after the book’s first publication. The book started being re-edited with a second author: alongside Kramer’s name appeared the one of Jacob Sprenger, who was a famous inquisitor and theologian. Here’s the thing however: by this time, Jacob Sprenger had been dead for 24 years, and there is no actual factual or historical evidence saying he co-wrote the book. He was indeed given authority by the Pope to hunt down and judge witches, through the same papal text that also gave such powers to Heinrich Kramer (before everyone realized he was cuckoo), but that’s it. Most people agree that it was probably a pure invention, but overall to see his name appear in front of the book just reinforced people in the idea that it was a GOOD book and an official one. And thus began the horror…

 THE CONTENT

# The first part of the Malleus Maleficarum is a series of explanations, justifications and authorization for the existence and publication of this book: Kramer was crazy, but not stupid, he knew his views were disliked and up to debate, so he tried to make sure he was good on both legal and religious ground. He notably included the papal decree recognizing the existence of witches and giving to the inquisition the power to hunt them down, and a list of signatures from doctors of the theological faculty of Cologne approving the publication and content of this book (which again, is quite fascinating given the same faculty, upon discovering what the book contained upon its publication, rejected it as un-Christian, unethical and illegal).

# After that we reach the main text, which is divided in three different parts. The first section is a theoretical examination of the concept of witchcraft itself, using things such as theology or natural philosophy to answer the question “Does witchcraft exist, or is it just a product of our imagination”? Kramer’s answer is: yes, it exists, because the Church and the world recognizes that the Devil is real, and so witches must be real too, because witches sign a pact with Satan in order to obtain their powers and perform their harmful magic. This section was mostly aimed at other members of the clergy, and it was a way for Kramer to refute and debunk all the critics that would arose. The second section is a long discussion of cases of witchcraft, and the practices of witches: in it Kramer describes all the various forms of witchcrafts, as well as their “remedies”, how the witches recruit other witches, how the witches cast help, and how can one prevent witchcraft or help those affected by it. The third section is the “legal” part of the Malleus, and its more infamous: it is Kramer’s “How to prosecute a witch 101”, a guide for judges, magistrates and inquisitors in their fight against witchcraft. It notably gives a step-by-step process of how to make a witch trial, with heavy encouragement and suggestions of “serious interrogation”… aka torture.

# One of the worst parts of the Malleus Maleficarum is that Kramer creates in it a mock-trial destined to trap people with no way of escaping. The very basic principle of it dooms the victim: according to the book, God would never permit an innocent to be convicted of witchcraft. If God lets you be accused of being a witch… it means you must be guilty of something. By this very principle we understand the full scope of the madness of this book. It also introduced the “tear paradox”, well known through witch-hunts: if the victim cries during her trial, it means she is feeling guilt or fear about something she did, and she has something to hide. But if the victim does not cry, it means that she is a witch for sure, because either she has no regret and empathy for what she has done, or the Devil himself uses a spell to dry her tears so she doesn’t look guilty. Overall, there is no way to escape, and the only way out is through death. The Malleus Maleficarum leaves no escape for witches put under trial: all witches must be killed. But, and here is the VERY interesting part… The Malleus Maleficarum introduced the idea of burning witches. You see, before that the “burning at the stake” punishment was usually the death penalty for those who committed heresy, not witchcraft (witches were usually hanged or beheaded for example, like other people). But Kramer defended in his book that witchcraft WAS a form of heresy and should be treated and prosecuted as such: as a result, the most fitting death penalty was to burn the person alive.

# The Malleus Maleficarum is also very infamous for being the most famous (maybe the first?) book to actively encourage and authorize torture as an interrogation method. It is key, for Kramer, to obtain a confession from the witch, else the punishment cannot be inflicted, and so the confession must be obtained by any way, including torture. Though if someone confesses under torture, their confession has to be confirmed: they are taken in a different room, in a calm and peaceful environment, to agree and certify what they said. If they do not, the Malleus insists that the witch-hunter should not repeat the torture… No, that would be too cruel and inefficient. No, if the person changes their version… the witch-hunter has to put them through a NEW and DIFFERENT torture, and repeat the process until the victim finally gives up. The only key being “DO NOT REPEAT THE SAME TORTURE! Vary your tortures, please”. Even more devious is the fact that Kramer encourages the witch prosecutors to use deception and lies to get confessions. He notably writes “When the victim is first interrogated, try to persuade the prisoner to confess freely. If they refuse, strap them into a torture instrument BUT one of yours should pretend to have pity for them, and will force the others to free the prisoner. As a result, a second interrogation will happen: but if the victim still refuses to confess, this time put them to torture for good”.

# The Malleus Maleficarum showed a deep misogyny and a dark obsession with women. The vary title is feminine “Maleficarum” (witches) is in feminine, not the male “Maleficorum”. The text does recognize that there are male witches, and that men can become witches – but Kramer claims they are quite rare, and that they mostly ally with Satan due to being power-hungry (unlike women who fall easily due to either being “unfaithful” creatures prone to turn away from religious, or “lustful” beings that give in to the Devil’s seduction). Kramer claims and insists: the majority, if not all witches, are female, because women have a “weak sex” and are more inclined to witchcraft. Their faith in God is weak and easily broken, they are base beings only obeying their carnival desires, they are temperamental beings with a “loose tongue” and “defective in soul and body”… The Malleus say women have only one way to escape witchcraft: by becoming fully devout and chaste through a “religious retreat”. Aka, becoming nuns. But again, we find the inescapable trap Kramer plans: he also points out that only a few “spiritually gifted” women can actually manage to become nuns, or reach a life of chastity and devotion. As a result, he concludes that most women are doomed to be witches, and that the only “solution” to this is to exterminate all witches. Try to see a bit of logic in there.

# The depictions of witches and witchcraft in Kramer’s book became extremely influential over popular culture and belief. For Kramer witches are by nature and essence, purely evil. They are the servants and slaves of Satan, and their magic is actually a form of Satanism/diabolism. They are malevolent elements that seek to harm or destroy society, and who are only able to use “maleficia” (aka malevolent acts of sorcery). Witches obtain their power and status by signing a pact with the Devil: they reject Christianity and all of its teachings, to sell their soul to Satan. In exchange they get all sorts of powers and benefits: for example they can fly through the sky, they can cast curses, they get frequent sexual relationships with the Devil himself or his demons… they even have the power to steal a man’s penis! This is a recurring topic in European “Devil-witches”: the fear of them causing sterility under all of its forms, be it withering crops, killing cattle or making couples infertile. And due to the misogyny of the overall concept, witches were seen as anti-men creatures that sought to destroy masculinity in any way possible : most notable being a literal form of castration, as they steal away men’s genital organs and hide them away.

But in exchange, witches have of course duties: notably they have to gather regularly in an assembly presided by Satan himself (the famous “witches Sabbath”) and in which they partake in all sorts of atrocious and horrible activities (most notably incest, cannibalism and baby-killing) before it all ends in one giant and gory orgy between the witches and the demons. Given Kramer’s obvious sexual obsession, it is not surprise that the demons described in the Malleus are all seducers who tempt women with carnal pleasures, and out of all the types of demons, Kramer only spends time describing in details the “incubi” and “succubi”, aka the sex demons. However one unique point that differed from previous conceptions of witches is that, despite Satan being the one who makes deals with them, he is not the “recruiter”. According to Kramer, it is witches that recruit other witches, in one of two ways. Either they select a young maiden and send her a demon in the shape of beautiful young man to seduce her into the dark side, either they use their magic to causes disaster in the life of a matron until, in desperation, she turns towards witches for help.

- - -

What is even more unfortuante is that the spread of the Malleus Maleficarum was precisely due to the invention that would announce Renaissance and the avancement of civilization: the printing press and the booming printing industry, which allowed texts to spread faster, to be cheaper to buy and to be read by more people than before. Mind you, the Malleus Maleficarum alone did not start the witch-trials and witch-hunts in Europe. There were much more factors and causes : the Pope had already recognized the existence of witches and the need to destroy them before the Malleus was published ; people had centuries-old folk belief and superstitious tales about witches, witchcrafts and the like ; Europe went through a series of diseases, famines and natural disasters usually blamed on supernatural forces... And of course, what greatly inflamed the witch hunts was the great religious turmoil and the great religious wars that started tearing apart Europe in the 15th century between Catholic and Protestants. Christianity divided itself, the very nature of God and the Church was debated and doubted, and this led not just to armed conflict and political exiles, but also to a severe hunt for all "heresies"... which quickly turned into "witchcraft".