Hammer of the Witches: Malleus Maleficarum - Heinrich Kramer (Author)

Hammer of the Witches - Malleus Maleficarum - 1486 - A Treatise on the Prosecution of Witches, Written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer amd Translated by Montague Summers - Magic, sorcery, and witchcraft had long been condemned by the Church, whose attitude towards witchcraft was explained in the canon Episcopi written in about 900 AD. It stated that witchcraft and magic did not really exist, and that those who believed in such things "had been seduced by the Devil in dreams and visions into old pagan errors." Until about 1400 it was rare for anyone to be accused of witchcraft, but heresies had become a major problem within the Church by the 13th century, and by the 15th century belief in witches was widely accepted in European society. Those convicted of witchcraft typically suffered penalties no more harsh than public penances such as a day in the stocks, but their persecution became more brutal following the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum, as witchcraft became increasingly accepted as a real and dangerous phenomenon. 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.