Böcker av Heinrich Kramer

The Malleus Maleficarum or "Hammer of Witches" is the best known and the most important treatise on witchcraft. It endorses extermination of witches and for this purpose develops a detailed legal and theological theory. It was a bestseller, second only to the Bible in terms of sales for almost 200 years. It was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer and first published in 1487. The Malleus elevates sorcery to the criminal status of heresy and prescribes inquisitorial practices for secular courts in order to extirpate witches. The recommended procedures include torture to effectively obtain confessions and the death penalty as the only sure remedy against the evils of witchcraft. At that time, it was typical to burn heretics alive at the stake and the Malleus encouraged the same treatment of witches. The book had a strong influence on culture for several centuries. 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.

This seminal treatise about witchcraft and demons was penned by Heinrich Kramer, a man of the 1800's who had tried (and failed) to have a woman executed for witchcraft. Unhappy at the verdict of the court, Kramer authored the Malleus Maleficarum as a manual for other witch seekers to refer to. For centuries the text was used by Christians as a reference source on matters of demonology, although it was not used directly by the Inquisition who became notorious for their tortures and murders. Today, Kramer's book is considered to be a seminal treatise on witchcraft and demons. This edition was translated into modern English by Montague Summers.At the time this book was published in 1487, the Christian church had considered witchcraft a dangerous affront to the faith for centuries on end. Executions of suspected witches were intermittent, and various explanations of behaviors deemed suspect were thought to be caused by possession, either by the devil or demon (for example, incubus or succubus).Contrary to popular belief, Kramer's work does not exclusively recommend death by burning as a punishment for witches. It does describe various methods of exorcism, whereby the demonic force may be banished from the body of the suffering witch. It also openly advocates discrimination against women, albeit while acknowledging that a minority of witchcraft practitioners are male.A theory on why the vast majority of witches are female is offered, rooted in the presence of woman in the Biblical canon. Towards the end of the book, Kramer contends that witches are created from a pact made with the Devil himself, with whom they engage in sexual liaisons. The witch is then summoned by flight to an evil assembly headed by the Devil, encouraged to practice illicit forms of sex, and then granted the powers of maleficent magic.Today, Malleus Malificarum is considered to be the single and most complete source on Christian attitudes to witchcraft and demons in existence.

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 is the best known and the most important treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer and first published in 1487. It was a bestseller, second only to the Bible in terms of sales for almost 200 years. 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.