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The Malleus Maleficarum, usually translated as the Hammer of Witches, is the best known treatise on witchcraft. First published in 1486, it has been described as the compendium of literature in demonology of the 15th century. The Malleus elevates sorcery to the criminal status of heresy, encourages torture to effectively obtain confessions, and recommends the death penalty as the only certain remedy against the evils of witchcraft. At the time of its publication, heretics were frequently sentenced to be burned alive at the stake, and the Malleus encouraged the same treatment of "witches."
The Malleus Maleficarum was able to spread throughout Europe rapidly in the late 15th and at the beginning of the 16th century due to the innovation of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg. The book had a strong influence on culture for several centuries, making its way to the new world and influencing the infamous Salem Witch trials. The book contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. |
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