Malleus maleficarum pdf free download

Towards the end of the middle ages these were new questions, without answers hallowed by time and authority. Between and , a number of learned "witch-theorists" attempted to provide the answers, and of these perhaps the most famous are the Dominican inquisitors Heinrich Institoris and Jacob Sprenger, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum, The Hammer of Witches. This, the first book-length study of the Malleus in English, provides students and scholars with an introduction to this text and to the conceptual world of its authors.

Ultimately, this book argues that although the Malleus was a highly idiosyncratic text, with a view of witches very different from that of competing authors, its arguments were powerfully compelling and so remained influential long after alternatives were forgotten. Jacob Sprenger is also often attributed as an author.

The main purpose of the Malleus was to attempt to systematically refute arguments claiming that witchcraft does not exist, discredit those who expressed skepticism about its reality, to claim that witches were more often women than men, and to educate magistrates on the procedures that could find them out and convict them. This edition of Malleus Maleficarum is here translated into English for the first time. It contains a note upon the bibliography of the Malleus Maleficarum and includes bibliographical references.

Translated, with introductions, bibliography and notes by Montague Summers. 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 years. It was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer and first published in 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 is the best known i. The title is translated as "The Hammer of Witches".

Written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer of which little is known , the Malleus remained in use for three hundred years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England and on the continent. Like Hitler's "Mein Kampf," Kramer and Sprenger's "Malleus Maleficarum" is a book that is read for historical importance rather than enjoyment.

As such it should form a part of every thinking person's library as a warning beacon, if for no other reason that it is a seminal textbook on the inhumanity of humanity. First written in and reprinted endlessly , "Malleus Maleficarum" was immediately given the imprimatur of the Holy See as the most important work on witchcraft, to date.

And so it remains-a compendium of fifteenth century paranoia, all the more frightening for its totalitarian modernity. In substance, it is a diatribe against women, heretics, independent thinkers, romantic lovers, the sensitive passions, human sexuality, and compassion. In writing the Malleus, Kramer and Sprenger claimed to be doing "God's work" These men, and those who followed them worshiped only their own arrogance.

Read it and be afraid! Forming a portion of every working law library for years, there is no estimate of how many women and men were put to death through the mechanism of this book.

Some historians estimate that the numbers may run into the millions. The text is rife with "case law" examples of witchcraft, some of which are clearly delusional and some downright silly, or would be, if they hadn't ended in gruesome deaths for the accused.

Take the case of the poor woman who was burned for offering the opinion that "it might rain today" shortly before it did. Of note are Kramer and Spenger's assertions that prosecutors are conveniently "immune" to witchcraft, and their instructions to Judges to tell the truth to the witch that there will be mercy shown with the mental reservation that death is a mercy to those prisoner to the devil.

Such twisted logic is the cornerstone of the Malleus. The translator, Rev. Montague Summers, waxes rhapsodic on the "learning" and "wisdom" of the authors of the Malleus. He was apparently of a mind with Kramer and Spenger, and wrote two embarrassingly effusive and bigoted introductions in and , praising the "brillance" of this work and its importance in this "feministic" era.

Summers' commentary is as frightening as anything Kramer and Sprenger wrote in the text proper, the more so for being 20th century, and particularly post-World War Two. Like the Papal Bull of VIII which is now considered integral with the Malleus, future commentators will make much of the statements of Summers, a "modern" man.

As a license to kill, the "Malleus Maleficarum" was used too often and far too freely. Kramer and Sprenger's madness did not die with them-though millions have died because of the madness presented in this book.

Extraordinary document on witchcraft and demonology offers striking insight into early 17th century mind. Rare limited edition. The Malleus Maleficarum is a seminal treatise regarding witchcraft and demons, presented here complete with an authoritative translation to modern English by Montague Summers. At the time this book was published in , the Christian church had considered witchcraft a dangerous affront to the faith for many centuries.

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 such as an incubus or succubus. Kramer wrote this book after he had tried and failed to have a woman executed for witchcraft. Thousands of people mostly women were murdered as a result of the procedures described in this book, for no reason other than a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivation of medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused.

This book has pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in This translation by Montague Summers was published in Last week, around 30, people downloaded books from my site - 9 people donated. I love offering these books for free, but need some support to continue doing so. You don't need an account and it only takes a minute. You can also support it by buying one of the collections.

Satanism and Witchcraft Jules Michelet. Witchcraft of New England Allen Putnam.