Editing Malleus Maleficarum (section)

== Summary of contents ==
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The ''Malleus Maleficarum'' consists of the following parts:{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=12}}
# Justification (introduction, Latin ''Apologia auctoris'')
# Papal bull
# Approbation by professors of theology at University of Cologne
# Table of contents
# Main text in three sections{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=12}}

=== Justification (''Apologia auctoris'') {{anchor|apologia}} <!-- do not remove the anchor -->===
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In this part it is briefly explained that prevalence of sorcery which is a method of Satan's final assault motivated authors to write the ''Malleus Maleficarum'':{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=8}}
<blockquote>[...] [ [[Devil in Christianity|Lucifer]] ] attacks through these heresies at that time in particular, when the evening of the world declines towards its setting and the evil of men swells up, since he knows in great anger, as John bears witness in the [[Book of Apocalypse]] [12:12], that he has little time remaining. Hence, he has also caused a certain unusual heretical perversity to grow up in the land of the Lord – a Heresy, I say, of Sorceresses, since it is to be designated by the particular sex over which he is known to have power. [...] In the midst of these evils, we Inquisitors, Jacobus Sprenger together with the very dear associate [Institoris] delegated by the [[Holy See|Apostolic See]] for the extermination of so destructive a heresy [...] we will bring everything to the desired conclusion. [...] naming the treatise the "Hammer for Sorceresses," we are undertaking the task of compiling the work for an associate [presumably, an ecclesiastic] [...]{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=69|ps=: excerpts from translation}}</blockquote>

=== Papal bull ===
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Copies of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' contain a reproduction of a [[papal bull]] known as ''[[Summis desiderantes affectibus]]'' that is addressed to Heinrich Institoris and Jakob Sprenger.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=8}} According to it, [[Pope Innocent VIII]] acknowledges that sorceresses are real and harmful through their involvement in the acts of Satan.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=8'|ps=: "the general harm that sorceresses are inflicting in Germany is first described at some length, and the connection of these activities with Satan is emphasized."}}

According to the date on the document, the papal bull had been issued in 1484, two years before the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' was finished. Therefore, it is not an endorsement of a specific final text of the ''Malleus''. Instead, its inclusion implicitly legitimizes the handbook by providing general confirmation of the reality of witchcraft and full authority to Sprenger and Institoris in their preachings and proceedings:{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=10}}{{sfnp|Halsall|1996|loc=Innocent VIII: BULL ''Summis desiderantes'', Dec. 5th, 1484}}

{{Blockquote|And they shall also have full and entire liberty to propound and preach to the faithful Word of God, as often as it shall seem to them fitting and proper, in each and all of the parish churches in the said provinces, and to do all things necessary and suitable under the aforesaid circumstances, and likewise freely and fully to carry them out.|source=''Summis desiderantes affectibus''{{sfnp|Halsall|1996|loc=Innocent VIII: BULL ''Summis desiderantes'', Dec. 5, 1484}}}}

=== Approbation ===
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This part of the ''Malleus'' is titled "The Approbation of The Following Treatise and The Signatures Thereunto of The Doctors of The Illustrious University of Cologne Follows in The Form of A Public Document"{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=74}} and contains unanimous approval of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' by all the Doctors of the Theological Faculty of the [[University of Cologne]]{{sfnp|Summers|2012|p=xxxvii|loc=Introduction to 1928 edition|ps=: "The ''Malleus Maleficarum'' when submitted by the authors to the University of Cologne was officially approved by all the Doctors of the Theological Faculty on 9 May 1487."}} signed by them personally.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=76–79|ps=: phrases like "with his own hands" are used}} The proceedings are attested by [[notary public]] Arnold Kolich of [[Euskirchen]], a sworn cleric of Cologne with inclusion of confirmatory testimony by present witnesses Johannes Vorda of Mecheln a sworn [[beadle]], Nicholas Cuper de Venrath the sworn notary of [[Curia]] of Cologne and Christian Wintzen of Euskirchen a cleric of the [[Diocese of Cologne]].{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=80}}

Text of approbation mentions that during proceedings Institoris had a letter from [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian, the newly crowned King of the Romans and son of Emperor Frederick III]], which is summarized in the approbation: "[... Maximilian I] takes these Inquisitors under his complete protection, ordering and commanding each and every subject of the Roman Empire to render all favor and assistance to these Inquisitors and otherwise to act in the manner that is more fully contained and included in the letter."{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=79}} Apparently, in early December 1486, Kramer actually went to Brussels, the Burgundian capital, hoping to obtain a privilege from the future Emperor (Kramer did not dare to involve Frederick III, whom he had offended previously), but the answer must have been so unfavorable that it could not be inserted into the foreword.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durrant |first1=Jonathan Bryan |last2=Bailey |first2=Michael David |title=Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft |date=2012 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7245-5 |page=132 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri2whuu3ZjQC&pg=PA132 |access-date=24 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last1=Golden |editor-first1=Richard M. |last1=Behringer |first1=Wolfgang |contribution=Malleus Malificarum |title=Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition. K - P |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=717–723 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XbFWewAACAAJ |access-date=24 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

The approbation consists of a [[preamble]] and is followed by a [[Resolution (law)|resolution]] in two parts.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=74–79}}

====Preamble====
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It begins with a general statement about circumstances: <blockquote>IN THE NAME OF Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let all those who will read, see or hear the present public document know that in the year since the Birth of Our Lord 1487, in the fifth indiction, on Saturday, the nineteenth day of May, at five in the afternoon or thereabouts, in the third year of the Pontificate of Our Lord, the Most Holy Father in Christ, Lord Innocent VIII, by Divine Providence Pope, in the presence of my notary public and of the witnesses written below who had been specifically summoned and asked for this purpose, the venerable and religious Brother Henricus Institoris, Professor of Holy Theology and member of the [[Order of Preachers]], who was appointed as Inquisitor into Heretical Depravity by the [[Holy See]] along with his colleague, the venerable and religious Brother Jacobus Sprenger, also a Professor of Holy Theology and [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]] of the Convent of Preachers in Cologne[...]{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=74–75}}</blockquote>

Then, signatories complain that "Some curates of souls and preachers of the Word of God feel no shame at claiming and affirming in their sermons to the congregation that sorceresses do not exist"{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=75}} and notice that the intention of the authors of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' is not primarily to alleviate this ignorance but rather "toil to exterminate the sorceresses by explaining the appropriate methods of sentencing and punishing them in accordance with the text of the aforementioned Bull and the regulations of the Holy Canons, thereby achieving their extermination";{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=75}} finally, signatories explain why they are providing their expertise: <blockquote>It is consonant with reason that those things that are done on behalf of the common good should also be confirmed through the common approval of the Doctors, and therefore, lest the aforementioned poorly educated curates and preachers think, in their ignorance of [[Bible|Holy Scripture]], that the aforesaid treatise, which was composed in the manner mentioned above, is poorly supported by the determinations and pronouncements of the Doctors, they offered it for examination and comparison against Scripture to the illustrious University of Cologne or rather to certain Professors of Holy Theology, in order that if any things were found to be worthy of censure or incompatible with the Catholic Truth, they should be refuted by the judgment of those Professors, and that those things found to be compatible with the Catholic Truth should be approved. This was in fact done in the ways written below.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=75–76}}</blockquote>

====Resolution====
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There are two signings, sometimes also referenced as two approbations. The difference is that four signatories of the first part testify that they have examined the treatises and endorse its text while in the second signing signatories do not assert that they have read the treatises but nonetheless express approval by explicitly restating some general propositions of the treatises and endorsing them instead.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=74–80}}

In the first part, the opinion of a "temporary Dean of the Faculty of Holy Theology at Cologne" namely [[Lambertus de Monte]] of [['s-Heerenberg]]{{efn|{{harvnb|Broedel|2003|p=93}}: He was one of the advocates of Aristotelian thought and opponents of ''via moderna'', he was "one of Sprenger's most distinguished colleagues at Cologne, and the man whose name appears first on the faculty endorsement of the ''Malleus'', [he] even went so far as to lead an abortive drive to obtain beatification for Aristotle."}} is expressed and then professors [[Jacobus Straelen]] of Noetlinck, [[Andreas Schermer]] of [[Ochsenfurt]] and Master Thoma de Scotia<ref>Thomas Liel de Scotia. In a book of supplementary sources (Quellen [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=QXXX48OyGjcC&pg=GBS.PA504 p.504]) Joseph Hansen lists two other trials involving this professor of theology.</ref> testify that they agree with his opinion.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=77}} The following is an excerpt from the opinion: <blockquote>[I proclaim] that this three part treatise, which has been examined by me and carefully compared against [[Bible|Scripture]] with regard to its first two parts, contains nothing, in my humble judgment at least, that is contrary to the pronouncements of the non-erroneous philosophers, or against the Truth of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, or against the determinations of the Doctors approved or admitted by the Holy Church, and that the third part should certainly be upheld and approved in regard to the punishments of those heretics whom it treats, in that it does not contradict Holy Canons, and also because of the personal experiences described in this treatise, which are believed to be true because of the reputation of such great men, particularly since they are inquisitors. It should be ensured that this treatise will become known to learned and zealous men, who will then, on the basis of it, provide various healthy and appropriate advice for the extermination of sorceresses [...]{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=76}}</blockquote>

The second part is signed by those from the first signing and in addition by professors [[Ulrich Kridweiss]] of [[Esslingen am Neckar|Esslingen]], [[Konrad Vorn]] of [[Kampen, Overijssel|Kampen]], [[Cornelius Pays]] of [[Breda]] and Dietrich of Balveren (Bummel).{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|p=78}} Signatories attest that: <blockquote>1) The Masters of Holy Theology written below commend the Inquisitors into Heretical Depravity appointed by the authority of the Apostolic See in conformity with the Canons, and urge that they think it right to carry out their office zealously.<br>2) The proposition that acts of sorcery can happen with God's permission through sorcerers or sorceresses when the Devil works with them is not contrary to the Catholic Faith, but consonant with the statements of Holy Scripture. Indeed, according to the pronouncements of the Holy Doctors it is necessary to admit that such acts can sometimes happen.<br>3) It is therefore erroneous to preach that acts of sorcery cannot happen, because in this way preachers impede, to the extent that they can, the pious work of the inquisitors, to the prejudice of the salvation of souls. Nonetheless, secrets that are heard at any time by inquisitors should not be revealed to everyone.<br>4) All princes and Catholics should be urged to think it right to assist such pious vows on the part of the Inquisitors in defense of the Holy Catholic Faith.{{sfnp|Mackay|2009|pp=77–78}}</blockquote>

=== Main text {{anchor|main}} <!-- do not remove the anchor -->===
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[[File:J. Sprenger and H. Institutoris, Malleus maleficarum. Wellcome L0000980.jpg|thumb|right|Title page of an edition dated 1669]]
The ''Malleus Maleficarum'' asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft: the evil intentions of the witch, the help of the Devil, and the permission of God.<ref>Russell, 232</ref> The treatise is divided into three sections. The first section is aimed at clergy and tries to refute critics who deny the reality of witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution.

The second section describes the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft, and to aid the inquisitors by removing the burden from them. Each of the three sections has the prevailing themes of what is witchcraft and who is a witch.

==== Section I {{anchor|section1}} <!-- do not remove the anchor -->====
Section I examines the concept of witchcraft theoretically, from the point of view of [[natural philosophy]] and theology.{{sfnp|Broedel|2003|p=20}} Specifically it addresses the question of whether witchcraft is a real phenomenon or imaginary, perhaps "deluding phantasms of the devil, or simply the fantasies of overwrought human minds".{{sfnp|Broedel|2003|p=22}} The conclusion drawn is that witchcraft must be real because the Devil is real. Witches entered into a pact with Satan to allow them the power to perform harmful magical acts, thus establishing an essential link between witches and the Devil.{{sfnp|Broedel|2003|p=22}}

==== Section II {{anchor|section2}} <!-- do not remove the anchor -->====
Matters of practice and actual cases are discussed, and the powers of witches and their recruitment strategies.<ref name="Broedel, 30">Broedel, 30</ref> It states that it is mostly witches, as opposed to the Devil, who do the recruiting, by making something go wrong in the life of a respectable matron that makes her consult the knowledge of a witch, or by introducing young maidens to tempting young devils.<ref name="Broedel, 30" /> It details how witches cast spells, and remedies that can be taken to prevent witchcraft, or help those who have been affected by it.{{sfnp|Mackay|2006|p=214}}

==== Section III {{anchor|section3}} <!-- do not remove the anchor -->====
Section III is the legal part of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' that describes how to prosecute a witch. The arguments are clearly laid for the lay magistrates prosecuting witches. The section offers a step-by-step guide to the conduct of a witch trial, from the method of initiating the process and assembling accusations, to the interrogation (including torture) of witnesses, and the formal charging of the accused.{{sfnp|Broedel|2003|p=34}} Women who did not cry during their trial were automatically believed to be witches.{{sfnp|Mackay|2006|p=502}}