Editing Heinrich Kramer

{{Short description|German inquisitor (c. 1430–1505)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2014}}
[[File:Sprenger - Malleus maleficarum, 1669 - BEIC 9477645.tiff|thumb|''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' in a 1669 edition.]]

'''Heinrich Kramer''' ({{circa}} 1430 – 1505, aged 74-75), also known under the [[Latinized name]] '''Henricus Institor''',{{efn|"Institoris" is the Latin genitive case of "Institor" ("retailer"). It was a common practice in those times to take the [[genitive case|genitive]] of the father's name for latinization, but this genitive was used as nominative in Latin texts ("Venerabilis & religiosus frater Henricus institoris"). In German texts this name was abridged to "Institor", according to the custom of omitting Latin endings in translations (cf. "Iuvenalis" – "Juvenal").}}<ref>Paul Hinschius. Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken und Protestanten in Deutschland. Band VI. 1897. Reprint Guttentag, 1959.</ref> was a [[Germans|German]] churchman and [[Inquisition|inquisitor]]. With his widely distributed book ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' (1487), which describes [[witchcraft]] and endorses detailed processes for the extermination of witches, he was instrumental in establishing the period of [[witch trials in the early modern period]]. Professor [[Malcolm Gaskill]] has described Kramer as a "superstitious psychopath."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaskill |first1=Malcolm |title=Witchcraft: a very short introduction |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=23 |isbn=978-0-19-923695-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/witchcraftverysh0000gask/page/22/mode/2up |access-date=29 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite podcast |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nx05j|title= You're Dead to Me: The Witch Craze|publisher=BBC |host=Greg Jenner |date=29 August 2020 |access-date=29 May 2024}}</ref>

== Life ==
Born in Schlettstadt, now [[Sélestat]], [[Alsace]], he joined the [[Dominican Order]] at an early age and while still a young man was appointed Prior of the Dominican house of his native town.<ref name="Rothman">[https://books.google.com/books?id=leFb693EivwC&dq=Heinrich+Kramer&pg=PA274 Rothman, David J., Marcus, Steven and Kiceluk, Stephanie A., ''Medicine and Western Civilization'', Rutgers University Press, 1995] {{ISBN|9780813521909}}</ref>

At some date before 1474 he was appointed Inquisitor for the [[County_of_Tyrol|Tyrol]], [[Salzburg]], [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]]. His eloquence in the [[pulpit]] and tireless activity received recognition at Rome and he was the right-hand man of the [[Archbishop of Salzburg]].

The [[papal bull]] ''[[Summis desiderantes]]'' which [[Pope Innocent VIII]] published in 1484 acknowledges the existence of witches and explicitly empowers the inquisition to prosecute [[witch]]es and [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerers]]. The bull aimed to reaffirm the jurisdiction of Kramer, who was denied authority as an inquisitor in Germany. 

One year later, he went to [[Innsbruck]] as the head of an inquisitorial commission with the stated intention of "bringing witches to justice".{{sfn|Broedel|2003|p=1}} Despite being granted episcopal jurisdiction to conduct trials by Georg Golser, bishop of Brixen, the latter eventually acquired a distaste for Kramer's alleged scandals.{{sfn|Broedel|2003|p=17-18}}

This most likely referred to the whole interrogation of [[Helena Scheuberin]] in Innsbruck and six other citizens accused of witchcraft. Helena herself, married to a prosperous burgher named Sebastian, was described as an "aggressive, independent woman who was not afraid to speak her mind".{{sfn|Broedel|2003|p=1}} Right after Kramer had arrived in the city, she had passed him in the street, spat and cursed him publicly: "Fie on you, you bad monk, may the falling evil take you". Later, it was discovered she was not attending Kramer's sermons and encouraged others to do likewise, all of which were brought against her as charges for the crime of witchcraft. Helena even disrupted one of his sermons "by loudly proclaiming that she believed Institor to be an evil man in league with the devil".{{sfn|Broedel|2003|p=1}}

During her trial, as Kramer focused heavily on the sexuality of Scheuberin, he was accused by the bishop of having "presumed much that had not been proved". Kramer remained in Innsbruck to continue the investigation, collect evidence, and interrogate suspected witches. Golser and Kramer exchanged letters encouraging Kramer to quit the investigation, ending with a final letter in 1486 in which Golser ordered Kramer to leave his diocese, the trials in Innsbruck finally being suspended. Kramer finally relented and returned to Cologne.{{sfn|Broedel|2003|p=17-18}}

In response to the Bishop's criticism, Kramer began to write a treatise on witchcraft that later became the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' (commonly translated as "The Hammer of Witches"). The bull ''[[Summis desiderantes]]'', which gave him the authority of prosecuting and investigating cases of sorcery, was included in the forefront of the book, first published in 1487. 

Kramer failed in his attempt to obtain endorsement for this work from the top theologians of the Inquisition at the [[University of Cologne|Faculty of Cologne]], and they condemned the book as recommending unethical and illegal procedures, as well as being inconsistent to what they perceived as the orthodox Catholic doctrines of [[demonology]].<ref>Jolly, Raudvere, & Peters(eds.), "Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the Middle Ages", page 241 (2002)</ref>

In the overall evaluation, his works were praised and his prestige was growing. He was asked by the [[Nuremberg]] council to provide expert consultation on the procedure of witch trial in 1491.{{sfn|Burns|2003|p=160}} In 1495 he was summoned by the [[Master of the Order of Preachers|Master General of the Order]], Joaquin de Torres, [[Order of Preachers|O.P.]] to [[Venice]] and gave very popular public lectures and disputations. They were worthy of the presence and patronage of the [[Patriarch of Venice]]. He also wrote treatises ''Several Discourses and Various Sermons upon the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist'' (Nuremberg, 1496); ''A Tract Confuting the Errors of Master Antonio degli Roselli'' (Venice, 1499); followed by ''The Shield of Defence of the Holy Roman Church Against the Picards and Waldenses'' which were quoted by many authors. He was appointed as [[papal nuncio]] and his assignment as inquisitor was changed to [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] by [[Pope Alexander VI]] in 1500.{{sfnb|Summers|2012|pp=viii–ix|loc=Introduction to 1948 edition}}

Summers observes that 17th-century "[[Dominican Order|Dominican]] chroniclers, such as [[Jacques Quétif|Quétif]] and [[Jacques Échard|Échard]], number Kramer and Sprenger among the glories and heroes of their [[Order of Preachers|Order]]".{{sfnp|Summers|2012|p=ix|loc=Introduction to 1948 edition|ps=: "The [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] chroniclers, such as [[Jacques Quétif|Quétif]] and [[Jacques Échard|Échard]], number Kramer and Sprenger among the glories and heroes of their [[Order of Preachers|Order]]"}}

He passed his last days intensely writing and preaching until his death in [[Kroměříž]] in [[Moravia]], in 1505.<ref>P. Hlaváček: ''Velký inkvizitor v soukolí české reformace aneb Heinrich Institoris v českých zemích.'' In: Via media. Studie z českých náboženských a intelektuálních dějin. Praha, Univerzita Karlova, 2016 p. 71.</ref>

==Major works==
[[File:Institoris, Henricus – Opusculum in errores Monarchiae Antonii de Rosellis, 1499 – BEIC 11767369.jpg|thumb|''Opusculum in errores Monarchiae Antonii de Rosellis'', 1499]]

*''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', 1487
*''Several Discourses and Various Sermons upon the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist'', [[Nuremberg]], 1496
* {{Cite book|title=Opusculum in errores Monarchiae Antonii de Rosellis|publisher=Hermann Liechtenstein|location=Venice|year=1499|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11767369}}
*''The Shield of Defence of the Holy Roman Church Against the Picards and Waldenses'', c. 1500

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
===Works cited===
*{{Cite book|year=2003|title=The Malleus Maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft : theology and popular belief|last=Broedel|first=Hans Peter|isbn=1423706471|location=Manchester|oclc=60638482}}
*{{Cite book|last=Burns|first=William E.|year=2003|title=Witch Hunts in Europe and America - An Encyclopedia|publisher=Greenwood Press}}
*{{Cite book|last=Summers|year=2012}}{{Full citation needed|date=September 2022}}

==External links==
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*{{BBKL|i/Institoris|band=2|autor= Reinhard Tenberg|artikel=Institoris, Heinrich|spalten=1307–1310}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Heinrich}}
[[Category:1430s births]]
[[Category:1505 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Sélestat]]
[[Category:15th-century German Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:German Dominicans]]
[[Category:Inquisitors]]
[[Category:Demonologists]]
[[Category:Witch hunters]]
[[Category:15th-century German writers]]
[[Category:16th-century German Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:Witch trials in Germany]]