"Hammer of Witches" (German "Hexenhammer"; Latin "Malleus Maleficarum") is a legendary book of European inquisitors of the Middle Ages. In the 15th-16th centuries, its mention evoked nothing but horror. The book, which "killed" thousands of people across Europe, now only attracts people who are interested in mysticism or history. What is she like?
This book was written in 1486 by two Dominican monks, Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer. Its authors were already well-known "witch hunters" (although many church ministers spoke sharply about their "dirty" activities), and the approval of Pope Innocent VIII finally made "Hammer of the Witches" a reference book for inquisitors (besides, the style of presentation in the book was close to secular and was equally accessible to ecclesiastical and civil judges). The Hammer of the Witches has been reprinted over 30 times, mainly in German and French. The authors of the publication had a rather fine understanding of demonology; it was not difficult for them to combine ancient legends and modern church knowledge in order to set out all the principles of fighting witches. The witch hunt guide was in three parts.
The firstwas aimed at the psychological and social aspect of judges, it set out the church's point of view on the essence of witchcraft, where it was declared the worst of crimes and was ruthlessly punished. It was believed that in addition to harm to people, another task of witches is to multiply evil spirits on Earth (demons, werewolves, evil spirits) and create cursed places. Here, witches were divided into three types: those who are engaged in sabotage, who have exclusively the gift of healing (these are the people who were usually kept at their court by the medieval nobility) and the latter had both types of witchcraft. There was also a higher class of witches - they possessed a special devilish power acquired as a result of devouring children (this trait is mentioned in the folklore of almost all peoples of the world, especially in fairy tales). Based on the exclusive fault of the accused,testimony in court was allowed to be given to any witness, including criminals; excommunicated, false witnesses, prostitutes, foreigners, etc. The entire first part is written according to the system of answers to the proposed questions.
The second part is intended for potential victims and hunters, it covers the theory of the existence and activities of witches. This is the largest and most important part of the book, it contains eighteen chapters on the methods of witch sabotage and eight more chapters on ways to eliminate or cure witchcraft. It also mentions the categories of people not subject to witchcraft: inquisitors, fighters against witches, as well as people protected by sacred rituals (through holy water, salt, willow branches) and angels. One chapter is devoted to male sorcerers. Most of the chapters in this part deal with such sexual affairs of witches as intercourse with demons and incubi (as well as the birth of children from them), love witchcraft over people and forcibly seducing them into sexual intercourse, removal of genital organs in men and delayed childbearing in women. Described witchcraft of another nature:shape-shifting and the transformation of people into animals, sending diseases, transferring from place to place, introducing into someone else's body, killing (read - eating) or dedication to demons of babies, controlling the forces of the elements. Among the means of healing, pilgrimage to holy places, full confession, prayer exercises with Christian symbols, and exorcism are indicated everywhere. But only the witch herself who performed witchcraft can return the genitals or human appearance (option - witchcraft can dissipate after her death). And in order to resist crop failure, hail or cattle diseases, all believers had to go around the damned places with a procession of the cross. Among the means of healing, pilgrimage to holy places, full confession, prayer exercises with Christian symbols, and exorcism are indicated everywhere. But only the witch herself who performed witchcraft can return the genitals or human appearance (option - witchcraft can dissipate after her death). And in order to resist crop failure, hail or cattle diseases, all believers had to go around the damned places with a procession of the cross. Among the means of healing, pilgrimage to holy places, full confession, prayer exercises with Christian symbols, and exorcism are indicated everywhere. But only the witch herself who performed witchcraft can return the genitals or human appearance (option - witchcraft can dissipate after her death). And in order to resist crop failure, hail or cattle diseases, all believers had to go around the damned places with a procession of the cross.
The third part is based on God's commandment "Do not leave the sorcerers alive." It consists of 35 questions and is completely devoted to the legal side of the issue (similar in structure to the code) - evidence of guilt in witchcraft, rules of court proceedings, methods of sentencing torture, interrogation, etc. Despite the fact that many chapters in this part are given acquittals and mitigating sentences, they were rarely imposed, which cannot be said about the death penalty.
The Hammer of the Witches questioned such methods of testing for the purity of the soul as testing by fire, boiling water, hot iron, placing on scales and immersion in water, which had been successfully used in the past; according to the book, the judge receives the right to judge the guilt of the witch (which actually sentenced the girl). It also stipulated that the witch could not be tried without providing her with a lawyer and having her own confession (which, however, was easily knocked out in the torture chambers), but the accused did not have to know the names and personalities of the witnesses.
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Despite the fact that the book accuses witchcraft, its main idea is that a woman is practically guilty before God for her existence, and having contacted the devil, she is unworthy of life on earth. If you look at it, this creation is very superficially connected with the church commandments, but the authors tried their best and, having built in the book numerous sophisms, sublime and confusing phrases (in places illogical and contradictory), they achieved their goal, clouding common sense to people, which led to fatal consequences.
The Inquisition, using this guide, destroyed, according to scattered data, from several tens to hundreds of thousands of innocent women (which is why it is believed that Europe has lost the basis of the female gene pool and natural beauties). Today we can only marvel at the fatal power of this book and rejoice that the wave of the witch-hunt has not reached Russian lands.
