Early modern Europe was no place for witches. Over the course of about 300 years up until the end of the 18th century, some 90,000 of the spell-casting hags were put on trial, with half being burned at the stake, thrown off cliffs, or put to death via other horrific means – and all because of a book.
Considered the essential work on demonology for centuries, the terrible text was penned in 1487 by a Dominican friar named Heinrich Kramer and carried the title Malleus Maleficarum, meaning “The Hammer of Evil-Doers”. Upon its pages, readers could find a theological explanation of witchcraft as well as practical guidance on how to identify and prosecute “witches”.
Spelling out the book’s importance, the conjurers of a new study reveal that Malleus Maleficarum – aided by the invention of the printing press in 1450 – was largely responsible for the witch-hunting frenzy that possessed much of central Europe over the following centuries.
“Popularly known as the ‘witch craze’, this eruption of persecution is puzzling because belief in witchcraft had existed for centuries, but large-scale witch-hunting appeared rather abruptly, spread widely, and was remarkably brutal in comparison with the past,” write the researchers. The sudden change, they say, coincided with the appearance of Malleus Maleficarum, through which Kramer sought to recast witchcraft “as conspiratorial activity against godly society and not simply mischief by village sorceresses, pagans, or ignorant peasants.”
Endorsed by Popes and emperors, the book was the first printed guide for witch-hunters and urged the authorities to remove all legal restrictions on the persecution of witches. Experts on the text were even able to offer their services as “Malefizmeisters” or “Hexenkomissare”, who rulers could appoint to oversee witch hunts.
Malleus Maleficarum reframed witchcraft as an urgent threat to society.
Tracking the book’s influence, the study authors examined the timing of witch trials in 553 cities across central Europe between 1400 and 1679, finding a spike in demonological charges immediately after each new publication of Malleus Maleficarum.
“Cities closer in time and space to the publication of the Malleus were more likely to commence witch trials,” explain the researchers. Results indicated that cities with close connections to other areas hosting trials were also more likely to ramp up their own witch hunts.
The study authors therefore find that the witch craze beguiled and enchanted Europe via a process of “ideational diffusion”, whereby ideas and practices became adopted by neighboring regions. In this way, the obsession with sorcery spread across Europe in ripples, with Malleus Maleficarum at the epicenter of each wave.
“Cities weren’t making these decisions in isolation,” said study author Kerice Doten-Snitker in a statement. “They were watching what their neighbors were doing and learning from those examples. The combination of new ideas from books and the influence of nearby trials created the perfect conditions for these persecutions to spread.”
Other factors such as environmental calamities and religious conflicts have previously been proposed as triggers for increases in zeal for witch hunting, yet the researchers mostly found no strong correlation between these events and witch trials. In contrast, within two years of the book’s appearance, authorities in Nuremberg had already fallen under its spell and began using it to weed out local witches.
“The process of adopting witch trials is not unlike how modern governments adopt new policies today,” said Doten-Snitker. “It often starts with a change in ideas, which are reinforced through social networks. Over time, these ideas take root and change the behavior of entire societies.”
The study is published in the journal Theory and Society.
