Did You Know

I've been doing a daily did you know about witches in movies, television and in folk lore. What witch topic would be complete without a mention of the witch trials. I'm talking about the original witch trials, we'll get to Salem's later.

Back in 1486 two Dominican Inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, wrote a hand book called the The Malleus Maleficorum (The Witch Hammer or Hexenhamer). This is the best known (i.e., the most infamous) of the witch-hunt manuals. Written in Latin, the Malleus was first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487. The title is translated as "The Hammer of Witches". The Malleus remained in use for three hundred years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England and on the continent.

The Malleus was used as a judicial case-book for the detection and persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence and the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured and put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in this book, for no reason than a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivation of medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The Malleus serves as a horrible warning about what happens when intolerance takes over a society.

It condoned the use of torture to get accused witches to confess their “crimes”, it told how to examine an accused victim and what physical marks to look for that proved the accused consorted with the devil. It even told what kind of defense was acceptable for the accused to use during the trial!

Through the Renaissance and the entire time that witchcraft hysteria reigned, it was the most influential guide for popular witchhunters. Montague Summers called it: One of the most important, wisest and weightiest books in the world. During its time it was second only to the Bible in sales, until John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was published in 1678 and exceeded it.

Had I been a writer back in those days I'd have been arrested, tortured, tried and punished just because some of my favorite topics are witches and witchcraft. I love to read about the historical and legendary accounts of witches. When I was a kid I even felt sorry for the witch in Hansel and Gretal! LOL

For more information on the historical document of The Malleus Maleficarum check out some of these sites on the web:http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/ or http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/index.htm and there are many more that can be found by searching the title under your search engine.

Well off to plot the second book! See you all tomorrow!

Huggles, and HAPPY READING!
Donica