Malleus Maleficarum: Hammer of the Witches

A manual of demonology and witchcraft from medieval Europe, the Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise defining methods for identifying, interrogating, and executing supposed witches.

'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' (Exodus 22:18 KJV)

First written and published in 1486 by German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer, this treatise was republished with additions from a second author, Jacob Sprenger, in 1519. Used to persecute supposed practisers of witchcraft during the witch hunts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Malleus Maleficarum is a haunting reminder of the deep-seated paranoia and religious fervour that led to the torture and deaths of many innocent people. One of history's most infamous texts, this handbook struck fear into the hearts of many and fuelled the flames of hysteria surrounding ideas of heresy, witchcraft, and the occult during the Middle Ages. This is the 1928 edition translated by the English occultist Montague Summers and featuring his original introduction.