Christian views on magic

The Formicarius (Ant Hill) of Johannes Nider, written in Latin in the 1430’s, tells about activities in the Bernese Alps and other territories, based mainly on testimony Nider had obtained from a secular judge from Bern and from an inquisitor. (Levack, 2013) Nider also received testimony from a man from the Bernese territory who went by the name of Peter, a Benedictine monk, and an inquisitor from the convent at Lyons. Nider states that the judge from Bern told him stories about the torture of

The witches hammer or Malleus Maleficarum which translates to The Hammer of Witches is the famous book on witches written by Heinrich Krame. The Malleus Maleficarum told how to identify, interrogate and convict witches. This lead to the death of tens of thousands men, woman, and children. This book shows the role in the catholic church in the inquisition and is one of the many reasons why so many women and men were tried as heretics and witches.The effects of the Malleus Maleficarum is still being

In the three documents, “Bull Summis desiderantes” written by Innocent VIII, “The Ant Hill ”, written by Johannes Nider and Extracts from “The hammer of witches” written by Malleus Maleficarum, regarding the hunting of witches, the beliefs of witchcraft and the trail process for those accused of witchcraft all show a great deal of evidence that those accused of witchcraft had no chance at a fair trial. In the document, “Bull Summis desiderantes” written by Innocent VIII, sheds light on how the catholic

This text also goes on to state that Nider also met a Benedictine monk who, many years before their introduction, acted as “a necromancer, juggler, buffoon, and strolling player, well-known as an expert among the secular nobility.” (Internet History Sourcebooks Project) The most interesting story in the text however, is the recount of another young man, who was arrested and eventually burned after being found guilty of being a witch. This man and wife, who was also a witch, were previously arrested

helped to spark witch trials in Cologne in 1487 and 1491 and Trier in 1497 and 1501 . The Malleus showed very misogynistic views and until its publication men had been accused of witchcraft just as much as women . This suggests that the Malleus was a contributing factor to the number of women prosecuted as witches. However, was the Malleus a reflection of early modern views towards witchcraft, or was the text seen as extremist? The Malleus was divided into three separate parts describing the nature

During medieval times, there was a constant uproar when it came to difference in religions, as leaders preferred there be one sacred religion, Christianity. Around the 15th century, leading into the 16th century, in European countries, such as Germany and surrounding providences, witchcraft became the new practice, which was frowned upon. Anyone accused of being a witch, could not receive a fair trial, as they were persecuted, tricked into confession, humiliated, inhumanly tortured, and put to death

Trial Procedures: Questioning When analyzing all of the information provided in the two books, Witchcraft in Europe by Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters and Magic and Superstition in Europe by Michael D. Bailey, there are a multitude of common themes that appear repeatedly in both pieces of work on the topic of witchcraft. These common themes vary in topic with some relating to the stereotypical appearance of witches, the actions witches performed, or even the legal procedures involving the conviction

guidebook for Inquisitors during Inquisition. With the help of this book they were able to identify and prosecute the Witches. It was written by the Dominican monks Heinrich Kramer and presumably also James Sprenger, who assembled many fairy tales and magic stories, nightmares, hearsay, confessions and accusations and put this all together as factual information. It is still not completelly confirmed, that Sprenger was actually one of the authors. Anybody could accuse anyone of witchcraft, even very

Out in Europe, there are some witch hunts going on. These hunts are known as The European Witch Hunts. This all started back in the 13th century, when two men, Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer wrote a book that was called “Malleus Maleficarum, that is, The Hammer of Witches. This book caused the worries of witchcraft and got witch hunts started. In the article “The Inquisition and The Hammer of Witches” the text says “ Both Catholics and Protestants accepted it as the authority on witchcraft.

Thesis: Beginning in roughly 1450 continuing to around 1750, a fear of witchcraft in Europe led to many years of witch hunts and executions of a multitude of individuals, an estimated 70% of those accused being women. The idea of witches and witchcraft caused people to begin accusing others of almost anything, the accused becoming scapegoats for the people of Europe. The witches were defined as problems for cities and state to the people because they brought death, illness, failure of crops, misfortune