Judika Illes - The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft - The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World

The book states that disbelief in the existence of witches and witchcraft is heresy. Also, according to the book, witchcraft is the most evil of all crimes and the most abominable of all heresies.

When investigating witchcraft, not all forms of torture are acceptable, although perhaps not for reasons you might think. Malleus Maleficarum bans hot iron and boiling water ordeals, which had previously been used, because the devil might use these methods to help a witch escape unscathed. (Various cold water ordeals might be substituted.) Although the book doesn’t go into further detail, various shamanic traditions, to this day, use hot iron and boiling water as demonstrations of power and ritual possession. Whether Kramer and Sprenger were aware of these traditions or had seen demonstrations is unknown.

The Malleus Maleficarum remains in print. It has been translated into English, French, German, and Italian. Although written by Dominicans, the tract was accepted by Lutheran and Calvinist authorities as well as Catholic, perhaps one of the only things, along with witchcraft, with which they were all in agreement. Interestingly, the Spanish Inquisition, which was under distinct management from Europe’s other Inquisitions, was not overly impressed with the Malleus Maleficarum and skeptical of its value.

This work was published in Paris as a justification of witch-hunter Pierre de Lancre’s ( c. 1553–1630) merciless persecution of the French Basques in 1608. De Lancre’s book gives extensive details of the diabolical sabbat, and drags out every stereotype of cannibal, devil’s ass-kissing witches. De Lancre’s book, like the Malleus Maleficarum is virulently hostile to women and particularly prurient. Far more is revealed about de Lancre’s sexual fantasies than about any aspect of witchcraft. It also includes attacks on Jews, whom he describes as Christianity’s oldest enemy.

The book does contain what may be the only known pre-twentieth-century reference to an “esbat.” De Lancre claims a French witch used the word to describe a gathering of witches. It’s not necessary to actually read the book incidentally; an engraving by the artist I. Ziarko graphically depicting the diabolical sabbat complete with witches in attendance, appeared as a double-page spread in the second edition of the book so that the illiterate could still appreciate the message.

The Reverend Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663–February 13, 1728) was a profound believer in diabolical witchcraft and involved in many of the New England witch trials, including those in Salem Village. He preached a sermon in Boston in 1689 entitled “A Discourse on Witchcraft.” The sermon was included in a larger collection of writings entitled Late Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions .

Reverend Mather was highly influential in the Massachusetts Bay Colony; at a time and place where the variety of reading material was limited, Reverend Mather’s work was highly circulated, discussed, and respected. Three years after publication, Salem Village erupted in its notorious witch panic. Mather’s work breaks no new ground but is consistent with those of his contemporaries in Britain.

Reverend William Perkins (1555–1602) was an English Puritan preacher and author of this 1608 guidebook for witch-hunters. The book established criteria for what constituted “legitimate” suspicion of witchcraft:

Those who consort, are affiliated with or closely associate with witches are most likely witches too, thus encouraging arrests of husbands, children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of suspected witches.

If someone is cursed and then dies, the curser should immediately be arrested and charged with witchcraft.

Deathbed accusations of witchcraft must be heeded.

Perkins writes that because all evil things written about witches are true, severe torture is justified to extract confessions. Essentially there is to be zero tolerance of snippy, evasive witches. All witches, regardless of crime or circumstances, warrant equal punishment: the worst. Perkins writes

by witches we understand not those onely which kill and torment: but all Diviners, Charmers, Juglers, all Wizzards, commonly called wise men and wise women…in the same number we reckon all good Witches which doe no hurt, but good, which doe not spoile and destroy, but save and deliver.

Nicholas Remy (1534–1612) was a French priest and attorney. In 1570, he served in the Inquisitorial tribunals in Alsace. He became privy councilor to the Duke of Lorraine in France. In 1591, he became Lorraine’s attorney general and presided as judge over witchcraft trials for the next 15 years. Remy was also involved with werewolf trials. He was proud to boast that he was personally responsible for the deaths of 900 witches between 1581 and 1591. According to him, this was his life’s greatest accomplishment. Perhaps he could have made it an even thousand but an epidemic in 1592 caused him to flee to his country estate where, at his leisure, Remy compiled a treatise on demonology based largely on his own personal experiences. The book was published to great popular acclaim, enough to warrant eight reprintings, and was translated into German. Among Remy’s arguments is that trial judges and magistrates are immune to witchcraft by virtue of their office and the divine sanction obtained by royal appointment.

Demonolatry ’s title comes from its focus on the diabolical relationship between witches, demons, and Satan. According to Remy, Satan craved Black Masses and manifested to people in the form of a black man or animal. Demons could enter into sexual relationships with women. If the women would not be seduced, then the demons would rape them.

Reginald Scot (1538–1599) lead the skeptical opposition to the witch-hunts. Scot does a case-by-case analysis of the realities and illusions of witchcraft and witch-hunting. It is perhaps the earliest “rational” approach to the witch-hunts. He reveals tricks of conjuring (illusion) and so refutes notions of diabolism. It encourages the notion that if witchcraft is only conjuring and thus not “real,” it’s not really witchcraft and so should be safe from persecution. Scot’s book is credited with saving lives. A chapter of the book is devoted to criticism of alchemy. Scot’s book so aggravated King James VI of Scotland that he ordered all copies burned and was inspired to write his own treatise on the subject after he became King James I of England.

Friedrich Spee (February 25, 1591–August 7, 1635) was a Jesuit assigned to be the confessor for those condemned to die as witches in Wurzberg in the 1620s. What he heard convinced him that the unfortunate souls were innocent of the crimes of which they were accused. Cautio Criminalis was first published as an anonymous attack of the witch-hunts. He described torture in (non-prurient) detail, particularly the use of the rack. Spee did not deny the existence of witchcraft or even demand the abolition of the trials. Instead he demanded legal reform and an end to hysteria, panic, torture, and lies. Spee is among the heroes of the German witch-hunts. Many experts believe that his book was instrumental in abolishing the witch trials in various places, such as Mainz, and helped stop or at least reduce the terrible slaughter in Germany.