Summis Desiderantes Affectibus & Malleus
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In
1484
Pope Innocent VII issued the papal bull "Summis Desiderantes Affectibus"
appointing Heinrich Kramer (Institoris) and Johann Sprenger inquisitors in northern Germany.
Heinrich Kramer writes Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch
Hammer). He uses "SDA" as the book's preface, giving it phony papal
authority.
Kramer also attaches Sprenger's name to the book.
Sprenger probably had little or nothing to do with the book.
He surely hated Kramer and opposed most of his work. But
Sprenger was Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of
Cologne and a more credible theologian than Kramer. |
Malleus is generally repudiated by theologians (at Cologne
and elsewhere) and Kramer was denounced by the inquisition in 1490.
Nevertheless, both he and the book became popular, particularly in Germany.
Malleus became the standard guide to the
diagnosis, behavior, trial, and punishment of witches for two centuries. It standardized
beliefs about witches across most of Europe.
reformation and war |