The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (Dover Occult)

I will use this , hopefully to create a teaching exercise for my students. It is good for demonstrating primary sources, critical thinking skills, and will generate laughs as well.

I wanted to understand the mindset of the Inquisitors, as a matter of history. This manual was an official reference document (sanctioned by the Pope no less) for the Inquisitors it deputized and indemnified. The inquisitors had blanket authority to investigate and punish, including burning at the stake, anyone who attracted their attention. The book is well organized and is filled with long-winded circular logic not unlike the Monty Python skit about seeing if a witch would float. It would be comical if it weren't based on reality. Even questioning whether witches were real could subject one to accusations of heresy or worse, being a witch. Interesting read, not a front-to-back read IMHO, but as a reference. It's amazing what can pass as law.

Please note: This particular version is translated and annotated by Montague Summers. Summers was ABSOLUTELY NOT a Catholic priest, despite some allegations otherwise. He was completely obsessed with the occult, was a friend of Aleister Crowley, and belonged to a secret, subversive order himself. His 1928 translation of the Malleus is very sympathetic to the Inquisitors. YOU HAVE TO read his contributions to this work through that lens and be careful what you believe!That being said . . .The Malleus is highly recommended source material for anyone even remotely interested in the Witchcraft scares and trials of the middle ages. Commissioned by the Pope himself to root out heresy and witchcraft in Northern Germany in the 15th century, Kramer and Sprenger set out to provide comprehensive proof of the existence of witches and advice on how to deal with them. And no, the end result was not always a burning at the stake.Whatever you might think of the conclusions reached, the book is full of delicately crafted logic based on Aristotle and Church fathers, namely St. Augustine of Hippo. Many of the assumptions on which they base their arguments are flawed and have since been proven false. And of course, few still advocate death for the practice of the occult. Nevertheless, it is a brilliant peek into the scholarly mind of the Middle Ages.

If you're reading a review for a physical book on amazon, hopefully you're concerned about the properties of the physical text rather than the content. This book is a very well made copy with legible clean text and a two-column layout.

Really, really cool! Bought it for the "cool" factor, and it lived up to the hype. Now, most people probably won't get as much of a kick out of reading something so horrendously out of date as this as I do, but if you do, then this is worth picking up. Great insight into the mindset of these people- it's in a way like they're religious lawyers, so they do a good job of defining their thoughts. Cool, cool book man. Cool book.

How do you rate something like this? It's the cruelest, most paranoid superstitious collections of human insanity I've ever read.But -- it's the Malleus Maleficarum, and if you collect historical religious texts, this one is required in your collection.I'm giving it five stars, not so much for content, but for the historical value and good, solid production value. If you're not interested in this type of thing, move on. But if religious weirdness is your thing, this one is definitely for you.

I gave the book five stars, but I do not love it. It is a "how to" book on convicting witches. It uses scholastic dialectical arguments to prove that their premises are correct. Their premises are irrational, not correct. Their worldview was completely bizarre. These authors seem like well-intentioned, ethical men that wanted to help members of their community. That is what makes this book so scary; these are the views of decent people of the time.

Very informative, research oriented read. Good educational book for what was going on at that time in history- good to read and understand the reprecussions of. It's amazing how destructive humans are and horrible, how they can warp things that were not meant to be used the way they are in the name of power. More importantly, if you are going to read this book - know the history behind it's writing and the history behind how it was used to take the lives of so many for so little.

Author does a good Latin to English translation

Completo y excelente calidad

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In terms of history, this is an outstanding (and also terrifying) book to understand the mind of the people from the 15th century and how the fear of the unknown drove many men to madness and to commit homicides in the name of God - using the excuse that they're "purifying" the flesh and "saving the soul" of thousand of women by using torture and murder accusated of practicing witchcraft and making deals with demons. Simple practices or some kind of behaviors that aren't well-accepted by the Holy Church, like the use of herbs to heal fevers or being mothers without getting married, even the color of their hairs were an "obvious signal" that someone was a witch and her body and soul must be saved for God. Excellent book to read and to learn how not to repeat those medieval thoughts and acts of cruelty.And in terms of studies of human behavior, feminism and even the practice of the occult arts, this is also a very good book to read and also learn with what those two clerics had to teach - the menkind always were afraid of people, specially women, who could fly - either in broomsticks or in books, questions, thoughts, doubts and self-opinions. For the ones that are looking for some information about the way of thinking from people of the Middle-Ages, blinded by their faith and their 'absolute truth', you'll find in this book some very interesting passages that cleary shows how everything that comes in too much always ends up in disasters - even something that was supposed to be something pure and good, like faith. And for the ones who seeks knowledgement about the history of witchcraft - in every ways and at a few different points of view, also an must-have book. I would also recommend another title to complementary: The Compendium Maleficarum, another "tutorial book" but this one is more about the rites of exorcism performed on those women (and also in other people that would might be possessed) and how to "identify" if someone is really possessed or not. The author is also an clerig from the 15th century, and it's interesting to read it too, for the 'Compendium' is the complementary from the 'Malelus'.

Libro impressionante per quello che rappresenta: basi teoriche e procedure pratiche per la lotta alle streghe. Troppo noioso per essere scambiato per un fantasy, fa rabbrividire che sulla sua base probabilmente centinaia di migliaia di persone sono state torturate e ammazzate. Al di là del valore storico, c'è almeno un aspetto che lo rende straordinariamente attuale. La "prova" anche delle affermazioni più improbabili nel testo è esclusivamente basata sul riferimento ad affermazioni di "autorità": insomma, se l'hanno detto degli autori indiscutibili (Sant'Agostino, San Tommaso, un qualsiasi libro del Canone, ma addirittura un teologo islamico!) anche gli asini volano. Apparentemente sembra follia, ma al giorno d'oggi non si fa lo stesso sostituendo i dottori della chiesa con "l'ho letto su Internet"? Forse non ci siamo tanto evoluti da questo punto di vista.