Abstract
One could argue that theologians in the 16th century attributed all things either to God or to the Devil. What was good was entirely God’s work. Good people were good only as a result of their trust in God, their devotion to him and the strength of their faith. Their goodness would entitle them to eternal life in Heaven. The Devil by whatever name — Satan, the fallen angel, Beelzebub, Lucifer — represented all evil. His followers would be condemned to an afterlife in eternal agony. According to the book of Revelation, God had cast out Satan, the great dragon, and in his fall Satan had taken the host of fallen angels with him. The Devil had declared war against God and against all Christians, with the intention of toppling the entire Christian world. Everything that was morally wrong originated in the Devil. He would constantly try to tempt man in his efforts to recruit new allies for his final confrontation with God.
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Notes
In Kors, Alan C. and Edward Peters (eds.), Witchcraft in Europe 400–1700: A Documentary History, 2nd revised edition by Edward Peters (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 44–47. Augustine on superstition has recently been discussed by Cameron (2010), pp. 79–85.
Baroja, Julio Caro, ‘Witchcraft and Catholic Theology’ in Ankarloo, Bengt and Gustav Henningsen (eds.) Early Modern European Witchcraft. Centres and Peripheries (Oxford University Press: Oxford 1990), pp. 24ff., and The World of the Witches (University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1961/1971), pp. 42ff.
English translation in Kors and Peters (2001), pp. 117f.; see also Peters, Edward, The Magician, the Witch and the Law (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1978), pp. 99f.; pp. 131ff.
The Papal inquisition in the medieval period consisted rather of single inquisitors and was not a centralized institution as the early modern inquisitions, see Peters, Edward, Inquisition (University of California Press: Berkeley 1989), pp. 67–71.
Kallestrup, Louise Nyholm, ‘Francisco Peña’, in Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. The Western Tradition, Golden, Richard M. (ed.) (ABC–CLIO eBook Collection: Santa Barbara, CA 2006), pp. 889f.
English translation in Kors and Peters (2001), pp. 177–180; see Broedel, Hans Peter, The Malleus Malefi carum and the Construction of Witchcraft. Theology and Popular Beliefs (Manchester University Press: Manchester 2003), Peters (1978), pp. 170ff.; excerpts found inter alia in Baroja (1961/1971), p. 94;
(1989) based on Hansen, Joseph, Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns und der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter (Carl Georgi, Universität Buchdrückeri und Verlag: Bonn/Hildesheim, 1901/1963), p. 53;
Wilson, Eric, ‘Krämer at Innsbruck: Heinrich Krämer, the Summis Desiderantes and the Brixen Witch-Trial of 1485’, in Popular Religion in Germany and Central Europe, 1400–1800, Scribner, Bob and Trevor Johnson (eds.) (Palgrave Macmillan: New York 1996), pp. 88ff.
Decker (2008), pp. 58f.; see also Tamar Herzig, Christ Transformed into a Virgin Woman. Lucia Brocadelli, Heinrich Institoris and the defense of the faith (Edizione di Storia e Letteratura: Rome 2013), pp. 27ff.,
and Michael Bailey, Battling Demons. Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia 2003), on the Malleus Maleficarum, esp. pp. 30f., 48f.
First edition 1486. See Wilson (1996), pp. 87ff.; Baroja (1961/1971), pp. 94ff. Malleus malefi carum can furthermore be found online in Montague Summer’s (often faulty) translation, http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org, which only confirms the continued interest surrounding the work. Malleus malefi carum has recently been retranslated and annotated by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart (Manchester University Press: Manchester 2007) which is an abridged edition, and by Christopher Mackey, Hammer of Witches. A Complete Translation of the Malleus malefi carum (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 2006/2009), which is now the standard.
See also Behringer, Wolfgang, ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ in Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition, Golden, Richard M. (ed.) (ABC–CLIO eBook Collection: Santa Barbara, CA 2006), pp. 718ff.
Martin, Ruth, Witchcraft and the Inquisition of Venice 1550–1650 (Blackwell: London 1989), pp. 53f.; Wilson (1996), p. 88; Baroja (1961/1971), pp. 94f.;
Summis desiderantes never had explicit influence on the prosecutions in Italy, Romeo, Giovanni, Inquisitori, esorcisti e streghe nell’Italia della Controriforma (Sansoni Editore: Florence 1990), p. 23. In her recent book Tamar Herzig (2013) persuasively argues that the Malleus malefi carum had a larger impact on Italian witchcraft prosecutions than scholars found in the 1980s and early 1990s. For a rejection of Malleus malefi carum being commonly used as a guide in witch trials, see Cohn (1975); Martin (1989) specifically on Venice, pp. 58f.
On the Catholic and Counter Reformation, see Mullet, Michael, The Catholic Reformation (Routledge: New York 1984);
Bireley, Robert The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450–1700. A Reassessment of the Counter-Reformation (Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke 1999);
Jedin, Hubert, A History of the Council of Trent (T. Nelson: London 1957–1961).
Tedeschi, John, ‘Inquisitorial Law and the Witch’ in Ankarloo, Bengt and Gustav Henningsen (eds.), Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (Oxford University Press: Oxford 1990/1998), pp. 87f.
Prattica is attributed to the cardinal and former inquisitor Desiderio Scaglia. Not until the 1625 edition of Sacro Arsenale does Masini add his instructions on witches and witchcraft, for works in English see Lea, Henry Charles, Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft, vols. 1–3 (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia 1937/1957), pp. 950–963 and 963–966;
Tedeschi, John, The Prosecution of Heresy: Collected Studies on the Inquisition in Early Modern Italy (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies: Binghampton, NY 1991), pp. 205–259; and most recently Decker (2008), p. 122 and on the Instructio including references to Scaglia, pp. 113–131. Important Italian works are Prosperi (1996), esp. pp. 368–399;
Turchini, Angelo, ‘Il modello ideale dell’inquisitore: la Pratica del cardinal Desiderio Scaglia’ in Del Col, Andrea and Giovanna Paolin L’Inquisizione Romana. Metologia delle fonti e storia istituzionale. Atto del seminario internazionale Montereale Valcellina 23 e 24 settembre millenovecento99, (Università del Trieste: Trieste 1999) on Scaglia, pp. 187–199;
Del Col, Andrea, L’inquisizione in Italia. Dal XII al XXI secolo (Libri Editore Mondadori: Milan 2006) on Masini, pp. 770f.
Here the term ‘magic’ is used in accordance with Eymeric’s use of terms, see Kors and Peters (2001), p. 121; relevant excerpts have been translated and are found in the same, pp. 122–127. See also Peters, Edward, ‘Editing Inquisitors’ Manuals in the Sixteenth Century: Francisco Peña and the Directorium Inquisitorum of Nicholas Eymeric’ in The Library Chronicle, vol. 40, 1975, pp. 95–107.
Scaglia specifically names St. Daniel and St. Helen, but it was also illegal to address other saints with such intentions. StStE 5e no. 2, 27v ‘abusano aqua, can-dele benedette recitando orationi di S. Daniele ò S. Elena, et altri simili’. These were very common para-liturgical prayers: St. Martha was also very popular, see Fantini, Maria Pia, ‘La circolazione clandestine dell’orazione di Santa Marta. Un episodio modenese’, in Zarri, Gabriella (ed.) Donna, disciplina, creanza Cristiana dal XV al XVII secolo. Studi e testi a stampa (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura: Rome), pp. 45–65; O’Neil notes that cases concerning love magic might also include examples of counter-magic (superstitiones ad amore impedendo). Francesco Villano (who also testified in the case) and his wife approached the accused, Margarita Chiappona, to get her to stop Francesco’s love for the prostitute Barbara Grafagnina. O’Neil, Mary R., ‘Magical Healing, Love Magic and the Inquisition in Late 16th Century Modena’ in Haliczer, Stephen (ed.), Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (Barnes and Noble: London and Sydney 1987), p. 102.
Tedeschi (1990/1998), p. 94; for the Instructio, see especially Lavenia, Vicenzo, ‘Anticamente di misto foro’ in Inquisizioni: percorsi di ricerca, Giovanna Paolin (ed.) (2001);
see also Romeo (2008), pp. 53–64 and Romeo, Giovanni, L’Inquisizione nell’Italia moderna (Laterza: Rome and Bari 2002).
Lavenia (2001), pp. 41–53; Tedeschi (1991), p. 211; see also dall’Olio, Guido, ‘Tribunali vescovili, inquisizione romana e stregoneria: i processi bolognesi del 1559’ in Prosperi, Adriano (ed.), Il piacere del testo: Saggi e studi per Albano Biondi, 2 vols., I (Buozoni Editrice: Rome 2001).
Brown, Ralph, ‘Examination of an Interesting Roman Document: Instructio proformandis processibus in causis strigum’ in The Jurist, vol. 24/1 (1964), p. 179. The harmed person went by the term praetensus malefi ciatus, the presumed bewitched/possessed.
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Kallestrup, L.N. (2015). Marking the limits of transgression. In: Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316974_2
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