A Witches' Sabbath is a purported gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft and other rituals . The phrase became especially popular in the 20th century.
115-492: The most infamous and influential work of witch-hunting lore, Malleus Maleficarum (1486) does not contain the word sabbath ( sabbatum ). The first recorded English use of sabbath referring to sorcery was in 1660, in Francis Brooke's translation of Vincent Le Blanc 's book The World Surveyed : "Divers Sorcerers […] have confessed that in their Sabbaths […] they feed on such fare." The phrase "Witches' Sabbath" appeared in
230-447: A preamble and is followed by a resolution in two parts. It begins with a general statement about circumstances: IN THE NAME OF Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let all those who will read, see or hear the present public document know that in the year since the Birth of Our Lord 1487, in the fifth indiction, on Saturday, the nineteenth day of May, at five in the afternoon or thereabouts, in
345-574: A 1613 translation by "W.B." of Sébastien Michaëlis 's Admirable History of Possession and Conversion of a Penitent Woman : "He also said to Magdalene, Art not thou an accursed woman, that the Witches Sabbath [French le Sabath ] is kept here?" The phrase is used by Henry Charles Lea in his History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (1888). Writing in 1900, German historian Joseph Hansen who
460-433: A Jesuit, Spee was often in a position of witnessing the torture of those accused of witchcraft. In a 2009 translation of Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer 's Malleus Maleficarum (1486), the word sabbath does not occur. There is a line describing a supposed gathering that uses the word concionem ; it is accurately translated as an assembly . However in the accompanying footnote, the translator seems to apologize for
575-520: A book in opposition to witch-phobia, uses the term but only once in quoting Bodin. In 1611, Jacques Fontaine uses sabat five times writing in French and in a way that would seem to correspond with modern usage. The following year (1612), Pierre de Lancre seems to use the term more frequently than anyone before. In 1668, a late date relative to the major European witch trials, German writer Johannes Praetorius published "Blockes-Berges Verrichtung", with
690-430: A bottom-up view: "To the creation of the imaginary sect of witches, written works contributed very little." But on the following page Cohn qualifies this: "The origin of the new stereotype of the witch lay.. in the evidence extracted during the trials themselves." Cohn considers these confessions extracted under torture to have contained, at least on some occasions, a certain amount of real belief, but which he quantifies as
805-538: A broad statement: "The Lamothe-Langon texts are now generally regarded as fakes." Kieckhefer points out that Norman Cohn shares his opinion (see below), and is careful to note their conclusions were reached independently. A citation that helps explain the serendipity is not included in the 2002 reprint but appeared in 1976: "Cohn and I both based our discoveries in large part on the biographical data in [Richard] Switzer's book of 1962." Writing in 1975, Norman Cohn seems to go further than Kieckhefer. For Cohn, questions about
920-622: A cleric of the Diocese of Cologne . Text of approbation mentions that during proceedings Institoris had a letter from Maximilian, the newly crowned King of the Romans and son of Emperor Frederick III , which is summarized in the approbation: "[... Maximilian I] takes these Inquisitors under his complete protection, ordering and commanding each and every subject of the Roman Empire to render all favor and assistance to these Inquisitors and otherwise to act in
1035-835: A doctorate in 1883. From 1891 until his retirement in 1927, he was director of the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne . From 1893 to 1927 he was also chairman of the Society for Rhenish History. Hansen has been referred to as liberal and "freethinking." Hansen was raised Catholic in Aachen and resided in historically Catholic Cologne, with its famous Cologne Cathedral , nonetheless some have referred to him as "anti-clerical." In 1900, Hansen published Zauberwahn, Inquisition und Hexenprozess im Mittelalter und die Entstehung der grossen Hexenverfolgung (Magical Illusion, Inquisition, and Witch Trials in
1150-538: A doctrinal view in opposition to the canon Episcopi gained ground in certain communities. This fueled a paranoia among certain religious authorities that there was a vast underground conspiracy of witches determined to overthrow Christianity. Women beyond child-bearing years provided an easy target and were scapegoated and blamed for famines, plague, warfare, and other problems. Having prurient and orgiastic elements helped ensure that these stories would be relayed to others. Bristol University 's Ronald Hutton has encapsulated
1265-489: A few years after K. Thomas, Richard Kieckhefer acknowledges "no small influence" from K. Thomas while relying heavily on the work of J. Hansen including over a hundred citations in the "Calendar of Witch Trials." Kieckhefer also joins Norman Cohn (1975) in expressing strong reservations toward one of Hansen's sources (Baron Lamothe-Langon see below). Historians Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters refer to Hansen as "the great archivist of Cologne" and consider his two works
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#17328764000821380-654: A gathering of more than one witch seems most traceable to Francophone writers such as Pierre de Lancre (1612). Lamothe-Langon, also writing in French, may have helped spread the use of the word as shorthand, and Hansen uses it frequently writing in German. But most fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth century writers who joined in the witchcraft debate seem to rarely, if ever, use the Latin "sabbatum" or vernacular derivatives thereof. Writing in 1976, R Kieckhefer cites Russell's work and seems to have become intrigued by his comment regarding
1495-481: A group of individuals in Northern Italy , calling themselves benandanti , who believed that they went out of their bodies in spirit and fought amongst the clouds against evil spirits to secure prosperity for their villages, or congregated at large feasts presided over by a goddess, where she taught them magic and performed divinations. Ginzburg links these beliefs with similar testimonies recorded across Europe, from
1610-476: A kind of Witches' Sabbath, but they are not. Some African communities believe in witchcraft, but as in the European witch trials, people they believe to be "witches" are condemned rather than embraced. Other historians, including Carlo Ginzburg , Éva Pócs , Bengt Ankarloo and Gustav Henningsen hold that these testimonies can give insights into the belief systems of the accused. Ginzburg famously discovered records of
1725-536: A not exclusively mythical dimension. – in short, a substrate of shamanic myth could, when catalysed by a drug experience (or simple starvation), give rise to a 'journey to the Sabbath', not of the body, but of the mind. Ergot and the Fly Agaric mushroom, while hallucinogenic, were not among the ingredients listed in recipes for the flying ointment. The active ingredients in such unguents were primarily, not fungi, but plants in
1840-424: A persistent theme in European witchcraft, stretching back to the time of classical authors such as Apuleius , is the use of unguents conferring the power of "flight" and "shape-shifting." Recipes for such "flying ointments" have survived from early modern times, permitting not only an assessment of their likely pharmacological effects – based on their various plant (and to a lesser extent animal) ingredients – but also
1955-451: A reference to Revelation 2:9 ("I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan .") Writing in Latin in 1458, Francophone author Nicolas Jacquier applies synagogam fasciniorum to what he considers a gathering of witches. About 150 years later, near the peak of the witch-phobia and the persecutions which led to the execution of an estimated 40,000-100,000 persons, with roughly 80% being women,
2070-544: A witch-phobic work written in French in 1580. Hansen notes that he verified Lea's transcription of the 1329 sentence in the archives at Paris: befinden sich in der Pariser Nationatalbibliothek Msc. Doat col. 27 p. 177, vol. 28 p. 161. In this same Paris archive, Hansen verified, via a separate trial, that the inquisitor named by Lamothe-Langon was operating in Carcassonne in 1276. Operating within Cohn's theory, such corroboration
2185-471: Is consonant with reason that those things that are done on behalf of the common good should also be confirmed through the common approval of the Doctors, and therefore, lest the aforementioned poorly educated curates and preachers think, in their ignorance of Holy Scripture , that the aforesaid treatise, which was composed in the manner mentioned above, is poorly supported by the determinations and pronouncements of
2300-558: Is contrary to the pronouncements of the non-erroneous philosophers, or against the Truth of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, or against the determinations of the Doctors approved or admitted by the Holy Church, and that the third part should certainly be upheld and approved in regard to the punishments of those heretics whom it treats, in that it does not contradict Holy Canons, and also because of
2415-465: Is for most of the accounts considered doubtful. Norman Cohn argued that they were determined largely by the expectations of the interrogators and free association on the part of the accused, and reflect only popular imagination of the times, influenced by ignorance , fear and religious intolerance towards minority groups. Some of the existing accounts of the Sabbat were given when the person recounting them
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#17328764000822530-457: Is mostly witches, as opposed to the Devil, who do the recruiting, by making something go wrong in the life of a respectable matron that makes her consult the knowledge of a witch, or by introducing young maidens to tempting young devils. It details how witches cast spells, and remedies that can be taken to prevent witchcraft, or help those who have been affected by it. Section III is the legal part of
2645-516: Is the same as the normal English word " Sabbath " (itself a transliteration of Hebrew " Shabbat ", the seventh day, on which the Creator rested after creation of the world), referring to the witches' equivalent to the Christian day of rest ; a more common term was "synagogue" or " synagogue of Satan " possibly reflecting anti-Jewish sentiment, although the acts attributed to witches bear little resemblance to
2760-462: Is unhelpful because Lamothe-Langon may have lifted the name from "a standard list of the inquisitors for Toulouse." Whereas Kieckhefer claims his skepticism is based in "anachronisms in the reports," Cohn seems to suggest the opposite: appearances of authenticity in Lamothe-Langon's accounts could be indicators he was selectively culling details from proper sources. It is not clear that withdrawing
2875-463: Is well established by sources outside the Malleus that the university's theology faculty condemned the book for unethical procedures and for contradicting Catholic theology on a number of important points: "just for good measure Institoris forged a document granting their apparently unanimous approbation." The book became the handbook for secular courts throughout Renaissance Europe, but was not used by
2990-592: The Hammer of Witches , is the best known treatise about witchcraft . It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institor ) and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1486. Some describe it as the compendium of literature in demonology of the 15th century. Kramer presented his own views as the Roman Catholic Church's position. The book
3105-500: The Age of Enlightenment , belief in the powers of witches to harm began to die out in the West . For the post-Enlightenment Christians, the disbelief was based on a belief in rationalism and empiricism . The Malleus Maleficarum consists of the following parts: In this part it is briefly explained that prevalence of sorcery which is a method of Satan's final assault motivated authors to write
3220-539: The Francophone writers still seem to be the main ones using these related terms, although still infrequently and sporadically in most cases. Lambert Daneau uses sabbatha one time (1581) as Synagogas quas Satanica sabbatha . Nicholas Remi uses the term occasionally as well as synagoga (1588). Jean Bodin uses the term three times (1580) and, across the channel, the Englishman Reginald Scot (1585) writing
3335-597: The Holy See along with his colleague, the venerable and religious Brother Jacobus Sprenger, also a Professor of Holy Theology and Prior of the Convent of Preachers in Cologne[...] Then, signatories complain that "Some curates of souls and preachers of the Word of God feel no shame at claiming and affirming in their sermons to the congregation that sorceresses do not exist" and notice that
3450-590: The Malleus come from multiple works of Aquinas, a highly influential author in theology. Aquinas is a main source for Section I but is cited in all sections; Formicarius by Johannes Nider is the important source for Section II , and Directorium Inquisitorum by Spanish inquisitor Nicholas Eymeric is a crucial source for Section III . Importantly, Kramer and Sprenger were convinced that God would never permit an innocent person to be convicted of witchcraft. The Malleus recommended not only torture but also deception in order to obtain confessions: "And when
3565-618: The Malleus Maleficarum by all the Doctors of the Theological Faculty of the University of Cologne signed by them personally. The proceedings are attested by notary public Arnold Kolich of Euskirchen , a sworn cleric of Cologne with inclusion of confirmatory testimony by present witnesses Johannes Vorda of Mecheln a sworn beadle , Nicholas Cuper de Venrath the sworn notary of Curia of Cologne and Christian Wintzen of Euskirchen
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3680-483: The Malleus Maleficarum that describes how to prosecute a witch. The arguments are clearly laid for the lay magistrates prosecuting witches. The section offers a step-by-step guide to the conduct of a witch trial, from the method of initiating the process and assembling accusations, to the interrogation (including torture) of witnesses, and the formal charging of the accused. Women who did not cry during their trial were automatically believed to be witches. Jakob Sprenger
3795-448: The Malleus Maleficarum : [...] [ Lucifer ] attacks through these heresies at that time in particular, when the evening of the world declines towards its setting and the evil of men swells up, since he knows in great anger, as John bears witness in the Book of Apocalypse [12:12], that he has little time remaining. Hence, he has also caused a certain unusual heretical perversity to grow up in
3910-658: The Sabbath in Christianity or Jewish Shabbat customs. The Errores Gazariorum (" Errors of the Cathars" ), which mentions the Sabbat, while not discussing the actual behavior of the Cathars , is named after them, in an attempt to link these stories to an heretical Christian group. More recently, scholars such as Emma Wilby have argued that although the more diabolical elements of the witches' sabbath stereotype were invented by inquisitors,
4025-549: The armiers of the Pyrenees , from the followers of Signora Oriente in fourteenth century Milan and the followers of Richella and 'the wise Sibillia' in fifteenth century northern Italy, and much further afield, from Livonian werewolves , Dalmatian kresniki , Hungarian táltos , Romanian căluşari and Ossetian burkudzauta . In many testimonies, these meetings were described as out-of-body, rather than physical, occurrences. Magic ointments...produced effects which
4140-665: The 16th and 17th centuries an intense debate on the nature of witches preoccupied demonologists across Europe and they published many printed sermons, books and tracts. The Catholic Church played an important role in shaping of debate on demonology, but the discourse was not much affected by the Reformation. Martin Luther was also convinced about the reality and evil of witches, and facilitated development of Protestant demonology. Catholic and Protestant demonologies were similar in their basic beliefs about witches and most writers agreed on
4255-444: The Devil in dreams and visions". However, in the same period supernatural intervention was accepted in the form of ordeals that were later also used during witch trials. It is an element of doctrine that demons may be cast out by appropriate sacramental exorcisms . In the Malleus , exorcism is, for example, one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of incubi . Prayer and transubstantiation are traditionally excluded from
4370-513: The Devil works with them is not contrary to the Catholic Faith, but consonant with the statements of Holy Scripture. Indeed, according to the pronouncements of the Holy Doctors it is necessary to admit that such acts can sometimes happen. 3) It is therefore erroneous to preach that acts of sorcery cannot happen, because in this way preachers impede, to the extent that they can, the pious work of
4485-536: The Doctors, they offered it for examination and comparison against Scripture to the illustrious University of Cologne or rather to certain Professors of Holy Theology, in order that if any things were found to be worthy of censure or incompatible with the Catholic Truth, they should be refuted by the judgment of those Professors, and that those things found to be compatible with the Catholic Truth should be approved. This
4600-519: The European witch trials, Hugh Trevor-Roper frequently cites Hansen's "important" work. Historian HC Erik Midelfort refers to Hansen as "the great scholar" in his first work on witchcraft in Germany. Keith Thomas does not cite or refer to J. Hansen in his work on the subject of witchcraft "Religion and the Decline of Magic" though the title seems similar, albeit inverted, to Hansen's work from 1900. Writing
4715-676: The Inquisition in the Middle Ages . In 1921, Hansen was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. In 1925, he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In 1943, age 80 Hansen and his wife Johanna (1872–1943) were killed in a bombing raid on Cologne. Wolfgang Behringer writes that Hansen "unquestionably delivered the consummate synthesis of previous witchcraft studies." Two historians of witchcraft who were contemporaries of Hansen— GL Burr and GL Kittredge —both acknowledged
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4830-416: The Inquisition, which "denied any authority to the Malleus " in the words of historian Wolfgang Behringer. In modern times, the book has often been viewed as a typical inquisitorial manual, a perception that many historians have refuted. According to Jenny Gibbons: in the 1970s, when feminist and Neo-Pagan authors turned their attention to the witch trials, the Malleus Maleficarum ( Hammer of Witches )
4945-414: The Lamothe-Langon records in question would have a significant impact on Hansen's lengthy works from 1900 to 1901 or his broader thesis. Institutional partisans or those historians of witchcraft who share an affinity with the bottom-up view of Jakob Grimm , and oppose the top-down view of W.G.Soldan might have reason to highlight any potential embarrassment to Hansen due to his focus on the culpability at
5060-548: The Middle Ages, and the Formation of the Larger Persecution of Witches) and the following year a companion volume of background materials was published ( Quellen = Sources), Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns und der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter: Mit einer Untersuchung der Geschichte des Wortes Hexe (1901). In 1905, Hansen published a German translation of Henry Charles Lea 's three-volume History of
5175-458: The accounts of real, physical events. For a long time the only dissenting voices were those of the people who, referring back to the Canon episcopi , saw witches and sorcerers as the victims of demonic illusion. In the sixteenth century scientists like Cardano or Della Porta formulated a different opinion : animal metamorphoses, flights, apparitions of the devil were the effect of malnutrition or
5290-520: The acts of Satan. According to the date on the document, the papal bull had been issued in 1484, two years before the Malleus Maleficarum was finished. Therefore, it is not an endorsement of a specific final text of the Malleus . Instead, its inclusion implicitly legitimizes the handbook by providing general confirmation of the reality of witchcraft and full authority to Sprenger and Institoris in their preachings and proceedings: And they shall also have full and entire liberty to propound and preach to
5405-428: The actual recreation of and experimentation with such fat or oil-based preparations. Ginzburg makes brief reference to the use of entheogens in European witchcraft at the end of his analysis of the Witches Sabbath, mentioning only the fungi Claviceps purpurea and Amanita muscaria by name, and stating about the "flying ointment" on page 303 of 'Ecstasies...' : In the Sabbath the judges more and more frequently saw
5520-497: The affairs of Kramer's Séléstat convent... The same day Sprenger became successor to Jacob Strubach as provincial superior (October 19, 1487), he obtained permission from his general, Joaquino Turriani, to lash out adversus m[agistrum] Henricum Institoris inquisitorem ( English : against Master Heinrich Kramer, inquisitor). The preface also includes an alleged unanimous approbation from the University of Cologne 's Faculty of Theology. Nevertheless, many historians have argued that it
5635-410: The book was to explain his own views on witchcraft, systematically refute arguments claiming that witchcraft did not exist, discredit those who expressed skepticism about its reality, claim that those who practised witchcraft were more often women than men, and to convince magistrates to use Kramer's recommended procedures for finding and convicting witches. Some scholars have suggested that following
5750-490: The category of magical rites. In 1484 clergyman Heinrich Kramer made one of the first attempts at prosecuting alleged witches in the Tyrol region. It was not a success: he was expelled from the city of Innsbruck and dismissed by the local bishop as "senile and crazy". According to Diarmaid MacCulloch , writing the book was Kramer's act of self-justification and revenge. Ankarloo and Clark claim that Kramer's purpose in writing
5865-432: The evil intentions of the witch, the help of the Devil, and the permission of God. The treatise is divided into three sections. The first section is aimed at clergy and tries to refute critics who deny the reality of witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution. The second section describes the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft, and to aid
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#17328764000825980-562: The failed efforts in Tyrol, Kramer requested explicit authority from the Pope to prosecute witchcraft. Kramer received a papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus in 1484. It gave full papal approval for the Inquisition to prosecute what was deemed to be witchcraft in general and also gave individual authorizations to Kramer and Dominican Friar Jacob Sprenger specifically. Other scholars have disputed
6095-565: The faithful Word of God, as often as it shall seem to them fitting and proper, in each and all of the parish churches in the said provinces, and to do all things necessary and suitable under the aforesaid circumstances, and likewise freely and fully to carry them out. This part of the Malleus is titled "The Approbation of The Following Treatise and The Signatures Thereunto of The Doctors of The Illustrious University of Cologne Follows in The Form of A Public Document" and contains unanimous approval of
6210-420: The fantasies of overwrought human minds". The conclusion drawn is that witchcraft must be real because the Devil is real. Witches entered into a pact with Satan to allow them the power to perform harmful magical acts, thus establishing an essential link between witches and the Devil. Matters of practice and actual cases are discussed, and the powers of witches and their recruitment strategies. It states that it
6325-512: The fate of the dead in the 11th and 12th centuries." The book Compendium Maleficarum (1608), by Francesco Maria Guazzo , illustrates a typical view of gathering of witches as "the attendants riding flying goats, trampling the cross, and being re-baptised in the name of the Devil while giving their clothes to him, kissing his behind, and dancing back to back forming a round." In effect, the sabbat acted as an effective 'advertising' gimmick, causing knowledge of what these authorities believed to be
6440-717: The first signing and in addition by professors Ulrich Kridweiss of Esslingen , Konrad Vorn of Kampen , Cornelius Pays of Breda and Dietrich of Balveren (Bummel). Signatories attest that: 1) The Masters of Holy Theology written below commend the Inquisitors into Heretical Depravity appointed by the authority of the Apostolic See in conformity with the Canons, and urge that they think it right to carry out their office zealously. 2) The proposition that acts of sorcery can happen with God's permission through sorcerers or sorceresses when
6555-465: The folklore and beliefs of the Alpine peasants as ‘witchcraft’ and was conceptually dedicated to the implementation of Exodus 22:18: "You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” Kramer and Sprenger were the first to raise harmful sorcery to the criminal status of heresy. [...] If harmful sorcery is a crime on the order of heresy, Kramer and Sprenger argue, then the secular judges who prosecute it must do so with
6670-414: The full extracts in French, as Hansen seems to believe that, before they were lost, the original Latin documents written by the inquisitors were roughly translated into French by Lamothe-Langon as he compiled a three volume work on the inquisition. Writing in 1972, JB Russell follows Hansen in lamenting the missing Latin originals, and that "we must rely upon a summary translation, and though Lamothe-Langon
6785-437: The human dead, normally thought to be wandering to expiate their sins, often noisy and tumultuous, and usually consisting of those who had died prematurely and violently. The first of these has pre-Christian origins, and probably contributed directly to the formulation of the concept of the witches’ sabbath. The other two seem to be medieval in their inception, with the third to be directly related to growing speculation about
6900-550: The idea that Sprenger was working with Kramer, arguing that the evidence shows that Sprenger was actually a persistent opponent of Kramer, even going so far as to ban him from Dominican convents within Sprenger's jurisdiction while also banning him from preaching. In the words of Wolfgang Behringer: Sprenger had tried to suppress Kramer's activities in every possible way. He forbade the convents of his province to host him, he forbade Kramer to preach, and even tried to interfere directly in
7015-401: The image of diabolical witchcraft, with all its appendages... was developed between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fifteenth centuries largely through the efforts of theologians and inquisitors... All this... has been documented exhaustively... Thus the goal of the present research is to document and build upon the approach to the question originally developed by Hansen." In a lengthy 1967 essay on
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#17328764000827130-410: The implements of torture have been prepared, the judge, both in person and through other good men zealous in the faith, tries to persuade the prisoner to confess the truth freely; but, if he will not confess, he bid attendants make the prisoner fast to the strappado or some other implement of torture. The attendants obey forthwith, yet with feigned agitation. Then, at the prayer of some of those present,
7245-474: The importance of Hansen. GL Burr writing in 1911 refers to Hansen as "the most eminent German scholar who has... given the world the most careful book on the rise of conception..." English professor GL Kittredge writing in 1907 was arguably forwarding an anti-thetical view to that of Hansen, yet quoted him at length in untranslated German. Writing in 1965, Carlo Ginzburg refers to the "fundamental investigations of J. Hansen, more precisely, have demonstrated how
7360-451: The inquisitor himself just a few years after the Malleus was published. Secular courts, not inquisitorial ones, resorted to the Malleus . Before 1400 it was rare for anyone to be prosecuted for witchcraft, but the increasingly common prosecution of heresy and failure to fully defeat these heretics paved the way for later criminal prosecution of witchcraft. By the 15th century belief in witches
7475-416: The inquisitors by removing the burden from them. Each of the three sections has the prevailing themes of what is witchcraft and who is a witch. Section I examines the concept of witchcraft theoretically, from the point of view of natural philosophy and theology. Specifically it addresses the question of whether witchcraft is a real phenomenon or imaginary, perhaps "deluding phantasms of the devil, or simply
7590-468: The inquisitors, to the prejudice of the salvation of souls. Nonetheless, secrets that are heard at any time by inquisitors should not be revealed to everyone. 4) All princes and Catholics should be urged to think it right to assist such pious vows on the part of the Inquisitors in defense of the Holy Catholic Faith. The Malleus Maleficarum asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft:
7705-485: The intention of the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum is not primarily to alleviate this ignorance but rather "toil to exterminate the sorceresses by explaining the appropriate methods of sentencing and punishing them in accordance with the text of the aforementioned Bull and the regulations of the Holy Canons, thereby achieving their extermination"; finally, signatories explain why they are providing their expertise: It
7820-572: The lack of both the term sabbath and a general scarcity of other gatherings that would seem to fit the bill for what he refers to as a "black sabbath". The phrase is also popular in recent translations of the titles of artworks, including: In Hector Berlioz 's Symphonie Fantastique , the fifth and final movement of the composition is titled "Hexensabbath" in German and "Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat" in French , strangely having two different meanings. In
7935-532: The lack of mass accusation means Italian popular culture was less inclined to believe in the existence of Black Sabbath. The Inquisition itself also held a skeptical view toward the legitimacy of Sabbath Assemblies. Many of the diabolical elements of the Witches' Sabbath stereotype, such as the eating of babies, poisoning of wells, desecration of hosts or kissing of the devil's anus , were also made about heretical Christian sects, lepers , Muslims and Jews . The term
8050-518: The land of the Lord – a Heresy, I say, of Sorceresses, since it is to be designated by the particular sex over which he is known to have power. [...] In the midst of these evils, we Inquisitors, Jacobus Sprenger together with the very dear associate [Institoris] delegated by the Apostolic See for the extermination of so destructive a heresy [...] we will bring everything to the desired conclusion. [...] naming
8165-503: The list did happen, "In 1329, the inquisitor of Carcassonne did sentence a monk to life imprisonment for practicing love magic..." Cohn doesn't provide his source for this "love magic" trial but it can be found in Quellen where Hansen cites the work of HC Lea and Lea includes the entire 1329 sentence reprinted in the original Latin . The 1329 sentence refers to... multas et diversas daemonum conjurationes et invocationes ... and frequently uses
8280-476: The manner that is more fully contained and included in the letter." Apparently, in early December 1486, Kramer actually went to Brussels, the Burgundian capital, hoping to obtain a privilege from the future Emperor (Kramer did not dare to involve Frederick III, whom he had offended previously), but the answer must have been so unfavorable that it could not be inserted into the foreword. The approbation consists of
8395-459: The most important scholarship from the turn of the century. Despite their influence, Hansen's works were not translated into English during the 20th century. In 2011, a work that tracked and translated into English a selection of the sources used by Hansen in Quellen was published by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart. In his work on witchcraft, Hansen relied on a vast number of sources and typically included lengthy quotations. These quotes are most often in
8510-399: The new breed of witches, whose unprecedented evil justifies capital punishment. The first section of the book's main text is written using the scholastic methodology of Thomas Aquinas characterized by a mode of disputed questions most notably used in his Summa Theologica . It was a standard mode of argumentation in scholastic discourse with a long tradition. Most of the citations in
8625-412: The next day or the next but one is to be set for a continuation of the tortures – not a repetition, for it must not be repeated unless new evidences produced. The judge must then address to the prisoners the following sentence: We, the judge, etc., do assign to you, such and such a day for the continuation of the tortures, that from your own mouth the truth may be heard, and that the whole may be recorded by
8740-777: The nightshade family Solanaceae , most commonly Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) and Hyoscyamus niger (Henbane), belonging to the tropane alkaloid-rich tribe Hyoscyameae . Other tropane-containing, nightshade ingredients included the Mandrake Mandragora officinarum , Scopolia carniolica and Datura stramonium , the Thornapple. The alkaloids Atropine , Hyoscyamine and Scopolamine present in these Solanaceous plants are not only potent and highly toxic hallucinogens, but are also fat-soluble and capable of being absorbed through unbroken human skin. Malleus Maleficarum The Malleus Maleficarum , usually translated as
8855-471: The notary." Joseph Hansen (historian) Joseph Hansen (26 April 1863 – 29 June 1943) was an influential German historian of witchcraft persecutions, and an archivist in the city of Cologne , where at the age of 80 he was killed, along with his wife, by the bombs of World War II. Joseph Leonhard Hansen was born in 1863 in Aachen and studied at the Universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Münster, earning
8970-490: The notion that physical gatherings of practitioners of witchcraft occurred. In his study "The Pursuit of Witches and the Sexual Discourse of the Sabbat", the historian Scott E. Hendrix presents a two-fold explanation for why these stories were so commonly told in spite of the fact that sabbats likely never actually occurred. First, belief in the real power of witchcraft grew during the late medieval and early-modern Europe as
9085-401: The only certain way to end the "evils of witchcraft." When it was published, heretics were often sentenced to be burned alive at the stake and the Malleus suggested the same for "witches." Despite, or perhaps because of, being condemned by some members of the church, the Malleus was very popular. In 1519, a new author was added, Jacob Sprenger . Historians have questioned why since this
9200-626: The original ecclesiastical Latin, the lingua franca of Europe since the time of Jerome . In Zauberwahn these quotes are often placed within the footnotes, and they are featured prominently in the companion work Quellen ("sources"). With regard to one source, Baron Lamothe-Langon, Hansen writes that he consulted with Professor Ch. Molinier "the best expert on the inquisition in the south of France" who confirmed that archives used by Lamothe-Langon can no longer be found ( nicht mehr aufzufinden sind ). Under these circumstances ( Unter diesen Umständen mussen ) Hansen laments that he can therefore only provide
9315-422: The personal experiences described in this treatise, which are believed to be true because of the reputation of such great men, particularly since they are inquisitors. It should be ensured that this treatise will become known to learned and zealous men, who will then, on the basis of it, provide various healthy and appropriate advice for the extermination of sorceresses [...] The second part is signed by those from
9430-471: The popular English editions of the symphony, the title of the movement is "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" , a mixture of the two translations. The setting of the movement is in a satanic dream depicting the protagonist's own funeral. Crowds of sorcerers and monsters stand around him, laughing, shouting, and screeching. The protagonist's beloved appears as a witch, distorted from her previous beauty. Modern researchers have been unable to find any corroboration with
9545-403: The prisoner is loosed again and is taken aside and once more persuaded to confess, being led to believe that he will in that case not be put to death." All confessions acquired with the use of torture had to be confirmed: "And note that, if he confesses under the torture, he must afterward be conducted to another place, that he may confirm it and certify that it was not due alone to the force of
9660-423: The same Latin synonym for witch – sortilegia – found on the title page of Nicolas Rémy 's work from 1595 where it is claimed that 900 persons were executed for sortilegii crimen . A Francophone writer and contemporary of Remy, Lambert Daneau , considers "sortilegus" to have been shortened to become the French "sorcier" and indeed sorciers was the term used in the title of another contemporary Jean Bodin in
9775-550: The same vigor as would the Inquisition in prosecuting a heretic. The Malleus urges them to adopt torture, leading questions, the admission of denunciation as valid evidence, and other Inquisitorial practices to achieve swift results. Moreover, the authors insist that the death penalty for convicted witches is the only sure remedy against witchcraft. They maintain that the lesser penalty of banishment prescribed by Canon Episcopi for those convicted of harmful sorcery does not apply to
9890-440: The severity of the crime of witchcraft. It was accepted by both Catholic and Protestant legislatures and witch-hunting was undeniably sponsored by both Protestant and Catholic governments. Witches became heretics to Christianity and witchcraft became the greatest of crimes and sins. Within continental and Roman Law witchcraft was the crimen exceptum , a crime so foul that all normal legal procedures were superseded. During
10005-611: The subjects themselves believed in, even stating that they had intercourse with evil spirits, had been at the Sabbat and danced on the Brocken with their lovers...The peculiar hallucinations evoked by the drug had been so powerfully transmitted from the subconscious mind to consciousness that mentally uncultivated persons...believed them to be reality. Carlo Ginzburg's researches have highlighted shamanic elements in European witchcraft compatible with (although not invariably inclusive of) drug-induced altered states of consciousness. In this context,
10120-513: The subtitle "Oder Ausführlicher Geographischer Bericht/ von den hohen trefflich alt- und berühmten Blockes-Berge: ingleichen von der Hexenfahrt/ und Zauber-Sabbathe/ so auff solchen Berge die Unholden aus gantz Teutschland/ Jährlich den 1. Maij in Sanct-Walpurgis Nachte anstellen sollen". As indicated by the subtitle, Praetorius attempted to give a "Detailed Geographical Account of the highly admirable ancient and famous Blockula , also about
10235-426: The term 'synagogue' of ' synagogue of Satan ' until well into the fifteenth century." Kieckhefer cites Russell (as quoted above) but does not provide other sources to support his claims regarding "Sabbath" or "synagogue" or "synagogue of Satan" or whether he means in Latin or a vernacular language. In a 2002 reprint of the same passage from the 1976 work by Kieckhefer, the citation of Russell is removed and replaced with
10350-401: The term by German historians also seems to have been relatively rare. A compilation of German folklore by Jakob Grimm in the 1800s ( Kinder und HausMärchen, Deutsche Mythologie ) seems to contain no mention of hexensabbat or any other form of the term sabbat relative to fairies or magical acts. The contemporary of Grimm and early historian of witchcraft, W.G. Soldan also does not seem to use
10465-795: The term in his history (1843). In contrast to German and English counterparts, French writers (including Francophone authors writing in Latin) used the term more frequently, albeit still relatively rarely. There seems to be deep roots to inquisitorial persecution of the Waldensians . In 1124, the term inzabbatos is used to describe the Waldensians in Northern Spain. In 1438 and 1460, seemingly related terms synagogam and synagogue of Sathan are used to describe Waldensians by inquisitors in France. These terms could be
10580-652: The third year of the Pontificate of Our Lord, the Most Holy Father in Christ, Lord Innocent VIII, by Divine Providence Pope, in the presence of my notary public and of the witnesses written below who had been specifically summoned and asked for this purpose, the venerable and religious Brother Henricus Institoris, Professor of Holy Theology and member of the Order of Preachers , who was appointed as Inquisitor into Heretical Depravity by
10695-471: The top—the "kirche und staat" (church and state)-- and his selection and compilation of the surviving written record on the subject which almost exclusively comes from those sources. A theory not based in the written record is difficult to source and will tend toward the speculative, as Kieckhefer notes: "it is notoriously difficult to glean the beliefs of the illiterate masses..." Following his critique of Lamothe-Langon, Norman Cohn seems to briefly advance
10810-413: The torture." However if there was no confirmation, torture could not be repeated, but it was allowed to continue at a specified day: "But, if the prisoner will not confess the truth satisfactorily, other sorts of tortures must be placed before him, with the statement that unless he will confess the truth, he must endure these also. But, if not even thus he can be brought into terror and to the truth, then
10925-448: The treatise the "Hammer for Sorceresses," we are undertaking the task of compiling the work for an associate [presumably, an ecclesiastic] [...] Copies of the Malleus Maleficarum contain a reproduction of a papal bull known as Summis desiderantes affectibus that is addressed to Heinrich Institoris and Jakob Sprenger. According to it, Pope Innocent VIII acknowledges that sorceresses are real and harmful through their involvement in
11040-667: The treatises and endorsing them instead. In the first part, the opinion of a "temporary Dean of the Faculty of Holy Theology at Cologne" namely Lambertus de Monte of 's-Heerenberg is expressed and then professors Jacobus Straelen of Noetlinck, Andreas Schermer of Ochsenfurt and Master Thoma de Scotia testify that they agree with his opinion. The following is an excerpt from the opinion: [I proclaim] that this three part treatise, which has been examined by me and carefully compared against Scripture with regard to its first two parts, contains nothing, in my humble judgment at least, that
11155-489: The unreliability of Lamothe-Langon, originally based on a biography, seem to have moved from an intriguing and speculative theory into established fact, and Cohn broadens the issue from pertaining to a handful of documents into what he deems a "spectacular historical hoax." Under the heading "How the Great Witch-Hunt Did Not Start," Cohn lists a number of trials from 1275 to 1360, many of which are included in
11270-409: The use of hallucinogenic substances contained in vegetable concoctions or ointments...But no form of privation, no substance, no ecstatic technique can, by itself, cause the recurrence of such complex experiences...the deliberate use of psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances, while not explaining the ecstasies of the followers of the nocturnal goddess, the werewolf , and so on, would place them in
11385-501: The use of the word sabbath to denote any such gatherings in the historical record, it became increasingly popular during the 20th century. In a 2003 translation of Friedrich Spee 's Cautio Criminalis (1631) the word sabbaths is listed in the index with a large number of entries. However, unlike some of Spee's contemporaries in France (mentioned above), who occasionally, if rarely, use the term sabbatha , Friedrich Spee does not ever use words derived from sabbatha or synagoga . Spee
11500-432: The very real threat of witchcraft to be spread more rapidly across the continent. That also meant that stories of the sabbat promoted the hunting, prosecution, and execution of supposed witches. The descriptions of Sabbats were made or published by priests, jurists and judges who never took part in these gatherings, or were transcribed during the process of the witchcraft trials . That these testimonies reflect actual events
11615-504: The witchcraft suspects themselves may have encouraged these ideas to circulate by drawing on popular beliefs and experiences around liturgical misrule, cursing rites, magical conjuration and confraternal gatherings to flesh-out their descriptions of the sabbath during interrogations. Christian missionaries' attitude to African cults was not much different in principle to their attitude to the Witches' Sabbath in Europe; some accounts viewed them as
11730-472: The witches' journey and magic sabbaths". Writing more than two hundred years after Pierre de Lancre, another French writer, Lamothe-Langon (whose character and scholarship was questioned in the 1970s), uses the term in (presumably) translating into French a handful of documents from the inquisition in Southern France. Joseph Hansen cited Lamothe-Langon as one of many sources. Despite the infrequency of
11845-400: The witches' sabbath as an essentially modern construction, saying: [The concepts] represent a combination of three older mythical components, all of which are active at night: (1) A procession of female spirits, often joined by privileged human beings and often led by a supernatural woman; (2) A lone spectral huntsman, regarded as demonic, accursed, or otherworldly; (3) A procession of
11960-464: The word 'sabbat' but he departs from Russell's view of Lamothe-Langon as a reliable source: "What historians have failed to recognize, however, is that there is serious reason to believe that Lamothe-Langon's texts are forgeries." Kieckhefer bases this on "certain inaccuracies and anachronisms... In particular, Lamothe-Langon uses the word 'Sabbath' in rendering documents for fourteenth-century diabolical assemblies, though this word did not begin to displace
12075-437: The work of Hansen (and Soldan), and Cohn claims they are all "false from start to finish. None of these things happened." However, a couple pages later, Cohn concedes that there was a "sole contemporary mention" of a witch trial around 1275" but this trial was for "simple sorcery." (Cohn doesn't provide the Latin term for "simple sorcery.") Further on, Cohn again qualifies his initial statement and concedes yet another trial from
12190-676: Was 33 years after the book's first printing, and 24 years after Sprenger died. The book was later revived by royal courts during the Renaissance , and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. Witchcraft had long been forbidden by the Church, whose viewpoint on the subject was explained in the Canon Episcopi written in about AD 900. It stated that witchcraft and magic were delusions and that those who believed in such things "had been seduced by
12305-433: Was German-speaking, and like his contemporaries, wrote in Latin. Conventibus is the word Spee uses most frequently to denote a gathering of witches, whether supposed or real, physical or spectral, as seen in the first paragraph of question one of his book. This is the same word from which English words convention , convent , and coven are derived. Cautio Criminalis (1631) was written as a passionate innocence project. As
12420-513: Was a careful scholar, we have no way of knowing what was the word he translated as 'sabbat'." The Latin word "sabbatum" occurs frequently in Jerome's Latin vulgate and would have been familiar to all within the medieval Church. Twelfth century inquisitors who were operating in Toulouse France sometimes referred to Waldensiens as Inzabbbatos . Use of the word "sabbatum" as a shorthand to represent
12535-485: Was a correspondent and a German translator of Lea's work, frequently uses the shorthand phrase hexensabbat to interpret medieval trial records, though any consistently recurring term is noticeably rare in the copious Latin sources Hansen also provides (see more on various Latin synonyms, below). Lea and Hansen's influence may have led to a much broader use of the shorthand phrase, including in English. Prior to Hansen, use of
12650-703: Was an appointed inquisitor for the Rhineland , theology professor and a dean at the University of Cologne in Germany . Heinrich Kraemer (Institoris) was an appointed inquisitor of south Germany, a professor of theology at the University of Salzburg, the leading demonologist and witch-hunter in late medieval Germany. Pope Innocent VIII in the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus refers to them both as "beloved sons" and "professors of theology"; also authorizes them to extirpate witchcraft . This text codified
12765-518: Was being tortured , and so motivated to agree with suggestions put to them. Christopher F. Black claimed that the Roman Inquisition's sparse employment of torture allowed accused witches to not feel pressured into mass accusation. This in turn means there were fewer alleged groups of witches in Italy and places under inquisitorial influence. Because the Sabbath is a gathering of collective witch groups,
12880-518: Was condemned by top theologians of the Inquisition at the Faculty of Cologne for recommending illegal procedures, and for being inconsistent with Roman Catholic doctrines of demonology. However, Kramer was never removed and even enjoyed considerable prestige thereafter. The Malleus calls sorcery heresy , which was a crime at the time, and recommends that secular courts prosecute it as such. The Malleus suggests torture to get confessions and death as
12995-415: Was in fact done in the ways written below. There are two signings, sometimes also referenced as two approbations. The difference is that four signatories of the first part testify that they have examined the treatises and endorse its text while in the second signing signatories do not assert that they have read the treatises but nonetheless express approval by explicitly restating some general propositions of
13110-446: Was the only manual readily available in translation. Authors naively assumed that the book painted an accurate picture of how the Inquisition tried witches. Heinrich Kramer, the text's demented author, was held up as a typical inquisitor. His rather stunning sexual preoccupations were presented as the Church's "official" position on witchcraft. Actually the Inquisition immediately rejected the legal procedures Kramer recommended and censured
13225-479: Was widely accepted in European society. Previously, those convicted of witchcraft typically suffered penalties no more harsh than public penances such as a day in the stocks , but their prosecution became more brutal following the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum , as witchcraft became widely accepted as a real and dangerous phenomenon. The most severe prosecutions took place between the years 1560 and 1630, largely ending in Europe around 1780. Particularly in
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