The Church and the Witches

I. Canon Episcopi

II. Vox in Rama

III. Malleus Maleficarum

Canon Episcopi - 10th c

Codified by Gratian, legal theorist - 1140

'canon' means a law

Until 13thc all acts of witches seen as illusions, fantasies

Belief in witchcraft considered pagan/strongly discouraged

"some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and profess themselves, in the hours of the night, to ride upon certain beasts, with Diana the goddess of pagans … and in the silence of the dead of night to traverse great spaces of earth…" [1 (29)]

"an innumerable mulititude, decieved by this false opinion, believe this to be true,and so believing, wander from the right faith and are involved in the error of the pagans when they think that there is anything of divinity or power except the one God" [1 (29)]

"Wherefore the priests throughout their churches should preach with all insistence to the people that they may know this to be in every way false and that such phantasms are imposed on the minds of infidels and not by the divine but by a malignant spirit." [1 (29)]

Vox in Rama - 1232

Pope Gregory IX

clearly formulated scales of punishments for heretics

this document was instrumental in cementing witch stereotype

here found all elements that became standard in Sabbat stereotype

"When a novice is to be initiated and is brought before the assembly of the wicked for the first time, a sort of frog appears to him; a toad according to some. Some bestow a foul kiss on his hind parts, others on his mouth, sucking the animal's tongue and slaver." [3 (48)]

When this ceremony is over the lights are put out and those present indulge in the most loathsome sensuality, having no regard to sex. If there are more men than women, men satisfy one another's depraved appetites. Women do the same for one another. " [3 (49)]

"Each year at Easter when they receive the body of Christ from the priest they keep it in their mouths and throw it in the dirt as an outrage against their Saviour." [3 (49)]

The most unfortunate people believe in Lucifer and claim that he was the creator of the celestial bodies and will ultimately return to glory when the Lord has fallen from power." [3 (49)]

Summis desiderantes affectibus: Pope Innocent VIII

Issued 1484

title latin for 'greatly desiring with anxiety'

issued with the Malleus

intended to whip up support for the work of Kramer & Sprenger in Germany

now becomes a crime not to support and help the witch hunts

It has recently come to our ears…that in some parts of upper Germany…many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the Catholic faith, give themselves to devils male and female…and at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not fear to commit and perpetrate many abominable offences." [6 (108)]

We, therefore, desiring, as is our duty, to remove all impediments by which in any way the said inquisitors are hindered in the exercise of their office, and to prevent the taint of heretical pravity and other like evils from spreading their infection to the ruin of others who are innocent…it shall be permitted to the said inquisitors in these regions to exercise their office of inquisition and to proceed to the correction, imprisonment and punishment of the aforeseaid persons for their said offences and crimes." (7 (110)]

Malleus Maleficarum(Hammer of the Witches)

1486

Jacob Sprenger (1436 - 1495), Dean of Cologne University

Heinrich Kramer (1430 - 1505),

well established Inquisitor and witch-hunter

Distinguished by the Papal Bull of Innocent VIII

Three Parts: Part I

Need for understanding of enormity and threat of witchcraft

witchcraft: renunciation of Catholic faith, devotion to devil, offerings of unbaptized children

to disbelieve in witchcraft is a heresy

because witchcraft crimes hard to prove, necessary to have full account of means of recognizing them, and how to tease out confessions

Parts II & III

The nature of the crime, how to identify witches, and the demonology of witchcraft

Part III

detail about trial procedure

formal rules for initiating legal action against witches and securing conviction

encourages civil courts to action,details respective roles of civil and ecclesiastical courts