It is the 1800s (C.E.) and somewhere between "40,000 and 100,000" otherwise ordinary folk lie dead (Malleus Maleficarum, 2006.) They aren't from the same place, or even the same time period. Their lives unfolded over the course of centuries, often never touching one another, and yet they are forever linked together. These thousands were the innocent victims of the Inquisition. No one knows exactly what caused the Inquisition to get so out of control, and perhaps that is one reason it has continued to be such a controversial subject throughout the years.
The Inquisitions originally began in France in 1184. The first of the Medieval Inquisitions was called the Episcopal Inquisition and is believed to be in response to the Cantharis heresy sweeping southern France. It was so named because the Inquisition was led by local bishops, which "in Greek is episcopos." (Inquistion, 2006). Catharism was a "dualist religious movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 12 century" (Cathar, 2006). The Roman Catholic Church branded the Cathars as heretical and quickly moved to stamp out this movement. During the earliest of the Inquisitions, torture and execution were not the norm. Instead, those wishing to confess and recant their heresy were allowed a month of grace and then given a light penance. By 1254 though, the accused were given no right to counsel and torture was being permitted by Innocent IV (Medieval Inquisition, 2006).
By all accounts, the Inquisitions had moved far from its original purpose and Europe was being swept away by the 1400s. The Inquisition had broadened its scope and heresy was no longer the only crime being tried. Witches, scientists, writers and "anyone who questioned the validity of any part of Catholic belief" were being swept up and prosecuted (Lovelace, W. 2006). "Secular rulers came to use the persecution of heresy as a weapon of state, as in the case of the suppression of the Knights Templar" (Medieval Inquisition, 2006). By all accounts, the Inquisitions had moved far from its original purpose and by the 1400s Europe was being swept away.
By the end of the four periods of the Inquisitions, the Medieval Inquisition (1100s), the Spanish Inquisition (1470s), the Portuguese Inquisition (1530s) and the Roman Inquisition (1540s) nearly every country in Europe had been caught up in the hysteria and somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 people had been tried and executed as witches or heretics (Malleus Maleficarum, 2006). Even the United States had intimate dealings with witchcraft and heresy at the end of the Inquisitions in the form of the Salem Witch Hunts.
The biggest controversy surrounding this period, however, settles on a text of the times, the 'Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, and not on the reasoning behind the Inquisitions themselves. Sometimes it seems as if there are as many opinions on the Malleus as there are victims of the Inquisitions. Scholars wrangle over the whys, the how’s, and even the wherefores. Why was the Malleus written? What role did the Church have in the creation of this nightmarish book? What role did the Malleus play in the Inquisitions? Where did the information in this horrible text come from? And almost as important as these others, what are these arguments between scholars? During the Inquisitions, the Malleus Maleficarum, also known as The Witches Hammer, is said to have increased the fervor with which the Inquisition went forward; others however, argue that the Malleus had little affect on the Inquisition and was merely a product of the times.
In 1486, the Malleus Maleficarum was penned by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, both of whom were Inquisitor's during the late 1400s. The Malleus, also called the Witches Hammer, consists of three parts. Part one of the Malleus “seeks to prove that witchcraft or sorcery existed” (Malleus Maleficarum, 2006). Part two of the Malleus describes in detail the various forms of witchcraft. And finally, part three details methods of “detecting, trying, and sentencing or destroying witches“(Malleus Maleficarum, 2006).
As with the Inquisitions themselves, no one can quite seem to agree on why the Malleus was written. By the time the Malleus was penned, the Inquisitions were well under way and had already begun to sweep Europe up in the hysteria. The Court of Inquisitors had been set up and the Inquisitors were given full authority to combat witchcraft wherever it could be found. According to Montaque Summers, author of the 1928 Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, the text was the response of the authors, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, to Pope Innocent VIII, who in December of 1484 wrote the papal bull “Summis desiderantes”. This papal bull specifically directed Sprenger and Kramer to combat witchcraft in northern Germany by any means necessary.
…Our dear sons Henry Kramer and James Sprenger, Professors of Theology, of the Order of Friars Preachers,… Wherefore We, as is Our duty, being wholly desirous of removing all hindrances and obstacles by which the good work of the Inquisitors may be let and tarded, as also of applying potent remedies to prevent the disease of heresy and other turpitudes diffusing their poison to the destruction of many innocent souls, since Our zeal for the Faith especially incites us… We decree and enjoin that the aforesaid Inquisitors be empowered to proceed to the just correction, imprisonment, and punishment of any persons, without let or hindrance, in every way as if the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, territories, yea, even the persons and their crimes in this kind were named and particularly designated in Our letters.
That's not quite true, argues historian Jenny Gibbson. According to Gibbson, Kramer was the main author of the Malleus and during the period of its writing was held in low regard by his fellows. According to her research, the Pope wrote the papal bull “Summis desiderantes” at the request of Heinrich Kramer who, by all accounts, wanted to gain more authority and notoriety amongst the other Inquisitors and clergymen of the time (n.d). According to Wikipedia, the Church never specifically ordered the Malleus and “Kramer was condemned by the Inquisition in 1490,” a mere 6 years after the Malleus Maleficarum was written because of his use of torture on the accused (2006).
