The Malleus Maleficarum, Witches and the Jews

The Malleus Maleficarum - better known as 'The Hammer of Witches' - of Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger (the former is probably responsible for Parts Two and Three of the Malleus, while the latter probably wrote Part One) (1) published in 1486 is an infamous and much reviled book. The Malleus itself was designed to both be an intellectual demonstration of the reality of witchcraft/sorcery and also a manual of theological and legal information and guidance about how to detect it and stamp it out. (2)

As such it was massively successful in being the first work of its kind to systematically codify Christian beliefs about witchcraft, sorcery and magic as well as provide a blueprint for the prospective eradication of these practices in lands where the Church had significant influence. (3) The Malleus' influence formed the basis for the fanaticism of both Catholic and Protestant inquisitors and prosecutors (who tended to draw on works from their erstwhile confessional enemies) (4) even impacting trials as distant from its own time and context as that of the Pendle Witches in England in 1612. (5)

It is interesting to note that the Malleus was the result - although not a necessary one - of the revolution and expansion of university education, which created a significant impetus to write down, debate, codify and systematize Christian positions about a range of different aspects of material and spiritual situations, practices and circumstances.

This was the reason behind the invention of the mythic cult known as the Cathars- really Christians engaging in earlier ritual practices and holding pre-reform beliefs - was that Christian inquisitors seeking to purify their flocks from folklore and erroneous practices interpreted what they saw and heard through the lens of their theological education. This meant that over a period of time: the consistent errors and resistance among the local inhabitants in the south-west of France began to be interpreted as a monolithic cult (the Cathars) whose practices were perceived to be a significant threat to Christianity in both Spain and France. This predictably resulted in mass bloodshed with Dominican fanatics - Bernard Gui in particular - leading a crusade to exterminate everyone in the area. (6)

In terms of the Malleus: the process was a codification of Christian ideas concerning the practices of witchcraft, sorcery and magic more broadly, which in spite of common beliefs to the contrary (7) was approved of by both the then Pope (Innocent VIII) and the theological faculty of the well-regarded University of Cologne. (8) It was the culmination of a switch from associating magic with the practice of paganism (of which it had long been part) to directly associating it with Christian heresy. (9)

This meant in practice that magic had changed focus in Christian thought from being a product of unconverted idolaters (and thus merely superstitious practices with the fault being on the Church for not propagating the faith ardently enough) to being a product of a diabolical conspiracy aimed at the heart of the Christian faith (hence the common belief that witches inverted Christian rituals [e.g., the 'Black Mass']).

Essentially witches, sorcerers and practitioners of magic had been turned from being tacitly tolerated with the occasional slap on the wrist to being one of the principal enemies of the Christian faith with the whole Inquisitorial machinery breathing down their necks. (10)

It is worth noting here that the process of mass persecution and the attempt to purify Christianity in Europe as represented by the crusade against the Cathars significantly played into the creation of the Malleus. (11)  This is represented best in the scholarly composition of the Malleus in the standard scholastic form intended to demonstrate that the witches were just as bad as the Cathars: indeed, the Malleus regards witchcraft as the worst of all heresies. (12)

The Malleus also rather famously exhibits a fanatical hatred of women writ large, which it regards as being eternally unclean and bearing the sin of Eve. (13) This even gets to the point of revulsion at women even physically existing (14) and even somewhat suggests that the principal author of the passages on women Heinrich Kramer (15) was a homosexual.

A fanatical hatred of women and their close association with witchcraft - which although it did have numerous victims was far more directed at women than men - (16) is what we have come to associate with the witch hunt phenomenon. It is an idea that has an ancient pedigree, and that pedigree is decidedly jewish as can easily be demonstrated that the first confirmed witch hunt (outside of the Written Torah and the Tanakh) occurred in Palestine and the witch hunters were fervently religious jews.

To quote Goldenberg:

'Simeon b. Shetach (ca. 75 BCE). Brother of Queen Salome Alexandra. One of the five “pairs” (zugot) of masters said to have led the pre-rabbinic Pharisees before the time of Hillel. In violation of the law, he unconstitutionally executed eighty witches in Ashkelon “because the hour demanded it” (M. Sanhedrin 6:4, as interpreted in the Jerusalem Talmud).' (17)

Now we should note in relation to the above claim that the actions of Simeon ben Shetach were 'unconstitutional'. That what is not meant here is that witchcraft was not a crime in halakhah (jewish religious law) (as it is clearly and repeatedly outlawed in both the Written Torah and the Tanakh), but rather that Simeon ben Shetach had acted without following the correct procedure by executing the witches out of hand without first trying to ascertain their guilt.

It is unknown whether these witches were female or male but based on Boyarin's comments about the rabbinic view of women (i.e., as temptresses seeking to seduce jewish men into sin via the medium of sexual pleasure) and that Philo of Alexandria was key to the formation of medieval Christian views about women. (18) It is plausible to suggest that the majority- if not all - of these witches were women and that Simeon ben Shetach was the first (documented) witch hunter we know about.

This systematic persecution of witches by the jews leads us onto the fact that the jewish view of magic was unique in the ancient world: in that while other cultures such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans embraced magical practices wholesale. (19) Jews - in spite of having their own closet and much repressed tradition of magic texts and amulets - (20) were one of a very few peoples to actively repress the practice of magic believing it to be part of the diabolic world of the idolaters. (21)

This is easily demonstrated by the use of jews of magic bowls to try and trap or ward off demons from their houses (22) as well as the more broad jewish obsession with the power of evil spirits (which had to be stopped at any cost) and seeing into the future. (23) This may be the origin of the rich nature of jewish demonology (24) upon which the later Christian witch hunters - who were inspired by the Malleus - were to draw heavily for their ideas about witches, sorcery and the manifestations of the devil. (25)

Of the few cultures that took to warring on magical practices: the jews were the only ones whose influence on Christianity broadly and more specifically on Christian ideas about witches, sorcery and magic is well-documented. So common is this association that the author of the famous 'Necronomicon' could refer to it repeatedly in another of his works. (26)

Indeed, there is a neat irony in the fact that jews were regarded to be intimately familiar with magic by medieval Christianity (27) to the point that they were closely associated with witch behaviour, (28) while similarly being the principle source of these beliefs being the origin of the idea and nature of the witch and as well as the prescribed remedy: the witch hunt. Regardless of whether the exhortation to leave no witch alive applies to black magic (malefica) more broadly or specifically to divination: (29) the simple fact is that the witch hunt is a jewish phenomenon that was imported into Europe via the medium of Christianity's engagement with jews and Judaism.

The witch hunts of Simeon ben Shetach and the major Christian witch hunters like Jean Bodin (who may have himself been a convert from Judaism) (30) may have been a millennium apart, but both were inspired by the same Biblical injunction and the likes of Bodin relied heavily (and almost exclusively) on ideas derived from Judaism to support their arguments about the validity and necessity of hunting witches.

This brings us nicely onto the Malleus itself and its attitude towards the jews. Its relationship with jews is first exhibited in its name the 'Malleus Maleficarum', which is derived from the name of a work published in 1420 by the Inquisitor John of Frankfurt: 'Malleus Judeorum' or the 'Hammer of the Jews'. (31)

Further the Malleus relies heavily on the ideas of the Dominican theologian Johannes Nider and tends to plagiarise heavily from Nider's 'Formicarius' (trans. 'Ant Hill'), but also draws on Nider's book on divine law ('Praeceptorium'). (32) Now the interesting thing about this is that the Malleus itself has very little to say on the jews and indeed - as we shall see - seeks to divert Christian fury onto witches from the more common target of the jews (in direct contrast to John of Frankfurt's demand for total spiritual [and limited physical] war to be unleashed upon the jews). Nider's 'Formicarius' is radically anti-jewish (33) (as well as being a key text in relation to the earliest pre-Malleus witch hunts) (34), but yet little of this anti-jewish material is copied into the Malleus.

The only material we see imported from Nider is that pertaining to witches, which wouldn't be unusual in and of itself, but for the fact that the Malleus repeatedly eschews mentions of the jews in a negative light.

For example, the following discussion is given when Jacob Sprenger is outlining why witches and sorcerers should be prosecuted, rather than the jews:

'The first manner is the lack of faith of the Jews, and the second manner is that of heretics.

Hence, it is clear that the Heresy of Sorceresses is the most serious among the three varieties of lack of faith, and this is proven by reason and authority.' (35)

Sprenger then proceeds to clarify that in his view the sin of the jews is not as egregious as that of the sorceresses (i.e. the witches), because the jews have been divinely mandated to be the witness to the second coming of Jesus (so their rejection of Christianity is passive) while a witch is actively rejecting Christianity by consorting with the devil (hence is a Christian heretic). (36) Thus, Sprenger holds that the jews should not be the principle target of Christian ire, but rather that this should be witches.

Kramer is similarly keen on presenting the jews as being the lesser evil when compared to sorcerers and witches as even when he introduces jewish practitioners of magic their jewishness is incidental to him.

For example, he talks of a jewish sorcerer who turned a girl into a horse because she would not sleep with him, but the jewishness of the sorcerer is only mentioned as a descriptive and is passed over without comment. (37) Unlike in Nider's account (which is slightly different to that in the Malleus) (38) from where Kramer derives this story: where Nider makes this part of his broader case against the jews and their relationship with witchcraft and (black) magic.

Another example is when Kramer brings up the subject of a jewish witch, which he relates as follows:

'They have, however, been set down and recorded in documents, including the way a certain baptised Jewess persuaded other young women to act. One of them was called Walpurgis, and when, in her final moment, she was urged by the bystanders to confess her sins, she shouted out, “I have handed over my body and soul to the Devil, and have no hope of forgiveness.”' (39)

Once again, we can see that the jewishness of the servants of the devil (who have converted Christian women) is merely incidental to Kramer as we would have expected him - in the best tradition of Christian anti-Judaism - to talk about how jews served the devil and were his agents after introducing such evidence. However, this jewishness is simply ignored by Kramer and instead he carries on with his demand that the authorities switch their attacks from jews to sorceresses and witches.

Kramer's rationale for this is revealed to be the same as Sprenger's in the third part of the Malleus when are told that:

'Also, in the Chapter of the Code “Jews” it says in the last line at the end, “Let a person who will assail the Faith of Christ with perverted teaching see his possessions sold at auction, and he is then to be consigned to the penalty of blood” [Code of Justinian, 1.9.18.3]. It is not a valid objection to insist that the law is speaking of converted Jews who return to the practice of the Jews. Rather, the argument is thereby strengthened because a civil judge has to punish such people on account of their apostasy from the Faith, and therefore he also has to punish sorceresses as renouncers of the Faith, since renunciation of the faith in whole or in part lays the foundation for sorceresses.' (40)

Kramer continues:

'The third is that this error should be in a person who was professed the Catholic Faith. Otherwise he would be a Jew or a pagan, not a heretic.' (41)

As well as stating:

'If someone had never professed the Christian Faith, he would not properly speaking be a heretic but simply an infidel, Like a Jew or a pagan, who are outside the Church.' (42)

In the above Kramer is arguing that because jews are not Christians then they should not be regarded as heretics, but rather be regarded as being like pagans who have never been exposed to the gospel. This stands in contrast to the general Christian view of the time (as of from the twelfth century onwards) which held that jews - by their active rejection of the Christian faith in spite of being exposed to the gospel - were necessarily heretics not simple unenlightened pagans. (43)

This informs us that Kramer is deliberately going against established Catholic theology by arguing that the jews are not heretics, but is orthodox in arguing that practitioners of (black) magic are such (although Kramer doesn't appear to consider the possibility of jews encouraging magical practices as was commonly believed at the time). It also gives us a good indication that Kramer's pathological hatred of women (who he closely associated with the use of [black] magic) was such that he sought to defend the jews (who were after all the foundation of his ideas on the subjects of both women and witches) from prosecution and instead divert the (to coin a phrase) 'Jew Hunt' in Europe into being a 'witch hunt'.

Thus, in summary we can see that the 'witch hunt' in Europe has its origins among the jews and owes a significant amount of its ideas - as represented in its most fundamental and widely-read text (the Malleus) - to the jews and Judaism. If it were not from jews and Judaism transmitting their ideas (and loathing of) magic to Christianity and the rise of a much broader European education system, which then pushed those ideas to their logical conclusion. Then thousands and perhaps tens and thousands of (mainly female) victims would not have been subject to torture and in many cases execution.

So, we can see from this that the jews bear a significant amount of responsibility for the European witch hunts.

References

(1) Christopher Mackay, 2009, 'The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum', 2^nd Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, pp. 5-6

(2) Ibid, pp. 6-7

(3) Lyndal Roper, 2004, 'Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany', 1^st Edition, Yale University Press: New Haven, pp. 9-10

(4) Ibid, pp. 21; 38-40

(5) Stephen Pumfrey, 2002, 'Potts, Plots and Politics: James I's Daemonologie and The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches', p. 27 in Robert Poole (Ed.), 2002, 'The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories', 1^st Edition, Manchester University Press: New York

(6) On this see Robert Moore, 2012, 'The War on Heresy: Faith and Power in Medieval Europe', 1^st Edition, Profile: London

(7) Pennethorne Hughes, Marianne Rodker (Eds.), Montague Summers (Trans.), 1968, 'Malleus Maleficarum: The Hammer of Witchcraft', 1^st Edition, The Folio Society: London, p. 20

(8) Mackay, Op. Cit., pp. 9-12

(9) Karen Jolly, 2002, 'Medieval Magic: Definitions, Beliefs, Practices', pp. 20-21 in Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark (Eds.), 2002, 'Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages', 2^nd Edition, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia

(10) Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1972, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', 1^st Edition, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, pp. 230-233

(11) Brian Levack, 1995, 'The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe', 2^nd Edition, Longman: New York, pp. 50-51

(12) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 232

(13) Roper, Op. Cit., p. 136; Mackay, Op. Cit., pp. 25-27

(14) Roper, Op. Cit., p. 138

(15) Mackay, Op. Cit., p. 26

(16) Roper, Op. Cit., pp. 160-178; Levack, Op. Cit., pp. 125-159

(17) Robert Goldenberg, 2007, 'The Origins of Judaism: From Canaan to the Rise of Islam', 1^st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, p. 212

(18) Daniel Boyarin, 1993, 'Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture',1^st Edition, University of California Press: Berkeley, pp. 77-83

(19) See Derek Collins, 2008, 'Magic in the Ancient Greek World', 1^st Edition, Blackwell: Oxford

(20) Seth Schwarz, 2007, 'The Political Geography of Rabbinic Texts', pp. 88-89 in Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Martin Jaffee (Eds.), 2007, 'The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature', 1^st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York; Reinhard Kratz, 2006, 'The Growth of the Old Testament', pp. 464-466 in J. Rogerson, Judith Lieu (Eds.), 2006, 'The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies', 1^st Edition, Oxford University Press: New York

(21) Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1980, 'A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans', 1^st Edition, Thames & Hudson: London, pp. 33; 42

(22) Schwarz, Op. Cit., p. 89

(23) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 54; Jolly, Op. Cit., p. 53; Peter  Richardson, 2006, 'Study of the Graeco-Roman World', p. 114 in  J. Rogerson, Judith Lieu (Eds.), 2006, 'The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies', 1^st Edition, Oxford University Press: New York; Michael Swartz, 2007, 'Jewish Visionary Tradition in Rabbinic Literature', pp. 198-218 in Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Martin Jaffee (Eds.), 2007, 'The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature', 1^st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York

(24) Collins, Op. Cit., p. 90

(25) Roper, Op. Cit., p. 153

(26) Simon, 2007, 'Papal Magic: Occult Practices within the Catholic Church', 1^st Edition, Harper Collins: New York, pp. 4; 23-24; 77-78

(27) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 61

(28) Ibid, pp. 167-168; Jolly, Op. Cit., pp. 21; 52

(29) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 54

(30) Roper, Op. Cit., p. 20

(31) Mackay, Op. Cit., p. 7

(32) Ibid, pp. 16-17

(33) Russell, 'Witchcraft in the Middle Ages', Op. Cit., p. 257

(34) Ibid, p. 256; Levack, Op. Cit., p. 34

(35) Mackay, Op. Cit., p. 231(Malleus 1:72C-D)

(36) Ibid. (Malleus 1:72D)

(37) Ibid, p. 327 (Malleus 2:117B); also p. 205 (Malleus 1:61A)

(38) Ibid, p. 327, n. 222

(39) Ibid, p. 366 (Malleus 2:136D)

(40) Ibid, p. 480 (Malleus 3:185B)

(41) Ibid, p. 487 (Malleus 3:188A)

(42) Ibid, pp. 495496 (Malleus 3:191C-D)

(43) Moore, Op. Cit., pp. 95-96