The Malleus Maleficarum laid the groundwork for a reign of terror that gripped Europe well into the 18th century.
The Dominican monks Heinrich Kraemer and Jacob Sprenger wrote the Malleus Maleficarum or "The Witches' Hammer" in 1485. It would be used for the next 250 years in the Church's attempt destroy the Old Religion of Western Europe. All of this permanently implanted the incorrect definition of the word Witch, created by the Christian Church, in the minds of many as a reality.
The Malleus Maleficarum was also used to degrade women healers and spirit leaders. It was then used to create divisiveness in local communities in order to strengthen the political and economic parties that the church supported (and that in turn supported the church).
Kraemer and Sprenger not only wrote about the history of Witchcraft, but they also gave their opinion on why women were more likely to become the Devil's helpers than men were. They said that women were not as smart as men and were much greedier. The Devil could easily get her to work for him by promising to make her rich. Kraemer and Sprenger also wrote that because women were jealous of men's superior physical strength that they turned to the Devil for supernatural powers to make them strong. They also said that a few men could be tricked into working with the Devil, but when they were it was because women - usually wives - bewitched them and led them astray.
Misogyny, the hatred of women, was a strong element in the medieval Christianity. Because women gave birth they became acutely identified with sexuality and due to the views at that time regarding sexuality, they were associated with evil. The Malleus stated "all Witchcraft stems from carnal lust, which is in women, insatiable."
These so-called "Witches", per Christian definition, were held prisoner, stripped, tortured (at the time it was legal), deprived of sleep, food and much more. The executions were always public, and in the form of hanging, stoning, burning at the stake or any other bizarre and discriminating products of the communities imagination. Many "Witches" never even made it to their execution or even to a trial - they were often killed during torture or lynched by their community. Some of the tortures included: whipping, slashing, having hands and breasts cut completely off. Evidence shows that the Witch was set free if she survived the torture, I really don't think a lot of people could have survived this.
Kraemer and Sprenger were two of Pope Innocent's Inquisitors. The job of inquisitor became quite profitable since these hunters were paid for each conviction. Midwives, who were considered threatening to the patriarchal medical society, out-spoken women, the elderly and any other possible problem creators for the Church, were targeted. Many say that few who died were actually members of any covens of the Old Religion.
The Malleus Maleficarum also describes how to catch a Witch with a retractable poker. Witches were thought to not be able to bleed, so when a woman does not bleed when poked with a poker, it would convince the crowed that she was a Witch. The Maleficarum instructs the Witch-hunter to prick himself with the real poker to show that it is sharp and that he bleeds, quickly he was to switch the poker with the retractable one while the crowd was not looking. He would then poke the woman with the retractable one and, of course she would not bleed, it didn't even break her skin.
