The
Malleus Maleficarum is one of those
texts that, when I was reading it, I was thinking that it deserved to have its
own blog post. So…TA-DA! Here it is.
The
thing that struck me the most about the text was how misogynistic it was. Many
of the past texts that we read targeted women, but never to this scale that the
Malleus Maleficarum reached. To me,
the other texts referred to witches as being either men or women. And looking
back, we can sort of see a slow evolution from men and women being involved in
witchcraft to rampant misogyny. In this text, witches are identified primarily
as women. Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum, say that “a wicked
woman is by her nature quicker to waver in her faith, and consequently quicker
to abjure the faith, which is the root of witchcraft” (Kors and Peters 185). This
statement shows that they believe that a woman is not dependable or able to be faithful,
so therefore a woman is more likely to turn to witchcraft.
Kramer
and Sprenger use a lot of historical “facts” and Biblical sources to back their
claims up. At one point, they bring up ancient history with their claims that “The
kingdom of the Jews suffered much misfortune and destruction through the
accursed Jezebel, and her daughter Athalia…who caused her son’s sons to be
killed, that on their death she might reign herself…Therefore it is no wonder
if the world now suffers through the malice of women.” (187) It’s really easy
to take historical events out of context, as these two so obviously did just so
they could point the finger at women in general.
And,
of course, Heinrich and Sprenger have to bring up the sexuality of women. They
say that “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable.”
(188) And then they whip out a Biblical quote from Proverbs and conclude: “Wherefore
for the sake of fulfilling their lusts they consort even with devils. More such
reasons could be brought forward, but to the understanding it is sufficiently
clear that it is no matter for wonder that there are more women than men found
infected with the heresy of witchcraft.” (188) Oh, well, doesn’t that just make
absolute, complete sense! When I was reading this, all I could think was: “Wow,
they clearly put a lot of thought and effort to this! And this makes perfect
sense to them!”
Anyway,
the reason I bring up this sexuality of women is that the authors went into is
so extensively that I was just kind of surprised, and I felt like it definitely
needed a mention.
Kors,
Alan Charles and Edward Peters. Witchcraft
in Europe: 400-1700. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
2001. Print.
