Friday 13 April 2012

Daemonolatreiae libri tres or Compendium Maleficarum? Or Malleus Maleficarum?

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Hello Bishop Manchester. Many books have been written on the subject of demonology and witchcraft. The three most famous books in my opninion are the Malleus Maleficarum (Kramer, Sprenger) Compendium Maleficarum (Guazzo) and Demonolatry (Remy). If you had to recommend just one of the three just previously mentioned to someone that is new the subject of demonology, which one would you pick? Ruben.


You might want to try Daemonolatreiae libri tres by Nicholas Rémy before moving onto Compendium Maleficarum by Francesco Maria Guazzo. Guazzo was greatly influenced by Duke Charles III of Lorraine’s leading lawyer and demonologist, Nicholas Rémy, who produced one of the most important early works on demonology and witchcraft in 1595, Daemonolatreiae libri tres (aka Demonolatry). Malleus Maleficarum, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Roman Catholic Church, was first published in Germany in 1487. It was translated from the Latin into English by Montague Summers whose edition I thoroughly recommend. Between 1487 and 1520, twenty editions of Malleus Maleficarum were published, and another sixteen editions were published between 1574 and 1669. Jacob Sprenger is also often attributed as an author, but some scholars now question that claim.
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1 comment:

  1. Hello there,

    Do you know if any 1487 edition copies of it still exist and where it might be showcased? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete