The Malleus Maleficarum, which is translated as witch hammer, is one of the most renowned texts that has focused on supernatural or witchcraft as their main themes 1 . According to Malleus Maleficarum, there are at least three elements that make witchcraft necessary which include the evil intentions of the witch, the help that the witches get from the Devil and the permission from God. The treatise of Malleus Maleficarum has been divided into three sections where the primary objective of the first section is to reflect on the pressure exerted by clergy as they refuted those who denied the existence of witchcraft thus hindering its prosecution. The actual forms and kinds of witchcraft and their remedies have been provided in the second section, which has laid the foundation for the next section 2 . However, it is clear that Malleus Maleficarum also intended to help in the fight and prosecution of witchcraft as can be observed in the third section of the text. In this section, Malleus Maleficarum provides help for those judges responsible for combating as well as confronting witchcraft. At the same time, the third section also helps the inquisitors in the removal of the burden extending to them in the hunt and prosecution of witchcrafts. However, it is important to note that each of the three sections has different themes the definition of witchcraft and who is a witch 3 . Notably, there has been a debate if it was possible for anyone accused of being a witch to receive a fair trial. The following paper wishes to argue that it was not possible to have a fair trial due to the false or unsubstantiated allegations, the nature of prosecution which was marred by torture and forced confessions that were taking place during the Early Modern Europe.
Under Roman Catholic countries, the witches were often being accused of making a mockery about the mass where the priests were saying the Mass backward while at the same time sitting on their head during the consecration of the black host 4 . During Sabbath, it was alleged that witches were reversing all the moral norms of communities. Specifically, witches were being accused of engaging in immoral sexual relations with each other, dancing naked as well as inviting numerous demons in their activities. 5 In addition, it was being alleged that witches were sacrificing unbaptized and young children to their Devil before eating them. In some cases, some members of the society believed that witches were going to these places on the broomsticks or while riding on the backs of animals.
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However, the above allegations were only rumors and had no reliable evidence that would be strong enough to bring charges for collective Devil worshiping against witches. In fact, most of the confessions that were made against them were coerced. In this way, such confessions would play an instrumental role in providing an indication of what judges would want defendants to say as opposed to what the accused witches had done wrong. Apparently, at times where confessions were voluntarily given, it was only the fantasies or dreams of witches, confusing statements of those that were mentally ill or senile, as well as the confessors’ suggestions 6 . Therefore, based on the fact that allegations were unfounded, there is no way the trial against witches would be fair.
As noted above, the prosecution of the crime of witchcraft was characterized by coercion and incredible torture. In the fifteenth century, the European judicial authorities became aware of the vast conspiracy of witches who were going against Christianity thus assisting the Devil in advancing his agenda of physical destruction 7 . In this case, judges from temporal and ecclesiastical court took the responsibility of identifying witches before prosecuting them. However, they knew that the first requirement to have a secure conviction of the witches was to obtain their confessions. Therefore, judicial authorities always ensured that the accused witches were subjected to physical torture such as having their thumbs tightly screwed in between the iron vises. At the same time, they were forced to put their legs between strong pieces of metal where their bones were being crushed to become pulp. Further, the accused witches’ bodies were hung by their wrists from the ceilings with the objective of making them confess to the worshipping of the Devil and harmful magic. In most cases, especially when the level of torture was extremely painful, the witches would confess to the crimes that the inquisitors believed had been perpetuated. Notably, under extreme torture, accused witches would be forced to extract the name of their confederates by identifying other witches who may have joined them in the Sabbath 8 . Evidently, the naming of their accomplices was the last procedure that could explain the kind of torture that the accused witches were going through in the hands of authorities.
In reference to the above reality, it was difficult for any accused witch to get a fair trial. Although this paper is not arguing for witchcraft, it was necessary for the due process to take its course. In this case, it would be fair if the prosecution process was done without forced confession and torture.
Bibliography
Blécourt, Willem de, Ronald Hutton, and J. S. La Fontaine. 1999. Witchcraft and magic in
Europe: the twentieth century . London: Athlone Press.
Broedel, Hans Peter. 2003. The 'Malleus Maleficarum' and the construction of witchcraft:
theology and popular belief . Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Institoris, Heinrich, Jakob Sprenger, and Montague Summers. 2010. The Malleus maleficarum:
the witch hammer, the medieval witch-hunt best-seller . Las Vegas, NV: Lits.
1 Institoris, Heinrich, Jakob Sprenger, and Montague Summers. 2010. The Malleus maleficarum:
the witch hammer, the medieval witch-hunt best-seller . Las Vegas, NV: Lits.
2 Ibid
3 Ibid
4 Blécourt, Willem de, Ronald Hutton, and J. S. La Fontaine. 1999. Witchcraft and magic in
Europe: the twentieth century . London: Athlone Press.
5 Ibid
6 Broedel, Hans Peter. 2003. The 'Malleus Maleficarum' and the construction of witchcraft:
theology and popular belief . Manchester: Manchester University Press.
7 Broedel, Hans Peter. 2003. The 'Malleus Maleficarum' and the construction of witchcraft:
theology and popular belief . Manchester: Manchester University Press.
8 Ibid
