HEXENHAMMER
hexenhammer is a real witchcraft treatise written in 1486. it’s original title is “malleus maleficarum”, which roughly translates into “hammer of witches”.
Full Title: Malleus Maleficarum
Alternate Titles: Hexenhammer, Hammer of Witches
Author(s): Heinrich Kramer (possibly Jacob Sprenger)
Language: Latin
Year Written: 1486
Year Published: 1487
Hexenhammer elevates sorcery to the criminal status of heresy and recommends that secular courts prosecute it as such. It further suggests torture to effectively obtain confessions and the death penalty as the only certain remedy against the evils of witchcraft. At the time of it’s publication, heretics were frequently punished to be burned alive at the stake, and Hexenhammer encouraged the same treatment for witches. The book has had a strong influence on culture for many centuries.
Jacob Sprenger’s name was added as an author beginning in 1519, thirty-three years after the book’s first publication and twenty-four years after Sprenger’s death, but the veracity of this later addition has been questioned by many historians for various reasons. Kramer wrote Hexenhammer following his expulsion from Innsbruck by the local bishop, due to charges of illegal behavior against Kramer himself, and because of his obsession with the sexual habits of one of the accused, Helena Scheuberin, which led to the tribunal members to suspend the trial.
The book was later used by royal courts during the renaissance, and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecutions during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
MAIN CONTENTS OF HEXENHAMMER
Justification
Papal Bull
Approbation by professors of theology at the University of Cologne
Table of Contents
The Main Texts (divided into three parts)
Justification: In this part, it is briefly explained that prevalence of sorcery is a method of Satan’s final assault and motivated the authors to write Hexenhammer.
“Lucifer attacks through these heresies at that time in particular, when the evening of the world declines towards its setting and the evil of men swells up, since he knows in great anger, as John bares witness in the Book of Apocalypse, that he has little time remaining. Hence, he has also caused a certain unusual heretical perversity to grow up in the land of the Lord- a heresy, I say, of sorceresses, since it is to be designated by the particular sex over which he is known to have power [women].”
Papal Bull: Copies of Hexenhammer contain a reproduction of a papal bull known as Summis Desiderantes Affectibus that is addressed to Heinrich Institoris and Jacob Sprenger. According to it, Pope Innocent VIII acknowledges that sorceresses are real and harmful through their involvement in the acts of Satan.
According to the date on the document, the papal bull had been issued in 1484, two years before Hexenhammer was finished. Therefore, it is not an endorsement of a specific final text of Hexenhammer. Instead, its inclusion implicitly legitimizes the handbook by providing general confirmation of the reality of witchcraft and full authority to Sprenger and Institoris in their teachings and proceedings.
Approbation: This part of Hexenhammer is titled “The Approbation of the Following Treatise and the Signatures Thereunto of the Doctors of the Illustrious University of Cologne Follows in the Form of a Public Document” and contains the unanimous approval of Hexenhammer by all the doctors of the theological faculty of the University of Cologne with inclusion of confirmatory testimony by present witnesses.
Text of approbation mentions that during proceedings Institoris had a letter from the newly crowned king of the Romans, Maximillian, which is summarized in the approbation: “[Maximillion I] takes these inquisitors under his complete protection, ordering and commanding each and every subject of the Roman Empire to render all favor and assistance to these inquisitors and otherwise to act in the manner that is more fully contained and included in the letter.”
The approbation consists of a preamble and is followed by a resolution in two parts, which I will not be listing here due to length and general irrelevance.
Main Text: Hexenhammer asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft: the evil intentions of the witch, the help of the devil, and the permission of God. The treatise is divided into three sections. the first section is aimed at clergy and tries to refute critics who deny the reality of witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution.
The second section describes the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft, and to aid the inquisitors by removing the burden from them.
According to Kramer, this concept of sorcery is characterized by the conviction that those guilty engage in six activities:
A pact entered into the devil (and concomitant apostasy from Christianity).
Sexual relations with the devil.
Aerial flight, usually for the purpose of attending:
An assembly presided over by Satan himself (at which initiates entered into the pact, and incest and promiscuous sex were engaged in by the attendees).
The practice of maleficent magic.
The slaughter of babies.
BACK TO YUPPIE PSYCHO: WAS SINTRA RIGHT?
In Yuppie Psycho, Sintra lists a few things Hexenhammer supposedly says, but some of what she says is only half-true, or do not appear in Hexenhammer at all.
1. Witches can only be female.
Though the book uses both “succubi” and “incubi” to refer to witches, it is explicitly stated that only women are capable of becoming witches. I am certain this is rooted in misogyny, but it’s what the book says.
2. Witches ride on broomsticks.
This claim is true, but is lacking in a few details: witches specifically use broomsticks that they have anointed to the limbs of children they have killed. It is also mentioned that witches can use chairs (also anointed to the limbs of dead children) instead of broomsticks. This was probably removed due to how graphic it is, and because our witch in-game is child-like.
3. In order to become a witch, a woman must drink the devil’s blood.
Hexenhammer never mentions the drinking of the devil’s blood; it does state that the devil “loves blood and the pouring of blood”. The usage of blood is required for certain spells and rituals but typically comes from babies or some animal. This may be a reference to the Devil’s Blood cocktail.
4. Witches can only be killed by fire or the Athame Dagger.
Once again, this is true, but Kramer believes witches can also be killed by drowning. Drowning and burning were common witch execution methods.
5. Witches often make their lairs in places that have a deep connection to their lives.
6. Witches have familiars.
This is not stated by Sintra, but is present in-game. The book describes witches turning men into crows, but does not mention familiars. This was most likely incorporated from popular media, which stems from Pierre Riffard’s ideals and books on familiar spirits.
let it be said that this is not a criticism against the creators of yuppie psycho, and rather me pointing out the differences for fun. i consider the real hexenhammer and the in-game hexenhammer to be two different books, and therefore, i believe they have different information in them. in the yuppie psycho universe, what sintra says is more accurate than the information in the real life book!
while i have seen images of the yuppie handbook circulating online, i am withholding from posting a timeline of the character’s birthdays until i get my own copy. ^^
