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Demonology and Witchcraft - "Less we forget"

James Sprenger

Written and compiled by George Knowles

James Sprenger is commonly thought to be the co-author with Heinrich Kramer of the “Malleus Maleficarum” (commonly called “The Hammer of Witches”), one of the most infamous medieval treatises against Witchcraft written in 1486 and first published in Germany in 1487. Its purpose was to justify the Inquisition and the persecution, prosecution and torture of witches and heretics by instructing magistrates on how to identify, interrogate and convict a witch, thus kick-starting over three centuries of the most horrible atrocities ever inflicted on human beings. At the height of the witch hysteria, the Malleus was second only in sales to the Bible.

James Sprenger (variously known as Jacob, Jakob or Jacobus) was born in Rheinfelden in Basel, Austria, between 1436 and 1438. He was admitted as a novice into the “Dominican Order of Friars”, also called the “Friar Preachers”, “Black Friars” or “Jacobins” in 1452. There his extraordinary genius attracted immediate attention and his rise to a responsible position was very rapid. According to Pierre Hélyot (1680-1716) in his “Histoire des Ordres Religieux, III” (1715), in 1389 Conrad of Prussia abolished certain relaxations and abuses which had crept into the Teutonic Province of the Order of S. Dominic, and restored the Primitive and Strict Obedience. He was closely followed by Sprenger whose zealous reforms were so warmly approved that in 1468 the General Chapter ordered him to lecture on the sentences of Peter Lombard at the University of Cologne, one of the most famous and frequented Houses of the Order to which he was officially elected Prior and Regent of Studies.

A few years later he became Master of Theology and in 1474 founded the association of the “Confraternity of the Holy Rosary” in Strasbourg. A year later around 1475 he was appointed by Pope Sixtus IV as the General Inquisitor for Germany. In 1480 he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Cologne, during which his lecture room was always thronged. In the following year he was appointed Inquisitor Extraordinary for the Provinces of Mainz, Trèves and Cologne. His activities in this post demanded constantly travelling through the extensive districts and it was said that his piety and learning impressed all who came in contact with him.

Sprenger was named with Heinrich Kramer in the 1484 papal bull “Summis desiderantes” by Pope Innocent III, and thus popular opinion makes him the co-author of the “Malleus Maleficarum”. However, all editions of the Malleus after 1519 named him as Kramer’s collaborator. It has been claimed that Sprenger was not really interested in witches; and that he cannot be linked to any witch trial. His personal relationship with Kramer was acrimonious and Sprenger used his powerful positions whenever he could to make Kramer’s life and work as difficult as possible.

Malleus Maleficarum

Scholars now believe that Sprenger became associated with the Malleus largely as a result of Kramer’s wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible. He forged a recommendation for the Malleus from the theology faculty of Cologne University, and by naming the renowned theologian and dean of Cologne University Sprenger as co-author he could not only increase the prestige of his work but also get personal revenge on one of his most persistent clerical adversaries.

Sprenger is believed to have died rather suddenly on the 06th December 1495 at Strasburg, where he is buried. After his death in 1495, Sprenger was not given a requiem mass by his colleagues on the university faculty; this emission may have been due to his demise away from Cologne, but on the other hand may have been occasioned by his academic dishonesty. The authors of the Malleus Maleficarum would go to any lengths to make sure the witches burned.

End.

Sources:

Introduction to the Malleus Maleficarum (1928 edition) by Montague Summers, including some biographical facts and sources about Sprenger

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/knowledge/James_Sprenger.html

Written and compiled by George Knowles © 06th December 2020

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Rituals contributed by Crone:

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Trees:

In Worship of Trees - Myths, Lore and the Celtic Tree Calendar. For descriptions and correspondences of the thirteen sacred trees of Wicca/Witchcraft see the following: Birch / Rowan / Ash / Alder / Willow / Hawthorn / Oak / Holly / Hazel / Vine / Ivy / Reed / Elder

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Articles contributed by Patricia Jean Martin:

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Wisdom and Inspiration:

Knowledge vs Wisdom by Ardriana Cahill / I Talk to the Trees / Awakening / The Witch in You / A Tale of the Woods / I have a Dream by Martin Luther King /

Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:

Murdered by Witchcraft / The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch / The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) / Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife / The Story of Jack-O-Lantern / The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost / Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) / The Two Brothers - Light and Dark

Old Masters of Academia:

(Our Ancestors)

Pliny the Elder / Hesiod / Pythagoras / Paracelsus / Abramelin the Mage / Archimedes / Agrippa / Socrates / Aristotle / Albertus Magnus - “Albert the Great” /

Biographies

A "Who's Who" of Witches, Pagans and other associated People

(Ancient, Past and Present)

Remembered at Samhain

(Departed Pagan Pioneers, Founders, Elders and Others)

Pagan Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and Others

Aidan A Kelly / Aleister Crowley - “The Great Beast” / Alex Sanders - “King of the Witches” / Alison Harlow / Allan Bennett - the Ven. Ananda Metteyya / Allan Kardec (Spiritism) / Alphonsus de Spina / Amber K / Ann Moura / Anna Franklin / Anodea Judith / Anton Szandor LaVey / Arnold Crowther / Arthur Edward Waite / Austin Osman Spare / Balthasar Bekker / Biddy Early / Barbara Vickers / Bridget Cleary - The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / Carl " Llewellyn" Weschcke / Cecil Hugh Williamson / Charles Godfrey Leland / Charles Walton / Christopher Penczak / Christina Oakley Harrington / Cornelius Loos / Damh the Bard - "Dave Smith" / Dion Fortune / Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki / Donald Michael Kraig / Doreen Valiente / Dorothy Morrison / Dr. John Dee & Edward Kelly / Dr. Leo Louis Martello / Edain McCoy / Edward Fitch / Eleanor Ray Bone - “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” / Eliphas Levi / Ernest Thompson Seton / Ernest Westlake / Fiona Horne / Frederick McLaren Adams - Feraferia / Friedrich von Spee / Francis Barrett / Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca / Gerald B. Gardner - The father of contemporary Witchcraft / Gwydion Pendderwen / Hans Holzer / Helen Duncan / Hermann Löher / Herman Slater - Horrible Herman / Heinrich Kramer and the “Malleus Maleficarum” / Idries Shah / Isaac Bonewits / Israel Regardie / Ivo Domínguez Jr. / Jack Whiteside Parsons - Rocket Science and Magick / James "Cunning" Murrell - The Master of Witches / James Sprenger and the “Malleus Maleficarum” / Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone / Jean Bodin / Jessie Wicker Bell - “Lady Sheba” / Johann Weyer / Johannes Junius - "The Burgomaster of Bamberg" / Johann Georg Fuchs von Dornheim - the “Hexenbrenner” (witch burner) / John Belham-Payne / John George Hohman - "Pow-wow" / John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave and the Kibbo Kith Kindred / John Michael Greer / John Score / Joseph “Bearwalker” Wilson / Joseph John Campbell / Karl von Eckartshausen / Lady Gwen Thompson - and "The Rede of the Wiccae" / Lambert Daneau / Laurie Cabot - "the Official Witch of Salem" / Lewis Spence / Lodovico Maria Sinistrari / Ludwig Lavater / Madeline Montalban and the Order of the Morning Star / Margaret Alice Murray / Margot Adler / Michael Howard and the UK "Cauldron Magazine" / Margaret St. Clair - the “Sign of the Labrys” / Marie Laveau - " the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" / Marion Weinstein / Martin Antoine Del Rio / Matthew Hopkins - “The Witch-Finder General” / Michael A. Aquino - and The Temple of Set / Monique Wilson / Montague Summers / Nicholas Culpeper / Nicholas Remy / M. R. Sellars / Mrs. Maud Grieve - "A Modern Herbal" / Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Morning Glory / Old Dorothy Clutterbuck / Old George Pickingill / Olivia Durdin-Robertson - co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis / Paddy Slade / Pamela Colman-Smith / Patricia Crowther / Patricia Monaghan / Patricia “Trish” Telesco / Paul Foster Case and the “Builders of the Adytum” mystery school / Peter Binsfeld / Philip Heselton / Raven Grimassi / Raymond Buckland / Reginald Scot / Richard Baxter / Robert Cochrane / Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and the "The White Goddess" / Rosaleen Norton - “The Witch of Kings Cross” / Rossell Hope Robbins / Ross Nichols and the " Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids" (OBOD) / Rudolf Steiner / Sabrina Underwood - "The Ink Witch" / Scott Cunningham / Selena Fox - founder of "Circle Sanctuary" / Silver Ravenwolf / Sir Francis Dashwood / Sir James George Frazer and the " The Golden Bough" / S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” / Starhawk / Stewart Farrar / Sybil Leek / Ted Andrews / The Mather Family - (includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather ) / Thomas Ady / T. Thorn Coyle / Vera Chapman / Victor & Cora Anderson and the " Feri Tradition" / Vivianne Crowley / Walter Brown Gibson / Walter Ernest Butler / William Butler Yeats / Zsuzsanna Budapest /

Many of the above biographies are briefs and far from complete. If you know about any of these individuals and can help with additional information, please contact me privately at my email address below. Many thanks for reading :-)

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