This paper examines the concepts of devil, witch and witchcraft in the famous fifteenth-century book Malleus Maleficarum, which is considered as one of the most influential manuals that triggered the explosion of witch hunt through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A critical question about witchcraft is why devils were not able to cause any harm towards humans by themselves, but inevitably through the aid of witches. The answer can be found in the fact that devils are spiritual beings: fallen angels from the higher sphere of the universe. Therefore they cannot exert any material influence upon this world. Devils’ enormous potential of evil power should, therefore, be transmitted and executed by witches.
It is well known that most victims of witch hunt were women, as is confirmed by a number of empirical studies in this field, though there was a small portion of exceptional ‘masculine witches’. The explanation provided by the manual Malleus Maleficarum is that the very nature of woman is frail, wicked and imperfect, so it leads to their submission to the devils’ temptation. Driven by uncontrollable sexual desires, women tend to welcome flirt with evil beings, try to avenge male lovers when their love is denied, and finally, by extension, exert lots of maleficium(evil deeds) using their abilities obtained from devils.
One particular argument of Malleus Maleficarum is that the number of witches has increased over time. It has a strong relation with the fact that devils desperately try to postpone the imminent end of the world; devils should all be shut in eternal hell when the destiny of the world is sealed off. According to a bizarre medieval legend, the Eschaton will come when the number of the elect accepted in Heaven reaches the same number of the angels above. As the final moment is approaching, the devils’ scheme is to interrupt human procreation, and to kill as many new-borne babies and fetuses as possible to delay that process, in doing away with the possible candidates for the elects. Witches’ evil-most acts are, therefore, performed along the devils’ final project at the final days of the world.
Malleus Maleficarum was certainly one of the most important sources for the development of the so-called ‘elaborate concept of witchcraft’. Witches came to be considered responsible for possible destruction of the world, and interruption of the Godly salvation of humanity. This kind of stereotype, once accepted in popular belief, became a strong base for witch craze, which resulted in torture and execution of innumerable innocent victims.