description: When Johannes Nider wrote his formative description of witchcraft in 1437, Europe was beset by heretics and infidels. His self-appointed task was, however, to alert Christendom to an altogether more sinister danger - witches and demons. Nider's book established a stereotype for the witch (women in league with the devil) and defined the new enemy's powers. His fascinating text established a coherent guide to witches, described their activities and revealed the nature of the threat. Drawing on specific examples of witchcraft, culled from eyewitness accounts or evidence from trials (including that of Joan of Arc), he used his book to sound the alarm. On the Wickedness of Witches, the fifth part of Nider's formicarius, now published for the very first time in English, was completed in the last year of Nider's life. It became a deeply influential text (being repeatedly cited in the infamous Malleus maleficarum). Written in a dark and troubled time, the book went on to fuel the horrible agonies of Europe's centuries-long witchcraze. Johannes Nider, born in the 1380s, was a German inquisitor and an authority on witchcraft and heresy.
language: English
title: On the Wickedness of Witches: A Medieval Guide to Witchcraft
titlecomplete: On the Wickedness of Witches: A Medieval Guide to Witchcraft
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Ravenhall Books