BOOK: Christopher S. MACKAY, "An Unusual Inquisition" - Translated Documents from Heinricus Institoris’s Witch Hunts in Ravensburg and Innsbruck (Leiden/New York: Brill, 2020). ISBN 978-90-04-42378-7, 105.00 EUR

 

(Source: Brill)

Brill has published a new book on primary sources related to Heinricus Institoris, the major author of the Malleus Maleficarum.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Heinricus Institoris is the major author of the Malleus Maleficarum, the best known early-modern textbook on witchcraft. This work was heavily influenced by Institoris's activities as inquisitor in Ravensburg in 1484 and Innsbruck in 1485. This volume contains the only complete translations of a large number of documents pertaining to these inquisitions, and is a companion to a new (and the only complete) edition of these texts, which shed much light on the composition of the Malleus Maleficarum in general.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher S. Mackay (doctorate in Classical philology from Harvard University, 1994) is full professor in the Department of History and Classics of the University of Alberta. He has published books on Roman history, and translations and editions of texts from the early modern period, including the Malleus Maleficarum.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 
Introduction 
Bibliography 
Translation Notes 
List of Decretals Cited 

Texts 

1 Letter from the Burgermasters and City Council of Ravensburg to Archduke Sigismund of the Tyrol, December 17, 1484 

2 Urfehde (Guarantee of Good Behavior) for a Woman Presumably Questioned for Witchcraft by Institoris, Ravensburg, October 23, 1484 

3 Instruction from Bishop Georg of Brixen to His Ecclesiastical Subordinates, July 23, 1485 

4 Letter of Bishop Georg of Brixen to Institoris, September 21, 1485 

5 Letter from Bishop Georg of Brixen to Archduke Sigismund, September 21, 1485 

6 Letter from Archduke Sigismund of Austria to Bishop Georg of Brixen, October 8, 1485 

7 Letter of Bishop Georg of Brixen to Sigismund Sämer, Parish Priest of Axams, Undated 

8 Vernacular Protocol 

9 Protocols of the Hearings Conducted against the Seven Arrested Women 

10 Articles of Suspected Crimes and List of Questions for the Further Investigation of the Seven Suspects after Their Release 

11 Record of the Proceedings against the Seven Accused, October 29 and 31 and November 3, 1485 

12 Letter from Bishop Georg of Brixen to Institoris, November 14, 1485 

13 Letter from Bishop Georg of Brixen to an Unnamed Parish Priest in Innsbruck, November 14, 1485 

14 Letter of Bishop Georg of Brixen to a Brother Nicholas, February 9, 1486 

15 Letter of Bishop Georg of Brixen to Institoris, February 9, 1486 

16 Brixen Memorandum 
Index 

 

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