Malleus maleficarum
by Heinrich Institoris · first published 1491
14mentions
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11HN commenters
2019–2026first – last mentioned
91% neutral9% critical
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> We're just starting to understand the implications. Thirty years after the invention of the printing press, one of the most popular printed books was the Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on witchcraft which triggered a witch-hunting hysteria that lasted centuries. The corrosive effect of disinformation has been clear for centuries and the medium by which it is disseminated…
on “Unlimited Information Is Transforming Society” ↗ISTR that there are some mentions of cats in Malleus Maleficarum (the Hammer Against Witches) to which that idea is frequently traced, but, its worth noting Malleus Maleficarum was condemned by the Church (the Inquisition, specifically) shortly after it was written,…
on “On Medieval Cats” ↗…and childbirth, once a natural function, became a job that women did for their male husband-bosses—that is to say, childbirth became alienated labor. “Witches,” according to witch-hunting texts like the Malleus Maleficarum, were women who kept childbirth and pregnancy in female hands: midwives, abortionists, herbalists who provided contraception. They were killed to cement patriarchal power and create the subjugated, domestic…
on “Invention of satanic witchcraft by medieval authorities was met with skepticism” ↗In the century that the printing press was invented, one of the most popular books to be printed was the Malleus Maleficarum, which systematized the practice of witch burning in the following centuries. Better dissemination of ideas does not necessarily mean better ideas. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum
on “Facebook Discovers Fake AI-Generated Profiles” ↗…Frankly, I think it's a gross mischaracterization of events, and erases real history to use it that way. As for the "systemic" nature of historic witch-hunts, fruitful research efforts would uncover "Malleus Maleficarum", the textbook for engaging in witch-hunting. I believe the continent-wide application of a uniform methodology—especially when funded by the preeminent institutional authority—qualifies as systematic.…
…challenging or denying the the doctrines of the Church. Bernardo Gui and The Name of the Rose is 14th century, while the large scale witch-hunts only started in the 15th century with the publishing of "Malleus Maleficarum". > The truth is that Inquisition aim was exactly opposite: to stop chasing and burning innocent woman (and man) by all kind of petty lords and civil "courts" who used witchcraft accusation to get rid…
on “We Keep Telling the Myth of a Renaissance Golden Age and Bad Middle Ages (2020)” ↗> the Catholic Church mostly fought against witch hunts You should probably read about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum. The Catholic church was the cause of the which hunts, despite the moderating voices existing inside the church.
on “We Keep Telling the Myth of a Renaissance Golden Age and Bad Middle Ages (2020)” ↗…economics. Early witches weren't old women performing secret rituals in dense forests. They were the bourgeoisie, who found themselves newly rich during a time of political and economic uncertainty. The "Malleus Maleficarum" never caught on among the religious elite. Why would they care about the imagined threat of witches when Protestants were out in the open and gaining ground amongst all levels of society? Where the…
on “The Cornell University Witchcraft Collection” ↗…seem to be making the same mistake as the censors: that you personally do not believe something to be true means it is misinformation. If you just want a good example, one of the first best sellers was Malleus Maleficarum, the book that revived belief in witchcraft (belief in which, contrary to popular misconceptions, had been suppressed by the church for most of the medieval period) and lead to the witch burnings of the…
on “Misinformation Should be Refuted, not Censored” ↗…NIH and WHO, both of which need some serious reformation. Oh, and the witches hammer. [1] That book killed millions of women and girls. numbers are often debated [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum
on “Anti-Vaxxers Are Grifting Off the Measles Outbreak and Claim Bioweapon Caused It” ↗An interesting fact I learned from this [1] youtube video was that the 'Malleus Maleficarum' (The Hammer of Witches) book was very concerned (among other things) with witches casting spells that caused male genitalia to vanish. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIdcjeeYjaE
on “Trump's NIH axed research grants even after a judge blocked the cuts” ↗…of history. There are a lot of tragic examples of tragedies sparked by publications meant to extract profits from people's paranoia and fear. The most famous one is the witch hunt started by the book Malleus Maleficarum[1] that caused more than 30 000 deaths. We created means to contain these abuses in new media too. The genocide of Rohingya people could have been avoided if Facebook were liable for it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum
on “Brazil's Supreme Court makes social media liable for user content” ↗Reading (the right) books is definitely the best way to learn about a topic, but its not great for quickly looking up random stuff. Books can spread misinformation too, from Malleus Maleficarum to Erich von Däniken. It is useful for quickly looking up simple facts, and provides a list of sources. The video makes some interesting criticisms. The lack of diversity is not surprising. Dominated…
on “After 25 years, Wikipedia has proved that news doesn't need to look like news” ↗Some of the biggest lies in history where, indeed, made with books. Examples go from "Malleus Maleficarum" to "Mein Kampf" to even "Chariots of the Gods". But there is a difference in efficacy. It is harder to lie in books than it is in social media. Books are like trees, they grow slowly, they're a discourse…
on “Nonfiction Publishing, Under Threat, Is More Important” ↗