s4e6, February 12th, 2026
Early Christian authorities initially dismissed witchcraft as a delusion, though belief in demons and exorcism created a framework that later justified harsher responses. In the late fifteenth century, Heinrich Kramer authored Malleus Maleficarum after failing to secure convictions and facing criticism from church officials, using the text to legitimize aggressive witch-hunting and reinforce gendered suspicions of women. Despite disputed claims of papal and academic approval and opposition from within the Church, the book became influential in secular courts and helped fuel widespread persecutions across Europe between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Enlightenment rationalism later undermined belief in witchcraft, and modern scholars argue that the brutality of the witch hunts should be acknowledged rather than dismissed as a historical anomaly.
Publisher: Jazzybee
