Witchcraft Trials In Medieval History: Pope Innocent VIII

Witchcraft trials were prevalent throughout medieval history, especially throughout the continents of North America and Europe. The propose of these witchcraft trials was to identify those that appeared to be practicing witchcraft, place them on trial, and ultimately punish them for their alleged heretical beliefs and behaviors. These hunts and trials were often sanctioned by high ranking members of the church. One such high ranking supporter was Pope Innocent VIII, who not only acted as the approving authority, but also encouraged the trials to take place in order to cleanse the world of heretics and nonbelievers. With such strong supporters as Pope Innocent VIII, it is no wonder that others began creating their own guides outlining exactly

how to catch, prosecute and punish those believed to be witches, such as the book The Ant Hill written by Johannes Nider in 1437. The most famous of these guides however, was the Malleus Maleficarum. Given the overwhelming amount of support and encouragement for these witchcraft trials to take place, was it possible for anyone accused of being a witch to receive a "fair" trial?
Ideas and beliefs expressed by Pope Innocent VIII in regards to his support of and encouragement for the enactment of the witchcraft trials are documented in the Papal Bull of 1484. In this text, the Pope made it clear through numerous statements that he would not accept or condone any acts of real or perceived witchcraft and those that are perceived as being practitioners of witchcraft shall be banned from all territories controlled by the Church. One of these such statements follows:
” Desiring with supreme ardor, as pastoral solicitude requires, that the catholic faith in our days everywhere grow and flourish as much as possible, and that all heretical depravity be put far from the territories of the faithful,……..” (Internet History Sourcebooks Project)
Pope Innocent VIII later goes on to describe receiving the painful news of many men and women that have forsaken the catholic faith by joining with the devil through their performance of witchcraft by various acts such as incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges.

(Internet History Sourcebooks Project) Not only were these actions viewed as crimes, they were also thought to “ruin and cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth.” (Internet History Sourcebooks Project) The Pope believed that in performing these acts, those perceived to be practicing witchcraft inflicted unnecessary pain and anguish on these beings. It was even thought that these same people were capable of disrupting reproductive abilities of men and women which would negatively impact the consummation of marriages between man and

woman.
This text further goes on to describe how Pope Innocent VIII further believed that those to be persecuted for practicing witchcraft, even after having been baptized earlier in their life, would not hesitate to commit acts against God and the Church if confronted by those serving as inquisitors. The Pope received a letter from Germany and Rhine in which the author stated that Henricus Institoris and Jacobus Sprenger, representing the aforementioned areas respectively, had no legal authority to conduct witchcraft trials or carry out any punishments in their designated territories because these territories were not individually and specifically named in the documents granting such powers and authority to Henricus Institoris and Jacobus Sprenger. The letter further stated that if Institoris and Sprenger were to carry out trials and punishments in these areas, they would in turn be punished for their unlawful actions.
Pope Innocent VIII responded to this letter by using his Papal authority to decree that “by virtue of our apostolic authority, that it shall be permitted to the said inquisitors in these regions to exercise their office of inquisition and to proceed to the correction, imprisonment, and punishment of the aforesaid persons for their said offences and crimes, in all respects and altogether precisely as if the provinces, cities, territories, places, persons, and offences aforesaid were expressly named in the said letter.” (Internet History Sourcebooks Project) In addition to making it legal for his designated representatives to carry out inquisitor duties, Pope Innocent VIII also made it legal for these representatives to preach the teachings of God in any and all of the churches in their areas as often as they personally saw fit to do so without any punishment or repercussions for their actions.
The Formicarius (Ant Hill) of Johannes Nider, written in Latin in the 1430’s, tells about activities in the Bernese Alps and other territories, based mainly on testimony Nider had obtained from a secular judge from Bern and from an inquisitor. (Levack, 2013) Nider also received testimony from a man from the Bernese territory by the name of Peter, a Benedictine monk, and an inquisitor from the convent at Lyons. Nider states that the judge from Bern told him stories about the torture of alleged witches and the confessions that some of them made. He also discusses some of the things that he learned from his experience as a judge while seeing over some of the trials. Peter told Nider stories of when he not only drove suspected witches out of Bernese, but also of when he burned many of them as their punishment.
This text also goes on to state that Nider also met a Benedictine monk who, many years prior to their introduction, acted as “a necromancer, juggler, buffoon, and strolling player, well-known as an expert among the secular nobility.” (Internet History Sourcebooks Project) The most interesting story in the text however, is the recount of another young man, who was arrested and eventually burned as a witch. This man was married to a witch and prior to his last arrest and death, he and his wife escaped confinement from Peter. Their escape only further solidified the belief that he and his wife were in fact witches and they were eventually arrested again and brought back to Bern. When they returned to Bern, this man and his wife were placed in different prisons to keep them from escaping again. From his prison, the man stated "If I can obtain absolution for my sins, I will freely lay bare all I know about witchcraft, for I see that I have death to expect." (Internet History Sourcebooks Project) After being assured that by carrying out this confession, he would be absolved of all of his sins, the man provided all of the knowledge that had about witchcraft and offered himself for execution.
In his revelation of the methods of witchcraft that he knew, the man laid out the steps that one had to follow in order to become a true practitioner of witchcraft.

First, he said, the future practitioner had to go into a church with his masters on a Sunday and renounce Christ and his faith, the church as a whole, and any ceremonious religious events that had taken place in his life up to that point. After renouncing the Christian faith, the individual must then pay homage to the devil, which if followed by their drinking from a sacred flask which seals his worship of and devotion to the devil and is the last step in becoming a true practitioner of witchcraft. The man then goes on to state that though he confessed his heretic ways, he did not believe that his wife would do the same. The man was later burned after his confession as was his wife in a separate execution, though she never confessed to being a practitioner of

witchcraft.