''Compendium Maleficarum'' is a witch-hunter's manual written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Francesco Maria Guazzo Francesco Maria Guazzo, ''aka'' Guaccio, ''aka'' Guaccius (1570–16??) was an Italian priest. He is most well known for authoring the '' Compendium Maleficarum''. Life and work He was a member of one of the oldest of the Catholic Ambrosian or ...

, and published in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(present-day

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) in 1608. It discusses witches' pacts with the devil, and detailed descriptions of witches’ powers and poisons. It also contains Guazzo's classification of demons, based on a previous work by

Michael Psellus Michael Psellos or Psellus ( grc-gre, Μιχαὴλ Ψελλός, Michaḗl Psellós, ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to ha ...

Translations

The book was not translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

until 1929, when this was accomplished under the direction of the eccentric witchcraft scholar

Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. He initially prepared for a career in the Church of England at Oxford and Lichfield, and was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1908. He ...

.''Compendium Maleficarum'' by

, translated by E. A. Ashwin, 1929.

References

External links

* *
''Compendium Maleficarum''
��Online version of Latin text and scanned pages of ''Compendium Maleficarum'' published in 1626. 1608 books 17th-century Latin books Witch hunter manuals Witchcraft treatises Witchcraft in Italy {{manuscript-stub