Jacob Sprenger
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Jacob Sprenger (1436/1438 – 6 December 1495) was a Dominican inquisitor and theologian principally known for his association with an infamous book on witch-hunting ''
Malleus Maleficarum The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise about witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic Church, Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinisation of names, Latini ...
'' (1486). He was born in Rheinfelden, Further Austria, taught at the University of Cologne, and died in 1495 in
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
.


The Dominican Order


Novice

Sprenger was admitted as a novice in the Dominican house of Rheinfelden in 1452 and became a zealous reformer. He founded an association of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary in
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
in 1474.


Theologian

He became a Master of Theology and then in 1480 Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Cologne and was a popular lecturer.Rothman, David J., Marcus, Steven and Kiceluk, Stephanie A., ''Medicine and Western Civilization'', Rutgers University Press, 1995


Inquisitor

In 1481 he was appointed as an Inquisitor for the Provinces of
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
,
Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
and
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, a post that demanded constant traveling through an extensive district.


Associated authorship of ''Malleus Maleficarum''

Sprenger was named along with Heinrich Kramer in the 1484
papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...
'' Summis desiderantes'' of
Pope Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...
and reprinted in the infamous ''
Malleus Maleficarum The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise about witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic Church, Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinisation of names, Latini ...
''. All editions after 1519 named Sprenger as Heinrich Kramer's co-author. It has been claimed that Sprenger cannot be linked to any witch trial, that his personal relationship to Kramer was acrimonious, and that Sprenger used his powerful position whenever he could to make Kramer's life and work as difficult as possible. Some scholars now believe that he became associated with the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' largely as a result of Kramer's wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible.


Friedrich Spee in Cologne

In a 1631 work most concerned with innocence, and opposed to the ''Malleus Maleficarum'', Friedrich Spee attributes authorship of the book to "Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer." Though Spee was Jesuit (not Dominican) and his work was written more than a century after ''Malleus Maleficarum'', both Spee and Sprenger were professors of theology in Cologne and both travelled extensively in many of the same areas. Some of Spee's fellow professors in Cologne were appalled by Spee's book and thought it should be listed on the papal Index of Forbidden Books. This would suggest that, whether or not Sprenger initially endorsed or opposed the work of Heinrich Kramer, the book carrying Sprenger's name did eventually find a degree of influence among the Catholic theologians in Cologne.


Salem Witch Trials

The
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
President and
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
Increase Mather cited "Sprenger" as a reference to the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' in an influential pro-witch-hunting work published in 1684, as well as another work published in 1692, the same year as the Salem Witch Trials: "Witches have often (as Sprenger observes) desired that they might stand or fall by this trial by hot iron, and sometimes come off well."Cotton and Increase Mather, Farther Account of the Trials of New-England Witches (1862 London reprint
p.272.
/ref>


References


External links



by Montague Summers, including some biographical facts and sources about Sprenger * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprenger, Jacob 1430s births 1495 deaths 15th-century German Roman Catholic priests German Dominicans Inquisitors Supporters of witch hunting 15th-century German writers German male writers Witch trials in Germany