Compendium Maleficarum

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Compendium Maleficarum (1929)
by Francesco Maria Guazzo, translated by Edward Allen Ashwin, edited by Montague Summers

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Francesco Maria GuazzoMontague Summers4736794Compendium Maleficarum1929Edward Allen Ashwin

Compendium
Maleficarum

Compendium
Maleficarum

Collected in 3 Books from many Sources by
Brother Francesco Maria Guazzo
of the Order of S. Ambrose ad Nemus

Showing the iniquitous and execrable operations of witches against the human race, and the divine remedies at which they may be frustrated
Edited with notes by the Rev. Montague Summers · · · Translated by E. A. Ashwin

John Rodker · 1929 · London

This edition is of 1275
copies only, this copy
being numbered
615

Printed in Great Britain by
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited
Bungay
Suffolk

Table of Contents

Page

Dedication

v

Preface to the Reader

vii

Editor’s Introduction

ix

Foreword

xvii

The First Book

Page
Ch.I		The Nature and Extent of the Force of Imagination	01
Ch.	II	Of Artificial Magic	03
Ch.	III	Whether this Magic can produce True Effects	07
Ch.	IV	That Witches Effect their Marvels with the Help of the Devil	09
Ch.	V	The Men of Old Accredited Witches with Marvellous Deeds	11
Ch.	VI	Of the Witches’ Pact with the Devil	13
Ch.	VII	By their Terrible Deeds and Imprecations Witches Produce Rain and Hail, etc.	19
Ch.	VIII	The Power of Witches over External Things	22
Ch.	IX	Whether the Devil can Truly Enrich His Subjects	25
Ch.	X	Whether Witches Can by their Art Create any Living Thing	28
Ch.	XI	Whether there Truly are Incubus and Succubus Devils; and Whether Children can be Generated by Copulation with Them	30
Ch.	XII	Whether Witches are Really Transported from Place to Place to their Nightly Assemblies	33
Ch.	XIII	Whether Witches can Transmute Bodies from One Form to Another	50
Ch.	XIV	Whether Witches have Power to Make Beasts Talk	53
Ch.	XV	Whether the Devil can Make Men Insensible to Torture	55
Ch.	XVI	Whether by Witchcraft and Devil’s Work the Sexes can be Interchanged	57
Ch.	XVII	Whether the Spirits of the Dead can Appear to Men	59
Ch.	XVIII	Of Apparitions of Demons, or Spectres	73
Ch.	XIX	That Cacodemons Exercise their Magic Powers of their Own Will	80

The Second Book

Dealing with the various kinds of witchcraft,
and certain other matters which
should be known

Ch.	I	Of Soporific Spells	083
Ch.	II	Witches use Human Corpses for the Murder of Men	088
Ch.	III	Of Witches’ Poisons	090
Ch.	IV	Of Tying the Points	091
Ch.	V	Of Incendiary Witchcraft	095
Ch.	VI	The Devil Wishes to Perpetuate the Race of Witches	096
Ch.	VII	Of the Various Ways by which Witches Vent their Spite upon the Human Race	098
Ch.	VIII	Of the Different Diseases Brought by Demons	105
Ch.	IX	Why God Permits the Devil so to Busy Himself with Witchcraft	111
Ch.	X	The Laws Observed by Witches in Causing and in Curing Sickness	121
Ch.	XI	Witches Use something of Religion in Healing Sickness	123
Ch.	XII	Threatening or Beating Witches is the Best Method of Removing the Spells cast by Them	124
Ch.	XIII	After the Many Blasphemies Committed by Witches, the Demon at last Tries to Induce them to Kill Themselves with Their Own Hands	129
Ch.	XIV	Upon Those who have once Fallen into his Power the Devil keeps a Tenacious Grip, even when They stand Tortured before Their Judges, or in Holy Places, or wherever They may Be	132
Ch.	XV	A Summary in a Few Words of All the Crimes of Witches	135
Ch.	XVI	The Devil Deceives by means of False Revelations or Apparitions	136
Ch.	XVII	Of the Appeal to God	147
Ch.	XVIII	Of the Trial by Single Combat	149
Ch.	XIX	Of Vulgar Purgation by Fire	151
Ch.	XX	Of Superstitious Folk	160

The Third Book

Treating of the divine remedies for those who
are bewitches, and of certain
other matters

Ch.	I	Whether it is Lawful to Remove a Spell in Order to Heal One that is Bewitched	163
Ch.	II	How to Distinguish Demoniacs and Those who are Simply Bewitched	167
Ch.	III	Recent Examples of the Mercy of God and the Tyranny of the Devil	171
Ch.	IV	Of Divine and Supernatural Remedies	177

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1961, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 63 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse