Malleus Maleficarum (book about witchcraft)

Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches in English), is considered the most well-known treatise or handbook about witchcraft. In 1486 it was written by Heinrich Kramer, a churchman and an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church. Kramer writes to prove the existence of sorcery, and links witchcraft to the crime of heresy. He claims that women are the most prone gender to become witches, and blames their susceptibility to a lack of physical/spiritual strength and “promiscuity”. It also suggests violent and unethical ways to punish witches, and claims that death is the only way to completely cure witchcraft. 

The content of the book was so extreme that it was actually condemned by the Church for its immorality. Despite that fact, the Malleus Maleficarum was so popular that it contributed to the “witch craze” - a period in time in Europe where thousands of people, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft.