The Malleus Maleficarum, also known as The Hammer of Witches, written by the inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger in the 15th century, remains to this day one of the most famous books on witchcraft worldwide. The book includes three main sections and is addressed to witch hunters as well as to common people of the time. The first section examines, through brief questions and answers, whether witches are real or a figment of imagination, concluding that they exist beyond any doubt, as does the Devil, from whom they draw their powers. In the second section, the authors present through incidents the ways witches operate, as well as methods by which someone can protect themselves from them. In the third section, the inquisitors explain the tortures and trials that the accused of witchcraft must undergo to have their guilt recognized, as well as any other measures that must be observed in the Church's war against the Dark Arts. The text was used for centuries by Christians as a reference source on demonology, although it was not directly used by the Inquisition, which became notorious for its tortures and murders. After its publication, witchcraft became more widely accepted as a real and dangerous phenomenon. The Church would ultimately characterize witchcraft as the greatest of crimes and sins that exist and would elevate it to the level of heresy – as a result, persecutions and punishments became more brutal.

"If God, through an angel, does not force Satan to deny his help to the witch, she will be so insensitive to the pains of torture that she would prefer to have her hands and feet torn off rather than confess the truth!"