The Pastor and the Hammer. A Comparative Approach to Thomas Cooper and Henrich Krämer’s Demonological Treatises

• Main Author: Agustín MÉNDEZ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 2018-07-01
• Series: Studia Historica: Historia Moderna
• Subjects: demonología; inglaterra; patrística; cooper; tomismo; krämer
• Online Access: https://revistas.usal.es/index.php/Studia_Historica/article/view/18799

<p class="p1">Historians have frequently considered Early Modern English demonological discourse as a moderate variant of the continental one. The almost complete absence of full blown witch-hunts in England was associated both with the allegedly incomplete adoption of the cumulative concept of witchcraft, and with a preference for patristic demonological tradition rather than for its thomistic revision. Focusing in <em>The Mystery of Witch-craft</em> (1617), written by the protestant pastor Thomas Cooper, this article will aim to demonstrate that the author understood the relationship between God, the Devil and witches, as well as their roles and powers in the material world, in a similar way to Alsatian inquisitor Heinrich Kramer’s <em>Malleus Maleficarum </em>(1486), one of the most famous and influential demonological treatises published during the period of witch trials.</p>