Malleus Daemonum: The Hammer of Demons

Abstract

The Malleus Daemonum provides an exciting introduction into the religious world of early modern Italy. It consists of a series of personal exorcisms which the Italian Observant Franciscan Alessandro Albertino composed and which he claims have proven themselves by experience. It bears witness to the end of a period in which priests could freely compose their own exorcisms as a regular part of their pastoral functions.

Albertino’s exorcisms faithfully follow the Passion narrative in the four Gospels designed both to parallel and to empower the Vulgate text. His strategy is to employ the words and instruments used against Christ by his detractors against the demons occupying the possessed individual in order to expel them. Those words and weapons which were once used to torment, harass, and crucify Christ thus become spiritual weapons which the exorcist may use to treat their patient. Albertino introduces each exorcism with an epigram based on Classical mythology followed by litanies, invocations, and prayers, and he also includes a general exorcism to expel demons from specific parts of the body, along with general blessings and prayers to drive out all sorcery and diabolical intervention from particular articles of clothing.

This edition comprises a comprehensive historical and theological introduction, a Latin edition, and the first-ever English translation of The Hammer of Demons. The translation, research, and commentary unveil a long-buried gem of the seventeenth century, offering readers an alluring narrative about the evolving face of the ancient convention of exorcism. More than just a book, this introduction, edition, and translation are an essential contribution to the understanding of the intersection of exorcism, history, and religion in early modern Italy.