Rules of Engagement
Beginning with the publication of Malleus Maleficarum in 1487, demonologists, ecclesiastical leaders, and secular judges sought to prescribe inquisitorial practices for conducting witchcraft trials. Many based their advice on years of experience interrogating and sentencing the accused. They summarized laws and statutes and drew on case precedents to codify prosecutorial methods and court procedures. They provided advice on acceptable evidence, what questions to ask, how to conduct an interrogation, and how and when to apply torture. Some boasted of the number of witches sent to their deaths as evidence of their credentials. For others, the years of prosecution raised doubts about the veracity of forced confessions or even about the existence of witches at all. Assembled here are some of the more influential of these codes of conduct, which governed current cases and influenced courts well into the future.
