Malleus Maleficarum
E250239
Malleus Maleficarum is a late 15th-century treatise that systematized the identification, prosecution, and punishment of alleged witches, becoming one of the most influential texts driving European witch hunts.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Malleus Maleficarum canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2258445 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Malleus Maleficarum Context triple: [European witch hunts, hasNotableWork, Malleus Maleficarum]
-
A.
Wonders of the Invisible World: Observations as Well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils
Wonders of the Invisible World: Observations as Well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils is a 1693 work by Puritan minister Cotton Mather defending the Salem witch trials and expounding contemporary beliefs about witchcraft and demonic activity in New England.
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B.
The Key of Solomon
The Key of Solomon is a medieval grimoire of ceremonial magic attributed to King Solomon, detailing rituals, invocations, and talismanic symbols used to command spiritual entities.
-
C.
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Lesser Key of Solomon is a 17th-century grimoire of demonology and ceremonial magic traditionally attributed to King Solomon, detailing the names, seals, and conjurations of numerous spirits.
-
D.
De arte cabalistica
De arte cabalistica is a seminal 16th-century work by Johannes Reuchlin that introduces and systematizes Kabbalistic thought within a Christian theological and philosophical framework.
-
E.
Gothic Bible
The Gothic Bible is a 4th-century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language, traditionally attributed to the Arian bishop Ulfilas and known as the earliest substantial text in any Germanic language.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Malleus Maleficarum Target entity description: Malleus Maleficarum is a late 15th-century treatise that systematized the identification, prosecution, and punishment of alleged witches, becoming one of the most influential texts driving European witch hunts.
-
A.
Wonders of the Invisible World: Observations as Well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils
Wonders of the Invisible World: Observations as Well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils is a 1693 work by Puritan minister Cotton Mather defending the Salem witch trials and expounding contemporary beliefs about witchcraft and demonic activity in New England.
-
B.
The Key of Solomon
The Key of Solomon is a medieval grimoire of ceremonial magic attributed to King Solomon, detailing rituals, invocations, and talismanic symbols used to command spiritual entities.
-
C.
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Lesser Key of Solomon is a 17th-century grimoire of demonology and ceremonial magic traditionally attributed to King Solomon, detailing the names, seals, and conjurations of numerous spirits.
-
D.
De arte cabalistica
De arte cabalistica is a seminal 16th-century work by Johannes Reuchlin that introduces and systematizes Kabbalistic thought within a Christian theological and philosophical framework.
-
E.
Gothic Bible
The Gothic Bible is a 4th-century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language, traditionally attributed to the Arian bishop Ulfilas and known as the earliest substantial text in any Germanic language.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
theological work ⓘ treatise ⓘ witch-hunting manual ⓘ |
| advocates | harsh punishment of alleged witches ⓘ |
| author |
Heinrich Kramer
ⓘ
Heinrich Kramer ⓘ
surface form:
Jacob Sprenger
|
| circulation | widely printed and reprinted in early modern Europe ⓘ |
| controversial | yes ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Holy Roman Empire ⓘ |
| criticizedFor |
legal abuses
ⓘ
misogyny ⓘ theological distortions ⓘ |
| ecclesiasticalStatus | not an official dogmatic text of the Catholic Church ⓘ |
| endorses | use of torture in witch trials ⓘ |
| genderPerspective | portrays women as especially prone to witchcraft ⓘ |
| genre |
handbook
ⓘ
polemical literature ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod |
early modern period
ⓘ
late Middle Ages ⓘ |
| impact |
contributed to intensification of witch persecutions
ⓘ
standard reference for witch hunters in Europe ⓘ |
| influenced |
European witch hunts
ⓘ
early modern witch trials ⓘ witchcraft legislation ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
St. Thomas Aquinas
ⓘ
surface form:
Thomas Aquinas
medieval canon law ⓘ medieval demonology ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| legalOrientation | inquisitorial procedure ⓘ |
| papalContext | associated with papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus ⓘ |
| part1Focus | theoretical discussion of witchcraft and heresy ⓘ |
| part2Focus | descriptions of alleged witches' practices ⓘ |
| part3Focus | legal procedures for witch trials ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication | Speyer ⓘ |
| primaryAuthor | Heinrich Kramer ⓘ |
| publicationCentury | 15th century ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1487 ⓘ |
| publisherType | early printing press ⓘ |
| religiousTradition |
Roman Catholicism
ⓘ
surface form:
Catholicism
|
| structure | three parts ⓘ |
| subject |
demonology
ⓘ
heresy ⓘ inquisition ⓘ witch trials ⓘ witchcraft ⓘ |
| theologicalOrientation | Scholasticism ⓘ |
| titleTranslation | Hammer of Witches ⓘ |
| viewOnWitchcraft |
treats witchcraft as a pact with the Devil
ⓘ
treats witchcraft as heresy ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Malleus Maleficarum Description of subject: Malleus Maleficarum is a late 15th-century treatise that systematized the identification, prosecution, and punishment of alleged witches, becoming one of the most influential texts driving European witch hunts.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.