«Compendium Maleficarum»: Francesco María Guazzo; book and analysis.

Compendium Maleficarum (Compendium Maleficarum) – whose title means: the compendium of the witches – is a demonological treatise by the Italian priest Francesco María Guazzo (1570-1640), published in 1608. In essence, it is one of the most interesting demonological dictionaries of the time, not so much for its encyclopedic facet but for its juicy descriptions of the cult of demons and evil spirits in general.

Francesco Maria Guazzo, who belonged to the Ambrosian order, one of the most hermetic of its time, summarized the Compendium Maleficarum as follows:

Here are detailed the vile arts and enmity of witches against the entire human race. And in which, in addition, a very salutary and powerful Exorcism is attached to dissolve and dispel all the concerns and deceptions of the devil.

However, the content of the Compendium Maleficarum goes much further.

The book brings together a wide and distorted catalogue of oddities about witchcraft, black magic and Satanism, for example, with a detailed description of how to be a witch; including logistical issues, such as the functions and use of witches’ brooms. Furthermore, the Compendium Maleficarum reveals with macabre precision the eleven ceremonies and rituals prior to initiation into witchcraft and the pact with the devil; which, it was said, were necessary to participate in covens and sabbats.

On the other hand, the Compendium Maleficarum adds a leafy appendix on female demons, succubi, incubi and vampires, and in general all those creatures in a position to tempt the weaknesses of the man of faith.

Many see in the Compendium Maleficarum a kind of manual against witchcraft and paganism, although it would be more fair to classify it as a weapon at the service of the fight against men and women with different ideas and beliefs. The truth is that the book served as reference material for the inquisitors, and that its pages, even the most abstruse ones, served as the basis for supporting various accusations against witchcraft.

It is also fair to say that the Compendium Maleficarum is a monolithic book, impressive for its erudition, even on ridiculous matters related to witchcraft, but that it must necessarily have come from a highly enlightened man. In its pages there are references to more than two hundred works and authors, many of which were true bibliographical oddities.

As information in favour of Francesco María Guazzo, we will say that a large part of the Compendium Maleficarum is dedicated to the description of the behaviour of witches, their technique and practice; but he never uses examples of the trials that the author himself had led.

The summary: the Compendium Maleficarum is a fundamental book for those who want to delve into the occult, esotericism and witchcraft, precisely because it offers us an institutional look at those beliefs and how they were combative through a work that, basically, was an unavoidable reference for witch hunters.