Sprenger was named along with
Heinrich Kramer in the 1484
papal bull Summis desiderantes of
Pope Innocent VIII and reprinted in the infamous
Malleus Maleficarum. All editions after 1519 named Sprenger as
Heinrich Kramer's co-author. It has been claimed that Sprenger cannot be linked to any witch trial, that his personal relationship to Kramer was acrimonious, and that Sprenger used his powerful position whenever he could to make Kramer's life and work as difficult as possible. Some scholars now believe that he became associated with the
Malleus Maleficarum largely as a result of Kramer's wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible.
Friedrich Spee in Cologne In a 1631 work most concerned with innocence, and opposed to the
Malleus Maleficarum,
Friedrich Spee attributes authorship of the book to "Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer." Though Spee was Jesuit (not Dominican) and his work was written more than a century after
Malleus Maleficarum, both Spee and Sprenger were professors of theology in Cologne and both travelled extensively in many of the same areas. Some of Spee's fellow professors in Cologne were appalled by Spee's book and thought it should be listed on the
papal Index of Forbidden Books. This would suggest that, whether or not Sprenger initially endorsed or opposed the work of Heinrich Kramer, the book carrying Sprenger's name did eventually find a degree of influence among the Catholic theologians in Cologne.
Salem Witch Trials The
Harvard President and
Puritan Increase Mather cited "Sprenger" as a reference to the
Malleus Maleficarum in an influential pro-witch-hunting work published in 1684, as well as another work published in 1692, the same year as the
Salem Witch Trials: "Witches have often (as Sprenger observes) desired that they might stand or fall by this trial by hot iron, and sometimes come off well." == Death ==