Flies, Heretics, and the Gendering of Witchcraft

Abstract

This article examines the inquisitor and witchcraft theorist Heinrich Kramer's treatment of witchcraft and heresy in several of his works, with particular attention to his gendering of those categories. While in his Malleus maleficarum Kramer famously asserted that witchcraft was a primarily female crime, in other works he asserted the male character of heresy. In particular, he associated heresy and especially heresiarchy with the male qualities of intelligence, (misplaced) reason, and instruction. While earlier boundaries between witchcraft and heresy had been blurry, Kramer and his gendering efforts mark an important step toward the theoretical separation between these two categories of offence.