Download or read book Compendium Maleficarum written by Francesco Maria Guazzo and published by Book Tree. This book was released on 2004-03 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were witches real in the Middle Ages? This handbook on witchcraft, first published in 1628, claims to expose the entire practice and profession of witchcraft. Was used as support in the accusation of witches at the time, although we can recognize much of it today as being paranoid superstition by religious authorities. The book is valuable because it allows one to view the extreme superstition surrounding witchcraft at the time, and to better understand the degree of persecution that resulted.