What is maleficium witchcraft?

Answer 1

During the 11th century attitudes toward witchcraft and sorcery began to change, a process that would transform the Western perception of witchcraft and associate it with heresy and the devil. by the 14th century, fear of heresy and of Satan had added charges of diabolism to the usual indictment of witches, maleficium (malevolent sorcery). It was this combination of sorcery and its association with the Devil that made Western witchcraft unique. From the 14th through the 18th century, witches were believed to repudiate Jesus Christ and to worship the Devil, make pacts with him (selling one's soul in exchange for Satan's assistance), to employ demons to accomplish magical deeds, and to desecrate the crucifix and the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). It was also believed that they rode through the air at night to "Sabbats" (secret meetings), where they engaged in sexual orgies and even had sex with Satan; that they changed shapes (from human to animal or from one human form to another); that they often had "familiars" or "spirits" in the form of animals; and that they kidnapped and murdered children for the purpose of eating them or rendering their fat for magical ointments. Having these accusations come from the mouths of trusted local religeous leaders added credence to these fairy tales. The very fabric of these ideas was fantasy used to contain the "flock". Although some people undoubtedly practiced sorcery with the intent to harm, usually by scarring the victim and some may actually have worshiped the Devil, in reality no one ever fit the concept of the "witch." Nonetheless, the witch's crimes were defined in law. The witch-hunts varied enormously in place and in time, but they were united by a common and coherent theological and legal world view. Local priests and judges, though seldom experts in either theology or law, were nonetheless part of a culture that believed in the reality of witches as much as our modern society believes in the reality of molecules. Now,much information about how fear, accusations, and prosecutions actually occurred in villages, local law courts, and courts of appeal in Roman Catholic and Protestant cultures in Western Europe. Charges of maleficium were prompted by a wide array of suspicions. It might have been as simple as one person blaming his misfortune on another. For example, if something bad happened to Peter that could not be readily explained, and if Peter felt that William disliked him, Peter may have suspected William of harming him by occult means. The most common suspicions concerned livestock, crops, storms, disease, property and inheritance, sexual dysfunction or rivalry, family feuds, marital discord, stepparents, sibling rivalries, and local politics. Maleficium was a threat not only to individuals but also to public order, for a community wracked by suspicions about witches could split asunder thus reducing the control of the church over the population. No wonder the term witch-hunt has entered common political parlance to describe such campaigns as that of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy in his attempt to root out "communists" in the United States in the 1950s. Another accusation that often accompanied maleficium was trafficking with evil spirits. In the Near East-in ancient Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, and Palestine-belief in the existence of evil spirits was universal, so that both religion and magic thus were thought to be needed to appease, offer protection from, or manipulate these spirits. In Greco-Roman civilization, Dionysiac worship included meeting underground at night, sacrificing animals, practicing orgies, feasting, and drinking. Classical authors such as Horace , and Virgil described sorceresses, ghosts, furies, and harpies with hideous pale faces and crazed hair; clothed in rotting garments, they met at night and sacrificed both animals and humans. Accusations, including the sacrifice of children, were made by the Syrians against the Jews in Hellenistic Syria in the 2nd century. These accusations would also be made by the Romans against the Christians, by Christians against heretics (dissenters from the core Christianity of the period) and Jews, and again later by Christians against witches, and, as late as the 20th century, by Protestants against Catholics.

Answer 2

There's no such thing as "maleficium" witchcraft. This term comes from the handbook of the Inquisitor's handbook the "malleus malificarum", also known as the witch's hammer, a guide book on how to torture witches into confessing their sins, how the bodies should be treated and so on.

Basically the idea was anyone who wasn't catholic must be worshipping the devil and the only way to save them was to force them to confess their crimes and then burn them alive to purify the soul. Pretty grusome.

At any rate, the book did not distinguish between types of witchcraft or even other religions. A Jew, a muslim, a protestant, a feminist, an enemy of the church or state... all could be accused of commiting witchcraft and all could be punished and killed.