What kind of book was it
The book had three parts: proof that witches existed, descriptions of what they were accused of doing, and a practical guide for courts - how to question suspects, what to treat as evidence, and how to deliver a verdict.
The third part was the most dangerous. It provided a ready-made procedure for someone with no experience: a local judge could open the book and handle a case by following its instructions, without knowing anything about the subject.
What mattered most was not the text, but how it spread. The book appeared soon after the printing press and went through many editions - in the age of manuscripts, such a guide would have remained in a few libraries.
It is important that the book had no official approval. The theology faculty whose endorsement was cited disputed this, and church authorities viewed the book with suspicion; but the title page cited these affiliations, and readers in the provinces believed them.
What needs clarifying
The Inquisition led the witch hunts, and the book was its official manual, used to execute millions of women.
Most trials took place in secular courts, not church courts. Historical records indicate that tens of thousands were executed, not millions, and men were among those convicted.
In fact, the Inquisition was skeptical of witchcraft accusations in some places and demanded evidence that local courts did not have. The peak of the persecution came not in the Middle Ages, but in the 16th and 17th centuries.
This clarification does not make the history any less grim. Tens of thousands executed is an enormous number, and the mechanism remained the same: a ready-made procedure, confessions under torture, and no way to prove your innocence in a system where denial itself was treated as evidence.
That last point is what made these trials especially cruel. The accused had nothing to offer in their defense: denial was interpreted as defiance, while confession was treated as proof, and both paths led in the same direction.
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Sources
- The guide to witchcraft trials published in 1487 did not receive official approval from church authorities, and the theological endorsement attributed to it was disputed
- most trials took place in secular courts, the peak of the persecution came in the 16th and 17th centuries, and documentary estimates put the number executed at tens of thousands