Malleus Maleficarum
The witch-hunters' handbook appears on the eve of modernity
Heinrich Kramer's treatise was printed in Speyer in 1486, three decades after Gutenberg, and ran through dozens of editions. The largest witch hunts came later still, between about 1560 and 1630.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Did you know
Witch hunting was early modern, not medieval. It peaked around 1560–1630, the age of Shakespeare, Galileo and Kepler, and the Malleus Maleficarum was printed after Gutenberg. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1469 Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India — 17 years earlier
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — 8 years earlier
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — 6 years earlier
Middle East
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — 15 years later
Africa
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — 2 years later
Asia
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — 12 years later
- 1511 Portuguese capture of Malacca — 25 years later
Americas
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — 6 years later
Alive at the time
- Christopher Columbus (aged 35)
- Leonardo da Vinci (aged 34)
- Nicolaus Copernicus (aged 13)
- Michelangelo (aged 11)
- Martin Luther (aged 3)
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa (aged 50)
- Ivan III (aged 46)
- Isabella I of Castile (aged 35)
- Henry VII (aged 29)
- Maximilian I (aged 27)