First published in Milan in 1608, Compendium Maleficarum is a substantial early modern treatise on witchcraft, demonology and the perceived workings of magic. Its author, Francesco Maria Guazzo, was an Italian cleric of the Order of St Ambrose ad Nemus. According to Guazzo’s own dedication, he worked on the book following his involvement as an expert in a witchcraft case at the court of Cleves.

Organised into three books, the Compendium attempts to explain the nature, practices and supposed dangers of witchcraft within the theological framework of its period. The first book considers imagination and artificial magic before examining such subjects as the witch’s pact with the Devil, the raising of storms, bodily transformation, nocturnal assemblies, incubi and succubi, apparitions and the powers attributed to demons.

The second book turns more closely to forms of alleged harmful magic. Guazzo discusses poisons, the use of human remains, spells, diabolical deception and the crimes traditionally attributed to witches. The third concerns the detection and treatment of people thought to be bewitched or possessed, setting out religious and supernatural remedies considered legitimate within Guazzo’s Catholic worldview.

The original edition was also notable for its woodcut illustrations depicting demonic influence, witchcraft and religious subjects. These images contributed to the visual vocabulary through which early modern readers encountered ideas about witches and demons.

The Compendium should be read as a document of early seventeenth-century demonological belief rather than as a factual account of supernatural practices. Its accusations and explanations reflect a period in which witchcraft could be treated as a genuine religious and judicial threat. Today, the work is particularly useful for understanding the intellectual, theological and visual culture surrounding European witchcraft belief and persecution.