The Malleus maleficarum, popularly known as “The Hammer of Witches,” is a seminal work in the history of witchcraft. It was written in 1486 by two Dominican inquisitors, Henricus Institoris and Jacobus Sprenger, who were in charge of seeking out and eradicating heretics, or people who held beliefs in contradiction to Catholic doctrine, in the region of Germany east of the Elbe River. In the course of their duties, Institoris and Sprenger were told by witnesses stories of individuals who worked harmful magic (in Latin, maleficia). The authors believed that these individuals obtained the power to do evil by entering into a pact with the Devil and his emissaries, demons who were sent to earth to wreak havoc among the Christian faithful.