Johannes Nider

A Dominican theologian and religious reformer active in the early fifteenth century, Nider wrote some of the most extensive and influential early accounts of witchcraft. His major work on this subject, Formicarius (The Anthill), written in 1437 and 1438, was printed in seven separate editions between 1475 and 1692. It was also an important source of information for the infamous Malleus Malejicarum (The Hammer of Witches), written by the Dominican Heinrich Kramer and first published in 1486. The fifth book of the Formicarius, which dealt specifically with witches and their deceptions ( de maleficis et eorum deceptionibus ), was included in several later editions along with the Malleus. In addition to relating numerous stories of witchcraft in the Formicarius, Nider treated the topics of magic and sorcery in two other works, De lepra morali (On Moral Leprosy) and Preceptorium divine legis (Preceptor of Divine Law). Born in the small Swabian imperia