Formicarius
Formicarius (Eng. The anthill ) is the most famous work of the Dominican and theologian Johannes Nider .
Intended as a preacher and edification book, this dialogically structured Latin treatise, which at the same time represents a collection of examples , is at the same time a mirror of its time, in which the anthill stands as a metaphor for the ideal state. Each of the five chapters is preceded by a property of the ants. In the last section, the work also deals with magic and sorcery and reports in detail on the witch hunts of Bern bailiff Peter von Greyerz in the Swiss Simmental.
In 1437/38 the work was present at the Basel Council , with the fifth part about the new sect of witches in particular likely to have attracted particular attention.
About fifty years later, the Formicarius , which was printed several times as an incunable , served as one of the main sources cited in the Hexenhammer of Heinrich Institoris . But later advocates of witch persecution such as Martin Del Rio also referred to him, although in him, for example, the real flight of witches is doubted.
literature
- Werner Tschacher: The Formicarius of Johannes Nider from 1437/38. Studies on the beginnings of the European witch hunts in the late Middle Ages. Shaker, Aachen 2000 review