Formicarius

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This article is about the book. For information about the bird genus, see Formicarius (bird)

The Formicarius, written 1435-1437 by Johannes Nider during the Council of Basle and first printed in 1475, is the second book ever printed to discuss witchcraft. This is a copy of the second edition. Nider dealt specifically with witchcraft in the fifth section of the book. Unlike his successors, he did not emphasize the idea of the witches’ sabbat and was sceptical of the claim that witches could fly by night. An important work which shows that by the early fifteenth century trials and torture of witches were already taking place.