Everything about Jacob Sprenger totally explained
James Sprenger (also
Jacob,
Jakob,
Jacobus,
1436/
1438 –
1494) was a
Swiss priest. He was born in
Basel.
With the Dominicans
He was admitted as a novice in the Dominican house of this town in 1452. He became a zealous reformer within the Order. Later he became a Master of Theology and then Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the
University of Cologne. He founded an association of the
Confraternity of the Holy Rosary in Strasbourg in 1474.
He was appointed by
Pope Innocent VIII as the
General Inquisitor for Germany, around 1475. In 1480 he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University. His lecture room was thronged and the following year he was appointed Inquisitor Extraordinary for the Provinces of
Mainz,
Trier and
Cologne. His activities in this post demanded constant travelling through the very extensive district.
Association with the Malleus Maleficarum
He was named in the 1484
papal bull Summis desiderantes of
Pope Innocent VIII. Popular opinion makes Sprenger the co-author of the
Malleus Maleficarum. All editions after 1519 named him as
Heinrich Kramer's collaborator. It has been claimed that Sprenger wasn't interested in witches and that he can't be linked to any witch trial. His personal relationship to Kramer was acrimonious and Sprenger used his powerful position whenever he could to make Kramer’s life and work as difficult as possible.
Scholars now believe that he became associated with the
Malleus Maleficarum largely as a result of Kramer's wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible. He forged a recommendation for the
Malleus from the theology faculty of Cologne University, and by naming the renowned theologian and dean of Cologne University Sprenger as co-author he couldn't only increase the prestige of his work but also get personal revenge on one of his most persistent clerical adversaries.
Sprenger died suddenly in 1494.
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