Associated chiefly with Heinrich Kramer, the Malleus Maleficarum appeared in the late fifteenth century. It drew on theology, legal arguments, and highly gendered assumptions to promote the investigation and punishment of alleged witches. It neither invented witchcraft beliefs nor explains every subsequent witch trial, but its publication and circulation make it an important source for studying persecution and authority.
A point of interest
How a printed book could lend apparent intellectual legitimacy to dangerous accusations.