ABSTRACT
The grossly exaggerated importance normally ascribed to the Summis Desiderantes, also known as the ‘Witch Bull’, promulgated by Pope Innocent VIII on 5 December 1484, makes it perhaps the most overrated document in the entire history of European witchcraft persecutions.1 The document is clearly a Fakultät, a formal papal authorisation for a specific office to be fulfilled by a specific person for the indefinite future. Although it is exceptional in being issued ‘ad perpetuum rei memoriam’, the Summis fully belongs in that long series of Fakultäten issued throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which empowered numerous inquisitors and instructed them in their duties.2
