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EspañolSUMMIS DESIDERANTES AFFECTIBUS
'''Summis desiderantes affectibus''' (),[1] named for its ''incipit'', the opening Latin words, was a papal bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII on December 5, 1484.
Written in response to the request of Dominican Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger for explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, after they were refused assistance by the local ecclesiastical authorities,[2] Kramer and Sprenger set ''Summis desiderantes affectibus'' as the preface for their ''Malleus Maleficarum'', which was printed two years later (1486).[3] The encyclical recognized the existence of witches and gave full papal approval for the Inquisition to move against witches and gave permission to do whatever necessary to get rid of them. The encyclical essentially repeated Kramer and Sprenger's finding of fact that an outbreak of witchcraft and heresy had occurred in the Rhine River valley, specifically in the bishoprics of Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Salzburg and Bremen, including accusations of certain acts.[4] The encyclical also threatened those who impeded the inquisitors with excommunication.[5]
The encyclical is often viewed opening the door for the bloody witchhunts that ensued for centuries; however, its similarities to previous papal documents, emphasis on preaching, and lack of dogmatic pronouncement complicate this view. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' criticizes the importance attached to the encyclical in the context of the ensuing witch hunts as "altogether illusory."[6]
Some scholars view the bull as "clearly political," motivated by jurisdictional disputes between the local German Catholic priests and those of the Inquisition who answered more directly to the pope.[7]
| Contents |
| Notes |
| References |
| External links |
Notes
1. The name is sometimes abbreviated ''Summis desiderantes'' (Kors and Peters, p. 180; Burr, p. 7).
The English translation is from Burr (p. 7). Burr also refers to this document as ''The Witch-Bull of 1484'' (p. 7).
2. Kors and Peters, 2000, p. 177.
3. Russell, 229
4. Black, 2003, p. 6.
5. Darst, 1979, p. 299.
6.
7. Darst, 1979, p. 298.
References
★ Black, George F. 2003. ''Calendar of Cases of Witchcraft in Scotland 1510 to 1727''. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0766158381.
★ The witch-persecutions, , George Lincoln, Burr, Philadelphia, Pa., 1907, (bibrec)
:Published in the series: ''Translations and reprints from the original sources of European history'' ; v. 3, no. 4.
★ Witchcraft in Spain: The Testimony of Martín de Castañega's Treatise on Superstition and Witchcraft (1529), , David H., Darst, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1979
★ Kors, Alan Charles, and Peters, Edward. 2000. ''Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History''. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812217519.
★ Russell, Jeffery Burton. ''Witchcraft in the Middles Ages''. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY. 1972
External links
★ ''The Bull of Innocent VIII'' as published in the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' translated by Montague Summers.
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