"Quod est in actis, non est in mundo"

The influence of the Popes on the choice of recipients for prebends in the Middle Ages is the subject of controversy among scholars. This EDP-assisted study is designed to supply a more accurate picture of the influence the curia wanted, and was able, to exert on the award of benefices in the sacrum imperium. A comparison of the provisions identifiable in the papal registers with the actual local incumbents produces a surprising result: for almost all kinds of benefice in the empire, papal influence was in fact much less marked than has frequently been supposed.