Abstract » Cermanová
Prague 2009
Apocalypticism, Millenarianism, and Prophecy: Eschatological Expectations between East-Central and Western Europe, 1560–1670
Pavlína CERMANOVÁ
‘Un édifice déja construit?’: Medieval Prophecy in Reformed Apocalyptic Discourse in the Seventeenth Century
The general crisis of society, wars, external menace, historical breaks, are all elements that have always been interpreted as a part of apocalyptic course of events. The prophecies were perceived as a medium of religious communication, which contributed to interpretation and understanding of events of the period as an unavoidable element of apocalyptic scenario, embodied in the predestinated intention of God.
One of the main characteristics of the medieval apocalypticism was the proclamation of general reform. Medieval apocalyptic prophecies included terrifying forecasts, but also held out the promise of a great spiritual and moral renewal of society. The concept of general reform was linked to many other ideological ideas, like the socioreligious construct of Antichrist, the Last Emperor myths, the changing paradigm of the enemy, or the utopian vision of a returning golden age. The concept of ‘apocalyptical-oriented’ reform was extended by the growing secularisation of medieval culture and society. While in the 12th century the prophets spoke first and foremost of the reform of the church or, more specifically, of monastic life, in the high middle ages the idea of reform was applied on all spheres of society (ex. Reformation Kaiser Siegmunds).
Medieval apocalypticism was the key source for a long tradition, it was exploited by the protestant but also catholic propaganda and ideology, which draw on the large stock of medieval apocalyptic lore. The early modern authors connected consciously their own reform concepts with the medieval prophecies. They quoted not only biblical books, but also medieval prophetical authors, whose prophecies should have been fulfilled at the time (prophecies by Sibylla Tiburtina, Hildegard of Bingen, Joachim of Fiore, and his followers, etc.).
Such elements of early modern society, like the forms of self-consciousness and self-observing, religious or universal reform, political utopianism or conceptions of the figure of the eschatological ruler were themselves intimately related to the continuing evolution of medieval prophetic and apocalyptic visions. The ancient and medieval images of crisis, of an unavoidable suffering and of general reform were transformed, reshaped, refocused, and reconceptualised in the social imagination and political concepts of early modern authors. The medieval prophecies were mediated to 16th and 17th century authors, among others, by the popular collections of texts, i.e. of medieval prophecies. In my paper I would like to analyse these ‘mediatory’ collections or editions of medieval prophecies, which themselves were quoted by the authors of the 16th and 17th century. I focus my attention first and foremost on the Lectionum memorabilium et reconditarum centenarii XVI of Johann Wolf and Prognostication of Johann Lichtenberger. On the basis of these collections I would like to describe and analyse usage of traditional mediaeval apocalyptic prophecies in the reform and prophetic literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, to find changes in their form, content, and aplications. The main question to answer is which of the mediaeval prophecies were adopted by the early modern prophetic literature and in which manner they were then used and modified in the frame of the reform rhetorics. The idea of the reform in the 16th and 17th centuries was linked to mediaeval concepts of a general renovatio mundi, whereas religious and political themes were thoroughly mixed in this tradition. The varied strains of medieval apocalypticism entered a new phase of intensification and were filled with the new ideological and political contents, but the constitutive frame remained conserved.
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