5 - Of Prophets, Priests, and Kings

Summary

This chapter takes the story of the Antichrist from the beginning of the thirteenth century up to the time of the Reformation in the early sixteenth century. It begins with the story of the radical William Auriflex before examining the influence of Joachim of Fiore in the Franciscan movement. It also gives an account of the Franciscan emphasis on the Antichrist as an antichristian emperor as well as an antichristian pseudo-pope. It details Peter Olivi’s description of the Great Antichrist yet to come and the Antichrist mysticus whose coming was imminent. This is followed by a discussion of Ubertino of Casale’s identification of the Antichrist with the then popes, Boniface VIII and Benedict XI. The Franciscan alchemist John of Rupescissa was to complicate the story further with his declaration of Antichrists to come from both East and West, and his declaration of an angelic pope as counterpoint to the idea of the papal Antichrist. For John, the angelic pope and the Last World Emperor would unite to restore the world shortly before its end. The chapter concludes with the development of radical accounts of the papal Antichrist among Wycliffites and Hussites presaging the Reformation.