A.D. 672 – The Apex of Apocalyptic Thought in the Early Medieval Latin West

Abstract

In Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the Second Coming of Christ was connected to the beginning of the seventh millennium. This raised apocalyptic expectations for the end of sixth millennium. When exactly this was to take place depended on how one counted the years since Creation. Three different methods of counting were introduced successively, with Christ’s birth in AM 5500 (AMI), AM 5200 (AMII), and 3952 (AMIII). AMII replaced AMI roughly 100 years before AMI would have reached the end of the sixth millennium, and the same applies to AMIII replacing AMII. The general assumption is that the introduction of a new count that pushed the end of the sixth millennium back by a few centuries is a significant indicator of widespread apocalyptic anxiety. This article analyses countdowns to the end of the sixth millennium according to AMII (AM 6000 = A.D. 800). It concludes that these do not reflect bottom-up reactions to apocalyptic fear, but are rather the product of debates among the Christian intellectual elite about scientific-theological issues.