Political Propheticism. John of Rupescissa’s Figure of the End Times Emperor and its Evolution

This article examines the connection between political prophecy and apocalyptical expectations during the Middle Ages. It focuses on the figure of the emperor of the end times in John of Rupescissa ’ s prophetical commentaries and works. In Rupescissa ’ s thinking, the figure of this final emperor is key to his exploration of the interaction between a universal temporal power and the spiritual one. The emperor ’ s role in Rupescissa ’ s eschatological thinking developed as the European political balance, and particular the position of France, changed. The analysis of Rupescissa ’ s use and evolving interpretations of various prophetical sources highlights the different roles played by the temporal power in the expected imminent events of tribulation and salvation. which is interpreted as an sign within the context of Rupescissa ’ s sequence of events leading to the apocalypse indicating the beginning of the persecution and ultimate restoration of the Church. The seventh intention deals with the clergy ’ s loss of material goods, and the eighth describes the Western Antichrist. The ninth to twelfth describe the actions of benign apocalyptic characters, namely the reparator and the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3, identified as friars minor, as well as a saintly French king. The thirteenth and fourteenth intentions discuss the persecution of both regular clergy and the Order of Friars Minor, while the fifteenth predicts the persecution of important towns. The sixteenth intention can be considered to be the core of the work: it explains the meaning of being saved in the aftermath of the Antichrists ’ persecution. The seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth intentions depict the appearance of the Western Antichrist and the events immediately before, during, and after the millennium of peace. The twentieth and final intention is a compendium of the prophetic quotations used by the in building the chronology of the eschatological plan. Christ and the reformer 64 of the whole devastated world will be sent: blessed is the man who will pray for him to come soon; however, he should do penance in the meantime. All those who will flee from evil to the mountains will be saved, since the Lord ’ s vengeance will come over each and everyone, the blessed and the unblessed. And blessed will be all who were mentioned in the text before, if they die well and in peace: and let them die soon, so that they do not have to see so much evil, and do not have to worry about whom they would leave their inheritance to, since he who acquires will not own anything, and he who owns will not keep what he possesses, because the wheel of fortune has already come to bring the afore-men-tioned fall.