PSEUDO-JOACHIM OF FIORE, VATICANIA DE SUMMIS PONTIFICIBUS, IN LATIN, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

(1) Written and illustrated in Italy in the early sixteenth century, to judge from the style.

(2) The manuscript appeared in Bonham’s, 25 June 2003, lot 339.

TEXT

The manuscript contains one of the strangest and most intriguing of medieval texts: the mystical prophecies concerning the papacy ascribed to the famous Calabrian abbot and visionary, Joachim of Fiore (c.1135-1202). The prophecies, which perhaps originated in Byzantium but by the late thirteenth-century were linked with the fortunes of the Italian Spiritual Franciscans, describe the progress of the Church from Nicholas III (1277-1287) to the final pontiff in apocalyptic terms (cf. R. Lerner, ‘On the origins of the earliest Latin pope prophecies, a reconsideration’, in Falschungen im Mittelalters, MGHS, 33V, 1988, pp.611-35; H. Grundman, ‘Die Papstprophetien des Mittelalters’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, XIX, 1928, pp. 77-138).

The text of the Vaticania developed in various stages. Its earliest form, known either as the Genus nequam after the opening words of the text or as the Principium malorum, was essentially a Latin version of the Oracles of Leo the Wise. It was circulating by c.1304 and consisted of fifteen pictures with accompanying texts (this early form has recently been analysed by M. Fleming, The late medieval Pope prophecies: the Genus nequam group, Medieval and Renaissance Text Studies, 204, 1999). In this form, the prophecies originally referred to a series of cardinals rather than popes (cf. A. Rehber, ‘Ber ‘Kardinalsorakel’-Kommentar in der ‘Colonna’ Handschrift Vat.lat.3819 und die Entstehungsumstände der Papstvatiainien’, Florensia: Bolletino del Centro Internazionale di Studi Giochimiti, 5, 1991, pp.45-112; H. Millet and D. Rigaux, ‘Aux origines du succès des Vaticinia summa pontificibus’ in Fin du monde et signes des temps: visionnaires et prophètes en France méridionale (fin XIIIe-début XVe siècle, 1992, pp.129-156). A second series of prophecies, known as the Ascende Calve series, were added to the Genus nequam in order to make up the full Vaticinia proper series of thirty, as in the present manuscript. The composition of this second series has been dated variously before 1378 (the death of Gregory XI, cf. B. Degenhart and A. Schmitt, Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen 1300-1450, 1, 1968, p.217), to before 1352 (R. Lerner, The Powers of Prophecy. Visions from the Mongol Onslaught to the Dawn of Englightenment, 1983, pp.96-7), and more recently to 1349-50 and assigned to an Italian Ghibelline cultural milieu, perhaps that of the Visconti rulers of Milan, who were involved in a series of violent disagreements with the papacy at this time (H. Millet and D. Rigaux, ‘Ascende Calve: Quand l’historien joue au prophète’, Studi Medievali, XXXIII, 1992, pp.707-8).

The prophecies quickly achieved the status of a ‘best-seller’: the expanded version of thirty prophecies appears in numerous manuscripts of the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was first printed in Venice in c.1501-10, and ran to 10 further editions during the sixteenth century (cf. P. Guerrini, Propaganda politica e profezie figurata nel tardo medioevo, 1997, pp.14-15). By the sixteenth century there were two textual traditions, the Italian and the German (cf. D. Heffner, ‘The Use of Medieval Prophecy in Reformation Polemic’,  Il profetismo giochimita tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento: Atti del III Congresso Internazionale di Studi Giochimitti S. Giovanni in Fiore, 17-21 Sept. 1989, G. L. Potesta, ed., 1991, pp. 296-7). The current manuscript conforms to the Italian tradition of the text in not attributing the prophecies to specific popes, although unlike the printed editions in this manuscript the connection with Joachim of Fiore is not made explicit. The text was still in print in the seventeenth century, and much of its continuing fascination seems to have resided in attempting to match the cryptic descriptions with history in order to apply the prophecy to the reader’s own age.

In spite of its importance in the history of medieval spiritual life, manuscripts of the Vaticinia are not common on the market. A mid fifteenth-century copy was sold in these rooms, 5 December 1989, lot 100. Another, once belonging to Sir Sydney Cockerell, appeared in H.P. Kraus, Monumenta, 1974, no.37 and In Retrospect, 1978, no.60. An early seventeenth-century manuscript was in the Phillipps sale in our rooms, 28 November 1967, lot 124, and is now in the Bodleian. Degenhart and Schmitt list thirteen Italian, probably Umbrian, fifteenth-century manuscripts, all in public collections, a further twelve from northern Italy, two from southern Italy, and six from outside Italy. Five copies of the Vaticinia are recorded in the United States by de Ricci and Bond and Faye, all in public collections: Pierpont Morgan Library MSS. M.272 and M.402, New York Public Library, Spencer Collection, MS.53 (Supplement, p.333) and Boston, Public Library MSS.1534 and 1535 (Supplement, p.211, nos.106 and 107).

MINIATURES

The series of images of popes formed an integral part of the text of the Vaticinia from the beginning. The allegorical character of the work resulted in a set of bizarre and intriguing images, which expanded on and explained the obscure allusions of the text, often through a kind of political satire. The accepted authority for the interpretation of the illustrations is Paolo dalla Scala, Marquis of Verona (Scaliger), Pauli Principis de la Scala ... primi tomi Miscellaneorum de rerum caussis ... effigies ... nimirum, vaticiniorum & imaginum Joachimi Abbatis Florensis Calabriæ, & Anselmi Episcopi Marsichani, super statu summorum Pontificum Rhomanæ Ecclesiæ, contra falsam ... & seditiosam cujusdam Pseudomagi, quæ nuper nomine Theophrasti Paracelsi in lucem prodiit, pseudomagicam expositionem, ... explanatio, Coloniæ Agrippinæ, 1570.

The iconography of the present manuscript is close to, although not absolutely identical with, that of St. Gall, Vadianischen Bibliothek ms.342, generally dated to the second half of the fourteenth century and assigned to France (cf. Degenhart and Schmitt, p. 227; also Millet and Rigaux, 1992, p.715, figs.2, 5 and 6, as before), but the style suggests sixteenth-century Italy.  

The subjects of the miniatures are:

1. Folio 1r, ‘Incipit principium malorum …’, a Pope seated on a throne, a large bear directly over his head and two cubs suspended in the air to the right, a pair of hounds clamouring at his knees. This folio is misbound and should be fol.9r. The Pope is usually identified as Boniface IX (1389-1404). According to Scaliger, the large bear is the Roman Republic, which the Pope governed, and the two cubs are the antipopes, Clement VII and Benedict XII.

2. Folio 1v, ‘Decimae dissipabuntur in effusione sanguinis...’, a Pope standing holding a book in one hand, and a banner in the other, in front of him a winged, web-footed monster with a human head, to the right two crows attacking a snake. This folio is misbound and should be fol.9v. The Pope is usually identified as Innocent VII (1404-1406). The two crows and serpent perhaps allude to the various political disturbances in Rome during the Pope’s reign, while the beast, which closely resembles the figure of the Antichrist on fol.16r, is possibly an allusion to the Great Schism which arose at this time.

 3. Folio 2r, ‘Duros corporis substinebit labores...', a Pope with the keys of St. Peter, about to be hit with a cudgel by a man in a green tunic and red hose, beside his feet a woman’s head. The Pope is usually identified as Honorius IV (1283-7). According to Scaliger, the man with the club is Joachim of Fiore admonishing the Pope, the severed head being that of Peter of Aragon or, according to other commentators, Michael Paleologus.

4. Folio 2v, ‘Voce vulpina perdet principatum...’, a Pope in black, on his knees praying before a tree from which the hand of God emerges in a gesture of blessing; a fox attacks him from behind, toppling from his head his tiara, the whole watched by a cockerel to the left of the tree. The Pope is usually identified with Celestine V (1294), whose origins in the Benedictine order account for the black habit, and the fox is Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani, who forced his abdication.

5. Folio 3r, ‘Oriens bibit de calice irae Dei...’, a Pope seated on a dais, holding a chalice which is received by a woman in pink to the left; to the right stands a nun, and a winged dragon perches on his knee. The Pope is usually identified as Nicholas IV (1288-1292). According to Scaliger, the female figures represent, right, the Vita monastica, the life formerly led by the Pope, and left the glory of the century referred to in the text. The dragon typifies Sultan Mulech Sapherat, who ravaged the Holy Land. Alternatively, the Pope is flanked by the Ecclesia occidentalis, to the right, and the Ecclesia orientalis. The Ecclesia occidentalis receives the chalice of God’s wrath, the Ecclesia orientalis the papal blessing.

6. Folio 3v, ‘Fraudolenter (sic) intrasti potenter regnasti, gemens morieris...’,  a Pope holding the key of St.Peter and a trident, attacked by a crow, given an olive branch by a dove, and watched by a cockerel; on his left a kneeling Franciscan friar and the hand of God. The Pope is usually identified as Boniface VIII (1294-1303). The man to the right, who in some manuscripts is shown in the stocks, is interpreted by Scaliger as the saintly but wholly incompetent Celestine V, who after his resignation retired as Brother Petrus. The crow is apparently an error for the more usual eagle, representing the Ghibellines, i.e. the Colonna family. The dove and the cock have been transposed from the more usual position. The cock is perhaps Philip II of France, who with Sciarra Colonna captured the Pope at Anagni, the dove is Boniface’s successor, the trident excommunication.

7. Folio 4r, ‘Viri sonis invidiae orbabuntur...’, a Pope attacked by a crow, and blessing a serpent twisted round a tree. The Pope is usually identified as Benedict XI (1303-4). The crow typifies the Dominican order, of which he was a member. The tree represents peaceful Italy, the dragon, which is often shown with two heads, the Guelfs and Ghibellines, whom the Pope tried to reconcile, or alternatively Perugia, where the Pope died suddenly after eight months, possibly of poisoning. In other copies of the Vaticinia, the Pope is accepting a fruit from the mouth of the dragon. The book is perhaps an allusion to Benedict’s various writings.

8. Folio 4v, ‘Mobilis et immobilis fiet, et Maria plura vastabit...’, a Pope riding a white palfrey, a crow perched on his arm, away from a nun framed in a doorway and wringing her hands. The Pope is usually identified as Clement V (1305-14), who rides away from the sorrowing Ecclesia Romana. The scene represents the transfer of the Papal seat to Avignon.

9. Folio 5r, ‘Contra columbam haec imago turpissima clericorum pugnabit...’, the Pope holding a flail in his right hand and the key of St. Peter surmounted by an owl in his left. At this feet is the Agnus Dei which is wounded by a sword he holds in his mouth, to his right the Dove flying away, to his left a winged serpent with a human head, wearing a papal tiara. The Pope is usually identified as John XXII (1316-1334). According to Scaliger, the sword and the scourge symbolize the Pope’s tyranny, in particular the banishment of Matteo Visconti. The bleeding Agnus Dei is an allusion to the Pope’s attacks on the Franciscans, and the winged monster is the anti-pope Pietro Rainaluci.

10. Folio 5v, ‘Sex lucidabit planetas et unus finaliter ipsius fulgorem excedet...’, a Pope, with a triple crown beside him, blessing a dove and a crow underneath a group of stars. The Pope is generally identified as Benedict XII (1334-1342). According to Scaliger, the six stars are the six cardinals created by this Pope, the dove is the Emperor Louis the Bavarian, with whom Benedict attempted a reconciliation, or possibly alternatively the Pope’s Cistercian origins. The crown and tiara floating in the air to the Pope’s left represent the Pope’s sending of a legate to Rome for the nomination of senators, in place of having this officer sent by the Emperor. Alternatively, the crow and the dove represent the Franciscan and Dominican orders, of whom the Pope was a strong supporter.

11. Folio 6r, ‘Stolam suam in sanguine Agni dealbabit...’, a Pope holding the keys of St.Peter, standing in a ship, to his left a snake (often shown grasping his wrist), with a cockerel beside him, pointing to the head of a dog with an inverted cross. The Pope is usually identified as Clement VI (1342-52). According to Scaliger, the dog’s head is Andrew, son of Charles of Anjou, king of Hungary, of whose murder the Pope cleared Andrew’s wife, Queen Joanna. The serpent is the emblem of the Visconti, the cross is the alliance of Philip VI of France and Edward III of England for Italy’s protection. No mention is made of the ship, which sometimes appears as a cauldron or a cloud instead.

12. Folio 6v, ’Lupus habitabit cum Agno pariterque cibabit...', a Pope standing in a crown, holding a dagger and the keys of St. Peter, on which perch a dove, to his left a wolf standing on its hind legs, resting its front paws on a sword. The Pope is usually identified as Innocent VI (1352-1362). According to Scaliger, the keys and the knife represent the Pope’s desire to purify the Church, the wolf the uprising in Rome which Cola di Rienzi was to have suppressed. The crown is an allusion to the coronation of Charles IV in Rome, or possibly to the dignity of the tribunes, which were abolished by the Pope.

13. Folio 7r, ‘Iste solus clare aperiet librum scriptum digito Dei...’, a Pope seated on a dais, holding an object sometimes identified as a flagellum or scourge in his right hand, and the keys of St.Peter in his left, flanked by a peacock and an angel who touches his shoulder and grasps the keys, to the right the hand of God. The Pope is generally identified as Urban V (1362-1370). According to Scaliger, the flagellum represents the attack of Cardinal Agidius Carriglius against Barberino Visconti. The angel typifies God’s aid with which the Pope briefly returned the Papal seat to Rome in 1367. The peacock symbolises the Pope’s love of justice and piety.

14. Folio 7v, ‘Flores rubei aquam odoriferam distillabunt...’, a Pope, leaning on a staff, confronting a solider who aims a gun at him, surrounded by swords and spears, to the right the hand of God reaching down to restrain the soldier. The Pope is usually identified as Gregory XI (1370-1378). According to Scaliger, the staff is a pilgrim staff signifying Gregory’s return to Rome, the soldier the continuous armed insurrection within Italy during the Pope’s reign, in particular the massacre of the papal troops at Cesena.

15. Folio 8r, ‘Bona vita…’, a Pope holding a book, conferring his tiara on a beast with a ram’s body and human face. This leaf is misbound, and should be fol.16r.  The Pope is usually identified as Innocent VIII (1484-1492).

16. Folio 9r, ‘Stellas congregabit ut luceant in firmamento caeli...’, a Pope seated on a dais, holding a martyr’s palm, with two bears at his feet, a dove whispering in his ear, above his head seven stars. This folio is misbound and should be fol.1r. The Pope is usually identified as Nicholas III (1277-1280). The bears are a pun on his family name, Orsini and the dove represent the Franciscan order, of which Nicholas was a member and to whom he was always kindly disposed.

17. Folio 9v, ‘Clavibus claudet et non aperiet...’, a Pope prodding a crowned eagle with a cross. This folio is misbound and should be fol.1v. The Pope is usually identified as Martin IV (1281-1285), the eagle perhaps symbolises Michael Paleologus, the Byzantine Emperor, whom Martin excommunicated.

18. Folio 10r, ‘Potentia vestigia simonis magis tenebit...’, a Pope seated on a dais, with a boy at his knee, a crowned eagle perched on his tiara, a unicorn resting on his shoulder, and two dogs pawing at his robes. The Pope is usually identified with Gregory XII (1406-1415, abdicated 1409). According to Scaliger, the unicorn symbolises the unity of the Church, the eagle the Holy Roman Emperor, and the boy Carlo Malatesta da Rimini, the papal delegate to the Council of Constance, who carried the news of the Pope’s abdication.

19. Folio 10v, ‘Confussio et error incitabitur...’, three columns, one with the bust of a king, another with the bust of a friar, the third with a protruding arm holding a sickle in its hand. This scene is usually associated with Alexander V (1409-1410). According to Scaliger, the bust of the king represents Ladislaus of Naples, the friar Pope Alexander, who had been a Franciscan, and the arm with the sickle the Council of Pisa, which elected the Pope.

20. Folio 11r, ‘Occasionem filii Balac sectabuntur...’, a Pope pawed by a bear suckling three cubs. This folio is misbound and should be fol.12r. The Pope is usually identified as Eugenius IV (1431-1447), the bear as his favourite, Cardinal Giordano Orsini.

21. Folio 11v, ‘Potestas caenobia ad locum pastorum redibunt...’, a fortified town, with two groups of soldiers armed with spears and crossbows, before the gate a chalice containing a human head. This folio is misbound and should be fol.12v. According to Scaliger, the miniature represents the Council of Constance. No explanation is offered of the head in the chalice.

22. Folio 12r, ‘Elatio paupertatis obedientia castitas…’, a Pope, his tiara floating away above his head, holding a sickle and a rose, flanked by a leg protruding from space to this left, and a letter B to his right. Now misbound, and should be folio 11r (the offprint of fol.10v is faintly visible). The Pope is sometimes identified as Eugenius IV (cf. Degenhart and Schmitt, op.cit., p.218) but more often as John XXIII (1410-1415), and according to Scalinger the sickle alludes to his war against Ladislaus of Naples, and the leg is an allusion to his arms, derived from his family name, Cossa. The floating tiara alludes to his deposition in May 1415.

23. Folio 12v, ‘Incisio hypocrisis in abominatione erit...’, a Pope being pawed by a bull; in the air beside him the heads of a king and queen. This folio is misbound and should be fol.11v. Usually identified as Martin V (1417-1431). Scaliger interpreted the bull as the deposed John XXIII who Martin recognised as the true Pope; the two heads are either the Emperor Sigismund and the Empress Barbara, or King Louis III of Naples (1417-34) and Queen Joanna, with whom Martin entered into various alliances.

24. Folio 13r, ‘Bona operatio, Ihesaurum pauperibus erogabit...’, a nude giant, seated on a rocky outcrop in a dejected attitude, an open chest and a bag full of gold coins beside him, approached by a young boy. This folio is misbound and should be fol.14r. The giant is usually identified with Calixtus III (1455-1458). The drawing illustrates the ‘nudus iterum vadet  in interiora terrae’ of the text of the Vaticinia. The gold perhaps alludes to the papal imposition of a tax to finance a Crusade, his depression at his failure to persuade the rulers of Europe to unite behind him in this effort. The young boy is interpreted by Scaliger as Cardinal Domenico Capranica of S. Croce in Jerusalem, who died during the funeral of the Pope, but might also refer to the Pope’s reputation for nepotism.

25. Folio 13v, ‘Bona intentio charitas abundabit...’, a haloed Pope holding his tiara over the heads of a pack of dogs or wolves who crouch beside him. This folio is misbound and should be fol.14v. The Pope is usually interpreted as Pius II (1458-1464).

26. Folio 14r, ‘Bona gratia simonia cessabit...’, a Pope holding a book, beside him a wolf running off with a pennant and a papal key in its mouth, a second pennant behind it; a large hand to the left. The Pope is usually identified as Nicholas V (1447-1455), and Scaliger interpreted the wolf as the anti-pope Felix V.

27. Folio 14v, ‘Potestas et unitas imminuetur...’, a walled city beside a river, above which float seven hands. According to Scaliger, the city represents Constantinople, the hands the weakened Rome after the fall of Constantinople in 1452.

28. Folio 15r, ‘Praevaricatio concordia erit...’, a Pope crowned by an angel descending from a cloud. The Pope is usually identified as Paul II (1464-1471).

29. Folio 15v, ‘Bona occasio viventium, sacra cessabunt...’, a Pope seated on a dais, holding a large bound codex, with two angels holding up a green and red cloth behind him. The Pope is usually identified as Sixtus IV (1471-1484).

30. Folio 16r, ‘Terribilis es, et quis resistet tibi...’, a winged monster, with a human head, antlers, webbed feet and a serpent-headed tail with a sword in its mouth, wearing the papal tiara; to the right a crescent moon and five stars. The ‘bestia terribilis’, the Antichrist, is usually identified with Urban VI (1378-1389), whose intrigues and cruelty (sometimes attributed to partial mental derangement) were held responsible for much political turmoil throughout Europe. The dragon’s head holding the sword refers to the anti-pope Clement VII, the five stars within the crescent to the five cardinals executed by Urban for conspiracy. This folio is misbound and should be fol.8r.