The Empire at the End of Time

281 Pages·2016·1.83 MB·English

by  Kneupper

The Empire at the End of Time

The Empire at the End
of Time
Identity and Reform in Late Medieval
German Prophecy
Frances courtney Kneupper
3
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kneupper, Frances Courtney.
Title: The empire at the end of time : identity and reform in late medieval
German prophecy / Frances Courtney Kneupper.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015021919 | ISBN 978–0–19–027936–3 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Eschatology—History of doctrines—Middle Ages, 600–1500. |
Nationalism—Germany—History. | Group identity—Germany—History.
Classification: LCC BT819.5 .K66 2016 | DDC 236/.90943—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015021919
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan, USA
To Alan, sine quo non

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
PART I | Context
CHAPTER 1 Audience and Reception 19
PART II | Individual Prophecies of Late Medieval
German- Speaking Europe
CHAPTER 2 The Gamaleon Prophecy 41
CHAPTER 3 The Letter of Brother Sigwalt 66
CHAPTER 4 The Auffahrt Abend Prophecy 88
CHAPTER 5 The Wirsberger Letters 108
PART III | Themes in Late Medieval German Prophecy
CHAPTER 6 The Church and Clergy in Prophetic Thought 125
CHAPTER 7 German Identity in Prophetic Thought 149
Conclusion 172
Appendix A: Original Eschatological Prophecies of Late
Medieval Upper- German- Speaking Europe 177
Appendix B: Eschatological Prophecies Circulating in Late
Medieval Upper- German- Speaking Europe Composed in
Previous Centuries or Other Regions 191
Appendix C: Manuscripts Containing Original or Adapted
Prophetic Material in Late Medieval Upper- German-
Speaking Europe 199
Bibliography 231
Index 247
viii | Contents
PREFACE
In this book, I refer to “Germans,” “German- speakers,” and “inhabitants of
the Empire” to designate a group of people with certain common characteris-
tics: namely, their use of the German language and their political membership
in the Holy Roman Empire. Yet I write about a time when these designations
carried ambiguous meaning. It is a matter of much debate whether German-
speakers in the Late Middle Ages felt themselves to be “German,” and whether
being “German” had any significance for them. Indeed, it might be suggested
that using the term “Germans” to characterize the people discussed herein is
to assume a priori that they have a shared identity. I persist in doing so because
several prophecies considered in this book employ the word “Deutsch” (or
Latin “Germani”) to refer to the people they describe. It is in fact the compos-
ers of the prophetic material who suggest that such a group exists and can be
named. At the same time, other prophecies do not use the word “Deutsch,” but
refer instead to “inhabitants of the Empire.” Thus, “German” was not a fixed,
universal category understood by all, but rather one of a set of overlapping
terms, reflecting shared, but not identical, ideas and characteristics. I reflect
this ambiguity in my use of “Germans,” “German-s peakers,” and “inhabitants
of the Empire,” and ask the reader to keep the ambiguous meaning of these
categories in mind.
Similar challenges arise concerning what to call the region inhabited by
these “German” people. No concise label exists. However, as will be discussed
in more detail, as the Middle Ages came to a close there was a growing sense
that the German- speaking parts of the Empire formed a self-c onscious cultural
and political entity. I therefore employ the terms “German-s peaking Europe”
and the “Empire” to designate the emerging cultural, political, and linguistic
community of the German- speaking regions of the Holy Roman Empire. As
language was a strong defining factor, I often describe the region as “German-
speaking Europe.” I also refer on occasion to the “German Empire,” because the
Empire, while technically the “Holy Roman Empire,” took on an increasingly