A Treasure Trove of Medieval Prophecy: The Origin of Vaticanus Latinus 3819 Reconsidered

Abstract

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 3819 is an important anthology of medieval prophetic texts that has appeared frequently in scholarship ever since Herbert Grundmann first drew attention to it in the 1920s. Grundmann argued that the manuscript was produced during the pontificate of John XXII (r. 1316-34) and that it must have been of Italian or southern French origin. These parameters have shaped virtually all subsequent discourse concerning Vat. lat. 3819. However, scholars have long overlooked the final item in the manuscript, an extract from a major prophetic work of the thirteenth century, the Super prophetas of pseudo-Joachim of Fiore, traditionally known as Super Esaiam prophetam. I argue that this extract must have been copied at Avignon underpapal auspices sometime between 1375 and 1407, during the height of the GreatSchism of the Western Church, and that it was probably copied with the explicitintention of appending it to the rest of this prophetic compilation. I derive my evidence for this assertion from the manuscript’s repeated appearances in medieval library inventories and from a rigorous codicological examination that reveals subtle differences between this extract and the rest of the manuscript in script, decoration, and layout. The significance of this finding is twofold. First, it helps elucidate the transmission of Joachite material across Europe and the special role that Languedoc, particularly Avignon, played in this process. Second, it serves as another indicator of how Joachim’s influence reached the highest levels of the Church, suggesting that the Avignon popes engaged with the prophetic future during a critical moment of the Church’s history, which underscores in turn the centrality that Joachim of Fiore and his influence ought to have in our understanding of the Middle Ages. This study concludes with a detailed description of Vat. lat. 3819, paying special attention to this final extract.