Twelfth‐Century Apocalyptic Imaginations and the Coming of the Antichrist

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the apocalyptic ideas of some twelfth-century figures, principally Norbert of Xanten, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, and Elisabeth of Schonau. Starting from a difference of opinion between Norbert and Bernard on the imminence of the arrival of the Antichrist, the paper explores the apocalyptic understanding of various twelfth-century thinkers. It then seeks to acount for their divergent opinions by reference to such traditional explanations as gender, organizational affiliation, or participation in or consciousness of social and religious movements. Such explanations having been found wanting, it is then suggested that we should look closer to home. An examination of the spiritual milieu of the four main characters, using information from letters and other accounts such as vitae, is essayed. Such evidence, though not entirely conclusive, indicates a correlation between the more active apocalyptic imaginations and heightened consciousness of the intervention of the devil in everyday life.