The Sibylla Tiburtina is a Latin prophecy attributed to a prophetess from classical antiquity. It concludes with an account of the End of History, involving the coming of the Antichrist and his battle with a Last World Emperor. Approximately 100 manuscripts, written between the mid-11th and the 16th centuries, survive which testify to the Tiburtina's immense popularity in the medieval West; as such the Tiburtina is a key text for understanding medieval apocalypticism and occupies an important place in the intellectual history of the Middle Ages. However, studies of the manuscripts and the history of the text have been largely neglected, in comparison with other similar works, so little is currently known about who copied and read the prophecy. Dr Holdenried's research fills this gap. This study is based on an examination of all surviving manuscripts and includes an analysis of the textual material which accompanies the Tiburtina, a survey of titles and annotations, as well as research on variant texts (including several hitherto unknown). Modern historiography regards the Tiburtina solely as a vehicle for expressing contemporary political concerns triggered by crises thought to herald the End of the World. This book provides a much more varied picture and offers a new approach to the Tiburtina by placing it, for the first time, in the context of medieval traditions which saw Sibylline prophecy as independent, non-Christian evidence of Christ's life and as confirmation of His divinity. As is shown, these traditions had a major impact on the reception of the Tiburtina. The book concludes with a repertory of the manuscripts, together with brief outlines of individual textual traditions as represented in groups of manuscripts, which will constitute a valuable reference source for other scholars.
Author(s): Anke Holdenried
Series: Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 281
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgements
Conventions Used
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: Approaches to the Tiburtina
1 The Tiburtina in the Context of Editorial Concerns
2 Extant Manuscripts: Repositories of Medieval Approaches to the Tiburtina
3 The Neglected Medieval Context: The Sibyl as Prophetess of Christ
Part II: The Tiburtina in the Context of its Medium of Transmission
4 Associated Content
5 Salvation, Judgement and the Tiburtina
Part III: The Impact of the Christological Tradition of Sibylline Prophecy
6 The Evidence of the Margins
7 Beyond the Regnal Lists: The Evidence of Textual Variations
8 Matthew Paris, Augustine and the Tiburtina
Conclusion
Part IV: Manuscripts
Guide to the Conspectus of Extant Manuscripts
Conspectus of Extant Manuscripts
Appendix A: Excluded Manuscripts
Appendix B: The Insular Transmission of the Tiburtina
Appendix C: Version IV Manuscripts
Appendix D: Sibylline Prophecy in De Civitate Dei and Vos inquam
Abbreviated Literature Cited in the Conspectus
Bibliography
Index of Manuscripts Cited
Index
