.

2 (2014) 117135
Initial. A Review of Medieval Studies 2 (2014) 117135
UDC: 27-175.2/.27
Alfredo Gatto
Universit Vita-Salute San Raffaele
Via Olgettina 58, Milano, Italy
alfredo.gatto@hotmail.it

A PROPOSAL FOR A DATING OF DE SEPTEM SIGILLIS

OF JOACHIM OF FIORE

Abstract: De septem sigillis plays an important role in comprehending the

evolution of Joachim of Fiores thought. This brief apocalyptic treatise represents
a quick model to summarize the hermeneutical efforts that the Calabrian abbot
carried out in his previous works. By placing De septem sigillis within Joachims
corpus, we can reach a broader knowledge of the development of the Calabrian
theologians reflection. The structure of this treatise is based on a sevenfold model borrowed from the seven seals of the Apocalypse. Thanks to a binary concordia
between the persecutions that took place in the Old and in the New Testament,
Joachim tries to outline in this treatise the events that the Christian people will
have to face before the final judgment. After having confronted the content of this
text with the other works in which the same structure is presented, we have reasonable grounds to support that this apocalyptic treatise is a late product, written
between 1196 to 1198, immediately before his most important work Expositio in
Apocalypsim.
Keywords: Joachim of Fiore, De septem sigillis, seven seals, Apocalypse,
Antichrist.

1. Introduction
De septem sigillis1 by Joachim of Fiore plays a key role in comprehending the evolution of the authors thinking. In this short apocalyptic
treatise, the Calabrian abbot summarizes the persecutions that took place
in the two Testaments, punctuated by the opening of the seven seals of the
Apocalypse. Joachim holds that each seal contains a tribulatio, and that
1

The critical edition of the Latin text was edited by J. E. WANNENMACHER, Hermeneutik der Heilsgeschichte. De septem sigillis und die sieben Siegel im Werk Joachims von Fiore, Leiden 2005, 336355 [Italian trans.: I Sette Sigilli, ed. by A. GATTO,
Milan 2013, 5179].

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each tribulation suffered by the Church is connected to a vetero-testamentary persecution. Because of the binary concordance between the tribulationes in the Old and in the New Testament, the opening of each seal
reveals both the connection between the two Testaments and between the
major events of the Jewish history and the events that the Christians were
facing at his time.
As Julia Eva Wannenmacher has clearly pointed out,2 Joachims
choice of adopting the sevenfold scheme embodied in the seals is part of a
well defined historical context. Actually, two different hermeneutical
trends had questioned the meaning of the seven seals well before Joachim
did. For instance, the school of thought originating from Gregory the Great
(that includes Rupert of Deutz, Alain de Lille and Honorius of Autun
among others, just to limit ourselves to the authors who were approximately contemporary with the Calabrian theologian) considers the seals to be
connected with the opera and the mysteria Christi: according to this view,
each signaculum is related to an event of Jesus Christs life that is divided
into seven parts, from the incarnatio till the adventus ad iudicandum.3
Beyond this interpretative option, it is also possible to ascribe an intrinsic
historicity to the septenary scheme if each seal is considered as a given
period of the Church history. In this context, Bede the Venerable, Anselm
of Havelberg and Rupert of Deutz conveyed the exegetic basis on which
Joachim developed his personal prophetical view.4
Even if Joachim probably found the conditions to historically rethink the Apocalypse of John in the latter school of thought,5 we should
not forget that the hermeneutical construct he proposed is not reducible to
the previous ones. The concord that Joachim established between the historical events of the two Testaments cannot be attributed to any previous
reflection: by drawing a perfect correspondence between the vetero-testa2

See J. E. WANNENMACHER, Hermeneutik der Heilsgeschichte, 3758; see also

EADEM, De septem sigillis: Exegese zwischen Tradition und Innovation, Florensia 12
(1998) 718.
3
According to Rupert of Deutz, the seven parts are the following: incarnatio,
passio, resurrectio, ascensio, datum Spiritus sancti Paracleti, vocatio gentium and the
secundus adventus ad iudicandum. In this regard, see RUPERTUS TUITIENSIS, Commentaria in Apocalypsim, PL 169, 8251214c, col. 925d. See also ALANUS DE INSULIS,
In Distinctionibus Dictionum Theologicalium, PL 210, 6851011, col. 837bc; HONORIUS AUGUSTODUNENSIS, Expositio in Cantica Canticorum, PL 172, 347496c, col. 367a.
4
See BEDA VENERABILIS, Explanatio Apocalypsis, PL 93, 129206d, col. 146c
d; ANSELMUS HAVELBERGENSIS, Dialogi, PL 188, 11391248b, col. 1149b; RUPERTUS
TUITIENSIS, De Sancta Trinitate et Operibus eius, PL 167, 1991827, col. 1682cd.
5
In this regard, see R. E. LERNER, Joachim of Fiores Breakthrough to Chiliasm, Cristianesimo nella storia 6 (1985) 489512.

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mentary tribulations and their opening, the abbot introduced a brand new
element into the contemporary debate.
After all, the reflection of the Calabrian abbot, even though it might
be placed within a monastic and Cistercian tradition, cannot be entirely
reduced to that line of thought. Indeed, Joachims ideas do represent a
unique example in the intellectual scenario of the Middle Ages. If we consider the spiritual and non-chiliastic interpretation of the Apocalypse provided by the previous tradition, we can comprehend the novelty of the
Joachimist reading. In the first centuries of the new era, the rejection of the
chiliastic interpretation of the Apocalypse is more or less contemporary to
the recognition of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. This
new paradigm is best represented by Saint Augustin: according to the bishop of Hippo, in fact, the Book of Revelation is nothing more than a spiritual allegory, since the millennium was already realized in the Church.
In spite of the individual differences between medieval authors, this
conviction was criticized in its assumptions by Joachim. The abbot holds
that the Apocalypse does not only provide a moral and ecclesiastic framework to place the history of salvation, but it should be read, in an eschatological key, as a continue prophecy that truly describes Gods plan in human history. The seven seals of the book of John are now considered as
seven different historic periods. Thus, since the Apocalypse represents a
historic book, it is possible to explain, through an exegetical method based
on a new kind of intelligentia spiritualis, the different stages of the Revelation. Therefore, Joachim is not a prophet God does not speak through
him; rather, he is an apocalyptic thinker who interprets the divine plan inscribed in a historic book divinely inspired.
Beyond the Expositio in Apocalypsis, which represents the full development of Joachims assumptions, we can find in De septem sigillis one
of the clearest examples to properly understand the exegesis of the Calabrian abbot.
2. Status quaestionis
In order to properly understand the role played by the De septem sigillis in Joachims works it is essential to pinpoint the period when this
short pamphlet was written. However, there is not a full consensus on the
chronology of the abbots works in the scholarly community. Marjorie
Reeves, in the introductory essay that opens the first critical edition of De
septem sigillis co-edited with Beatrice Hirsch-Reich, does not indicate any
precise dating of that work. In her opinion, the apocalyptic pamphlet represents a scheme of the division into seven periods that is described in
some tables of the Liber figurarum. Reeves also underlines that the text,
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although it is based on the only binary pattern, without any hint of a threefold division which will be present in the more mature works of the theologian,6 provides an analysis of the sixth and the seventh seal perfectly in line
with the latest works of Joachim. Since simplicity often anticipates complexity and elaboration, De septem sigillis is not an early work: it is then
more reasonable to assume that this treatise was composed more or less in
the same period as the Liber figurarum.7
The date proposed by Marjorie Reeves lies between two options in
stark contrast to each other: on the one hand, Julia Eva Wannenmacher
holds that De septem sigillis is one of the latest works written by Joachim
of Fiore;8 on the other hand, Bernard McGinn is convinced that this apocalyptic treatise, referring only to the concordia between the Old and the
New Testament, should be regarded as one of the first works of the abbot.9
6

In Joachims reflection, the binary pattern is the model of an exegetical theory

based on the concord between the Old and the New Testament. Since the two Testaments were directly inspired by God, there is a strong relationship between them.
Thanks to the concordia duorum Testamentorum, it is possible to find in the events lived by the Jewish people the key for interpreting the future events that the Christians
will have to face. The hermeneutical theory of Joachim is rooted in his Trinitarian theology. Thus, there is also a concordia trium statum, namely an interpretation of the three
stages of the history borrowed by the Trinitarian model: the first status was the time of
the Father under the Mosaic Law; the second one is the time of the Son under the Gospel, and the third and last stage, near to the end of the entire world, will be characterized
by the coming of the Spirit.
7
Was it one of the Abbots first attempts to express himself schematically in
order to meet the growing demand for a clear, popular guide to the meaning of history?
Is it an embryo figure from which some of the elaborate designs of the Liber figurarum
grew? It is difficult to say with confidence that is the earlier than the Liber figurarum,
unless we argue that simplicity must inevitably precede elaboration. One other consideration might suggest that it should be placed earlier: it is built entirely on the pattern of
twos. Thus, it points to the pattern of threes in the 5/7 division of the 12 tribes and
churches and the concept of the Sabbath Age is clearly stated, but the threefold division
of history is nowhere developed. Thus it covers, in simpler form, only the ground of the
historical figures in the Liber figurarum [] The treatment of the Sixth and Seventh
Seals and Openings seems to represent Joachims final thought on a subject which he
had declared to be most difficult and most crucial. We do not, therefore, judge this to be
an early work, but rather a late one, put together, perhaps, in the same period as the Liber figurarum, in which he sets out to give to a generation standing at the crucial moment of all time the view of history in its sweep towards final climax for which they
were so eager and receptive (M. REEVES B. HIRSCH-REICH, The Seven Seals in the
Writings of Joachim of Fiore, Recherches de thologie ancienne et mdivale 21 (1954)
239247, pp. 230231).
8
J. E. WANNENMACHER, Hermeneutik der Heilsgeschichte, 248251.
9
The short piece known as De septem sigillis summarizes the double persecutions of the two Testaments figured in the seven seals as in a fashion so totally de-

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A. Gatto, A Proposal for a Dating of De septem sigillis of Joachim of Fiore

Even if the pattern of two eras mentioned by McGinn represents the
internal structure of De septem sigillis, the presence of this mere concordia
and correspondence between the persecutiones of the two Testaments does
not represent a sufficient reason to believe that this short treatise is one of
the first works written by Joachim. We do not forget, in fact, as Kurt-Victor Selge appropriately reminds us,10 that in a manuscript11 of De septem
sigillis is added an introduction which contains a reference to the victory
of Saladin: here is why we cannot hypothesize a dating prior to 1188.
Hence, the best way to locate historically this apocalyptic treatise in
the broad framework of the chronology of the abbots work is to reflect on
the description provided by Joachim of both the individual seals and the
tribulations which take place within them. It is possible to compare the
presentation of the various persecutiones described in De septem sigillis
with the other works where this same partition can be found. By analyzing
the differences in Joachims works, we might have the opportunity to
properly understand the evolution of his thought.
3. The seven seals and the tribulations in Joachims corpus
3.1 The first five persecutions within the two Testaments
The first five persecutions of the Old Testament do not present some
significant differences. From the Genealogia until the Expositio in Apocalypsim, Joachim draws a picture almost identical,12 with some small
pendent on the pattern of two eras that it suggests this is an early work (B. MCGINN,
The Calabrian Abbot. Joachim of Flore in the History of Western Thought, New York
1985, 34).
10
K.-V. SELGE, Lorigine delle opere di Gioacchino da Fiore, Lattesa della fine
dei tempi nel Medioevo, eds. O. CAPITANI J. MIETHKE, Bologna 1990, 87131, p. 112.
11
See M. BLOOMFIELD H. LEE, The Pierpont-Morgan Manuscript of De
septem sigillis, Recherches de thologie ancienne et mdivale 38 (1971) 137148, p.
143, ll. 2123: Sub sexto capite bestie quod modo est in quo Saladinus obtinuit triumphabunt Christiani adversus hoc caput bestie, et quasi ad nihilum deducent et post
paucos annos contrahetur plaga huius capitis.
12
I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia sanctorum antiquorum patrum, ed. G. L. POTEST,
Deutsches Archiv fr Erforschung des Mittelalters 56 (2000) 55101, p. 95, ll. 8082;
IDEM, De prophetia ignota, ed. M. KAUP, Hannover 1998, 180224, p. 184, ll. 1517;
IDEM, Praephatio super Apocalypsim, ed. K.-V. SELGE, Deutsches Archiv fr Erforschung des Mittelalters 46 (1990) 102131, p. 113, ll. 283284; IDEM, Tractatus in expositionem vite et regule Beati Benedicti, ed. A. PATSCHOVSKY, Roma 2008, 205, ll. 5
9; IDEM, Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti, ed. E. R. DANIEL, Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society 73/8 (1983), 212, ll. 9196; IDEM, Enchiridion super
Apocalypsim, ed E. K. BURGER, Toronto 1986, 3335, ll. 808884; IDEM, De septem
sigillis, ed. J. E. WANNENMACHER, Hermeneutik der Heilsgeschichte, 336355, pp.

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changes.13 In all his works, the Calabrian abbot attributes the first tribulation suffered by the Jewish people to the Egyptians. The persecutio Egyptiorum is usually followed by the one perpetrated by the Canaanites; in
the third and fourth seals the persecutions of Syrians and Assyrians took
place, while in the fifth seal the Jewish people suffered the persecutio of
the Chaldeans.
As far as the tribulations suffered by the Christians are concerned,
Joachim holds that the first persecutors were the Jews and the second ones
were the pagans; the third persecutio is generally attributed to the Persians
and the Arian peoples namely the Goths, the Vandals and the Lombards
whereas the fourth persecution was carried out by the Saracens; finally,
during the opening of the fifth seals the Christian people had to face the
persecution of the Teutonic.14 Even in this case, the changes are minimal,
and they do not involve the central cruxes of Joachims description.15
3.2 The sixth and the seventh seals in the early works
The entire scenery radically changes in the description that the theologian provides of the persecutions which took place in the time window
disclosed in the sixth and seventh seal. In the Genealogia (1176) and the
De prophetia ignota (1184), the sixth vetero-testamentary persecutio is
attributed to the Medes,16 while in the time of its opening the Christian
people are supposed to attend, respectively, the destructio Babilonis, id
336348; IDEM, Liber introductorius, ed. F. BINDONE M. PASINI, Venetiis 1527 (repr.
Frankfurt a. M 1964), fol. 4ra; IDEM, Liber figurarum, ed. L. TONDELLI M. REEVES
B. HIRSCH-REICH, Torino 1990, t. III, VIII and IX.
13
I. FLORENSIS, De prophetia ignota, 184, ll. 1617; IDEM, Tractatus Beati Benedicti, 205, l. 7 and 228, l. 2.
14
I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia, 95, ll. 8792; IDEM, De prophetia ignota, 186188;
IDEM, Praephatio super Apocalypsim, 114, ll. 296313; IDEM, Tractatus Beati
Benedicti, 226230; IDEM, Concordia, 287302; IDEM, Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, 3336, ll. 811914; IDEM, De septem sigillis, 337349; IDEM, Liber introductorius, fol. 7rbvb; IDEM, Expositio in Apocalypsim, fol. 113vb117va; IDEM, Liber figurarum, t. IV, VIII and X.
15
The only important changes can be found in the opening of the fifth seal described in the Expositio in Apocalypsim, fol. 116rbvb and in the Tractatus in expositionem vite et regule Beati Benedicti, 231, ll. 510. In this treatise, after the description
of the first five persecutions of the New Testament, Joachim holds that the third tribulation is actually fourfold: Verumtamen in hoc misterio non ita accipienda sunt bella sex,
sed in tribus bestiis assignanda, quas scribit Daniel, quarum tertia quatuor capita habere
describitur, videlicet quod tertia tribulatio quadripartita sit et quatuor persecutiones a
quatuor plagis mundi produxit: per Gothos et Guandalos et Longobardos et Persas.
16
I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia, 95, ll. 8283; IDEM, De prophetia ignota, 184, ll.
1718.

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est Rome and the arrival of ten terrible tyrannies (decem terribiles tyrannides).17
Concerning the seventh seal, the Genealogia and the De prophetia
ignota do not show any difference: both, in fact, believe that the final tribulation suffered by the Jewish people is the one perpetrated by Antiochus
IV Epiphanes, and that the Antichrist the last great persecutor of the
Church embodies, in the New Testament, the same function performed
by the Greek king.18
Joachim is here referring to a traditional exegesis:19 starting from
Cyprian of Carthage till Rupert of Deutz, also moving by Saint Jerome and
Adso of Montier-en-Der, the model of the Antichrist described by Christian eschatology has always been identified in Antiochus.20 The linearity
of the description, combined with the type of exegesis used by the abbot,
suggest that in these two works Joachim was not aware yet of the necessity
of introducing a sabbatical period which anticipated the final judgment.
3.3 The Praefatio super Apocalypsim: a short period of peace
We can find an early signal of a new approach in the Praefatio super Apocalypsim (11851187). This text, designed in the mid 1180s, recovers, sometimes literally, some passages included in the Genealogia.21 If
the description of the first seals is identical to the earlier works, we can
identify some important differences in the Joachimist analysis of the last
two seals. In the first presentation of the persecutions of the Old Testament, Joachim retraces the sevenfold articulation proposed above: therefore, after the persecutio of the Chaldeans, we find the certamen of the
Medes against Babylon and the sons of Israel, and the tribulation of the
Greeks conducted by Antiochus.22
17

I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia, 95, l. 92; IDEM, De prophetia ignota, 194, ll. 37.
I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia, 9596, l. 83 and ll. 9495; IDEM, De prophetia ignota, 184 and 192, l. 18 and ll. 911.
19
In this regard, see J. E. WANNENMACHER, Hermeneutik der Heilsgeschichte,
195197; see also IDEM, Dragon, Antichrist, Millennium: Joachim of Fiore and the
Opening of the Seals, Lapocalisse nel Medioevo, ed. R. E. GUGLIELMETTI, Firenze
2011, 445469.
20
See CYPRIANUS CARTHAGINENSIS, Epistola ad Fortunatum de Exhortatione
Martyrii, PL 4, 651676b, col. 669a; HIERONYMUS, Commentariorum in Danielem
Prophetam, PL 25, 491584a, col. 491b; ADSO DERVENSIS, De Ortu et Tempore Antichristi, PL 101, col. 1292a; RUPERTUS TUITIENSIS, Commentaria in Apocalypsim, col.
1966c-d.
21
See G. L. POTEST, Il tempo dellApocalisse. Vita di Gioacchino da Fiore,
Roma Bari 2004, 287293, p. 288.
22
Sextum [certamen] contra Babilonem Medorum et contra filios Israel, residuum quod quarto tempore occubuisse videbatur Assyriorum. Septimum certamen
18

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Nevertheless, a few lines later Joachim slightly modifies his original
plan. The abbot is dealing with the tribulations suffered by the Christian
people, since he is looking for a precise correspondence with the events
which took place in the Old Testament. If the vetero-testamentary sixth
seal contains the persecution of the Assyrians described in the book of Judith, during the time of its respective opening some similar events will
have to appear. However, after having exposed the concordia between the
two tribulations, Joachim specifies that, under the same seal (sub eodem
signaculo) that is, still within the sixth time the Church will have to
face the tribulatio Antichristi.
By placing even the seventh certamen inside the sixth seal, Joachim
empties the content of the last signaculum: it is not then by chance that the
seventh seal becomes the interval which ends the Mosaic Law, just as the
seventh opening will testify the end of time.23 Although in the Praefatio
super Apocalypsim we do not find a clear exposition of the sabbatical
time, in this treatise the need to establish a short period of peace which
precedes the last great persecution suffered by the Church before the final
judgment is already present in nuce.
3.4 The sabbatical time before Joachim
The idea that there was an interval of time between the defeat of the
Antichrist and the end of the world is not, however, an intuition which
simply belongs to the Calabrian abbot, since it is part of a very long tradition. Robert Lerners studies have described very effectively the historical
stages of this conviction.24 Although with the purpose of blocking the road
to any improper chiliasm, it was Saint Jerome who established a period of
time between the destruction of the kingdom instituted by the Antichrist
and the final judgment.25
After the author of the Vulgata, Bede the Venerable, another important authority of the Church, recovered the legacy of Jerome, outlining a
historical fresco very close to the one that Joachim of Fiore will develop in
Grecorum fuit, cum videlicet Antiochus rex urbem sanctam contaminavit et templum
(I. FLORENSIS, Praephatio super Apocalypsim, 113, ll. 285288).
23
Sextum autem signaculum percussionem Babilonis continet et iteratam Assiriorum persecutionem, quam liber continet, qui vocatur Judith, pro quibus sexto ecclesie tempore similia fore complenda sexta pars tempestas; sequetur in ecclesia tribulatio Antichristi, que omnibus preliis dabit finem. Septimum signaculum finem legi
imponit, septima apertio cuncta docet esse completa (I. FLORENSIS, Praephatio super
Apocalypsim, 115, ll. 317323).
24
See R. E. LERNER, Refreshment of the Saints, Traditio 32 (1976) 97144.
25
See HIERONYMUS, Commentariorum in Daniel Prophetam, col. 534a and col.
579c.

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the twelfth century. According to Bede, in fact, if the time of the Antichrist
is contained within the sixth seal, the seventh signaculum will be marked
instead from the initium quietis aeternae.26
As soon as the introduction of a sabbatical time was confirmed by
the auctoritas of Bede, the idea of an intermediate period between the Antichrist and the final judgment became a leitmotiv which involved the most
important thinkers of medieval theology. The novitas of Joachim, therefore, does not lie here; the originality of his exegesis has to be found in the
accuracy and complexity of his description.
After the brief mention contained in the Praefatio, we will have to
wait for the Tractatus in expositionem vite et regule Beati Benedicti (1184
1188) and the third book of the Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti
(1187) in order to see the full development of the necessity of a sabbatical
time inside Joachims works.
3.5 The Tractatus and the Concordia: a new paradigm
At the beginning, the treatise on Saint Benedict is not organized on
the sevenfold model of the previous works. By following a reference in the
Book of Job (5:19), Joachim initially describes only six persecutions. The
Calabrian abbot decides to eliminate what the De prophetia ignota considered the sixth persecutio, namely the certamen of the Medes and the imminent persecution of the ten kings. The sixth tribulation suffered by the
Jewish people will be realized by the Macedonians, while the Church is already destined to wait its tribulatio maxima, que erit in tempore Antichristi.27
During the exposition, however, Joachim progressively modifies this
scheme, openly contradicting the initial guidelines. Thus, through seemingly
imperceptible changes, the abbot abandons in the sixth chapter the previous scheme based upon six tribulations. The Calabrian theologian introduces two different characters: the first one, identified with the eleventh
king and the seventh head of the beast (there is the possibility that Joachim
was thinking of Saladin), is about to take Jerusalem (pre manibus est)
and to destroy the ecclesiam orientalem; the second one, on the contrary,
is ready, by following the footsteps of Antiochus, to pounce on the Western Church.28
26

BEDA VENERABILIS, Explanatio Apocalypsis, col. 146d: In primo igitur sigillo, decus Ecclesiae primitivae, in sequentibus tribus, triforme contra eam bellum; in
quinto, gloriam sub hoc bello triumphatorum; in sexto, illa quae ventura sunt tempore
Antichristi, et paululum superioribus ricapitulatis; in septimo, cernit initium quietis aeternae.
27
I. FLORENSIS, Tractatus Beati Benedicti, 231, ll. 13.
28
Ibidem, 259262.

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Joachim increases the number of the neo-testamentary tribulations,
bringing their sum to seven. Nevertheless, in the following passages, the
abbot examines again the persecutions that took place in the Old Testament. At the end of the sixth chapter, Joachim calls into question the figures of Aman (First Counselor of the Macedonia king Ahasuerus) and Nebuchadnezzar (King of the Assyrians) in order to find their equivalent in
the New Testament. The type of Nebuchadnezzar will be then the eleventh
king, while in concordia with Haman will appear a pseudo-prophet.
Hence, to the five tribulations already described, we have to add two others persecutors: on the one hand, Nebuchadnezzar and Haman; on the other, the eleventh king and the pseudo-prophet.29
Despite the earlier works, the seven persecutiones do not represent
the end of history: between the seventh tribulation and the Day of Judgment, Joachim establishes a short period of peace, followed by the last
persecution. This last tribulatio will be carried out by Gog, which has now
replaced the Antichrist as the supreme enemy of faith. Since Joachim is
here considering Nebuchadnezzar and Haman as the sixth and the seventh
persecutor of the Jewish people, even the tribulation of Antiochus has to
be placed outside the sevenfold pattern, becoming in this way the type of
Gog.
Therefore, the Calabrian abbot introduces in the original scheme a
sabbatical interval and one last great persecution. The structure of the Tractatus, however, does not give us the opportunity to fully grasp the novitas
introduced by Joachim: since this text is organized, at least nominally, according to a model based on six tribulations, the abbot does not feel the
need to clearly explain the historical collocation of both the individual tribulations and their future opening. In order to fully understand the revolution introduced by the theologian it is then necessary to pay attention to
the third book of his Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti.
In this work, Joachim describes the persecutions which took place
during the sixth seal. Unlike his early treaties, the Calabrian abbot explains
for the first time in explicit terms that the Jewish people had suffered, sub
sexto signaculo, not just one, but two tribulations. The first tribulatio,
described in the book of Judith, was perpetrated by Nebuchadnezzar,
while the second one, as told in the book of Esther, was carried out by
Haman.30 The conviction that in the sixth seal should be placed two tribu29

I. FLORENSIS, Tractatus Beati Benedicti, 265275.

I. FLORENSIS, Concordia, 303, ll. 411: Sub quo videlicet sexto signaculo,
preter hoc quod percussa est a Medis Babilon que fuit metropolis Chaldeorum, due
quam maxime tribulationes orte sunt contra filios Israel, in quibus et timore insolito
concussa sunt corda filiorum Israel et magna post timorem consolatione firmata. Fuit
30

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lations can be also confirmed by the analysis of the respective neo-testamentary signaculum: sub sexta apertione, in fact, even the Church will
have to face two persecutors similar to the authors of the tribulations described in the Old Testament.31
Thus, Joachim puts two persecutions within the sixth seal. The theologian brings to light the assumption still latent in the Praefatio super Apocalypsim, preparing the ground to establish a sabbatical interval in the seventh and last signaculum.32 The seventh seal is then empty, since it is
now supposed to host a brief period of peace. After having established this
sabbatical interval for both the Jewish and Christian people, in the Concordia Joachim does not mention the last two persecutors and he does not
even mention the figure of Gog.
However, it is possible to explain the absence of these references if
we consider that this work is not a text devoted to an extensive analysis of
Johns Apocalypse. It is not by chance then if the centrality of Gog, in perfect concordia with Antiochus, will be again recovered in the Enchiridion
super Apocalypsim (11931195).
3.6 The Enchiridion super Apocalypsim and the role played by Gog
This manual on the Apocalypse, written in the first half of the 1190s,
certifies a well-established acquisition in Joachims reflection. The Enchiridion, indeed, confirms both the presence of a double tribulation in the
sixth seal and the concordia, just mentioned or merely presupposed in the
earlier works, between Antiochus and Gog. Throughout the text, Joachim
autem harum prima, que legitur in libro Iudita, sub Nabuchodonosor rege Assyriorum;
altera, que legitur in Esther, sub Assuero rege magno, qui regnavit super centum et viginti septem provincias.
31
I. FLORENSIS, Concordia, 303304, ll. 1220: Secundum hoc oportere accidere sub sexta apertione non solum de concordie serenitate manifeste colligimus, verum
etiam de sexta parte libri Apocalipsis, in qua percutienda traditur nova Babilon et regnare oportere duos reges impios quorum unus sextus esse dicitur, septimus alius; de
quorum videlicet primo dicitur: Unus est, de altero non dum venit, et, cum venerit,
oportet illum breve tempus manere. Et quidem horum primus similis erit Nabuchodonosor, regis Assyriorum; alius similis Aman, qui erat secundus a rege Assuero, sub
quo decretum erat periclitari modis omnibus populus Hebreorum, nisi eis divina clementia mirabiliter affuisset.
32
I. FLORENSIS, Concordia, 306, ll. 24 and ll. 1217: Apertio sigilli septimi
erit ex eo tempore quo capietur bestia et pseudo propheta et mittentur in stagnum ignis.
Brevissimum autem esse puto tempus septime apertionis [] Ut enim in principio seculi in sex diebus complevit fabricam totius mundi, septimo autem die requievit ab operi
bus suis, ita et in operi bus seculorum termini costituti sunt ab ipso secundum perfectionem ipsius numeri, qui preteriri non possunt. Et sicut sexto die passus est Christus, ita
sexto tempore preit passio, ut sequatur sabbatum requietionis.

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harks several times back to the conflict which the Jewish people suffered
during the sixth seal.33 The only slight difference with the Tractatus and
the Concordia is that in the Enchiridion the first of the two persecutors is
not Nebuchadnezzar, but his general Holofernes. Furthermore, concerning
the persecutions which will take place at the opening of the sixth seal, Joachim merely states that over that period similar events will occur.34
If the exposition of the sixth signaculum and its respective persecutiones represents a point of arrival which will be no longer questioned, the
analysis of the seventh seal and the last great persecutor presents some
slight irregularities during the exposition. It is likely that the Calabrian abbot was still uncertain about this particular aspect. Indeed, by using the
only concordia between the two Testaments with the purpose of finding
the semen octavi temporis, Joachim holds that Antiochus should be considered in correspondence with Gog: just as the Greek king anticipated the
first adventum domini, in the same way Gog will precede the final judgment. Since the first six seals already contain all the seven tribulations, the
persecutions of Antiochus and Gog will have to be placed beyond the sevenfold model.
In a subsequent step, nevertheless, while he was reflecting upon the
seventh seal, Joachim seems to partially contradict the previous exposition. Once he presented the two conflicts that occurred during the sixth
seal, the abbot, despite having brought to seven the total count of the tribulations, argues that the tribulation carried out by Antiochus, quae septima
est in numero, should be conceived in correspondence with the extrema
tribulation which will be realized by Gog circa mundi finem.
33

I. FLORENSIS, Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, 37, ll. 932943: Circa illud

quoque tempus, utrum post necem Balthasar et regnum Darii, aut ante illud sicut ex nomine sacerdotis colligitur, qui legitur in libro Jeremiae prophetae, qui intitulatur Baruch,
historia Judith completa esse probatur, in qua Nabuchodonosor rex Assyriorum elevatus
regni fastigio, dominum se universae terrae praedicari voluisse describitur, cujus tamen
superbiam per manum mulieris viduae confutavit Omnipotens, tradito in manus ejus
Holofernes principe militiae suae, per quem sibi universam terram subjugari sperabat.
Secut est sub eodem signaculo historia Esther reginae, quam quidam matrem Cyri regis
fuisse putant, quidam vero post Cyrum editam credunt, in qua traditur Aman secundus a
rege adversus Judaeorum populum conspirasse, eumque voluisse delere de terra.
34
I. FLORENSIS, Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, 38, ll. 961970: Gesta sunt
haec omnia sub tempore signaculo sexti, pro quibus in vicino tempore similia consummanda sunt [] Pro rege illo superbissimo qui sibi nomen divinum arrogare non metuit,
cujus princeps militiae Holofernes nomine a Judith honesta vidua turpiter interfectus est,
rex quidam superbissimus et ut puto ab orientis partibus consurget, qui multa mala in
Christiano populo committet.

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Even if Antiochus and Gog are still considered the last persecutors
of the two people, now they do not represent the eighth tribulation, subsequent to the first seven persecutiones and to the short sabbatical interval.
Instead, they return to being recorded within the sevenfold paradigm. Joachim, however, modifies immediately this little incoherence by recovering,
in addition to the concordia between Antiochus and Gog, even the relation
between the first coming of the Lord (anticipated by John the Baptist) and
His second coming (preceded by Elijah), placing them both in correspondence with the eighth time, namely in a space that is next to the framework
delimited by the seven persecutions.35
4. De septem sigillis and the system of the tribulations
The uncertainties still present in the Enchiridion super Apocalypsis
will be definitely resolved only in De septem sigillis. This apocalyptic
treatise confirms the gains already achieved and it also represents a fundamental text to clarify some conceptual issues still unresolved or not
properly developed yet.
Even De septem sigillis, like the Tractatus about Saint Benedict, the
Concordia and the Enchiridion, holds that the Jewish people had to face,
during the sixth seal, two persecutions: Holofernes and Haman are again
identified as the authors of the two tribulations.36 In correspondence with
the opening of the same signaculum, the Church will be forced to deal with
two new persecutors, similar, in all respects, to the vetero-testamentary figures described in the book of Judith and Esther.37 The idea of placing two
persecutions within the same seal opens the way, also in this case, to a short
sabbatical period. Actually, as we already know, this interval turns out to be
35

I. FLORENSIS, Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, 4142, ll. 10691077: Nunc

de septimo tempore et septimo signaculo videamus. Secundum illam concordiam quae
duobus Testamentis consistit, si a tempore quo templum et civitas sub Zorobabel et Nehemia restituta leguntur, usque ad adventum Domini in sabbatum reputandum est, tunc
persecutio Antiochi quae septima est in numero, cum extrema tribulatione quam facturus est Gog circa mundi finem concordat, et primus adventus Domini quem praeivit Joannes cum secundo quem praecurret Elias, qui etiam secundum hoc in octavo saeculo
accipiendus est, in quo sunt resurrecturi mortui, et sine fine cum Domino regnaturi.
36
I. FLORENSIS, De septem sigillis, 350: Sub hoc sexto tempore continentur
transmigratio Ierusalem et percussio Babilonis, necnon et tribulationes due filiorum Israel, quarum una continetur in ystoria Iudith, altera in libro Hester. Verumtamen templum Dei et muri civitatis reedificati sunt in angustia temporum.
37
I. FLORENSIS, De septem sigillis, 351: Revera etenim percucietur Babilon,
populus scilicet qui dicitur christianus et non est sed est sinagoga sathane, et qui veri
sunt Christiani in duabus tribulationibus liberandi sunt, quarum una similis ei quam fecit
Olofernes princeps Nabuchodonosor, regis Assiriorum, altera ei quam fecit Aman.

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a mere interlude before the tribulatio of Antiochus, the Greek king which
leads to an end the events narrated in the Old Testament.38
The opening of the seventh seal, on the contrary, despite being presented in concordia with the events of the Jewish people, is not entirely
reducible to that model. The Church, in fact, immediately after dealing
with the two persecutors, will live its own sabbatical rest, which will be
followed by the last tribulation of Gog. Nevertheless, the opening of the
seventh seal once Gogs kingdom is overcome and destroyed breaks
the harmony between the two Testaments: there will be then no seals to be
opened, and the second coming of the Lord, announced by Elijah, will
consume the history, disclosing the time of the resurrection and the celestial Jerusalem.39
De septem sigillis recovers the descriptions of the earlier works and
it orders in a clear and more accessible way the structure of the persecutions described above. Thanks to this small treatise, we are in possession
of the Joachimist model that will be the background to his later works. As
far as the events happening in the last two seals of the Old Testament are
concerned, we do know precisely that, during the sixth seal, the Jewish
people suffered two persecutors: Holofernes, the general of the Assyrian
king Nebuchadnezzar, and Haman. By placing two tribulations within the
same signaculum, Joachim discloses the space for a sabbatical period, followed by the tribulatio of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the last enemy of the
Jewish people.
In concordia with these events, during the opening of the sixth signaculum, the Church will have to face two tribulations; the seventh seal,
otherwise, will be, even for the Christian people, the time for a sabbatical
rest. After this interval, in perfect correspondence with Antiochus, Gog, the
great persecutor of the Church, will finally appear. Once the most terrible
tribulation of Christian history is defeated, the Lord will come again for the
final judgment, allowing His people to gain a gaudium sempiternum.
It is likely that De septem sigillis represented, in Joachims perspective, a quick model to summarize the hermeneutical efforts carried out in
38

I. FLORENSIS, De septem sigillis, 352: Sub hoc septimo tempore cessaverunt

ystorie et prophetie, et concessus est sabbatismus populo Dei, sed et reliquis Iudeorum
data est pax usque ad Antiochum regem.
39
I. FLORENSIS, De septem sigillis, 353: Consummatis operibus testamenti novi
et peracta tribulatione illa maxima que erit in diebus Gog, similis quidem illi que facta
est sub Antiocho, significata vero in passione Domini, adveniet tempus resurrectionis
mortuorum et consolationis superne Ierusalem, quam influet ex eo tempore fluvius aque
vive, secundum quod continetur in octava parte libri Apocalipsis, et erit in ea gaudium
sempiternum.

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the previous decades. In fact, the analysis of the tribulationes of the two
Testaments represents both the point of arrival of the precedent classifications and the paradigm for any future description. Since this binary scheme
lies in the Liber introductorius (11981199)40 and in two tables of the Liber figurarum,41 we are definitely dealing with a late product, which might
be placed in the second half of the 1190s.
5. The role of the Antichrist
We can find a confirmation of the dating just proposed by looking at
the role played by the Antichrist in Joachims corpus.42 From the Genealogia till the Praefatio super Apocalypsim, the Antichrist, set in concordia
with Antiochus, corresponded to the last enemy of the Church and played
the role of the seventh persecutor.43 Starting from the second half of the
eighties, the entire scenery begins to change: if the first exposition of the
tribulations in the Tractatus in expositionem vite et regule Beati Benedicti
indicated in the Antichrist the sixth persecutor of the Christian people, the
next scheme, this time based on the sevenfold paradigm, eliminates from
the analysis the Son of Perdition, replacing Him with Gog.44
The third book of the Concordia, by describing the various persecutions suffered by the two people, does not mention the Antichrist; his figure will be encountered only in the fifth book of this work in relation to
king Antiochus.45 The Enchiridion does not differ from the overall picture:
the Antichrist does not play any role here, and there is only a brief reference to a monarch intended to embody unus de magnis antichristis.46
This quick reference, furthermore, does not affect the trend of the entire
exposition. Besides, there is no reference to the Antichrist even in De septem sigillis: this treatise, indeed, seems to be, once again, the point of arrival and maturation of a long phase of Joachims thought.
40

I. FLORENSIS, Liber introductorius, fol. 7ra11ra.

IDEM, Liber figurarum, t. III and IV.
42
In this regard, see R. E. LERNER, Antichrists and Antichrist in Joachim of
Fiore, Speculum 60 (1985) 553570.
43
I. FLORENSIS, Genealogia, 96, ll. 9495: Sub Anthioco facta tribulatio
comparatur illi, que erit sub Antichristo; IDEM, De prophetia ignota, 192, ll. 911:
Quia necesse est, ut Antichristus veniat, antequam appareat dies Domini magna, ideo
necesse est, ut tyrannides Antichristum precedant; IDEM, Praefatio super Apocalypsim,
115, ll. 320321: Secuta est sub eodem signaculo Antiochi seva tempestas; sequetur in
ecclesia tribulatio Antichristi.
44
I. FLORENSIS, Tractatus Beati Benedicti, 231, ll. 13 and 274, ll. 1518.
45
IDEM, Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti, V, fol. 128vb 129rb.
46
IDEM, Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, 67, l. 1890.
41

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Initial. A Review of Medieval Studies 2 (2014) 117135

The Son of Perdition, in fact, will again make His appearance in
some later texts of the abbot. Starting from the De ultimis tribulationibus
until the Liber introductorius and the Expositio in Apocalypsim, the Antichrist will come back to occupy the center stage. At this time, despite the
earlier works of the Calabrian theologian, He no longer embodies a unitary
figure, but He assumes a plural identity.
In the De ultimis tribulationibus (11971199), Joachims analysis
seems to abandon the clarity of presentation reached in the treatise on the
apocalyptic seals. The uncertainty of his exposition is accompanied by a
doubt regarding the precise identity of the last and magnus Antichristus.
Moreover, the figure of Gog does not replace the function assumed by the
Antichrist in the previous works: in this treatise, in fact, it is the own identity of Gog aut iste Gog erit antichristus aut quasi magnus imperator,
seductus a diabolo to be concerned.47
In the De Ultimis Tribulationibus, the Son of Perdition does not
represent just the last enemy of the Church, in correspondence with the
tribulation of Antiochus, since in this work the history, as Gian Luca Potest has rightly pointed out,48 is no longer seen as culminating with the
persecution of the great Antichrist. Indeed, each of the three final tribulations is great, and each of them has its own Antichrist: we see, therefore, the transition from a theology of the Antichrist to a theology of the
Antichrists.
This shift operated by Joachim is confirmed by the Liber Introductorius. Even here, the abbot holds that the Antichrists are many (antichristi
multi sunt) and that Gog represents the ultimus tirannus et ultimus antichristus.49 By trying to find the identity of the Antichrists, the Calabrian
abbot uses the image of the red dragon described in the Apocalypse, claiming that each of the seven heads of the dragon corresponds to seven kings.
Of these kings, the first five, identified with Herod, Nero, Constantius
Arian, Khosrau and a king of Babylon had already appeared; the sixth one,
identified with Saladin, was still present, while the last of the seven kings
the Son of Perdition had not appeared yet on the stage of history and
was regarded as a magnus tyrannus.50
Once he gave an overview of the seven kings, Joachim draws his attention to the figure of Gog, symbolized by the tail of the dragon. By ana47

I. FLORENSIS, De ultimis tribulationibus, ed. K.-V. SELGE, Florensia 7 (1993)

735, p. 33, ll. 352353.
48
See G. L. POTEST, Il tempo dellApocalisse, 338339.
49
I. FLORENSIS, Liber introductorius, fol. 10ra.
50
Ibidem, fol. 10ra 10va.

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lyzing his role and his function, the abbot clearly reveals his uncertainty:
after having claimed that Gog was the last tyrant and the last Antichrist,
the Calabrian theologian wonders if the final persecutor was, instead of the
last of the Antichrists, the prince of the army of a king directly sent by the
devil.51
In De ultimis tribulationibus, in Liber Introductorius and in a table of
the Liber figurarum,52 Joachim recovers the centrality of the Antichrist,
although in contrast with the past. In fact, if in his first works the filius
perditionis was considered the seventh persecutor of the Christian people,
in the last part of his reflection Joachim seems to have modified the premises of his own analysis, by doing various references to a plurality of Antichrists.
The silence of De septem sigillis about the figure of the Antichrist,
therefore, allows us to place the text on a guideline which, starting from
the Tractatus in expositionem vite et regule Beati Benedicti and coming up
to the Enchiridion super Apocalypsim, anticipates the last exegetical turn
of the Calabrian theologian.
6. Conclusion
Joachims analysis about the persecutions and their collocations
within the respective seals, combined with the different modalities of considering the role and the function of the Son of Perdition, do confirm the
centrality and the importance of De septem sigillis. Besides, the structure
of this treatise seems to corroborate the historical collocation we proposed
earlier.
De septem sigillis should therefore be placed in the second half of
the 1190s, approximately between 1196 to 1198, in a timeframe between
51

Ibidem, fol. 10vb: Unde et multorum tenet opinio de ultimo illo tyranno qui
vocatur Gog, quod ipse sit Antichristus, nisi forte dicat aliquis non esse Gog ipsum
Antichristum, sed quasi principem exercitus illius regis quem induet ipse diabolus. It is
important to note that the uncertainty about the precise identity of Gog [quasi principem exercitus] is expressed in the same terms also in the De Ultimis Tribulationibus,
where Gog is described as a quasi magnus imperator, seductus a diabolo. The conviction that Gog was not the last Antichrist, but his military chief, will be confirmed in the
Expositio in Apocalypsim, fol. 213ra: Quamvis, ut iam diximus in prefatione huius
operis, non videatur iste Gog esse ipsum Antichristum, sed princeps exercitus Antichristi, alioquin cum Antichristus sit auctor seductionis propter eum qui corporaliter habitaturus est in eo non oportuerat dici Exibit et seducet gentes que sunt super quatuor angulos terre, Gog et Magog, sed potius: Egredietur Gog et seducet gentes ad faciendum hoc
et illud. Unde magis videtur quod non sit Gog ipse Antichristus, sed magis princeps
exercitus eius.
52
I. FLORENSIS, Liber figurarum, t. XIV.

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Initial. A Review of Medieval Studies 2 (2014) 117135

the Enchiridion super Apocalypsim and the final redaction of the Liber
introductorius. This treatise represents a brief manual used to be make the
culmination of a particular stage of Joachims speculation immediately accessible, thanks to a scheme of simple consultation. This short apocalyptic
treatise allows us to investigate with greater awareness the thought of the
Calabrian abbot, shedding light on an exegetical paradigm in continuous
and constant evolution.

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A. Gatto, A Proposal for a Dating of De septem sigillis of Joachim of Fiore

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135