The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Strange Teachings Among the Joachimites and Spirituals

I. “De Semine” Emphasizes Twenty-three Centuries

Before dealing with the writings which usher in the era of the Joachimites we must first carefully note a little work long attributed to Joachim, and written only three years after his death. In reality it belongs to a quite different category of writings. This treatise is called De Semine Scripturarum, or in some manuscripts De Seminibus Scripturarum (On the Seed, or Seeds, of the Scriptures), and is of a rather mystical nature. It has a definite bearing upon our investigation as the earliest instance found, among Christian writers, of the interpretation of the 2300 days as a period of 2300 years. The date of this treatise is given in the text as 1205, although at least in the Vatican manuscript of it here cited, it also appears later as 1304/5, but the latter is obviously a copyist’s error for 1204/5. ¹ The internal evidence clearly points to the earlier date. The very chronological schemes in which these dates occur require it. Further, the writer prophesies the beginning of a new era with the year 1215, yet to come, during which time both Jerusalem and Rome will be delivered from their material and spiritual enemies, meaning from the simoniacal clerics. ² PFF1 717.1

Picture 1: PSEUDO-JOACHIM MANUSCIRIPT ATTRIBUTED TO MONK OF BAMBERG
Opening page of De Seminibus Scipturarum, first known Christian treatise that explains the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 as twenty-three centuries (left); later page of same document, showing interesting numerical key, begining in left column (right).
Page 718

In its general trend De Semine defends extreme papal power, although at the same time it condemns simony in strong terms. On the other hand, it makes highly favorable remarks about Charlemagne and the Ottos, and dedicates a largo portion of its space to Emperor Henry II and his spouse Kunigunde, and the events connected with Henry’s establishment of the bishopric of Bamberg. This leads Kampers to assume that the author might be a monk of Bamberg. ³ Franz Wilhelm, on the other hand, believes that the author was a German residing in Italy. ⁴ Beatrix Hirsch-Reich, who has prepared a critical edition of the work not yet published, based on more than a dozen manuscripts, says that the archetype is a manuscript found at Bamberg, and that it is extant in a long and a short recension, the latter with an added introductory paragraph. ⁵ Precisely who the author was seems impossible to determine from the evidence at present available. PFF1 718.1

1. CONTENTS UNLIKE JOACHIM’S TEACHINGS

If it were not for the introductory passage of this little book, “Incipit liber Joachim ...,” and for its later acceptance as Joachim’s by the Spirituals, hardly anyone would assume any particular relationship between it and the abbot’s writings. In fact, it has little in common with the true Joachim ⁶ The teaching on the Trinity is there, but it has not become the foundation of a grand system, as in Joachim. Nor do we find the division of the history of the world into three great periods, but rather into four; and it ignores Joachim’s preoccupation with the forty-two months and the 1260 days as numbers of central interest. On the other hand, we find in its odd computation, based on a play with the letters of the alphabet in a rather cabalistic style, an element completely absent in the genuine writings of Joachim; and its central figure is the 2300 days—which Joachim ignored—interpreted as twenty-three centuries extending to the sixteenth. ⁷ PFF1 719.1

Where did our unknown author’s ideas come from? Alfred Vaucher—a careful Swiss scholar, to whom I am indebted for access to this pseudo—Joachim treatise and to the other Joachim material on the 2300 years—is of the opinion that these notions probably did not come from Joachim at all, but were rather derived from the same sources as Joachim’s-Jewish cabalism. It is not necessary to suppose that the conception of the 2300 days as 2300 years was derived from reading Joachim’s calculation of 1260 years. For not only had earlier Jewish writers attached numerical values to the letters of the alphabet, and applied the year-day principle to the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days, but also a contemporary writer, Eleazar ben Judah Kay lonymus (c. 1176-1238), who was a disciple of Saadia Gaon, the early popularizer of the year-day principle among the Jews, occupied himself with Messianic calculations, and was supposed to have written. a work on the alphabet. ⁸ At least six previous Hebrew expositors—had calculated the 2300 days symbolically, applying the year-day principle. PFF1 719.2

2. TWENTY-THREE CENTURIES FROM THE TIME OF DANIEL

The entire work is based on the Latin alphabet, the twenty letters of which (as the “seed” of the Scriptures which produce a hundredfold) are curiously made to signify the twenty-three centuries from the earliest days of Rome, or approximately from the time of the prophet Daniel, on to the expected end. The whole chronological scope is stated at the end of the introductory paragraph: “Under the first letter, a, Daniel grew up; under the second he died; unto the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred.” ⁹ PFF1 720.1

This same sentence is found at the end of the work, followed by the explanation that a means 100; b, 200; and so on through the alphabet. This mention of Daniel and 2300 occurs only at the end in the long recension, but in the abridged recension at the beginning also. ¹⁰ If, as Miss Hirsch-Reich thinks, the Joachimite who abridged the original added this introductory paragraph as a preface, the body of the work would begin with a series of Roman numerals from 100 to 2300 equated with the letters of the alphabet: PFF1 720.2

“.c.cc.ccc.cccc.d.dc. a.b.c.d.e.f. dcc.dccc.dcccc.m.mc.mcc. g.h.i.k.l.m. mccc.mcccc.md.mdc.m[d]cc.m[d]ccc. n.o.p.q.r.s. m[d]cccc.mm.nunc.mmcc. mmccc. t.u.x.y.z. PFF1 720.3

“The seed fell into good ground and springing up brought forth fruit a hundredfold.” ¹¹ PFF1 720.4

Then comes an acrostic: “Assumet. Benignus. Carnem. Dominus. Emmanuel,” and so on through the alphabet. In Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, continues the author, which were the languages inscribed upon the cross, the prophetic Scriptures have been sown over the whole world. Since the seeds, or letters, produce a hundredfold, he reckons a hundred years for each letter, but he does not say why he takes years as the unit. Beginning with a, the discussion proceeds through the alphabet, filled with symbolism of numbers and letters, of vowels and consonants, and of metrical schemes. Under s there is an extravagant eulogy of the emperor Henry II and his wife, comparing the latter to the celestial woman of Revelation 12. There are philosophical side excursions, including the old notion of the resurrection day as the “eighth day,” and the “octonary” of the New Testament supplanting the “septenary” of the Old Testament. PFF1 720.5

3. SEVEN LETTERS BEFORE CHRIST

Throughout this strange mixture, however, runs a definite though fanciful time scheme. If no one knows the day or hour, neither do I, says the writer, “but I know concerning the years.” ¹² Few dates are given, and the location of events within the centuries is indefinite, but the general characteristics of the periods are unmistakable. The interval from the founding of Rome to the incarnation is represented by the first seven letters of the-Latin alphabet, which stand for seven centuries; ¹³ Christ comes under the eighth letter, h (homo), as the new divine Man, the promised Seed in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. ¹⁴ PFF1 721.1

Under i and k (the second and third centuries of our era) there is persecution; the “red color in God’s picture” is covered with black, but the sun, hidden hitherto by the mountains, shines forth through l (lux), the light of God, when under Constantine and Sylvester peace is restored to the church, and the two swords (referring to Luke 22:38) are confederated ire the priesthood and the kingdom. ¹⁵ In the next century, characterized by the green color, there follow the “confessors and virgins,” and the Arian controversy concerning the Trinity, which is symbolized by the triple letter m. ¹⁶ The sixth century, n, is identified through the mention of “the abbot Benedict”; ¹⁷ by the seventh century, o, identified, with Gregory the Great, the Catholics have spread over the world in the seven hundred years (inclusive) since the h century, heresies are quiescent, “for no one sits upon the whole world except him who holds the see of blessed Peter”; ¹⁸ under p (pax), there is peace after so many tribulations from pagans and heretics; 9 represents temptation and trial by persecution. ¹⁹ PFF1 721.2

4. SEES EMPEROR AND EMPRESS IN Revelation 12

Under r (rex), referring to “a king discerning between peace and war,” the difference is shown between “pontiffs and princes who wished to prohibit the small and humble from the praise of the Lord,” and those who receive the scourge (flagellum) of trial and humiliation as a test before receiving the kingdom. ²⁰ Under the letter s the Saviour cures those who submit themselves voluntarily to the scourge. ²¹ At this point the treatise launches into a six-page eulogy of Emperor Henry II and “his most noble wife Kunigunde.” The author’ relates how in this century `(the eleventh) “the most holy- emperor Henry” bent over like the letters, from the height” of his power, and founded bishoprics and monasteries; he waxes enthusiastic over the royal couple’s supposed espousal of celibacy. ²² PFF1 722.1

T, the form of a cross, represents the century in which so many religious orders rose—such as the Cistercians-taking up the cross of Christ. In this century the region of Jerusalem was taken. ²³ Just as Christ is on the eross under the letter t, 14e expires under a (or v); the last of the vocals. Christ, the Via, Veritas, Vita (the Way, the Truth, and’the Life) was crucified, he says, thirty-three years after tile annunciation. The twofold U represents His first coming in humility and His second in glory. ²⁴ PFF1 722.2

5. AUTHOR EXPECTS ANTICHRIST BEFORE RESURRECTION

Our author places himself in the u century (the thirteenth), and begins to use future tense for x, under which letter he expects Jerusalem, captured by the “pagans,” to be restored to the Christians. ²⁵ PFF1 723.1

The corruptions of the church are to be ended by the second advent. PFF1 723.2

“After the time of the martyrs He purged her [the church] from the terror by night; after the time of the heretics He purged her from the arrow flying by day, which is the craftiness of the heretics; up to now, however, we hope that He will purge her from the trouble walking in darkness, that is, from hidden heresy of the simoniacs. Last of all He will purge her from the evil demon of noonday, which is Antichrist .... This will be before the general resurrection of all.” ²⁶ PFF1 723.3

Under x, before Antichrist comes, the Jews are to be converted; under Antichrist they, with many other Christians, will apostatize. X is the, fullness of the Gentiles, the end of the Latin letters. ²⁷ But y and z added from the Greek alphabet, mean the union of all the world under Christ, and then eternity. ²⁸ PFF1 723.4

6. ALPHABET ENDS IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY

At the end of the entire alphabet the sum of twenty-three centuries is reached. This is shown by a tabulation of the Latin letters with the Arabic numerals 100, 200, 300, and on through 2300. This chronology would seem to make the alphabet end with the sixteenth century. Were it not for the sequence, the unfamiliar notation would make the numbers unintelligible without a dictionary of medieval manuscript forms. PFF1 723.5

Following the tabulation, we find mention of the 6000year theory: PFF1 723.6

“In six days God formed all things, and on the sixth day He made man, on the sixth day He redeemed him .... Just as under the sixth day man was formed, under the sixth millenary man will be reformed. For according to the epistle of Peter, we indicate a thousand years as one day, and so, because in six days God made the world, so it will last six thousand year. It is conceded that that sixth will not be completed at all because of the eighth of the resurrection and of glory.” ²⁹ PFF1 723.7

At the end comes the final restatement of the chronology of the alphabet: PFF1 724.1

“What is Dic [speak] but the Word incarnate? The book of life. Christ is through D, 500, through T, 100 [he must mean 1000], ³⁰ through C, 100, which combined fill up 1600.... To these add 700 years from the foundation of the city [Rome] up to Christ, and you will have the sum of the alphabet and the number of Daniel demonstrated. This is 2300, and the book of life ends, whose beginning is like the end. PFF1 724.2

“For in the beginning it is said under the first letter, a, Daniel grew up; under the second he died; unto the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred. For a signifies 100, b 200, c 300, d 400, and so on to the end of the alphabet, so r that every element adds 100 upon the year. PFF1 724.3

“[Here is] ended the book of Joseph [sic] on the seeds of the Scriptures.” ³¹ PFF1 724.4

7. PROTOTYPE OF LATER YEAR-DAY INTERPRETATION

It is noticeable that the word “days” is not used with the expression “two thousand three hundred.” ³² The time is not reckoned from a definite year to a specific ending date; rather, the century is the unit. These twenty-three centuries, then, may be regarded as a prototype of the later year-day interpretation of the same period by Arnold of Villanova; but this author does not arrive clearly at the year-day principle. PFF1 724.5

The elements of his interpretation are subjective and quite fanciful: the seed producing a hundredfold, the twenty-three letters, the twenty-three centuries, “to the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred.” But there is no definite basis for a conclusion. There is no equation “2300=days= years.” Still, it may be that this curious theory offered the clue—perhaps combined with Joachim’s year-day application to the 1260 days-without which Villanova might not have taken the next step. In any case, it is in the latter’s discussion of this very work, his Introductio an Librum [Joachim] De Semine Scripturarum, that Villanova sets forth Daniel’s 2300 days as 2300 years, and cites Ezekiel’s “a day for a year” as the basis of reckoning, as the next chapter will show. PFF1 724.6

And herein, perhaps, lies the significance of De SemineScripturarum, and its resurrection—that Arnold of Villanova and Pierre jean d’Olivi found it valuable enough to use it, And also that Alexander de Roes adorned his tractate Notitia Saeculi with long quotations extracted from it. PFF1 725.1