Prophecy, Politics and Utopia

Abstract

The bare bones of the apologetic document Secunda delineatio defensionum would be developed further as the Articuli prophetales, a title which had already been used as a sub-title for the original work. The structure of the text lists works by saints and prophets, scholars, philosophers, astrologers, and Sibyls in order to prove the legitimacy of the expectations of the coming of a new golden age, with the following corollaries: the future Christian republic would be saved by a single King and Priest, holder of both spiritual and temporal power; that rulers would take on the role of defenders and ministers of the single monarch; and that the Catholic sovereign is to be identified with the mystical Cyrus, to whom fell the highest task of reunifying the Christian flock.