Peace Emperor
The Peace Emperor was after a widespread, especially in the Middle Ages eschatological expectation a messianic ruler shape from among the Frankish kings and Roman emperors , whose appearance the end of the world will prepare. The roots of this idea go back to the ancient Roman prophecy of the rule of Saturn ( aurea aetas ) and the Hellenistic-Jewish messianism . It is first attested in the Syrian Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from the 7th century (in Latin for the first time in the 8th century) and later u. a. in the Antichrist of Adso of Montier-en-Der ( 10th century ). According to Ernst Bernheim , this expectation of doom can be explained by the shifting of the eschatological promises into the present, which makes good and evil, peace emperors and antichrist, into this-world history and as a desired counter-image to reality, like a deus ex machina, redeems the people.
The concrete Christian apocalyptic scenario envisaged that the Emperor of Peace would extend the Holy Roman Empire - in direct succession and as bearer of the dignitas of the ancient Roman Empire - over the whole world and convert the Gentiles before he would give his rulership insignia on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem will lay down. After his renunciation and the associated end of the kingdom, the Antichrist's reign of terror will begin, which will end with God's judgment of the world .
At first this expectation was directed towards the emperors of Byzantium; after the renewal of the western empire by the Carolingians , it was transferred to Charlemagne and his successors. Soon the idea developed that the future ruler of peace would be a returnee: Among the western rulers whose return as emperor of peace was expected were Frederick II , later his grandfather Frederick I (known as Barbarossa) and Charlemagne himself In the legends about the return of the three rulers, which differed in content, time and place , the literary-mythological motif of the Rapture of the Mountains was reflected, which can be found as a rapture motif especially in the Germanic / German-speaking area. With Otto von Freising there are indications that the emperor's name Friedrich, because of its meaning, nourished the belief that the last emperor appeared in the form of one of the bearers of the name. In the late Middle Ages this notion changed; the emperor of peace would now, according to the widespread opinion, come “from the people”. Impostors such as Dietrich Holzschuh , the Alsatian hermit Heinrich (both 1285) and other "false Friedriche" who claimed that they were the returned emperor, took advantage of this.
literature
- Hannes Möhring : The world emperor of the end times. Origin, change and effect of a thousand-year prophecy (= Middle Ages research. Volume 3). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7995-4254-X ( digitized ).
- Tilman Struve : Peace Emperor . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 921-923.
- Tilman Struve: The false peace and longing for peace of the people in the late Middle Ages. In: Forgeries in the Middle Ages. International Congress of Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich, 16. – 19. September 1986, Part 1: Congress dates and keynote lectures. (= MGH-Schriften. Volume 33). Hahn, Hannover 1988, ISBN 3-7752-5156-1 , pp. 317-337.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Scriptores rerum Germanicarum . Chron. 2 17-22