The Ludus de Antichristo: imperial eschatology between East and West
Keywords:
Antichrist, Templum Domini, Last Christian EmperorAbstract
Composed in Germany in the second half of the 12th century, the Ludus de Antichristo is configured as a political instrument at the service of the Hohenstaufen court. In the text, in fact, the Germanic emperor will be the one who, as the eschaton approaches, will subdue all the kings of the Earth, and then go to Jerusalem and hand over his kingdom to Christ, laying down his royal insignia on the altar of the Templum Domini. This act will be the prelude to the appearance of the Antichrist.
The events narrated in the Ludus are based on the legend of the Last Christian Emperor, a recurring topos in medieval eschatological literature. Unlike the other texts in which this figure appears, in the Ludus the ruler lays his crown inside the Templum Domini in Jerusalem, i.e. in the Dome of the Rock on the Esplanade of the ancient Jewish Temple. This is to be seen in the context of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was established in the wake of the first crusades, with the Esplanade regaining importance also in the Christian sphere, after it had been left aside for centuries due to the pre-eminence of the Holy Sepulchre.
This paper considers the political implications of the identification of the Germanic ruler with the Christian Last Emperor, and then focuses on the renewed centrality of the Temple Esplanade in the medieval Christian eschatological discourse, with a hint at a possible reading of the theme of the Last Emperor laying down his royal insignia in the Temple also in a Jewish eschatological text. Apocalyptic-eschatological literature, as well as conveying images of power, can in fact be understood as the privileged medium for interreligious encounters and exchanges.
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