^* I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Susan Deeds and Dr. E. Randolph Daniel who read this essay in an early draft. I am grateful for their comments and suggestions.

¹ Benavente, Toribio de (Motolinía), Historia de los indios de Nueva España (Colección de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, México City, 1858), pp. 87–95.Google Scholar

² Thirteenth and fourteenth-century Franciscan ideas of apocalyptic conversion have been studied by Daniel, E. Randolph, The Franciscan Concepì of Mission in the High Middle Ages (Lexington, 1975), pp. 26–36.Google Scholar

³ A sample of modern scholarship would include cautious statements about a Joachite influence by Ricard, R., La “conquête spiritual” du Mexico (Paris, 1933)Google Scholar; Maravall, J., “La Utopía político-religiosa de los franciscanos en Nueva España,” Estudios Americanos (Madrid, 1949) 2, pp. 199–277 Google Scholar; Bataillon, M., “Evagélisme et millénarisme au Nouveau Monde,” Courants religieux et humanisme a la fin du xv^e_et au début de xv^e_ siècle in Colloque de Strasbourg (Paris, 1957), pp. 25–36.Google Scholar A more explorative Joachite influence is demonstrated by Phelan, J., The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New World (Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1970)Google Scholar and Baudot, G., Utopía e historia en México (Toulouse, 1977).Google Scholar Recent studies have advocated a major influence by the Calabrian abbot, see Weckmann, L., “Las esperanzas milenaristas de los franciscanos de la Nueva España, Historia Mexicana (1982) 32, pp. 89–105 Google Scholar and Milhou, A., Colón y su mentalidad mesiánica en el ambiente franciscanista español (Valladolid, 1983).Google Scholar

⁴ The standard study is Reeves, M., The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism (Oxford, 1969).Google Scholar Reeves focuses on two primary themes: the separation of genuine from spurious writings and ideas of the abbot’s, and the detection and penetration of the finer nuances of Joachim and pseudo-Joachim thought and its influence through the sixteenth century. More recently, McGinn, B., The Calabrian Abbot: Joachim of Fiore in the History of Western Thought (New York, 1985),Google Scholar has produced a signal work by taking a fresh look at Joachim’s ideas, thoroughly examining his major themes, his apocalyptic theology of history, and his theories of biblical symbolism and exegesis. See also Bloomfield, M., “Joachim of Flora: A Critical Survey of his Canon, Teachings, Sources, Biography and Influence,” Traditio (1957) 13, pp. 249–311,Google Scholar and his updated bibliographic essay, “Recent Scholarship on Joachim of Fiore and His Influence,” in Prophecy and Millenarianism: Essays in Honour of Maijorie Reeves (London, 1980), pp. 21–52.

⁵ Reeves, Prophecy, pp. 191 ff. and Daniel, E.R., “Spirituality and Poverty: Angelo da Clareno and Urbantino da Casale,” Mediaevalia.et Humanistica (1973) 4, p. 96.Google Scholar

⁶ See Castro, A., Aspectos del vivir hispánico: espiritualismo, mesianismo y actitud personal en los siglos xv al xvi (Santiago, Chile, 1949), pp. 22–26,Google Scholar where he quotes several fifteenth-century Castiliantexts expressing such impulses including Gómez Manrique, for example, who calls upon Prince Alfonso in 1468 to fulfill prophecy by conquering “the barbarous nations” in both Europe and elsewhere throughout the world.

⁷ Reeves, Prophecy, pp. 191 ff. More specifically for this study, see Manselli, R., Spirituali e Beghini in Provenza (Instituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo: Studi Storici, 31–34), Roma, 1959.Google Scholar

⁸ The idea of a powerful leader originated from Angelo Clareno’s circle of Spiritual Franciscans in the thirteenth century. It was formalized later by Peter Olivi, Telesphonus of Cosenza, Arnold of Villanova, and Jean de Roquetaillade, but the idea became widespread and popularized with the production of the pseudo-Joachite Liber de Fiore and the Liber de summis Pontificibus. For a background to this development, see Manselli, R., La “Lectura super Apocalypsim” de Pietro di Giovanni Olivi: Ricerche sull’escatologismo medioevale (Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, Studi Storici, Rome, 1955).Google Scholar

⁹ Perarnau, J., “Bibliografía teológica Catalana,” Analecta Sacra Terraconensia 45 (1972), pp. 121ffGoogle Scholar; Pou, J.M. y Martí, , “Visionarios, Beguinos y Fraticelos Catalanes, siglos xiii–xv,” Archivo Ibero-Americano 11–26 (1919–1926).Google Scholar Further evidence from Inquisition records suggest a flourishing and growing circle of men concerned with eschatology from the fourteenth century who made extensive use of the Joachite sources. The trial of one Fray Bernard Fuster of Majorca in 1321, for example, focused upon his treatise De statibus ecclesiae secundum expositionem Apocalypsim, which the Inquisitors believed relied heavily upon Olivi’s, Peter, Postilla. Ibid., 18 (1922), p. 26.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Oliger, L., “De Relatione inter Observantium Querimonias (1415) et Libertini Casalensis quoddam Scriptum,” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 9 (1916),Google Scholar p. 25ff.

¹¹ Douie, D., The Nature and the Effect of the Heresy of the Fraticelli (Manchester, 1932), p. 100 Google Scholar and Olivi, Peter, Expositio super Regularam in Firmamentum trium ordinum intitulatur (Venice, 1513),Google Scholar pt. III.

¹² Vidal, A., “Un ascete du sang royal: Philip de Morque,” Revue de questions historique 88 (1910), p. 396.Google Scholar e Martí, Pou “Visionarios,” 18 (1922),Google Scholar p. 29ff.

¹³ Callacy, F. lists surviving manuscripts in “Les ideés mystico-politiques d’un franciscian spirituel,” Revue d’historire ecclésiestique 11 (1910), pp. 721–727.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Joachim of Fiore, , Expositio in Apocalypsim (Venice, 1527)Google Scholar f. 175 and see Liber de Conordia Novi oc Veteris Testamenti (Venice, 1519), ff. 88^v–89^r.

¹⁵ Liber de Concordia, ff. 21^r–21^v ,70^v, 84^v–85^r, and Expositio, ff. 175–176.

¹⁶ Olivi, Expositio super Regularam, ff. 123^v–124^r.

¹⁷ Pou, y Martí, , “Visionarios” 11 (1919),Google Scholar pp. 168ff.

¹⁸ Manselli, R., “Arnaldo da Villenova, diplomatic, medico, teologo e riformatiore religioso alle soglie del sec. xiv,” Humanitas VIII (Brescia, 1953), p. 269.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Manselli, R., “La religiosità di Arnaldo da Villanova,” Bulletino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo 63 (1951), p. 59.Google Scholar Manselli’s article contains large excerpts from Villanova’s texts.

²⁰ The most authoritative study of the life and thought of Jean de Roquetaillade is by Bignami-Odier, J., Études sur Jean de Roquetaillade (Johannes de Rupescissa) (Paris, 1952).Google Scholar

²¹ Lee, H. & Reeves, M., Summula seu Breviloquium super Concordia novi et veteri Testamenti (with text edited by Lee, H. & Silano, G. forthcoming, University of Toronto Press), p. 155 Google Scholar in the typescript. I wish to thank Dr. Lee for permission to use this material on which 1 have relied heavily concerning Fray Peter and Fray Francise Examenis. A most useful account of the life and bibliography of Francese Examenis has been completed recently by Webster, J., “Nuevas aportaciones a los estudios Examinanos Francisc Examenis, OFM: su familia y su vida,” Archivo Ibero-Americano 39 (1979), pp. 429–438.Google Scholar

²² In 1377 he wrote Exposició de la visió damimi vita in which he copiously cites Jean de Roquetaillade and the pseudo-Joachim super Hieremiam. The super Hieremiam was written in the early thirteenth century and became an instant success due to its opposition to the Emperor Frederick II. Its popularity was retained to the point that it was the first of the Joachimist literature published, even before Joachim's genuine works, at Venice in 1516.

²³ His major works were Apparatus de triplici statu mundi and Vida de Jesuchrist.

²⁴ Reeves, , Prophecy, pp. 229–330.Google Scholar

²⁵ Martí, Pou y, , “Visionarios” 18 (1922), p. 25.Google Scholar

²⁶ A model survey of Catalonia has been made by Pere Borigas i Balaguer, “Profecies Catalanes dels segles xiv–xv: Assaig bibliogràfie,” Butlletí de la Biblioteca de Catalunya 6 (1920–1932), pp.3–49. Balaguer limits his lists to holdings in Catalonia, Madrid, Barcelona and Carpentras.

²⁷ Lenhart, J., History of Franciscan Libraries in the Middle Ages (Washington, D.C., 1954), p. 182.Google Scholar

²⁸ Besides Balaguer, “Profecies Catalanes,” see Russo, F., Bibliografía Gioachimita (Firenze, 1954), pp. 16,Google Scholar 20, 44, 53, 156. Other lists are found in Daniel, E.R., Abbot Joachim of Fiore, Liber de Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti (American Philosophical Society, Transactions 73, Philadelphia, 1983), p. 11,Google Scholar and Reeves, , Prophecy, pp. 511–540.Google Scholar

²⁹ Balaguer, , “Profecies Catalanes,” lists several such as the Refundido compendiada de la summa concordiae Veteris et Novi Testamenti di Joachim, p. 26.Google Scholar

³⁰ Lee, & Reeves, , Breviloquium, p. 1 Google Scholar (typescript).

³¹ Ibid., p. 218 (typescript). Drs. Lee and Reeves interpret this as closely following Joachim of Fiore’s symbolism which used the ascent of Zorobabel to Jerusalem to typify the ushering in of the New Age.

³² Ibid., p. 226 (typescript).

³³ Historia de los hechos de Don Rodrigo Ponce de León, Marqués de Cádiz (Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España, Madrid, 1893) t. 106, pp. 247–248. For the medieval idea of the sleeping emperor returned to life, see Reeves, , Prophecy, pp. 332–346.Google Scholar

³⁴ I refer to the Burgos edition of 1497 held by the Bibliothèque National in Paris (Rés. D. 6201).

³⁵ Ibid., chap, xxvii.

³⁶ Columbus’ close association with the Franciscan Order cannot be ignored as it placed him in the center of apocalyptic enthusiasts of the late fifteenth century. On this asssociation and the possibility of his membership in the Third Order of St. Francis, see Milhou, , Colón, pp. 42–43,Google Scholar and Fernandez, J. Gill, “Los franciscanos y Colón,” Actas del I Congreso Internacional sobre Los Franciscanos en el Nuevo Mundo (Madrid, 1987), p. 101.Google Scholar

³⁷ Racolta di documenti e studi pubblicati della R. Commissione Colombiana per quarto centenario della scopeda dell’ America de Lollis, César ed. (Scritti di Colombo, Roma, , 1894) 2, pt. 1, p. 66.Google Scholar Journal, p. 38, Letter to Alexander VI, p. 165.

³⁸ Columbus, Christopher, Libro de las profecías (Racolta Colombina, 2, pt. 1), p. 81.Google Scholar Francisco López de Gómara, Chaplain to Hernán Cortés and whose history was one of the most popular New World accounts, proclaimed the discovery the “greatest event since the creation of the world except for the birth and death of our Savior. That is why they call it the New World.” Hispanic Victrix, Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias (Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, Madrid, 1852) t. 22, p. 156. Banned in Spain by King Philip II, the Historia, nevertheless, was published several times in Italian, French, English and Latin from 1556 to 1605.

³⁹ For a copy of this letter see Thacher, J.B., Christopher Columbus: His Life, His Work, His Remains (Kraus Reprint, New York, 1967) 2, p. 369.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Columbus, , Profecías, p. 105.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 80. The native population of the lands he had found he said were “unclothed, well formed, unarmed and not practicing idolatry, but prepared to believe in one God as creator.” This pristine image became engraved in the European mind when it was published by Peter Martyr in his De Orbe Novo. See also Romeo, R., La scoperta Americana nella coscienze italiana del Cinquecento (Cicciardi, 1954), p. 72.Google Scholar The idea of the noble savage was quickly transmitted by Columbus, Peter Martyr, and Amerigo Vespucio. An excellent study is by Chinard, G., L’Amérique et le rêve exotique dans la littérature Française au xvii et xviii siècles (Paris, 1934).Google Scholar To the early Franciscan missionaries, these descriptions were encouraging as they pictured a people already living in Gospel simplicity ready to receive the message of salvation.

⁴² Columbus, , Profecías, p. 148.Google Scholar

⁴³ Watts, P., “Prophecy and Discovery: On the Spiritual Origins of Christopher Columbus’ ‘Enterprise of the Indies’,” American Historical Review 90 (1985), p. 92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁴ The standard study of the pseudo-Methodius is still Sackur, E., Sibyllinische Texte u. Forschungen. Pseudo-Methodius Adso u. die triburtinische Sibylle (Halle, 1898),Google Scholar see especially pp. 53–56. The pseudo-Methodius text was written in the Byzantine Empire during the seventh century and printed at Cologne in 1475 and again by Sebastian Brant in 1498. Modern scholarship by P. Alexander, M. Reeves and B. McGinn has shown that the history of prophetic thought from the late Middle Ages developed as the major theme the idea of a final empire. The general theme of the last world empire was based on the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, the pseudo-Methodius, and selected patterns from Joachite thought. This theory developed a succession of world kingdoms culminating in the messianic fifth monarchy. Alexander, P., “Byzantium and the Migration of Literary Works and Motifs: The Legend of the Last World Emperor,” Medievalia et Humanística ns 2 (1971), pp. 47–82 Google Scholar; Reeves, M., Prophecy, pp. 295 Google Scholarff.; McGinn, B., Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (New York, 1979), pp. 33–35,Google Scholar 43–45, 184–187, 275–285. The popularity of this theme in Spain is seen clearly in the works of several sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers such as Matins de Paz and Juan de Palafox. These two and others asserted that such a kingdom would be raised up in the New World under Spanish leadership according to Jover, J., “Sobre los conceptos de monarquía y nación en el pensamiento político español del siglo xvii,” Cuadernos de Historia de España (Buenos Aires, 1950), p. 37.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Columbus, , Profecías, p. 81 Google Scholar and p. 108.

⁴⁶ Lippens, H., “De Fr. Ioanne de la Deules, missionario Americae (1493–1510),” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 27 (1934), p. 70.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Canedo, L., “Primeros intentos de evangelización franciscana en Tierra Firma 1508–1553,” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 50 (1957), pp. 99–100.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Phelan, , Millennial Kingdom, p. 29.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁰ McNutt, F., Letters of Cortes (New York & London, 1908) 2, pp. 213–217.Google Scholar Actually on August 30, 1523, three Franciscans had already arrived in Mexico led by Peter of Ghent, a relative of Charles V, but they were working on their own without official recognition.

⁵¹ Only eleven sailed. Fray Martín de la Corufia had been sent to the Spanish court and failed to return on time to catch the ship. He was, nevertheless, officially listed as belonging to the group.

⁵² Motolinía, , Historia, p. 155.Google Scholar In the concord tables of the Breviloquium, the author clearly chose the Friars Minor as the order of New Men selected to fulfill the prophetic role in the salvation of the world. Joachim of Fiore used various types in his schemata to symbolize the new orders of men. Besides Moses and Elijah, Joachim also used Elijah and Elisha (Liber de Concordia, f. 68^r) and Joseph and St. John the Evangelist (Expositio in Apocalypsim, ff. 22 and 204). In the Breviloquium, Joseph is identified as the Order of St.Francis, in the concords, Summula seu Breviloquium super Concordia novi et veteri Testamenti (British Library, Eg. 1150),Google Scholar f. 6^r?.

⁵³ The Oroz Codex (Chavez, A.; ed. and trans., Academy of American Franciscan History, Washington, D.C., 1972), Appendix, pp. 348–350.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Ibid., p. 357.

⁵⁵ Motolinía, , Historia, p. 156.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Ibid., pp. 102–103, 151–152.

⁵⁷ The relationship of the Iglesia indiana to European concepts of utopia has been studied by Baudot, G., Utopie, see especially pp. 83–84.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Motolinía, , Historia, p. 194.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Ibid., pp. 144–146. Vasco de Quiroga believed that the Indian church reflected the church of the apostles and that the age in which he was writing (1535) was the “golden age of the New World.” See his “Información en derecho del licenciado Quiroga, sobre algunas Provisiones del Consejo de Indias (1535),” Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones españolas de América y Occeanía (Pacheco, J. ed., Madrid, 1868) 9, pp. 490–491.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ de Mendieta, Gerónimo, Vidas franciscanas (Iguiniz, I. ed., Mexico City, 1945), p. 182.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Braden, C., Religious Aspects of the Conquest of Mexico (Durham, 1930), p. 226–227.Google Scholar

⁶² de Acosta, José, Historia natural y moral de las Indias (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City, 1950), p. 45.Google Scholar

⁶³ de Acosta, José, De temporibus novissimis (bound after De Christo revelato, Lugduni, 1592), pp. 342 Google Scholarff.

⁶⁴ The search to explain the origin of the native populations of the New World has continued to the twentieth century with scholars at one time or another advocating nearly every ancient people, real or imagined, known to history. For a fascinating account of this search, see Huddleston, L., Origins of the American Indian: European Concepts, 1492–1929) (Austin, Texas, 1965).Google Scholar

⁶⁵ de Sahagún, Bernardino, Historia de las cosas de Nueva España (Mexico, 1956), p. 359.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ García, Gregorio, Origen de los Indios de el Nuevo Mundo e Indias Occidentales (Madrid, 1729).Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Góngora, , Studies, p. 218,Google Scholar believes that the seed of the St. Thomas legend is to be found among the first voyages to Brazil by the Portuguese who had come into contact with the St. Thomas legend earlier in India. See also da Gandía, Enrique, Historia critica de los mitos de la Conquista de América (Buenos Aires, 1929), p. 228,Google Scholar who claims that first mention of this was in 1510 when explorers reported that they had found the “remainders of St. Thomas.”

⁶⁸ García, , Origen de los Indios, p. 262 Google Scholar and p. 325.

⁶⁹ Motolinía, , Historia, p. 146.Google Scholar For a description of this prophecy see Balaguer, , “Profecies Catalanes,” p. 35.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ de Solórzano Pereira, Juan, Política Indiana (Madrid, 1648), 1, v–vi, p. 29a.Google Scholar