From songs of liberation (Exodus 15) to prescriptions for genocidal violence (Deuteronomy 7:1), the biblical views on war are diverse and complicated. Ritualized preparations and borrowed Near Eastern mythological paradigms for battle have been argued to serve Israelite identity formation rather than to report actual history, but also to support fantasies of violent end-times, moments of therapeutic repose in the face of oppression, and hope for the eventual restoration of righteousness.

This chapter addresses how the Crusades spurred a renewed appropriation of Alexander in historiography, literature, images and cartography in late medieval Europe. Alexander’s legend was particularly relevant because it reflected the era’s geopolitical and epistemological complexity. The chapter focuses first on the ancient Alexander legend’s adaptation in Crusade-era texts including Crusade chronicles, epics, antique romances and encyclopedias. These works compare Alexander to Crusaders, present Alexander as a precursor of the Crusaders who fights Asian tyranny, interpolate Alexander into the stories of Crusaders through ekphrasis, and frequently cite the legend of Alexander’s enclosure of Gog and Magog. The chapter’s second part focuses on how manuscripts present Alexander as a proto-Crusader even if texts do not overtly describe him as such. Particular attention is paid to compilations that join Alexander and holy warriors (Judas Maccabeus, Godfrey of Bouillon), and to images that Christianise Alexander or demonise his foes. The final section examines the influence of Alexander’s legend on the apocalyptic geography of late medieval maps, which often depict Gog and Magog and other elements (toponyms, sites, monstrous peoples) of the Alexander tradition.

The Byzantines had direct access to much ancient material about Alexander, and so their view of him, compared to that of other cultures, tended to be more grounded in history. Yet they also continued to develop the Romance tradition in new directions and combined it with parallel Christian interpretations that tied the Conqueror to prophesies made in the book of Daniel and apocalyptic scenarios involving Gog and Magog. These different elements combined in various permutations when the Byzantine historians turned to Alexander in their surveys of world history. Alexander was also invoked in rhetoric that praised the Byzantine emperors, often to show that they had surpassed him, but he was not a meaningful model of kingship for them as he imparted no lessons about how to actualy rule a kingdom.

This chapter traces the development of the Antichrist tradition in both the Eastern and Western church from the time of Origen in the third century until that of Adso in the tenth. In particular it explores the tensions between the Antichrist as both a future and present individual, and as both an individual and collective figure. After a discussion of Origen’s understanding of the Antichrist, it moves to an account of Jerome’s literal and spiritual Antichrist, and Antichrists already present in the world. It outlines the literal and spiritual reading of the Antichrist in the African Donatist Tyconius that set the scene for Augustine’s account of the Antichrist. This is followed by an analysis of Pope Gregory the Great’s understanding of the Antichrist. It also explores the development of Simon Magus as an Antichrist figure, examines how the Last World emperor, Gog and Magog became part of the story of the Antichrist. The chapter ends with a discussion of three crucial influences on Adso in the works of Pseudo-Methodius, Haimo of Auxerre, and Thietland of Einsiedeln

To understand fully English medieval history writing, it is necessary to recognize the ways in which Christians interpreted universal history as teleological, as ranging from creation to doomsday, and as including both past events and future expectations of the Last Days. This essay surveys the apocalyptic nature of universal history based on four scriptural structures: the two dispensations encapsulated in the Christian Bible and symbolized by Synagoga and Ecclesia; the Pauline Three Laws (ante legem, sub lege, and sub gratia); the visions of Daniel interpreted as prophesies of four sequential kingdoms concluding with Rome; and creation week considered as an analogy for Six Ages of the World. The essay then examines in greater depth the intertwining of history and apocalyptic prophecy in two English manuscripts: the thirteenth-century Gulbenkian Apocalypse illustrating the Latin commentary on Revelation by Berengaudus; and a fifteenth-century Carthusian miscellany depicting the Middle English Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius.