ABSTRACT
The reasons behind the Tiburtina’s popularity in the medieval period can be explored in various ways. Previous studies have concentrated on the evidence of its textual development and considered the testimony of borrowings from the prophecy by a small number of medieval authors, such as Donizio of Canossa and Henry (Heinrich) of Langenstein. Discussion of this approach in the preceding chapter has shown it to be unsatisfactory for several reasons. First, the nationalistic climate of nineteenth-century Germany led scholars to prejudge the central theme of the text. Second, and more importantly, the nineteenth-century edition (which confirmed the preconceived view of the Tiburtina as political, often pro-imperial propaganda) ignores most of the extant manuscripts.
