ABSTRACT
As shown in Chapter 4, a predominance of edifying and didactic material to nourish the faith of its readers is a constant feature of the manuscript tradition of the Tiburtina from the mid-eleventh to the fifteenth century. The obvious inference is that the majority of compiler scribes perceived the prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl within a devotional context. As will be seen, this context reflects the way in which the Tiburtina was read, indicating that a medieval audience recognised the text’s value for devout reflection on matters of personal eschatology, such as the fate of one’s own soul after death. The following discussion of the ideas linking the Tiburtina with texts used for the edification of monks and clerics reveals, in particular, that in the context of reflection on the Last Judgement a medieval audience attached considerable importance to the Tiburtina’s account of the First Coming of Christ.
