the age of the Antichrist

The age of the Antichrist is the eschatological period of final tribulation and divine judgment that Jorge of Burgos and other monks believe is imminent in the world of the novel, a conviction that shapes their interpretation of the abbey's murders and the moral urgency of their actions.

Prophetic Expectation and the Imminent End

Throughout the novel, the belief that the age of the Antichrist is at hand pervades the abbey, most forcefully articulated by the blind librarian Jorge of Burgos. He declares that the Antichrist "is coming" and urges the monks not to waste their last days on trivialities, warning that the time is at hand. This conviction is rooted in the apocalyptic tradition of Joachim of Fiore, whose prophecies of a coming new age were embraced by the Spiritual Franciscans. Ubertino of Casale, a fervent follower of Joachim, speaks of the sixth era of human history, when two Antichrists will appear: the mystic Antichrist and the Antichrist proper. He identifies Boniface VIII as the mystic Antichrist and Benedict XI as the Antichrist proper, though he later admits the calculations were wrong and that the Angelic Pope is still awaited. The old monk Alinardo of Grottaferrata also expects the Antichrist, believing the millennium has passed and that the reign of the just is ending, though he is confused about the precise chronology.

The Antichrist as a Lens for Interpreting Events

The expectation of the Antichrist's arrival directly influences how the monks interpret the murders at the abbey. Jorge, in his sermon during compline, explicitly frames the deaths as part of the apocalyptic pattern, warning that the Antichrist is the symbol of the pride that has infected the community. He describes the signs of the Antichrist's coming in vivid, terrifying detail, including monstrous births, natural disasters, and moral decay, and he insists that the Antichrist will be present in all and for all, not as a single identifiable figure. This apocalyptic framework is also adopted by William of Baskerville, who initially believes the sequence of murders follows the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse, a pattern that Jorge himself later exploits to justify his own actions. The old man tells William that he became convinced a divine plan was directing the deaths, and he used this belief to manipulate Malachi, warning him that the forbidden book had "the power of a thousand scorpions."

Jorge's Role as a Self-Appointed Instrument

Jorge sees himself as an instrument of God's will in the age of the Antichrist, tasked with protecting the library from the corrupting influence of forbidden knowledge. He tells William that he has been the hand of God, preventing the spread of Aristotle's lost book on comedy, which he believes would unleash a new era of mockery and doubt, ultimately paving the way for the Antichrist's triumph. He argues that laughter frees the villein from fear of the Devil, but that the book could teach learned men to use laughter as a weapon against the seriousness of spiritual shepherds, thereby destroying the very foundation of faith and order. In his final confrontation, Jorge declares that the Antichrist is truly at hand because no learning will hinder him any more, and he sees his own face, deformed by hatred of philosophy, as the portrait of the Antichrist. William, in turn, identifies Jorge's grim, faithless certainty as the true spirit of the Antichrist, a pride that brooks no doubt and seeks to destroy all that challenges its absolute truth.