the third age

The third age is the culminating epoch in the apocalyptic schema that pervades The Name of the Rose, a time of final corruption and the imminent arrival of the Antichrist. This concept, drawn from the prophecies of Joachim of Fiore, is a central point of contention and belief among the characters, shaping their interpretations of the world and their actions within it. It is not merely a chronological period but a theological and moral condition, a time when the established order of the church is seen as corrupt and the need for radical renewal—whether through penitence, heresy, or violent revolution—becomes paramount.

The Prophetic Framework and the Corruption of the Church

The third age is defined by the belief that the church has fallen into a state of profound decay. Ubertino of Casale, a fervent Spiritual Franciscan, articulates this vision with great intensity, describing the church as a "harlot, weakened by luxury, she roils in lust like a snake in heat!" He sees the opulence of the abbey's church, with its golden vessels and precious stones, not as a testament to divine glory but as a sign of this corruption, a "bacchanalia of gold and stone" that heralds the end times. This decay is not merely moral but institutional, embodied by Pope John XXII, whom Ubertino and others view as a simoniac and a heresiarch. The conflict between the Pope and Emperor Louis the Bavarian is interpreted within this framework, with the Emperor seen as a potential instrument of divine justice, sent to restore the dignity of the Holy Roman Empire and to confound the wicked usurper in Avignon. The third age is thus a time of great political and religious upheaval, where the very foundations of authority are questioned.

The Heretical Interpretation and the Call to Violence

The concept of the third age was also a powerful tool for heretical movements, most notably the Apostolic Brethren led by Fra Dolcino. Dolcino, as recounted by Ubertino and later read by Adso, preached that the third age of corruption had reached its end and that it was necessary to follow the teachings of the Apostles. He derived a "perfidious syllogism" from this: to bring the age to a close, all clergy, monks, and friars had to be exterminated. This call to violence was a radical enactment of the apocalyptic vision, transforming the passive expectation of the Antichrist into an active, bloody crusade. Dolcino's followers, driven by a desire for a better world and a hatred of the established order, engaged in widespread looting and killing, believing themselves to be the vanguard of a new age. This violent interpretation stands in stark contrast to the more contemplative, penitential approach of figures like Ubertino, yet both are rooted in the same prophetic soil.

The Third Age as a Lived Experience and a Source of Despair

For the characters in the abbey, the third age is not an abstract prophecy but a lived reality. The series of murders, the corruption among the monks, and the failure of the theological debate between the Franciscans and the papal legation all seem to confirm that the world is teetering on the brink of the abyss. Jorge of Burgos, the blind librarian, preaches a terrifying sermon on the coming of the Antichrist, seeing in the abbey's own troubles a microcosm of the world's decay. He warns that the Antichrist is not a single figure but a spirit that manifests in all, and that the time is at hand. This pervasive sense of an ending creates a climate of fear and desperation, driving some to seek salvation through knowledge, others through penitence, and still others through violence. The novel's climax, the destruction of the library by fire, is the ultimate symbol of this age's end: the great repository of learning, the "only light that Christianity can oppose to the thirty-six libraries of Baghdad," is consumed in flames, leaving only fragments and ashes. This event fulfills the apocalyptic prophecy, not through the arrival of a literal Antichrist, but through the self-destructive consequences of the very passions—pride, fear, and the lust for truth—that the third age has unleashed.