Each image, such as 1009 - Burning torch, is accompanied by a caption that leaves no doubt as to its grim message: “In the year AD 1009, the sun went dark and the moon was seen all blood­red and a great earthquake struck and there fell from the sky with a loud and crashing noise a huge burning torch like a column or a tower. This was followed by the death of many people and famine throughout Germany and Italy. More people died than remained alive.”

By drawing from ancient, biblical and contemporary traditions of prophecy in roughly chronological order, The Book of Miracles follows an established structure similar to other contemporary books of wonders. It’s a tradition that highlights the period’s ordering of history through the prism of apocalyptic signs and visions. “When studying this one-of-a-kind series of illustrations,” Waterman says, “it’s important to keep in mind the structuring principle of Christian world history.”

“The 16th Century’s obsession with miraculous signs has its primary origin in religion, specifically in the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation,” he notes. Borchert agrees. “The late medieval councils had left Christendom in an insecure state, and the Reformation tried to fill the void,” he explains. “There was a general sense and urgency concerning the afterlife and the best way to secure one’s fate.” A widespread and imminent sense of disaster “created a sphere of anxiety in which those miraculous signs played an important role.”

The ‘Papal Ass’