Today, I thought I’d wrap up the major apocalypse predictions from the 16th and 17th centuries. I’ve already covered some predictions from those centuries; however there are a few more that you may find interesting.
1572
A total solar eclipse in Britain created wide-spread panic and pronouncements that the world was coming to an end. Alas, while the panic reverberated for a time, but the world did not end.
A total solar eclipse in Britain created wide-spread panic and pronouncements that the world was coming to an end. Alas, while the panic reverberated for a time, but the world did not end.
1584
Cyprian Leowitz, an astrologer and “prohibited writer” as pronounced by Pope Paul IV, declared that the world’s demise was slated for 1584. However, Leowitz was also a prudent gentleman and covered the spread by issuing a series of astronomical tables that included celestial happenings through 1614. You know, in case the world didn’t end.
Cyprian Leowitz, an astrologer and “prohibited writer” as pronounced by Pope Paul IV, declared that the world’s demise was slated for 1584. However, Leowitz was also a prudent gentleman and covered the spread by issuing a series of astronomical tables that included celestial happenings through 1614. You know, in case the world didn’t end.
1588
Johann Müller (1436-1476) was also known as Regiomontanus, a mystic. After his death, several people falsely declared that he had possessed magic powers and occult knowledge and based on a little-known quatrain he had written, declared the world end in 1588. Fortunately, panic and hysteria was nipped in the bud when John Harvey, a doctor in Norfolk, issued a document declaring calculations attributed to Regiomontanus as flawed and the world was not ending in 1588. Surprise, surprise, it did not.
1654
Moving on to the 17th century, Helisaeus Roeslin, a doctor in the Alsace region in France, determined in 1578 that the world would end in fire and brimstone in 76 years or 1654. Well, 1654 arrived and on August 11 there was a solar eclipse. Many slackers converted to the “True Faith.” Doctors told their patients to stay indoors – although I’m not certain why. I mean if the world was going to burn up, it’s unlikely you could survive simply by not going outside. Apparently, too, churches were at capacity for a time.
1665
It seems that the end of the world always has a few cheerleaders. With the Black Plague ravishing Europe, Solomon Eccles, a Quaker and composer, declared that the pestilence was simply the beginning of The End of Days. Not surprisingly, the Crown had him jailed. As the Black Plague subsided, Eccles was released from jail and he headed to the West Indies. There he incited the slaves to revolt. A commendable act in retrospect; however, probably not his wisest move. The good Quaker was again arrested and carted back home as a rabble-rouser. Oh, and by the way, the world didn’t end!
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