(Château d’Angers)
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The so-called “tapisseries de l’Apocalypse” were conceived and executed by Nicolas Bataille and Robert Poinçon between 1375 and 1382 (according to the designs of Hennequin de Bruges) for Louis I d’Anjou. Depicting biblical scenes of the end of times, the tapestries also contain some commentary on fourteenth-century political struggles. Only seventy of the original one hundred tapestries remain – the rest having been lost during the turmoil of the Revolutionary era. The panel above depicts John measuring the Temple: “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told: ‘Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months’” (Revelations 11:1-2). |
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According to John, God granted two Witnesses (depicted above) the power to prophesy for 1,260 days. They would “have power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they [would] have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire” (Revelations 11:3-6). |
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After the Witnesses had prophesied, the “beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified” (Revelations 11:7-8). Note that the beast comes in the form of an English monarch. |
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“For three days and a half men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth” (Revelations 11:9-10). |
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“But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them ‘Come up hither!’ And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelations 11:11-13). |
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“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.’ And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and woshiped God” (Revelations 11:15-16). |
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“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelations 12:7-9). |
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“And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time” (Revelations 12:13-14). Note the detail here: one of the dragon’s heads is mortally wounded at this point, a fact noted only after the appearance of the beast with ten horns and seven heads (cf. Revelations 13:3, and below). |
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“The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth” (Revelations 12:15-16). |
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“Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea” (Revelations 12:17). |
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“And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.” (Revelations 13:1-2). Note that the symbol the dragon gives the beast bears the fleur-de-lis, an explicit reference to the passing of French power to the English. Until 1429, and the appearance of Joan of Arc on the scene, the French consistently lost their struggles with England in the Hundred Years’ War. |
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“One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’” (Revelations 13:3-4). |