ABSTRACT
Of course his journals show him driven by multiple motives: huge doses of courage, opportunism, and greed mingle with his apocalypticism. But his extraordinary effect upon history cannot be understood without reference to a particular medieval tradition of millennialism. It is not that he was a member or leader of a millenarian sect. Rather, he was inspired by certain apocalyptic texts and helped in his interpretation by Spanish Franciscans. Given his unparalleled impact upon world history, his simultaneous obsession-whether one deems it grand or grotesque-with apocalyptic and geopolitical calculations reveals something of the spirit of the modern West.
