ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the medieval allegorization of time and history. Daniel interpreted the prophetic situational allegory in terms of four kingdoms, the last of which was to suffer division, and eventually to be superseded by the stone, the eternal Kingdom of God. The importance of allegory for world-history is most readily apparent in fields other than that of the pure historian. Emile Male, for instance, has shown how medieval painting, sculpture and stained glass served to illustrate the allegorical concept of history. The overall subject-matter of the cycles was the allegorical history of the world from Creation to Judgement. Old Testament events were selected for inclusion insofar as they were types of events in the New Testament. Bede, as historian, had been concerned with the obverse of Old Testament typology – with a retrospective typology which put the events of his own time and country into the providential scheme centring on the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
