Apocalyptic prophecy was repurposed by substituting fresh enemies into old texts

Evidence

This chronicle, preserved in slightly varying forms in several codices, is a hodgepodge of prophecy, narrative history, and regnal lists of Spanish Muslim rulers. It also contains a genealogy of Muhammad, as well as the same brief life of Muhammad that Eulogius had inserted in his Memoriale sanctorum. Yet the ideological purpose of this eclectic composition is clear: the author seeks to prove that Muslim rule in Spain will soon come to an end and that the Goths will reign again in the person of Alfonso III. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 556 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

This is a time when we see not a revaluation of values, as Nietzsche called it, but a devaluation of values, in which the old values are discredited and the new values offered in their place are neither understood nor accepted. The result is a social fragmentation, often a flight from reality, and a series of political changes culminating sooner rather than later in the charac­ teristic combination of tyranny and terror that has marked so many of the gov­ ernments of the region. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1632 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Purported ancient prophecies of disasters circulate as fabricated or altered texts — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 773; Fiction fixated on past corruption renews in prophetic power later — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 196; Apocalyptic writers dehumanized conquerors to render them abhorrent (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• The Prophetic Chronicle reframed church texts to predict Gothic restoration #corroborates (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 556
• Rejected old values with unassimilated new ones produce tyranny and terror #complicates (0.70) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1632
• Crusade epic and hagiographic texts borrowed plot motifs from each other #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1712