Ask The Archivist | A medieval transcript of prophecies

Archivist Ursula Romero dives deep into the mysteries of a late medieval transcript of prophecies.

Madisyn Hunt, Arts Reporter

December 9, 2025

Librarian Ursula Romero carefully opens a Medieval Transcript at Special Collections in the Iowa Main Library on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. The medieval transcripts are a series of prophecies written in Latin. The manuscripts were either written and illustrated by hand, or printed and illustrated using a carved bronze plate.

This is an installment in a multi-part series.

The University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives contains hundreds of books. From centuries ago to recent memory, the deeper the shelves, the more obscure the books seem to be.

One book from the 16th century, written between 1580 and 1585, stands out to archivist Ursula Romero as one of the most interesting late
Medieval transcripts.

The Daily Iowan: What is in this transcript?

Romero: A researcher described it as a “reader’s digest of prophecies.” Its prophecies relate specifically to future popes and secular rulers. It contains the works of various people throughout the centuries up until the late 16th century.

Did any of these prophecies come true?

The prophecies are vague, for example, “Snakes will befall.” They’re not solid. Everything is in Latin, so we have a translation. It’s not very clear cut stuff. Each prophecy is about a different pope. They list the pope’s names next to what the prophecy is. There is a lot about schisms, and I believe there had been a schism in the late 14th century. According to a thesis on this book, they were talking about that specifically.

What is a schism?

A schism is when there is a group that fights in factions, so they split apart. In the case of the book, it could be that one part of the Catholic Church and another part are fighting, and they have a falling out and form their own groups.

What do some of the drawings on the pages represent?

There are some papal seals [officiating a document written by a pope]. These are seals for specific popes. But then, there are a couple of dozen miniatures. All hand-drawn and hand-colored, the miniatures are just fantastic. A lot of them get increasingly strange as you go through the book. As you move on, there are dragons and animals. aThe researcher who wrote the thesis goes into as much detail as possible to try and decipher what they might mean. But ultimately, this book is very opaque in what it’s trying to say.

Whoever wrote it didn’t really tell us what it meant, how to use it, what all the little symbolism was — it’s just a series of various prophecies by various prophets and then illustrations of future popes and leaders doing various things that we in 2025 can’t understand.

How significant was the book in its time?

This is a completely unique book; it is a manuscript. There is nothing else that has these exact words written or these illustrations completely hand-done. However, there are other similar books that are either manuscripts or printed.

Is this a common theme from this time, when there was a manuscript and printed versions?

It’s definitely not uncommon. For this one, the researcher found four other copies of this kind of book. If you Google the name, you’ll find more images of it and examples of the book in other libraries. But the second copy we have is pretty cool because it’s actually printed. It’s from around the same time as the original copy, but this copy is interesting because it looks handmade.