TheFifteen Signs before Doomsday (alternatively known as theFifteen Signs of Doomsday,Fifteen Signs before Judgement, inLatinQuindecim Signa ante Judicium, and in German15 Vorzeichen des Jüngsten Gerichts^[1]) is a list, popular in theMiddle Ages because ofmillenarianism, of the events that are supposed to occur in the fortnight before the end of the world.^[2] It may find an origin in the apocryphalApocalypse of Thomas^[3] and is found in many post-millennial manuscripts in Latin and in the vernacular. References to it occur in a great multitude and variety of literary works, and via theCursor Mundi it may have found its way even into the early modern period, in the works ofWilliam Shakespeare.^{[citation needed]}

The Fifteen Signs derives from theApocalypse of Thomas, an apocryphal apocalyptic text composed in Greek (and subsequently translated in Latin) between the second and fourth century. It exists in two versions, the second, longer one treating fifth-century events as contemporary. The first version includes a list of seven signs announcing the end of the world. The longer version, however, has an appended section which brings the list of signs up to fifteen. This version was taken up and reshaped by the Irish, after which it became a source for many European visions of the "end of days".^[4]

One of its many versions can be found in theAsega-bôk.^[5] Another version can be found in theSaltair na Rann.^{[citation needed]} One of the earliest versions isDe quindecim signis (PL XCIV.555) written in the 8th century byPseudo-Bede.

• Corpus Christi College, Oxford MS 36 (fragment, 125 verses in French in octosyllabic rhyming couplets)^[6]
• Bodleian Library, Oxford MS. Douce 134 (Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, with miniatures of all fifteen signs):fully digitized
• Kildare Poems (British Library Harley MS 913) contains a version inMiddle English.^[7][8]

TheFifteen Signs are organized in three general types: the Voragine type, the Pseudo-Bede type, and the Comestor type. The Welsh prose versions edited by William Heist are each based on any of the three;^[9] theAsega-bôk is based on both Pseudo-Bede andComestor'sHistoria scholastica.^[10]

The fifteen signs are shown over fifteen days, though in many different varieties. According to the Welsh prose version:^[9]

1. The earth's waters rise above the mountains
2. The waters sink so low they cannot be seen anymore
3. The waters return to their original position
4. All sea animals gather on the surface and bellow unintelligibly
5. The waters burn from east to west
6. Plants and trees fill with dew and blood
7. Earth is divided into two parts
8. All buildings are destroyed
9. The stones fight each other
10. Great earthquakes occur
11. All mountains and valleys are leveled to a plain
12. Men come out from their hiding places but can no longer understand each other
13. The stars and constellations fall out of the sky (in the Comestor variant only stars fall^[11])
14. The bones of the dead come out of their graves
15. All men die, the earth burns with water
16. Judgment Day

In the Middle English version of theKildare Poems:

1. The stars shall be thrown down to earth
2. The dead will rise and sit upon their tombs
3. The sun will turn black
4. The sun will turn red
5. Every beast will tremble and look to heaven
6. The mountains will fall and fill up the valleys, castles, towers and trees will fall
7. Trees will grow upside down, with their roots above ground; they will bleed
8. The sea will draw together to stand upright like a wall, and then return to its place
9. A voice will speak from the sky, begging God for mercy
10. The angels will tremble and the demons will lament
11. Four winds will rise and then the rain bow will fall, driving the demons back to Hell
12. The four elements will cry in strong voice: "Mercy, Jesus, son of Mary, as you are God and King of heaven!" (Merci Iesus, fiȝ Mari, As þou ert god and king of heuene)

The poem breaks off at this point, leaving the final signs unknown.^[7]

References to the fifteen signs are ubiquitous in medieval Western literature. In the fifteenth century, prints detailing the life of theAntichrist usually included the fifteen signs.^[12] An Anglo-Norman version was included in the fourteenth-centuryCursor Mundi, and C. H. Conley argued thatWilliam Shakespeare used a reading knowledge of that poem or one like it for various details in Act 1 ofHamlet and Act 2 ofJulius Caesar, details he couldn't have found inHolinshed's Chronicles.^[13] Harry Morris contends that those details could have come to Shakespeare viaJohn Daye'sA Book of Christian Prayer (1578) or theHolkham Bible (14th century).^[14] The signs also occur in the shearmen'sProphets of Antichrist, part of the fifteenth-centuryChester Mystery Plays.^[15]

• Kildare Poems
• Prick of Conscience

• de Vasconcellas, Michaelis (1870). "Quindecim Signa ante Judicium".Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen.46:33–60.
• Gow, Andrew Colin (1995).The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200–1600. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions. BRILL.ISBN 9789004102552.
• Heist, William Watts (1952).The Fifteen Signs before Doomsday. East Lansing.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Mantou, Reine (1967)."Le thème des "Quinze signes du jugement dernier" dans la tradition française".Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire (in French).45 (3):827–842.doi:10.3406/rbph.1967.2693.hdl:2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/256139.S2CID 161768644.
• Marchand, James W. (1976). "Early Scandinavian Variants of the Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday".Acta philologica Scandinavica. Tidsskrift for nordisk sprogforskning.31:117–132.
• Nolle, Georg (1879). "Die Legende von den Funfzehn Zeichen vor dem Jüngsten Gerichte".Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (in German).6 (3):413–476.doi:10.1515/bgsl.1879.6.3.413.hdl:2027/hvd.32044089055511.ISSN 0005-8076.S2CID 162317404.

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