Ars moriendi

Last updated
Pride of the spirit is one of the five temptations of the dying man, according to Ars moriendi
. Here, demons tempt the dying man with crowns (a medieval allegory to earthly pride) under the disapproving gaze of Mary, Christ and God. Woodblock seven (4a) of eleven, Netherlands, c. 1460. Ars.moriendi.pride.a.jpg
Pride of the spirit is one of the five temptations of the dying man, according to Ars moriendi. Here, demons tempt the dying man with crowns (a medieval allegory to earthly pride) under the disapproving gaze of Mary, Christ and God. Woodblock seven (4a) of eleven, Netherlands, c.1460.

The Ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") are two related Latin texts dating from about 1415 and 1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death, explaining how to "die well" according to Christian precepts of the late Middle Ages. It was written within the historical context of the effects of the macabre horrors of the Black Death 60 years earlier and consequent social upheavals of the 15th century. The earliest versions were most likely composed in southern Germany. [1] It was very popular, translated into most West European languages, and was the first in a western literary tradition of guides to death and dying. About 50,000 copies were printed in the incunabula period before 1501 and further editions were printed after 1501. [2] [3] [4] Its popularity reduced as Erasmus's treatise on preparing for death (de praeparatione ad mortem, 1533) became more popular.

Contents

There was originally a "long version" and a later "short version" containing eleven woodcut pictures as instructive images which could be easily explained and memorized. These woodcut images were circulated in both print and individual engravings. [1] They could then easily be pinned to a wall for viewing. [1]

The authors of the two texts are unknown, but assumed to be Dominican churchmen, as they echo Jean de Gerson's publication, the Opusculum Tripartitu, containing a section named De arte Moriendi. Gerson may have been influenced by earlier references in 'compendia of faith' dating back to the thirteenth century, but the content was uniquely his own. [5]

Long version

The original "long version", called Tactatus (or Speculum ) artis bene moriendi, was composed in 1415 by an anonymous Dominican friar, probably at the request of the Council of Constance (1414–1418, Germany). [6] This was widely read and translated into most West European languages, and was very popular in England, where a tradition of consolatory death literature survived until the 17th century. Works in the English tradition include The Way of Dying Well and The Sick Mannes Salve. In 1650, Holy Living and Holy Dying became the "artistic climax" of the tradition that had begun with Ars moriendi. [7]

Ars Moriendi was also among the first books printed with movable type and was widely circulated in nearly 100 editions before 1500, in particular in Germany. The long version survives in about 300 manuscript versions, only one illustrated.

Ars moriendi consists of six chapters: [6]

  1. The first chapter explains that dying has a good side, and serves to console the dying man that death is not something to be afraid of.
  2. The second chapter outlines the five temptations that beset a dying man, and how to avoid them. These are lack of faith, despair, impatience, spiritual pride and avarice.
  3. The third chapter lists the seven questions to ask a dying man, along with consolation available to him through the redemptive powers of Christ's love.
  4. The fourth chapter expresses the need to imitate Christ's life.
  5. The fifth chapter addresses the friends and family, outlining the general rules of behavior at the deathbed.
  6. The sixth chapter includes appropriate prayers to be said for a dying man.

Short version

The "short version", whose appearance shortly precedes the introduction in the 1460s of block books (books printed from carved blocks of wood, both text and images on the same block), first dates to around 1450, from the Netherlands. [6] It is mostly an adaptation of the second chapter of the "long version", and contains eleven woodcut pictures. The first ten woodcuts are divided into 5 pairs, with each set showing a picture of the devil presenting one of the 5 temptations, and the second picture showing the proper remedy for that temptation. The last woodcut shows the dying man, presumably having successfully navigated the maze of temptations, being accepted into heaven, and the devils going back to hell in confusion.

The "short version" was as popular as the "long version", but there was no English translation, perhaps because educated English people at the time were expected to understand several European languages. There are six extant manuscripts of the short version, most not illustrated, and over twenty extant blockbook illustrated editions, using 13 different sets of blocks. [8]

Images

Temptation of lack of Faith; engraving by Master E. S., c. 1450 Ars moriendi (Meister E.S.), L.175.png
Temptation of lack of Faith; engraving by Master E. S., c. 1450

As well as the eleven different sets of blockbook woodcuts, there is a set by Master E. S. in engraving. The lengthy controversy over their respective dating and priority is now resolved by the discovery by Fritz Saxl of an earlier illuminated manuscript, of well before 1450, from whose tradition all the images in the printed versions clearly derive. Studies of the watermarks of the blockbooks by Allen Stevenson at the British Museum in the 1960s confirmed that none of them predated the 1460s, so Master E. S.' engravings are the earliest printed versions, dating from around 1450. The images remain largely the same in all media for the rest of the century. [9]

There is the exceptional number of about seventy incunabulum editions, in a variety of languages, from Catalan to Dutch, the earliest from about 1474 from Cologne. [10]

Allegorically the images depicted the contest between angels and demons over the fate of the dying man. In his dying agony his soul emerges from his mouth to be received by one of a band of angels. The soul was often depicted as a miniature person who would either be escorted to heaven by the angels or sent to the fires of hell or years in Purgatory. [11] Common themes portrayed by illustrators include skeletons, the Last Judgement, corpses, and the forces of good and evil battling over souls. [2]

Extended tradition

The popularity of the Ars moriendi texts developed into a broader tradition of writing on the good death. Jeremy Taylor's books Holy Living and Holy Dying , published in 1650 and 1651, exemplify that tradition. It developed in both Protestant and Catholic veins and continued in various forms through the nineteenth century.

London

In England during the 15th century, the Ars Moriendi was popular among laymen. [12] Beginning when clerical scholars formulated the Ars Moriendi into a book, The Book of the Craft of Dying, easily spread the concept of the good death throughout England. [13] More specifically, the Book and the good death concept heavily influenced common Londoners' perceptions and understandings of death. [14] Inspired to achieve and strive for perfection in their everyday life, 15th century common Londoners flocked to the Book to know how one could achieve a good death. [14] In doing so, the Londoners seemed to latch on to a specific characteristic that stuck heavily out from the previously mentioned Ars Moriendi chapters that then again composed the popular Book of the Craft of Dying.

Legality

Throughout the six chapters, there is a common theme that resembles a quasi-legal sentiment shining through in good death tradition. Inspired by the Ars Moriendi and the popular, The Book of the Craft of Dying during the 15th century, Londoners and western Europe at large gravitated towards a quasi-legal relationship with death and God that ensured the rightful passing of not only one's physical belonging but, also one's spiritual soul. This gravitation can be explained when looking at certain chapters of The Book of the Craft of Dying that extremely highlight this development. The Book's instruction that one should find peace with God before dying resembles a concept of settling one's soul within the good death tradition as the discourse the author uses is very legal-sounding. Especially striking is the use of the word, "will," when describing one's relationship with God upon dying. The notion of a will in the good death tradition resembles a physical and metaphysical legal confirmation of the rightful passing of one's physical and spiritual belongings. [15] Though the word is used more often as a synonym for power in this source, its inclusion must not be overlooked as certain phrases hint towards a quasi-contractual relationship between the dying human and the divine. For instance, the phrase "but he should take his (the dying person) death gladly and willingly… conforming and submitting his belief to God's will alone." [16] In this instance, the mention of wills between the dying person and God resembles both a power relationship and also a contractual relationship that imagines the dying person surrendering his spirit in a legal fashion to God in effort to help quell the worries of their soul and thus, "die well… gladly and willingly." [16] In this fashion, the dying person is essentially signing their soul and spirit over to God, thus partaking in this quasi-legal practice and understanding of death.

Also, The Book's instruction to question the dying person is striking material that resembles a quasi-legal practice and understanding of death. Continuing in the same source, a few chapters later, the author instructs the audience to ask certain questions such as, "Do you acknowledge that you have not done as well as you might have done?" and "Do you repent of that?" These questions ring of legal terminology that again help sign the soul over to God in effort to accomplish the soul's peace before death. [17] If the person is asked and does answer these questions truthfully, then "he shall truly be saved." [18] Though, if none were asked upon their death, then "without no doubt no man may be saved everlastingly."[3] Thus, the questioning and response of the dying person is so vital to the accomplishment of the good death that it takes on the importance of a legal matter. Therefore, in a similar vein as the explained double meaning use of the word, "will" in the earlier phrases, it seems again that Ars Moriendi and thus, The Book as well, are reaffirming and popularizing the legal-like attributes that then construct the good death tradition.

Class distinctions

Though the Ars Moriendi and works that pushed the good death concept such as The Book of the Craft of Dying remained the dominant understanding of death throughout the 14th and 15th centuries in western Europe, class distinctions continued to add variety to this conclusion. Laymen and commoners in western Europe heavily understood death through the good death concept and tradition, but at the clerical and noble level of society, there were distinctions that did not totally agree with Ars Moriendi and the good death tradition. At the clerical level, the emerging rise of scholasticism inspired a review of past Christian theology and traditions touching all parts of Christian life - death, was one of these battlegrounds between scholasticism and traditional Christian thought. [19] Here, clerical officials and students hotly debated the importance of sin in relation to one's death. For the traditionalists, one's personal sin determined their coming death, thus explaining that when striving to achieve the good death, one must be right with God. This concept is founded back to old Church law Canon 22 of Lateran IV (1215). [20] Canon 22 states, "so that after spiritual health (through practices of the good death) has been restored to them (the dying person), the application of bodily medicine may be of greater benefit, for the cause being removed the effect will pass away." [21] For those who embraced the scholasticism approach, one's personal sin mattered little. Rather, because of Adam and Eve's original sin, we were all destined to die thus, naturalizing death and somewhat shattered the established narrative that the good death tradition promoted. [22] One scholar who embraced scholasticism writes of death, "On the causes of disease, that is, why people become ill, I reply, there are three [sic] reasons: the first is spiritual, that is, sin [...] The reason for all this is that the first man was created by God, was placed in terrestrial paradise in a state of innocence […] so that he [God] took care of the active and passive qualities of the elements that were in the human body lest they act against each other […] But because Adam was disobedient to God […] God permitted the elemental qualities to act against each other and consequently the body becomes ill and dies." [23] Though this division in thought would challenge the previously established Ars Moriendi and good death tradition, the popularity of such works as The Book of the Craft of Dying indicate that this concept continued to thrive under pressure.


[1] Liber de introduction loquendi in Ziegler, "Fourteenth-Century Instructions for Bedside Pastoral Care," in Medieval Practice, 103-104.


[1] The Book of the Craft of Dying, Swanson, Catholic England, 134.

[2] The Book of the Craft of Dying, Swanson, Catholic England, 136.

[3] The Book of the Craft of Dying, Swanson, Catholic England, 136.


[1] Binski, Medieval Death, 33-35.

[2] The Book of the Craft of Dying, Swanson, Catholic England, 127.

[3] The Book of the Craft of Dying, Swanson, Catholic England, 127.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Lyons, Martyn (2011). Books: A Living History. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 91. ISBN   978-1-60606-083-4.
  2. 1 2 Martyn Lyons (2011). Books: A Living History. ISBN   978-1-60606-083-4
  3. Reinis, Austra (2007). Reforming the Art of Dying: The Ars Moriendi in the German Reformation (1519-1528). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN   978-0-7546-5439-1.
  4. "WorldCat Results for 'ars moriendi'". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  5. Paul, Kathryn (2015). "The Ars Moriendi: A Practical Approach To Dying Well". Modern Believing. 56 (2). ATLASerials: 213. doi:10.3828/mb.2015.19. ISSN   1353-1425.
  6. 1 2 3 N.F. Blake (1982). "Ars Moriendi". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. v.1, pp547-8. ISBN   0-684-16760-3
  7. Nancy Beaty (1970). The Craft of Dying: A Study of the Literary Traditions of the Ars Moriendi in England. ISBN   0-300-01336-1
  8. A Hyatt Mayor (1971), Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, numbers 23-25. ISBN   0-691-00326-2
  9. Alan Shestack (1967). Master E. S., exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, exhibit numbers 4-15
  10. "ISTC, British Library". 138.253.81.72. 2005-10-27. Archived from the original on 2007-10-06. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
  11. Lyons, M. (2011). Books: A Living History. Getty Publications.
  12. Appleford, Amy (2015). Learning to Die in London, 1380-1540. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia. p. 8.
  13. Appleford, Amy (2015-12-31). Learning to Die in London, 1380-1540. pp. 140–141. doi:10.9783/9780812290479. ISBN   9780812290479.
  14. 1 2 Appleford, Amy (2015-12-31). Learning to Die in London, 1380-1540. pp. 140–141. doi:10.9783/9780812290479. ISBN   9780812290479.
  15. Binski, Paul (1996). Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 33–35.
  16. 1 2 Norman), Swanson, R. N. (Robert (1993). Catholic England : faith, religion and observance before the Reformation. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 20. ISBN   978-0-7190-9077-6. OCLC   896363655.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. Norman), Swanson, R. N. (Robert (1993). Catholic England : faith, religion and observance before the Reformation. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 134. ISBN   978-0-7190-9077-6. OCLC   896363655.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. Norman), Swanson, R. N. (Robert (1993). Catholic England : faith, religion and observance before the Reformation. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 136. ISBN   978-0-7190-9077-6. OCLC   896363655.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. Barker)., Price, B. B. (1951-) (Betsy (1991). Medieval thought : an introduction. B. Blackwell. pp. 199–144. ISBN   0-631-17508-3. OCLC   489992487.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. Joseph Ziegler, "Fourteenth-Century Instructions for Bedside Pastoral Care," in Medieval Christianity: In Practice, ed. Mary Rubin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 104-107.
  21. "Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV 1215," Fordham, last modified January 20, 2021, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran4.asp .
  22. Joseph Ziegler, "Fourteenth-Century Instructions for Bedside Pastoral Care," in Medieval Christianity: In Practice, ed. Mary Rubin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 104-107.
  23. Liber de introduction loquendi in Joseph Ziegler, "Fourteenth-Century Instructions for Bedside Pastoral Care," in Medieval Christianity: In Practice, ed. Mary Rubin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 103-104.

Related Research Articles

<i>Danse Macabre</i> Artistic motif on the universality of death

The Danse Macabre, also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory from the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scholasticism</span> Medieval school of philosophy

Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translated scholastic Judeo-Islamic philosophies, and thereby "rediscovered" the collected works of Aristotle. Endeavoring to harmonize his metaphysics and its account of a prime mover with the Latin Catholic dogmatic trinitarian theology, these monastic schools became the basis of the earliest European medieval universities, contributing to the development of modern science; scholasticism dominated education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. The rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramon Llull</span> Majorcan writer and philosopher

Ramon Llull, anglicised as Raymond Lully or Lull, was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca.

Holy Living and Holy Dying is the collective title of two books of Christian devotion by Jeremy Taylor. They were originally published as The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living in 1650 and The Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying in 1651. Holy Living is designed to instruct the reader in living a virtuous life, increasing personal piety, and avoiding temptations. Holy Dying is meant to instruct the reader in the "means and instruments" of preparing for a blessed death. Holy Dying was the "artistic climax" of a consolatory death literature tradition that had begun with Ars moriendi in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westminster Confession of Faith</span> Presbyterian creedal statement

The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.

<i>Memento mori</i> Artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death

Memento mori is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The concept has its roots in the philosophers of classical antiquity and Christianity, and appeared in funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval art</span> Art during the Middle Ages in Europe and beyond

The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, with over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, genres, revivals, the artists' crafts, and the artists themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godparent</span> Person who sponsors a childs baptism

In denominations of Christianity, a godparent or sponsor is someone who bears witness to a child's baptism (christening) and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In the past, in some countries, the role carried some legal obligations as well as religious responsibilities. In both religious and civil views, a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development, to offer mentorship or claim legal guardianship of the child if anything should happen to the parents. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild.

Funerary texts or funerary literature feature in many belief systems. Its purpose is usually to provide guidance to the newly deceased or the soon-to-be-deceased about how to survive and prosper in the afterlife.

<i>Biblia pauperum</i> Tradition of picture Bibles

The Biblia pauperum was a tradition of picture Bibles beginning probably with Ansgar, and a common printed block-book in the later Middle Ages to visualize the typological correspondences between the Old and New Testaments. Unlike a simple "illustrated Bible", where the pictures are subordinated to the text, these Bibles placed the illustration in the centre, with only a brief text or sometimes no text at all. Words spoken by the figures in the miniatures could be written on scrolls coming out of their mouths. To this extent one might see parallels with modern comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Block book</span> Early Western block-printed book

Block books or blockbooks, also called xylographica, are short books of up to 50 leaves, block printed in Europe in the second half of the 15th century as woodcuts with blocks carved to include both text (usually) and illustrations. The content of the books was nearly always religious, aimed at a popular audience, and a few titles were often reprinted in several editions using new woodcuts. Although many had believed that block books preceded Gutenberg's invention of movable type in the first part of the 1450s, it now is accepted that most of the surviving block books were printed in the 1460s or later, and that the earliest surviving examples may date to about 1451.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Master E. S.</span> Printmaker, goldsmith, artist (1420–1467)

Master E. S. is an unidentified German engraver, goldsmith, and printmaker of the late Gothic period. He was the first major German artist of old master prints and was greatly copied and imitated. The name assigned to him by art historians, Master E. S., is derived from the monogram, E. S., which appears on eighteen of his prints. The title, Master, is used for unidentified artists who operated independently. He was probably the first printmaker to place his initials on his work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-scholasticism</span> Scholasticism revival

Neo-scholasticism is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic theology and philosophy which began in the second half of the 19th century.

Death and the Miser is a Northern Renaissance painting by Hieronymus Bosch produced between 1490 and 1516 in Northern Europe. The piece was originally part of a triptych, but the center piece is missing. It is a memento mori painting, which is meant to remind the viewer of the inevitability of death and the futility of the pursuit of material wealth, illustrating the sin of greed.

Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Catholic Church, equivalent to a religious ethics. Moral theology encompasses Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual moral virtue and moral theory. It can be distinguished as dealing with "how one is to act", in contrast to dogmatic theology which proposes "what one is to believe".

<i>Speculum Humanae Salvationis</i> Illustrated work of popular theology in the late Middle Ages

The Speculum Humanae Salvationis or Mirror of Human Salvation was a bestselling, anonymously illustrated work of popular theology in the late Middle Ages, part of the genre of encyclopedic speculum literature, in this case concentrating on the medieval theory of typology, whereby the events of the Old Testament prefigured or foretold the events of the New Testament. The original version is in rhyming Latin verse, and contains a series of New Testament events each with three Old Testament ones that prefigure it. It is one of the most common books found as an illuminated manuscript, and also in early printing in both blockbook and incunabulum forms.

<i>Der Ackermann aus Böhmen</i> 1401 work of prose by Johannes von Tepl

Der Ackermann aus Böhmen, also known as Der Ackermann und der Tod, is a work of prose in Early New High German by Johannes von Tepl, written around 1401. Sixteen manuscripts and seventeen early printed editions are preserved; the earliest printed version dates to 1460 and is one of the two earliest printed books in German. It is remarkable for the high level of its language and vocabulary and is considered one of the most important works of late medieval German literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin Church</span> Largest autonomous particular Catholic church

The Latin Church is the largest autonomous particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 churches sui iuris in full communion with the pope; the other 23 are collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, and have approximately 18 million members combined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wordless novel</span> Sequences of pictures used to tell a story

The wordless novel is a narrative genre that uses sequences of captionless pictures to tell a story. As artists have often made such books using woodcut and other relief printing techniques, the terms woodcut novel or novel in woodcuts are also used. The genre flourished primarily in the 1920s and 1930s and was most popular in Germany.

For medieval women, mysticism was "a succession of insights and revelations about God that gradually transformed the recipient" according to historian Elizabeth Petroff of Oxford University in her 1994 book, Body and Soul. The word "mysticism" has its origin in ancient Greece where individuals called the mystae participated in mystery religions. This page focuses on examples primarily relating to Christian expressions of mysticism amongst women, their lives, and their significant contributions to their communities' theology and cultural psyche. The life of a medieval woman mystic was spent seeking unity with God in a series of stages. The mystical life of a medieval woman began with a purge of the spirit in which she released herself from earthly indulgences and attachments. In a state of contrition the medieval woman mystic faced suffering because of her past sins, and the mercy of God was revealed to her through penitence. Mystics sought to imitate the suffering of Christ in order to gain an understanding through experience. During the compassion stage of suffering, the pain experienced by the medieval woman mystic "revealed the believer's love of Christ, fostered unity with Christ and the world, and began to draw the believer beyond the physical Jesus who suffered on the Cross to understand the immensity of the love that motivated Christ in the world to suffer on humanity's behalf". Medieval women mystics experienced visions during what medieval historians refer to as the Illuminative stage of their lives that contained instructions from God and would communicate their revelations in written form.

References