Ideals and realities of death and dying in the twelfth century
Date
2001
Authors
Braakman, Michelle Lynne
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Abstract
The twelfth century developed a particular conception of what an ideal death was that came to serve as the standard against which different types of deaths were measured. For the benefit of both monastic and lay communities monks and other writers stressed the importance of achieving a good death. Images and attitudes toward death are to be found in various sources, including monastic customaries and constitutions, paintings, lay instructional texts, and histories and chronicles. The idealization of death and the way it was accepted and developed, and how it corresponded to actual deaths, suggest that the expectations of a good death varied among different groups in twelfth-century Christian society. There remained throughout, however, the hope of personal salvation for all who led good, Christian lives, and who faced death constant in their faith in God and in keeping with the expectations of how one was supposed to die.