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Ars Moriendi:
Figure 1: Illustration from Ars Moriendi, Giovanni Battista Sessa,
(1503), The Wellcome Collection
The arrival of the printing press heralded many intrigues and innovations, one of which was the publication of a variety of self-help guides. Anyone with the means, from the educated to those on the fringes of literacy, were able to purchase cheap, vernacular texts which instructed them on a range of interests and skills. Such works included herbals filled with recipes and seasonal guidance, medical works with calendars listing the best days to purge and let blood and even methods to predict the availability of honey and wine in the coming year. From 1490, English printers also provided a handbook for death. This was named Ars Moriendi, or, The Art of Dying.
England was a staunchly Catholic country in 1476 when William Caxton set up the first English print shop in Westminster, London. As such, the fear of death, particularly sudden death, was an ever-present concern; to die unprepared was to increase the soul’s sentence in purgatory, or worse. Time and thought needed to be given to the monetary and charitable gifts left behind to ensure regular prayer for the deceased, as well as providing for the church and community; thus, gaining extra points deductible from the largely inevitable stop-over in purgatory. Saint Katherine, for example, as shown holding her symbolic wheel in figure 1, was often remembered in wills, being thought to protect the souls of those who died unexpectedly.
But such preparations were only one stage of ensuring a good death and afterlife. The actual process of dying, up until the time when the soul left the body, was just as crucial. As such, Ars Moriendi was a popular work, one which provided practical guidance on how to prepare for sudden death and how to enter a ‘state of salvation’ once those final moments arrived. It went through at least fifty printed recensions in England alone, and even more throughout Europe.
The Art of Dying conjures up, and often visually depicts, a graphic image of an afflicted man, dying in his bed (see figures 1 and 3). He rests or toils in a small space compacted by angels and saints above him, and demons and devilish abominations clamouring below; each team set on winning this spiritual tug-of-war. The one living confidant leans in closely, his only remaining connection to the earthly plain as he seeks the heavenly comfort from above, all the while resisting the terrible pull from down below. This bed, where he has prayed, dreamt, sickened, and healed, perhaps he was even born here, is the life (or death) raft in this, his final journey.
How to Die
Ars Moriendi does not recommend dying alone. A ‘special friend’ should attend the bedside to offer prayer and encourage others to pray also; with the more prayer for the dying the better. This friend should read aloud stories of saints, remind him of the passion of God, and ensure that an image of the crucifix is always in his line of sight. The presence of this person was not to offer emotional support, or to deliver words or comfort. Rather, it was to act as a barrier between the dying, and the demons who waited hungrily in the shadows to snatch away the imminently departing soul, should those in their final moments slip into despair and forget their Christian morality. In figure 1, such saints can be seen offering words of comfort and encouragement such as ‘sis patiens’ (be patient) and appear to force down the demons below the bed. Ars Moriendi says,
‘With the helpe & prayer of all sayntes be between me and all mine enemies now and in the houre of my death & departinge.’
Figure 2: Illustration from The Art of Dying, publisher unknown, (1495) Library of Congress
To further prevent the loss of salvation, holy water could be sprinkled to deter evil spirits ‘who be full ready’ to take the sufferer's soul. In this way, as a friend, relative, or trusted member of the community may have assisted their coming into this world, one should also help deliver them to the next. It likens death to birth in this way, suggesting in fact that death will be more joyful than birth:
‘Departynge shall be better to you than the tyme of your byrthe for now all sykness sorowe & trouble shall departe nowe from you forever.’
The dying were also advised to take on their sickness with gladness, secure in the knowledge that what awaits them is preferable to what they leave behind:
‘Ye have great cause to be glad for to departe from this wretched worlde.’
Figure 3: Illustration from Ars Moriendi, Giovanni Battista Sessa, (1503), The Wellcome Collection.
How to be saved
Given that prayer at the time of death may not be possible, either due to suddenness or an inability to speak, Ars Moriendi stressed the importance of daily prayer while in good health.
Prayer is positioned much like a modern-day funeral plan: preparing for one’s inevitable demise, via small daily payments of penance. It is advised that the reader who wishes to prepare for a good death, check their conscience once or twice a day to ensure themselves as likely to achieve salvation as possible. They were also instructed to mark the degrees of humility, obedience, patience, and charity listed in the book. This involved keeping eyes downcast and existing in stillness and silence, following the commandments of the sovereign and being glad of what is demanded of you, loving your enemies and resisting grudges, and avoiding jealousy towards those more prosperous. These are summed up clearly with the seventh ‘degree of obedyence’, as simply, ‘obedience until death.’ What is clear from these passages is that it is not only obedience to God which would save you, but obedience to all levels of superiority; creating an interesting tension for those who rebelled in the name of religion.
Reminiscent of an exorcism to cleanse the soul before its departure, the dying should be armed with a cross as a defence against ‘ghostly enemies’ and as a way to please God.
‘I put christs passyon betwyxte me & myne evyll workes and his wrath.’
The sick and dying should also take care not to ‘fall into despair’. Despair in this context took on a much more severe nuance than we are familiar with today. It related to a state of near insanity - devoid of all hope and possibly faith. Falling into despair would have caused God a level of displeasure that could not then be remedied. Such a state of hopelessness is illustrated by the words of the damned in figure 3 and appear to act as a warning as much as a taunt: ‘animam amisimus’ (we lost our souls) and ‘spes nobis nulla’ (there is no hope for us).
Dying with Humility
The dying should never assume that they have led a good life and always present themselves meekly, as a repentant sinner:
‘Good Lorde Jhesu Cryste, I [a]knowledge that I have sinned grevously & by thy grace I wyll gladly amende…’
Detailed, lengthy prayers to be said before death are listed in the text. These often read as a stream of spiritual self-flagellation: a miserable sinner prostrating themselves before God, that he might show them pity and cleanse their tainted soul:
‘I knowe well that I have grevyd the mercyfull lorde and broken thy commandments in the whiche thou only ought to be worshypped.’
Figure 2: Illustration from The Art of Dying, publisher unknown, (1495) Library of Congress
Though the Ars Moriendi paints a bleak picture of the process of dying- less of a peaceful exit from this world than a battle for one’s soul- it did offer some semblance of hope to counteract the despair. Regardless of any sin committed during life, if the dying were able to place themselves into a state of salvation, through humility, acceptance, and the prayers of both themselves and others, then they could have ‘everlasting lyfe though he had done all the synnes of the world.’
The creators of Ars Moriendi understood that like many things in life, dying was an art and it therefore, it required a guidebook. As such, The Art of Dying, was brought to life.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Anonymous, Here Begynneth a Lytell Treatyse Called Ars Moriendi (London: Wynkyn de Worde, 1490)
Anonymous, Ars Moriendi. Here Begynneth a Lytell Treatyse Shortlye Compyled, and Called Ars Moriendi/That Is to Saye the Crafte to Dye, for the Helth of Manes Soule (London: Robert Wyer, 1532)
Bernard, G.W., The Late Medieval English Church: Vitality and Vulnerability Before the Break with Rome (United States: Yale University Press, 2012)
Duffy, Eamon, The Stripping of the Altars, The Stripping of the Altars (Yale University Press, 2005)
Houlbrooke, Ralph, Death, Religion, and the Family in England, 1480–1750, Death, Religion, and the Family in England, 1480–1750 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_08976/?st=gallery
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