Cultural History of Death in the Middle Ages

The medieval cultures of Europe (800-1450) produced novel cultural forms related to the human experience of death and dying that merit deep consideration. This volume contributes fresh interpretations and a new synthesis of perspectives on this dynamic cultural horizon informed by breakthrough work in a range of fields, including archaeology, art history, history, literature, and theology. The authors of individual chapters bring to their topics not just expertise in their given fields, but also a sense of major shifts in the way we study death, reflecting on the changing norms, attitudes, and values that drove people’s experience of this crucial last phase of life.

Pushing back against the tired cliches about death in pre-modern culture, the essays detail those features of death culture that persist through time and across cultures—like the preference for burial in churches and churchyards across Europe—while also marking the emergence of novel and distinctive practices and beliefs—like the evolution of Purgatory, with associated impacts on prayers for the dead. While attending to sharp differences between the medieval world and our own, the authors also note uncanny continuities with the present. The cumulative effect is to leave the reader with a profound sense of the cultural contribution of the medieval period to the moral obligation to take ownership of our own deaths, regardless of our belief system, and to honor our relationship to the dead, on whom our cultures are founded.

A Cultural History of Death is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com. Individual volumes are available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.