From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain
This book reveals the workings of a culture that cherished death, and invested its resources in the pursuit of heaven. This is the first full-length study of Spanish attitudes toward death and the afterlife in the peak years of the Counter-Reformation. It contains an analysis of the death rituals requested in hundreds of sixteenth-century Madrid testaments, as well as a detailed account of the ways in which the "good" deaths of King Philip II and Saint Teresa of Avila were interpreted by contemporaries.
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From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain
This book reveals the workings of a culture that cherished death, and invested its resources in the pursuit of heaven. This is the first full-length study of Spanish attitudes toward death and the afterlife in the peak years of the Counter-Reformation. It contains an analysis of the death rituals requested in hundreds of sixteenth-century Madrid testaments, as well as a detailed account of the ways in which the "good" deaths of King Philip II and Saint Teresa of Avila were interpreted by contemporaries.
187.0 In Stock
From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain

From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain

by Carlos M. N. Eire
From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain

From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain

by Carlos M. N. Eire

Hardcover

$187.00 
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Overview

This book reveals the workings of a culture that cherished death, and invested its resources in the pursuit of heaven. This is the first full-length study of Spanish attitudes toward death and the afterlife in the peak years of the Counter-Reformation. It contains an analysis of the death rituals requested in hundreds of sixteenth-century Madrid testaments, as well as a detailed account of the ways in which the "good" deaths of King Philip II and Saint Teresa of Avila were interpreted by contemporaries.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780521460187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 06/30/1995
Series: Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History
Pages: 588
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.50(d)

Table of Contents

Prologue: death and the sun; Part I. Eager for Heaven: Death and Testamentary Discourse in Madrid, 1520–1599: 1. Wills and the history of death in Madrid; 2. Approaching the divine tribunal; 3. Relinquishing one's body; 4. Impressing God and neighbor; 5. Planning for the soul's journey; 6. Aiding the needy, aiding oneself; 7. Conclusion; Part II. The King's Dissolving Body: Philip II and the Royal Paradigm of Death: 1. King Philip and his palace of death; 2. The king's many requiems; 3. Drawing lessons from the king's death; 4. Defending the faith through ritual; 5. Death, the Spanish monarchy, and the myth of sacredness; 6. Conclusion; Part III. The Saint's Heavenly Corpse: Teresa of Avila and the Ultimate Paradigm of Death: 1. From Alba to Heaven; 2. Come sweet death, come swift dying; 3. Imperishable flesh, incomparable wonder; 4. Earthbound no longer; 5. Saint Teresa's apparitions; 6. Conclusion; Epilogue: in death as in life: from the daily rounds of Hell to the vestibule of Heaven.
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