Funeral Culture Of The Late Middle Ages In Western Europe

Death happened frequently during "crisis of the late Middle Ages" in WesternEurope. Flourish and prosperity which had lasted for centuries in Western Europecame to a halt in the early14thcentury. Worse still, famine and pestilence widelyspread, which caused millions of death. Death has always been an eternal topicwherever we live and we can never avoid it, regardless of the age we live in. It wasespecially a major topic for the people of the late Middle Ages in Western Europe.Therefore, the research about how people view the issue of death will somehow helpus to understand people’s psychology and behavior, and through which we will beable to get a glimpse of their cultural background. It can also provide a specialperspective to the study of medieval Western European civilization.The paper is supposed to reveal, from the funeral ceremony perspective, thethanatopsis under the medieval Christian influence and how people arranged thefuneral ceremony under the certain kind of thanatopsis in the late medieval age.These are six parts in this paper. The first part talked about the Christianthanatopsis in the late middle Age. Death marked the end of this life as well as theeternal life of the world to come. How did the soul pass the purgatory became a toppriority for Christians, as Armageddon is a key point for those who had opportunity toenter heaven after clearing sins in the purgatory. The second part illustrated howpeople prepare for death. They made charitable donations and purchased indulgencesto save their soul. The third part analyzed the unction ceremony, including spiritualcare and oleum confirmor. In the fourth part, coffinite ceremony are mainly talked,including Night vigils and the use of coffin for Corpse. In the next part, I illustratedAnn funeral, covering the holding of the funeral Mass, the selection of the cemetery,the funeral procession and how they chose the grave. The last part talked about theceremony after burying, including the mourning for the dead, funeral feast and thesouls of Mass.