Death and Memory in some Texts of Medieval Liturgy
Rubén PERETÓ RIVAS
Original title: Muerte y memoria en algunos textos de la liturgia medieval
Published in
Keywords: Burial, Death, Liturgy, Memory, Sarum.
The human societies need to build and keep safe the memories of their deaths in order to strength their owns structures and avoid its dissolution by the oblivion. In this paper I want to show the way in which the Medieval society kept the memories of their deaths according the liturgical texts. The issue will be analyze in three parts: the polysemy of the deaths memory, way and places of the commemoration, and the cult of the corpse. I take account the text of the Sacramentarium Gelasianum and the Sarum Missal as well as the the rites of the commendatione animae in use at the St. Augustine Abbey of Canterbury.
Death as a character in popular culture through History
Ramón MÉNDEZ GONZÁLEZ
Original title: La Muerte como personaje de la cultura popular a lo largo de la Historia
Published in The World of Tradition
Keywords: Art, Culture, Death, History, Literature, Tradition.
Aside from being part of the cycle of life, Death itself became a very important character in popular culture. Since its first appearance as a Horseman during the Apocalypse, and until nowadays, the character of Death has showed different shapes and has inspired a huge array of sculptors, painters, writers, people of letters, composers, movie makers, illustrators and even video game developers. In each different era of human history, the representation of Death evolved to adapt itself to different idiosyncrasies and ways of understanding the world in each society, as well as the possibilities that technologies offered to these creators of art. The main goal of this paper is to give a brief overview of how the character of Death evolved since its origins to nowadays, through the image of the Western Death that was influenced by the Christian rituals and that became the main anthropomorphism of natural Death.
In fine: the last day of the livings in medieval Valencia (1390-1437)
Luis GALAN CAMPOS
Original title: In fine: el último día de los vivos en la Valencia medieval (1390-1437)
Published in
Keywords: Burial, Death, Nobility, Valencia, XVth century.
In this paper we analyse the conceptions about death and the rituals that mark the end of life in the society of the Late Middle Ages, especially among the nobility and high bourgeoisie, which are the group in that we can best ascertain these practices, taking the example of the city of Valencia, an observation point of great trustworthiness to study the whole West; that shows us that attitudes towards death face the social, political and religious changes that took place at the end of the Middle Ages.
Thanatology of the Corpus Hermeticum (c. 100-300): the philosophical concept of Death in the Hermetic Tractates
David Pessoa de LIRA
Original title: A Tanatologia do Corpus Hermeticum (c. 100-300): o conceito filosófico da Morte nos Tratados Herméticos
Published in The World of Tradition
Keywords: Corpus Hermeticum, Death, Hermetic Literature, Hermeticism, Marcus Aurelius’ Antoninus, Philosophy, Stoicism, Thanatology.
This article attempts to examine the idea of death, its problem, in the scope of hermeticism in Antiquity, having mainly as object of analysis the Corpus Hermeticum. In particular, the problem of death, in the Corpus Hermeticum, is treated from the ontological point of view. A history of ideas about death in the Corpus Hermeticum supposes an analysis of the underlying conception of the world by the Hermetic authors, and not just of their philosophy. Although this study is linked to an examination of ideas about the meaning of life and the conception of immortality, which are problems related to the theme of death, here it does not imply an analysis of these problems, but a conclusive indication that some Hermetic Tractates show the dilemma of death between dissolution and change from the reflection of the Stoic Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
The Funeral in the Monastery of Batalha
Renata Cristina de Sousa NASCIMENTO
Original title: As Exéquias Fúnebres no Mosteiro da Batalha
Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Death, Imaginary, Pantheon, Rites, Symbolic Power.
The aim of this article is to analyze the funeral rites as a power representation. In this path was elected the narratives about the royal exequies occurred at Santa Maria da Vitória’s (Batalha) Monastery in XV century. The chronics talks about the importance of the funeral’s cerimonials happened at the Monastery. The “departure” of kings also showed the great religious pomp lived in the interior of the batalinho yard to D. João II. The Royal Pantheon of the Battle has a great symbolic and political importance, specially related to Avis’ Dinasty (1385-1581).
The death as passing: Earth, Paradise, and Hell in Armer Heinrich by Hartmann von Aue
Daniele Gallindo Gonçalves SILVA
Original title: A morte como passagem: Terra, Paraíso e Inferno em Armer Heinrich (Pobre Henrique) de Hartmann von Aue
Published in Paradise, Purgatory and Hell: the Religiosity in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Death, Literature in Middle High German, Rites of Passage.
There are several discourses about death in the XII century. In addition to the discourses disseminated by the clergy and religious literature, the Middle High German literature also covered the theme in its own manner. Accordingly, the work Armer Heinrich by Hartmann von Aue re-elaborates the knowledge about death and the transience of life, which are presented and discussed here.
The funeral weddings of the Eurypid princesses Cassandra and Polyxena. Comparison between the tragedies The Trojan Women and Hecuba of Euripides (c. 480-406 a. C.)
Anastasia TERZOPOULOU
Original title: Las bodas fúnebres de las princesas euripídeas Casandra y Políxena. Comparación entre las tragedias Las troyanas y Hécuba de Eurípides (c. 480-406 a. C.)
Published in The World of Tradition
Keywords: Death, Funeral Weddings, Pride, Punishment, Revenge, Trojan War.
The aim of this article is to compare the “funeral weddings” of the Trojan princesses Cassandra and Polyxena through the tragedies The Trojan Women and Hecuba by the Athenian playwright Euripides. More specifically, this work indicates the terrible consequences that people suffer due to the cruelty of war.
The right of life and death in war in De iure belli libri tres (1598) by Alberico Gentili (1552-1608)
Giuliano MARCHETTO
Original title: Il diritto di vita e di morte in guerra nel De iure belli libri tres (1598) di Alberico Gentili (1552-1608)
Published in The World of Tradition
Keywords: Death, Law, Life, Power, War.
In war, there are situations in which one side is given the power of life or death over the other. The medieval legal tradition tries to bring this power back into law and to limit it. The Italian jurist Alberico Gentili in his work De jure belli libri tres (1598) represents, in the modern age, the attempt to offer an interpretation of war as an instrument of justice and therefore regulated in every aspect by the law. Gentili’s theory is the opposite of a different tradition, ancient but always resurfacing in history, which instead sees war as a place from which law is absent, is silent and only violence, which includes an unlimited vitae necisque potestas, thus becomes the origin of law and of every new power and order.
The victorious life and the disenchanted end of the great Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great and the novelesque knight Tirant lo Blanc
Anastasia TERZOPOULOU
Original title: La vida victoriosa y el final desencantado del gran conquistador macedonio Alejandro Magno y del caballero novelesco Tirant lo Blanc
Published in Mirabilia Journal
Keywords: Ambition, Conquests, Death, Feats, Fortune, Testament.
The aim of this article is not to analyze the details of the life of Tirant lo Blanc, a literary figure from the Valencian Golden Age, and Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, a real historical person of Ancient Greece; but to expose the common features that life presents and, above all, the early, bitter and unexpected end of two great warriors and military strategists.
The victorious life and the disenchanted end of the great Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great and the novelesque knight Tirant lo Blanc
Anastasia TERZOPOULOU
Original title: La vida victoriosa y el final desencantado del gran conquistador macedonio Alejandro Magno y del caballero novelesco Tirant lo Blanc
Published in
Keywords: Ambition, Conquests, Death, Feats, Fortune, Testament.
The aim of this article is not to analyze the details of the life of Tirant lo Blanc, a literary figure from the Valencian Golden Age, and Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, a real historical person of Ancient Greece; but to expose the common features that life presents and, above all, the early, bitter, and unexpected end of two great warriors and military strategists.
