Title: Death and the prince
First published: 1994
Description: This study examines medieval kingship and attitudes to death, and identifies a period in which this-worldly and other-worldly interests were held in a relatively stable equilibrium. David d'Avray's conclusions are based on previously unpublished memorial sermons from fourteenth-century Europe. After giving an outline of the development of the genre from the late Roman Empire, he argues that the portrayal of individual personalities conveyed a message about kingship.

The message is shown to be much the same as that of fifteenth-century humanist orations so far as the 'external goods' of wealth and nobility are concerned. Aristotelian influence enhances the secular character of the ideology. The secularity, however, is harmoniously balanced by a more predictable emphasis on death and the afterlife. Furthermore, in drawing this balance the sermons are representative of an outlook widely current in the real world of fourteenth-century kingship.

. Death and the Prince mixes political history with history of mentalities in an original and scholarly study. The relation of its argument to recent French and German work on the 'History of Death' is spelled out, and critical transcriptions of a significant selection of unpublished sources are appended.
Subjects: Death and burial, Kings and rulers, Death, Latin Sermons, History and criticism, Medieval Sermons, Christianity, Sermons, Medieval, Sermons, Latin, Religious aspects of Death, History of doctrines, Sermons, Funeral sermons, Religious aspects, Histoire des doctrines, Preken, Attitude to Death, Mort, Religion, Tod, Europa, Christentum, Einstellung, Sermons pour les funérailles, Rois et souverains, Lijkredes, Christianisme, Leichenpredigt, Geschichte 500-1350, Aspect religieux, Sermons latins, Mort et sépulture, Middeleeuws Latijn, History, Histoire et critique, Funeral Rites, 18.47 medieval Latin literature, Kunst, Dodenbezorging, Preaching, history
Places: Europe
Time periods: Middle Ages, 600-1500
LC classification: BT825 .D35 1994