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

The first full-length study of sixteenth-century Spanish attitudes towards death and the afterlife.

Carlos M. N. Eire (Author)

9780521460187, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 1995

588 pages, 24 b/w illus. 3 maps 22 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 3.8 cm, 1.032 kg

'This is a finely researched, lucidly written and carefully nuanced study.' Henry Kamen, The Times Literary Supplement

This book reveals the workings of a culture that cherished death, and invested its resources in the pursuit of heaven. In sixteenth-century Spain, the social and economic debts of the living were extended to the dead, and society's central paradigms sought to invert perceptions, making death seem better than life itself. This is the first full-length study of this phenomenon. It differs from previous histories of death in two significant ways: in its methodology, which seeks to interweave social history and intellectual/cultural history; and in its geographical and cultural setting (previous studies have focused on France, Italy, and England). As a history of mentalités focused on a subject of universal significance, From Madrid to Purgatory transcends its 'Spanishness' and its time period while being wholly attentive to them.

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.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]