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The long series of killings ends — most unusually — with a scene that could have been taken from one of the many contemporary books on "Ars Moriendi", the art of dying (well).
The good death would typically take place in a bed, where the Church gave absolution of sins and administered the last oil, while gods, angels and devils stood in the background, ready for the great battle for the soul.
In the picture on the left, the dying person is tempted with the cardinal sin Pride in the form of five crowns, while God, Jesus and Mary look disapprovingly. The five devils say: "Be proud", "You are strong in faith", "You have earned the crown", "Exalt yourself" and "Persevere in patience".
In the picture to the right, a devil and an angel are waiting to fight for the soul. In the picture a little below, the fight has been postponed until the burial. Check the series at the bottom of this page for more details.
In the picture above, the Church has provided for the dying through a woman with a wax candle and a clerc with a pot of holy water. The man's soul has left the body, and an angel and a devil are fighting for their prey.
Death interrupts the serene scene by piercing the dying man with her arrow, and this is unusual: Although "Ars Moriendi" is about the good death, one never sees Death personified.
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The moral in the following verses as well as in Ars Moriendi is again that the soul will be lead to the "jugement particulier". That is, the individual soul comes to judgment as soon as he or she dies, rather then having to wait for the resurrection and the big, collective "jugement général" at Judgment Day. One wonders why the angel and devil were fighting, since the soul had to be delivered before the judge anyway (next page).
| Death The soul separated from the body, goes to judgment without delay. Contemptible and black as ashes 372 lies the flesh. You see well what it is. |
One can see well that the flesh is nothing but black ashes. The Latin citation is from Psalm 104,29: »[…] thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust«.
| Deathbed |
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La mort La femme Le clerc |
Note: Here ends the Ambrosiana manuscript.
Click the images for details, or see the pages about burials in the Middle Ages and ossuaries.
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Dances of death
Various
Mors de la Pomme
Deathbed