ARS MORIENDI. - An ascetical pamphlet in Latin, widely diffused at the origins of printing (15th century), containing exhortations and prayers, and accompanied by illustrations with captions, for preparation for death. It is not a single work, for under the same title (often expanded) there circulated brief treatises or collections of varied content; the original framework flourished into a quasi "literary genre" of didactic-devotional works, intended for both high and low society, though also useful to "clerics." Three distinct printed works are known, each connected with reworkings and adaptations, both in Latin and in vernacular languages.
1) The first *Ars moriendi* printed (17 quarto leaves, printed by Ulrich Zell, without place or date: Cologne? 1465?) is attributed in the "explicit" to Matthew of Krakow (Pomerania), bishop of Worms (d. 1410). It is a collection of prayers and meditations. The oldest dated manuscript (in Brussels) is from 1466. It had at least eight other editions from 1470 to 1497 (especially in Strasbourg, Augsburg, Paris), the first dated one being from 1478 (Venice, "per Bernardum pictorem et Erhardum Ratdolt de Augusta"), in 20 leaves, with the title *Ars bene moriendi. Tractatus brevis et valde utilis de arte et scientia bene moriendi*. From this derives the treatise by Cardinal Capranica and the contemporaneous Spanish vernacular version *Arte de bien morir*.
In the 15th century, the "memento mori" was inculcated not only in cloisters but among the masses. Meditation on death became commonplace, with the dominant triad: the fleeting nature of earthly splendor, the horrid decay of all human beauty and strength, and the equality of all conditions and ages before sovereign death (illustrated by the Danse Macabre; V. DANZA MA-CABRA).
The anonymous (first) pamphlet has been erroneously attributed to Bishop Matthew of Krakow or to Cardinal Domenico da Capranica, archbishop of Fermo (d. 1458), who adapted it (in 1452): *L'Arte del ben morire* (24 quarto leaves), published in Florence (1477 and 1479), Verona, and Venice (1478); many other editions followed, with varied engravings, until 1513. The original is considerably earlier and may perhaps be traced, in content, to the German Dominicans Heinrich Suso, who in *Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit* devotes four chapters (Part II, chs. 3, 21-24) to preparation for death, especially sudden death, NIGERIA (v.), whose *De arte moriendi* was widely circulated (two editions c. 1465). The fearful depiction of agony is already found in Innocent III, *De contemptu mundi* (PL 217, 702 sqq.). Gerson, with the *Opusculum tripartitum de praeceptis decalogi, de confessione et de arte moriendi* (Opera, II, Paris 1606, cols. 258-83; cf. *Sermo III de defunctis*, III, col. 1568 sqq.), is likely to have given the definitive impetus.
The *Ars moriendi*, already well-known in the first half of the 15th century, spread everywhere with the aid of printing, in reworked forms often augmented with passages from secular authors in prose and verse, biblical or patristic quotations, and examples. It is closely connected with Denis the Carthusian’s *De quattuor hominum novissimis* (d. 1471; Opera XLI, p. 511 sqq.; cf. *Directorium vitae nobilium*, Op. XXXVII, p. 550 sqq.). Besides those already mentioned, others who contributed to the dissemination of the treatise, reworking or compiling it, include Rodrigo de Santaella, archdeacon of Reyna (in Spanish, 1470), Albert of Eyb, with two pamphlets from 1477 (*Praeparatio ad mortem* and the dialogue *De morte*), Nicola Weidenbusch (Saliceto), under whose name a *De arte moriendi* circulated posthumously (Paris 1496), and especially Johann Geiler of Kaisersberg, who, with his zeal and genius, gave new life to the well-known pamphlet, fashioning it into his own text to which he added the alphabetical rhythm *De dispositione ad mortem*, with new engravings. The *Tractatus de scientia et arte bene moriendi* by Bonifazio da Ceva (d. 1517) seems to be lost. By this time the subject had passed into popular literature: the poem *Le Miroir de Mort* by George Chastellain (1404-75) develops the three motifs of meditation on death; *La Danse Macabre* (Paris 1485, with woodcuts by Guyot Marchant), like its Spanish counterpart of the same period, seems to derive from a Latin original. Later treatises, denser in doctrine, on preparation for death—from those by the bishop of Padua P. Barozzi (d. 1507, *De modo bene moriendi*, ed. 1531), Erasmus (1525), Pietro of Lucca (*Dottrina del ben morire*, 1520), Josse Clichtove (1520), to those by Ludwig Baer (1551) and Francisco de Hevia (1550), Robert Bellarmine (*De arte bene moriendi*, Rome 1621), and V. Caraffa (*Peregrino della terra o vero apparecchio per la buona morte*, Naples 1645)—caused the simple *Ars moriendi* to be forgotten, a pathetic witness to the salutary eschatological shudder of a bygone age.
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**ARS MORIENDI** - Woodcut from the Nuremberg edition of 1512.
2) Completely different is the *Ars moriendi* on the theme of "psychomachia," entirely (text and plates) in woodcut (generally 24 pages or leaves, half text and half figures), widely diffused, especially in Germany, of great interest for its expressive and dramatic engravings framed by a sparse, often obscure Latin text due to excessive conciseness. It depicts Satan’s assault with the five temptations (against faith, hope, detachment from earthly goods, resignation in suffering, humble repentance) upon the dying man, surrounded by his family; but each time an Angel intervenes to repel the Devil in the struggle for the soul’s possession (cf. Dante, *Inf.*, XXVII, 112-29; *Purg.*, V, 103-108). This evocative pamphlet had at least ten editions between 1460 and 1490. At the same time, there are about ten editions (the first dated is from 1473) of the German vernacular version, three in French (elegant translation by Guillaume Tardif, d. 1495), three or more in Dutch; an English translation is known.
3) Closely related to the preceding is a shorter *Ars moriendi*, diffused (at least five editions) between 1480 and 1505. It is limited to biblical passages, to which the figures are adapted; it consists of 14 leaves.
From the end of the 15th century, the *Stimulus timoris Dei ad bene moriendum* begins to be added to the *Ars moriendi*, describing the pains of hell and purgatory (sometimes also the Antichrist and the Last Judgment). Moreover, the *Ars bene moriendi* is published as an integration of the *Ars bene vivendi* (recent and less fashionable), following the example of Nicholas of Lyra in *De arte bene vivendi et bene moriendi*, and of John Gerson. Eight editions are known of the French *L'art de bien vivre et de bien mourir* from 1492 to 1540.
The origin of the *Ars moriendi* is unknown; it has been much studied from the artistic side, but not yet from the literary. It must have been composed at the end of the 14th century, following the terrible epidemics that devastated Europe in that century. Through the work of Dominican and French preachers,
*Ars moriendi* - Woodcut from the Nuremberg edition of 1512.