the.com/ars moriendi
a medieval self-help book for the one deadline nobody negotiates.
means a set of christian texts and guides teaching people how to die well, morally prepared and unafraid.
from latin for the art of dying, born in europe around 1415 after the black death left priests too dead or scarce to attend every deathbed, so laypeople needed a diy manual for the final exam.
woodcut editionsillustrated versions outsold most books of the era
five temptationslack of faith, despair, impatience, vainglory, and greed
two versionsa long theological one, a short comic-strip one
for instance
tractatus artis bene moriendi — the original 1415 latin treatise, likely from a dominican friar
caxton's english edition — william caxton printed it in 1490, popularizing it in england
holbein's dance of death — 1538 woodcut series echoing the same memento mori spirit