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

by Carlos M.N. Eire

This book reveals the workings of a culture that cherished death, and invested its resources in the pursuit of heaven. This is the first full-length study of Spanish attitudes toward death and the afterlife in the peak years of the Counter-Reformation. It contains an analysis of the death rituals requested in hundreds of sixteenth-century Madrid testaments, as well as a detailed account of the ways in which the "good" deaths of King Philip II and Saint Teresa of Avila were interpreted by contemporaries.

Genres: History, Spain

588 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 1995

About the author

Author also writes under Carlos Eire


A scholar of the social, intellectual, religious, and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Europe, Carlos Eire is the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History & Religious Studies at Yale University. He received his PhD from Yale in 1979, and taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota and the University of Virginia before joining the Yale faculty in 1996.

Reviews

[Nicholas Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never been more excited to die (in Early Modern Spain)

Eire provides a fresh take on death and dying in Early Modern Spain through the study of last wills. Speaking of, I need to get mine in order. He flows into a strong overview of the “kingly” and “saintly” deaths as well. Overall a fun, interesting read.

[Cali · Rating 5 out of 5]

rip st. francis of borgia you would've loved Sun Bleached Flies by Ethel Cain.

first time reading a print book (not digital or audio) cover to cover since sept 🤠

yes i made a playlist about St. Teresa of Avila. talk to my publicist about it.