In the Middle Ages, funerary art was used by the upper social groups as a form of immortalization in the earthly world. The main concern was to be forever present in the memory of the living so they could intercede for the soul of the deceased.

According to the ways Christianity was expressed in the Late Middle Ages, success in the afterlife required several rituals, such as masses, so the departed could ascend more rapidly to Eternal Salvation. To ensure this happened, long before death, testaments served to predetermine how the ante-mortem procedures, burial, and post-mortem rituals should take place and, in exchange, the Church would receive a significant part of the testator's possessions. The testaments related to items of funerary art reveal the anguish caused by the idea of disappearance over time.

A testament, or will, is an official document that was often written long before death, due to the omnipresence of death in medieval daily life. It would describe not only practical matters related to the disposition of possessions, but also lay down the manner in which the deceased wanted to be remembered, trying to prolong their memory for as long as possible. In these documents, certain formulae concern the fate of the soul (pro commendatio anima) and the structure of prayers, not only daily but also on special occasions. This is the case for the so-called Dies natalis, the day of rebirth to an eternal life, which is why this expression is used; calling it a birthday even though it referred to the day of death.

Unlike in the ancient world, prayers were for the dead and not to the dead. This practice featured so heavily in medieval attitudes towards death that funeral scenes on tombs often depicted mourners. The recumbent effigy—representing the image of the deceased person—and the sarcophagus or chest as a whole were to form a monumentum comprising the principal roles the person played while living and reflecting the idea of a deep believer with boundless faith.

Wills Demanding Rituals

Let us analyze attitudes towards death, the Liturgy of the Dead, testamentary documents, and funerary art simultaneously.