INTRODUCTION

Dying was not a value-free process: the manner in which it occurred was likely to be categorized as either good or bad, either a ‘buena o mala muerte’ (Martínez de Toledo 1979: 244). Within these broad categories, however, there were many different forms, each possessing its own characteristics. Thus Centurio could speak of his ‘reportorio en que ay sietecientas y setenta species de muertes’ (Rojas 1998: 316). This interest in the precise nature of any given death was due to the fact that the cause of death, where it took place, the social status of the deceased, and their attitude in the hour of death all helped determine how a particular death would be classified. The manner of death was of great significance because it determined how the whole of the deceased’s life would be evaluated, in retrospect, by the living. It is in the context of death that the Siete partidas state, ‘Todas las cosas maguer hayan buen comienzo et buen medio, si non han buena fin, non son complidamente buenas; et esto es porquel acabamiento es cima de todo lo pasado’ (Alfonso el Sabio 1972: II, 118; II.xiii.19). This was true from the perspectives of both oradores and defensores, although the two estates had somewhat differing ideas as to what constituted a good death. As we shall see, how the death was categorized could affect the treatment of the corpse (including burial location), the reactions of the bereaved and the supposed fate of the deceased in the afterlife.

THE ORADORES: CHRISTIANITY AND THE GOOD DEATH

Christianity taught that the individual was made up of a body and a soul, which were parted at death but would be reunited at the resurrection of the dead.