Jean Gerson (attrib.), De Arte Moriendi, in Latin, manuscript on vellum

Only in the Middle Ages was death elevated to an art form.  The Ars Moriendi in its various forms was known throughout most of Europe.  The present version, which opens on fol.1r, “Incipit tractatus de arte moriendi magistri Johannis gerson cancellarii Parisiensis, Cum de presentis exilii …”, is commonly ascribed to Jean Gerson (1363-1429), chancellor of Notre-Dame and of the university of Paris, but sometimes also to his predecessor, Pierre d’Ailly, or to Cardinal Domenico Capranica, Matthew of Cracow and even to Richard Rolle of Hampole (as in New College, Oxford, MS.304, and elsewhere), a diversity which attests to wide circulation.  It is in six chapters, (i) on the merits of a good death, (ii) on avoiding the temptations of doubt, despair, complacency, etc., (iii) questions of moral self-analysis to ask oneself or to be asked by those attending the death; (iv) instruction in the faith; (v) last-minute exhortations; and (vi) prayers for the dying.  It ends on fol.16v, “…  in secula, Amen”, followed by a passage omitted from fol.13r.