[The relation to the soul and body in the 'good death' category in the light of Old Polish manuals, guides and wills]

The phenomenon of death has accompanied human existence since the dawn of time. In the Middle Ages, it was something regarded as a natural, universal and almost daily occurrence. But it was not a concern for the body that absorbed the thinking of ordinary mortals. It was a belief in the afterlife and the immortality of the soul that made the phenomenon of death so essential. The after-death fate of human souls was to depend on that phenomenon, on the manner in which one's temporal life ended. But was only the welfare of the soul taken into account in the Old Polish period was well as more modern times? On the basis of old-time handbooks, guides and instructions manuals devoted to 'good dying', the author has presented various ways people once displayed a concern for the soul's further existence. Prayer, penance, alms and reconciliation with the temporal world were only some of them. A major role was assigned to the drafting of wills. It should be emphasised, that those not only concerned estates. The testaments drafted by Catholics contained requests for pre-paid prayers, masses and sums set aside for alms for the needy. A concern for one's earthly remains was by no means neglected. Both among Catholic and Protestant believers, the custom of holding often sumptuous funerals, referred to as pompa funebris, was a customary right, and requests for a 'quiet' funeral encountered in wills were not widely respected by heirs of the deceased.