I. Introduction -- II. Types of death -- Introduction -- The oradores: Christianity and the good death -- The defensores: good death in battle -- Bad deaths -- Sudden deaths as a result of an outside agency -- Deaths imposed by the judicial system -- Self-inflicted deaths -- Conclusion -- III. The afterlife -- The oradores and the afterlife -- God and the devil -- Heaven, hell and purgatory -- The defensores and the vida de la fama -- Conclusion -- IV. The bereaved -- Introduction -- The oradores: ritual and remembrance -- Defensores and the mingling of secular and sacred in funeral customs -- Consolation and the oradores' opposition to excessive grief -- Fortaleza, grief and the defensores -- Grief and gender -- Grief and social status -- Conclusion -- V. conclusion -- Introduction -- Oradores -- Defensores -- Conflict and co-existence
Summary
The theory of the three estates made clear distinctions between the functions of the two estates which comprised the elite of medieval society: the oradores (ecclesiastics) and the defensores (warriors or nobility). They had different lifestyles, clothing and ways of thinking about life
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-204) and index
