Martin Christ is going to present a working paper on 'Dying, death and commemoration in early modern Zürich, Munich and Dresden, c. 1550-1650'

Different Christian confessions had different approaches to dying, death and commemoration. This project focuses on three major European centres which followed different religions: Reformed Zürich, Lutheran Dresden and Catholic Munich. In Catholicism, dying was highly ritualized and included a procession to the house of the dying, holy water and incense. Purgatory played an important role for the deceased and their family, as did saints and masses which eased a soul’s way into heaven. In Lutheranism, theologians removed many rituals and questioned their salvific powers. Saintly intercession and purgatory no longer played a role. But some elements, like bell ringing, were retained. In Calvinism, changes were even more far ranging and funeral services largely revolved around sermons, and theologians removed elements kept in Lutheranism. Calvinists no longer used funeral sermons, hymns and elaborate monuments.
This project argues that these changes have to be seen not only in a religious context, but also by investigating other political, cultural and societal changes. By analyzing, for example, how political alliances and connections influenced dying, death and commemoration, the project integrates religious change into a broader framework. Dying is a particularly valuable testing ground for the impact of such connections, because death was one of the areas of early modern life that was most profoundly influenced by the European Reformations. In this way, the project integrates death in German cities into European and global networks.