Chapter 5

Chapter 5 considers the interplay between the living and the dead within the Christian tradition, focusing on the role of book-centered rituals in mediating this relationship. It underscores the Christian view of death as a gateway to the afterlife, emphasizing the intercessory role played by the living through prayer to aid the souls in Purgatory. The chapter examines the emergence of brotherhoods and the hiring of monastics as professional intercessors, a practice reflected in images, such as the Spes Nostra painting.

This chapter also explores the documentation of these practices, particularly through necrologies which record the obligations of prayer and remembrance, such as one owned by the Tertiaries of the Convent of St Lucy in Amsterdam. The marks on the page, made by many hands over time, highlights the interaction required to keep the record up-to-date as an enduring social practice.

Furthermore, the chapter analyzes the function and impact of mortuary rolls as tools for collective remembrance and contractual prayer obligations within religious communities, illustrated by the mortuary roll for the Abbey at Forest's Abbess Elisabeth ’sConincs. The roll's journey and the reciprocal prayer arrangements it facilitated reflect a complex spiritual economy, as well as the social and physical handling of these documents.

The chapter concludes by comparing the mortuary rolls to the letters of profession discussed earlier, emphasizing their role in collective authorship and social memory. It argues that the physical and communal interactions with these manuscripts—through reading, writing, and handling—are essential to their function as vehicles of collective memory and spiritual economy.