Transience and Fate
The Christian faith was of central importance in the Middle Ages and shaped people’s thinking – both in relation to final events, i.e. death, the afterlife and preparation for it, and in relation to human destiny. Transience was present, death could occur at any time, which is why it was important to prepare for it during one’s lifetime so as not to enter the afterlife unprepared. The intense preoccupation with these themes is evident in the featured texts and pictures. However, they not only illustrate the concern for the salvation of the soul, but they also help overcome the challenges of life. Not only was death personified and thus turned into a concrete, tangible figure, but the actions of Fortuna, a goddess of fate in ancient times, were also used to explain unexpected turns of events and supposed injustices. This and other personifications that address transience and fate are always in the service of God, the supreme authority in whom all strands of existence converge.
