ABSTRACT
The fate of the individual soul in the afterlife preoccupied the typical late medieval Christian. In the past, numerous scholars argued that this preoccupation meant that late medieval Christianity was a religion of fear. Over the last generation or so, however, historians have suggested that though the beyond did inform the worship of late medieval Christians, fear figures far less prominently than earlier views maintained. Rather, the general frame of mind of that era is more accurately depicted as a state of vigilant preparedness. Death assuredly came for all, the soul survived it, and had best be ready for what followed.
