A comprehensive, innovative study of how medieval people envisioned heaven, hell, and purgatory - images and imaginings that endure today.

Preface; List of abbreviations; List of figures; 1. Introduction Richard M. Pollard; Part I. Chronological Surveys: 2. Just deserts in the ancient pagan afterlife Susanna Braund and Emma Hilliard; 3. Visions of the afterlife in the early medieval west Yitzhak Hen; 4. A Morbid efflorescence: envisaging the afterlife in the Carolingian period Richard M. Pollard; 5. The afterlife in the medieval Celtic-speaking world Elizabeth Boyle; 6. Anglo-Saxon visions of heaven and hell Gernot Wieland; 7. Otherworld journeys of the central middle ages Carl Watkins; 8. Visions of the otherworlds in the late middle ages, c.1300¿c.1500 Gwenfair Walters Adams; Part II. Theological Perspectives: 9. Purgatory's intercessors Isabel Moreira; 10. The theology of the afterlife in the early middle ages, c.600¿c.1100 Helen Foxhall Forbes; 11. Afterdeath locations and return appearances, from scripture to Shakespeare Henry Ansgar Kelly; Part III. Artistic Impressions: 12. 'Eye hath not seen [...] which things God hath prepared [...] ': imagining heaven and hell in Romanesque and Gothic art Adam R. Stead; Part IV. Notable Authors and Texts; 13. Visions and the afterlife in Gregory's dialogues Jesse Keskiaho; 14. The vision of Tnugdal Eileen Gardiner; 15. The afterlife in the visionary experiences of the female mystics Debra L. Stoudt; 16. Dante's other-worldly surprises and this-worldly polemic George Corbett; Cumulative bibliography.