Abstract

Taking Erik Erikson’s notion of «ageing with integrity» as a point of departure, this essay examines themes of wholeness and disintegration in medieval writing on the life course. The six-part Ages of Man model favored by Augustine of Hippo and Isidore of Seville proved popular and adaptable, capable of supporting both narratives of ageing as momentum and ageing as decline. The essay then analyzes narratives of ageing that eschew linear, predictable trajectories. In this section, it focuses on the following themes: the pace and (un)predictability of ageing, the life stages as a narrative framework, and access to the past self. While ageing was associated with decline, loss, and fragmentation of identity, it nevertheless offered possibilities for wholeness and renewal.