1 Answers
De Miseria Condicionis Humane , also known as Liber de contemptu mundi, sive De miseria humanae conditionis, is a twelfth-century religious text written in Latin by Cardinal Lotario dei Segni, later Pope Innocent III.
The text is divided into three parts: in the first part the wretchedness of the human body and the various hardships one has to bear throughout life are described; the second lists man's futile ambitions, i.e. affluence, pleasure and esteem, and the third deals with the decay of the human corpse, the anguish of the damned in hell, and the Day of Judgment.
Dei Segni, still a cardinal, began writing De Miseria Condicionis Humane sometime between late December 1194 and early April 1195.
According to Robert E. Lewis, the editor of the most recent translation in English, approximately 672 manuscripts of the text are extant.