Module 1: Part 2 Flashcards
What kind of influence did Christianity have on funeral behavior during the Middle Ages?
Burial practices were no longer simple, but funerals expressed the importance of the church and that of her certain members. The dead were brought to church where a Requiem Mass or Mass of the Dead was said or sung. Those of certain positions like Kings, Monks, etc. were dressed in their costumes that indicated their positions.
In Anglo-Saxon times, the body of importance was placed on a bier and the book of the Gospels was laid on it to symbolize faith and a cross indicated a symbol of hope. The funeral processions consisted of priests, bearing lighted candles, changing psalms and marching before and on the sides of the dead.
After the Norman Conquest, the funeral of a rich Englishmen from King to Squire grew in pomp and length, sometimes lasting a full week. The Mass was sung and the body laid to rest. After the burial, the principals of the funeral, including clergy ate the ?funeral baked meats.?
There were “Church burials” during the Middle Ages. What were they and what were the disadvantages of them?
Church burials occurred within the walls of the church or near the churches in the yard. This custom was begun when Constantine (at his request) was buried in the vestibule of the church. There were attempts to prohibit this because of the concern for community health. Burials within the church were a nuisance because of the strong offensive odor despite the perfumes. There was also a belief that the dead infected the air by their odor and struck horror into the souls of the living by their ghastly looks.
It later became common in Europe for the churches to maintain a churchyard burial ground for their members. It was believed that evil spirits were powerless in consecrated ground.
What were the “Leagues of Prayer”?
Leagues of Prayers were developed because of the purgatorial doctrine. This was a burial organization and not a religious one. The members of the League of Prayer were devoted to burying the dead and praying for the souls of the faithful departed.
What was the Purgatorial Doctrine? Who believed in it and who fought against it?
Purgatorial Doctrine is a doctrine that makes a distinction between ?venial sins? and ?mortal sins?. A ?venial sin? is an offense against God and merits only temporal punishment. It is more easily pardoned than mortal sin. ?Mortal sin? is a grievous offense against the law of God and deprives one of a supernatural life and brings damnation and death of the soul. Those guilty of ?mortal? sin go to hell, not to purgatory. The doctrine of Purgatory offers a second change to sinners.
The Catholics believed in the purgatorial doctrine while the leaders of the Reformation (Martin Luther), the Orthodox Church and the Protestants rejected this doctrine because it was ?unbiblical.?
Explain the concept of Purgatory:
Purgatory is a concept of what happens at death. The soul is in a state of purgation meaning the souls are not perfectly cleaned and must undergo the process of cleaning before it can enter heaven. The living are encouraged to offer Masses, prayer and other acts of piety on behalf of those in purgatory. Purgatory will end with the Last Judgment at the close of the world.
What was the importance of the Steward of the Guild?
The Steward of the Guild was a member of a guild who made the necessary funeral arrangements that included a Requiem Mass, burial with solemnity, the payment of the mortuary fee and a liberal distribution of alms.
What was a Soul Shot?
Soul shot was the mortuary free. A penny paid for the good of one’s soul.
Explain what a “death watch” was during the Middle Ages:
Death Watch? was the announcement of the demised made by the human voice because of the lack of newspapers and printed death notices. This function was originally with the purgatorial doctrine, but later because the ?Death Crier? or ?Death Watch?. This person dressed in black and rang a bell to announce a death and the time of death.
What were the traits of the Wake during the Middle Ages?
The wakes in the Middle Ages were lively - singing, rejoicing, drunkenness and laughter. This custom of behaving riotously was widespread. By the 14th century, disorder at wakes had gone beyond rioting to a new custom of ?rousing the ghost?. The dead were ?raised? by playing practical jokes on superstitious relatives to frighten them.
What were some of the ways in which the people of the Middle Ages celebrated deaths or the conclusion of the funeral ceremonies?
The people of the Middle Ages celebrated deaths with funeral fests for welcoming the principal heir to his new estate. ?Averil? was the old word for funeral feast meaning ?heir ale? or ?succession ale?. Another common practice in medieval England was to place a cup of wine in the coffin next to body. The mourners felt like they established communion with the dead by drinking of it.
What was an effigy? Why was it used and in what instances would it be used?
Effigy was a waxed death mask. It usually made of a great personage (nobility). It was common for the effigy to be exhibited in church upon the catafalque, in place of the real body, because of a hygienic and aesthetic necessity. This was the custom because the funeral of a noble lasted for many days in the hot weather.
What were the characteristics of tombs and monuments during the Middle Ages?
The beginnings of Christian sepulchral monuments were stone coffins whose lid formed continuous portion of the pavement of the churches. Later it was customary to mark the monument with a carved symbol to express piety or an emblem to tell the occupation or position of deceased.
Later, carving an effigy of the dead in stone was practiced. Effigies were first carved with wood and then later brass. Tombs were eventually raised above pavement level.
The cost, beauty and magnificence of some of the monuments were great ? enriched with semi-precious and precious stones and adorned with life-like figures of solid brass.
Discuss the Plagues or Black Death. What caused them? How many people did they affect? How did they affect funerary practices?
The Plague was an epidemic that killed many people (as many as 10,000 in a day). The most severe form of the Plague is Black Death. It was called Black Death because of the black spots it produced in the skin.
A bacillus in black rats caused bubonic plague. Fleas transmitted the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. The disease seemed to disappear in winter because fleas were dormant.
68,596 deaths out of a 460,000 population occurred during The Great Plague of London (1664-1665). A high percentage of serfs were wiped out and forced freedom of the land, ending the system of semi-slavery.
The plague brought about burial crises because of the large number of deaths. The burial and funeral customs and practices depended in part of what people were able to earn and to provide for the dead. Because so many people died, one visitation might have been like any other. The practice of toiling the bell was ended. The Christian burial rites could not be provided. After all the consecrated grounds were filled, trenches were dung and bodies were placed layer upon layer, with a sprinkling of earth between layers, until they were filled.
The Act of 1547 forbade burial between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. because it was thought that people were less susceptible to foul vapors of contagion in the day than in the night. It was difficult to find people who would risk contagion by burying the dead.
One interesting fact about the effects of the Plague is that cremation was not considered despite the filling of cemeteries and the spread of the disease.
During the English Middle Ages there was an increase in funeral ostentation. What is ostentation, and why did it occur?
Ostentation is pretentious or excessive display. Ostentatious public funerals rose among the English Middle Classes to maintain the surviving family?s social or personal importance. Costs of funeral grew as more wax torches were carried, more shields of arms displayed, more mourning gowns distributed and more lavish entertainments provided. It was a choice to a man before death and to his heirs afterward as to whether a funeral should be costly or inexpensive.
What was a “Burial Club” and why did they exist?
Burial clubs were guild members who formed a club to help working class people with the heavy expenses of a funeral and to perpetuate the memory of dead friends. Burial clubs were also common among other groups of laboring classes. The guild provided prayers, masses and palls. A contribution called a quarterage was levied among the living to defray costs of the services. They paid the chaplain, for candles, other equipment and supplies. The activities of burial clubs gave rise to new full-time occupations such as inviters and bell ringers.
Discuss the “burial in wooden act of 1666”:
The burial in woolen act of 1666 was an act that mandated that woolen cloth be used instead of linen in the shroud and in the lining of the coffin. This act was passed because the English paper industry wanted to use linen (which was imported) for production of high-grade paper, and the woolen industry wanted customers. The Act allowed for a victim of the Plague to be buried in linen. The Act of 1666 was frequently disregarded so amendments in were made so that a relative had to swear to an affidavit that a woolen shroud was used, or pay a heavy fine. The act was repealed in 1814.
Mourning colors and fashion changed much during the Middles Ages. Discuss the color and style changes in mourning attire:
White was the color of mourning worn throughout Western Europe. The vogue of black was adopted when Ann, the widow of Charles VIII of France wore black in mourning and set a new fashion statement. Today, black is generally the approved color for mourning, but white coffins for children are still customary. The French King Louis XI took purple as the mourning color of the French court. Purple is now used to designate death and mourning for royalty and many Christian groups.
What was the code of conduct and required clothing for the widow of the Middle Ages:
Because marriage was regarded indissoluble and sacramental, re-marriage was frowned upon unless the widow was a very young woman. Prior to the 15th century, a widowed queen kept her black draped apartment for a year after her husband?s death.
The higher their rank, the more rigidly women were bound by the mourning etiquette of their times. The widow of an important man retired to a convent, garbed as a nun. Customs of dress for widows included wearing a barbe, a long pleated arrangement of fine linen. The position of the barbe depended on the rank. The lower orders wore it beneath the chin, and those above rank of baroness wore above the chin.
Other required clothing:
Widow?s bonnet: derived from nun?s habit and covering face
Widow?s cap: represents ancient custom of cutting off the hair as a sign of mourning
Widow?s cuffs: symbol of mourning also stemmed from the convent.
There was a practice of sprinkling a handful of earth (dirt) on the corpse where did this practice originate?
The practice originated from the Romans. It was the Roman culture to cover a body found unburied with at least three handfuls of earth while reciting the ceremonious farewell.
The Jews had a practice involving a bag of earth. What was the practice?
The Jews placed a bag of earth in the coffin and each mourner helped fill the grave with earth.
What was a “Sin Eater”?
A ?sin-eater? was a male scapegoat. It was believed that by eating a loaf of bread and drinking a bowl of beer over a body, and by accepting a six-pence, a man was able to take unto himself the sins of the deceased, whose ghost thereafter, could no longer wander.
Why did the practice of burying the dead with their feet to the east begin?
This practice began with the Christians burying clergy with their feet to the east. They believed that Christ would there appear to summon the world to judgment. The clergy would be the first to arise and lead their flocks to the great tribunal,
Discuss the Medieval preoccupation with the physical side of death:
The Middle Ages manifested an intense preoccupation with the physical side of death. The bodies of executed prisoners were suspended from trees so that others might profit from the lesson. Poets sang of death as robbing the body of beauty, power and sensuality. Statues and woodcuts displayed death at its most horrible. Plays of the Middle Ages were called ?morality plays?, where the plots were centered around death. There was also a death dance that came about as a result of the preoccupation of death. Man was more engrossed with the disposition of the body rather than with the afterlife of the soul. The theme of the dance macabre was conceived and leads to the dancing skeleton. Person became more occupied with the fear of dying and decaying with other corpses.
What was the sexton? What was his role concerning the care of the dead?
The occupation of a sexton emerged with the growth of churchyard burials. The sexton was originally an under officer of the church who took care of the church property, ringing of the bells and frequently the digging of graves.
