Death and Burial in Medieval England 1066-1550

Christopher Daniell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781134666362
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Death had an important and pervasive presence in the middle ages. It was a theme in medieval public life, finding expression both in literature and art. The beliefs and procedures accompanying death were both complex and fascinating. Christopher Daniell's appproach to this subject is unusual 1n bringing together knowledge accumulated from historical, archaeological and literary sources. The book includes the very latest research, both of the author and of others working in this area. The result is a comprehensive and vivid picture of the entire phenomenon of medieval death and burial.

1
DEATH IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The key to medieval religion is the fate of the individual’s soul after death. Death was defined as the moment when the immortal soul left the mortal body and joined with an incorruptible, sexless, immortal body, often depicted in art as a small naked person. The soul itself could never die and its ‘life’ was ‘independent of the body’. During the soul’s time on earth it was bonded to the mortal body. The soul was unaffected by any bodily illness or abnormality, and even if the disease led to death the ‘soul suffers no harm’ (Hitchcock 1921:116, 110). The body, however, could be at the mercy of the soul. Corruption of the soul could result in physical disease: leprosy was thought to be an indication of sexual sin (see Appendix 1) and the fifteenth-century priest John Mirk quoted St Augustine—‘corruption of sin maketh mankind to turn into corruption of carrion’ (Erbe 1905:225). If the soul deviated into sin there was also a real danger that it would suffer the torments of Hell for eternity. The Church therefore had to correct sins by confession, repentance and penance—the latter achieved by using the three most effective ways: devout praying, alms-giving and mass-singing (Erbe 1905:269). In the worst cases of heresy or witchcraft burning was used to help save the individual (fire was a cleansing agent for souls) and stop the infection spreading to other souls. Medieval people could help their souls in a large number of ways: from spiritual prayers to the physical actions of pilgrimage or alms-giving.

The time on earth was transitory and infinitesimal compared to the life of the soul after death, but the eternal fate of the soul was determined by its actions whilst in a mortal body. To save the soul from sin the Church consistently reminded people about sin, death and the eternal afterlife by encouraging meditation upon death. An important objective was to instill a sense of fear and humility (see Wenzel below), which in turn would lead to repentance. Sermons, literature, stained glass, wall-paintings and devotional texts all deliberately depicted aspects of death, especially the graphic tortures of saints and martyrs. III people were encouraged to meditate on their impending death, and scenes of martyrdom and St Michael weighing souls were often painted on hospital walls: examples of hospital wall-paintings showing disembowelling, Becket’s martyrdom and St Michael weighing souls survive in a former medieval hospital at The Commandery, Worcester. Plagues were also a regular feature of medieval life after 1350, and the presence of the body in the home, and the funeral processions and services, meant that living with death was a common experience for all.

Meditations on death also led to literary genres (see Chapter 3), and artwork of skulls, skeletons and corpses. On a cadaver tomb a rotting corpse was depicted under a perfect body (see Chapter 7); small paintings or jewellery could be carried around as memento mori. Humility —the opposite to the first of the deadly sins, Pride—was an important objective of meditation. With this humility came an awareness of the transitory nature of life:

Let us therefore keep in mind how brief time is, how certain death, and how unstable our friends, and let us always be prepared… for man is taken from our midst like a shadow when it fades… Since thus death is common to all, it is said that one and the same captivity will come to all.

(Wenzel 1989:99)

A funeral was an especially appropriate time to remind the living of the transitory nature of life. Mirk started his burial sermon ‘Good men, as yee all see, here is a mirror to us all: a corpse brought to the church’ (Erbe 1905:294), and it was a popular theme for sermons that people should visit tombs and graveyards (Woolf 1968:88).

Religion, and ultimately the fate of one’s soul, influenced all aspects of life, both public and private. In the public sphere were the church services and the great church festivals—Easter, Christmas and the feast of Corpus Christi—for which everyone understood the symbolism and the importance. Instruction came from the open air sermons or guild plays (see Chapter 3) or the iconography of stained glass, sculpture and wall-paintings. These symbols were not confined to the public areas. Houses could have just as many religious objects as churches, and on occasions a licence was granted for a private chapel or altar within the home. In 1439 John Prye and his wife Alice were given a licence to celebrate ‘divine service in his presence in any suitable place within their house in the parish of Colbroke’ (Dunstan 1966: 146). The furnishings were also often covered with religious symbolism, the romantic and legendary images of knights and heroes side by side with the romantic and legendary depictions of saints, or their symbols, the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary. Few furnishings have survived, but the religious nature of many is shown by the household inventories of the time. The inventory of Lord Darcy’s goods, compiled in 1520, included hangings showing scenes from the ‘Life of St George’ and one hanging of King David. In the 1541 inventory for Monttisfort, which belonged to Lord Sandys, there were hangings of King David and Solomon in the great chamber and the adjacent rooms (Howard 1987:115). Further down the social scale, hangings were also popular. In 1463, John Baret left in his long will ‘the stained cloth of the Coronation of our lady’ (Tymms 1850:23).

In York there were examples of painted cloths: two common themes were the Seven Works of Mercy and the Last Judgement, one of which was described as ‘hanging over a bed’ (pers. comm. C.Kightly). Agas Herte of Bury, in 1522, also had numerous religious depictions around her house, both as alabaster objects, such as ‘a Saint John’s head of alabaster with Saint Peter and Saint Thomas and the figure of Christ’ and ‘stained cloths’ of St Katherine and the Crucifix (Tymms 1850:115–16). These may have been free-standing, or hung on the wall (St John Hope 1890, pers. comm. C. Kightly). Such images could be locally produced, but also could be valuable and traded widely. The Household Book of Henry VIII recorded that five pieces of Arras cloth showing the passion of Christ, wrought in silver and gold were given to Harman Hullesman who was a merchant with the Hanseatic League (Collier 1857:136).

Sometimes a house specialised in a particular saint particularly if a person had been named after the saint or a chantry had been dedicated. In the chantry house at Nettlecomb, which belonged to the Trevelyan family, St John the Baptist figured prominently (Collier 1857:124–8). In the ‘chief chamber’ was ‘a painted cloth of Saint John’ (beside a ‘cloth of King Henry’), in the closet was a St John’s head (probably painted), and the third picture of St John was in the inner chamber.

Many devotional texts were read in the home, for example the very popular lives of the saints called The Golden Legend. The best known were the Books of Hours. Thousands of copies survive, and it is a standard item within inventories. To the medieval mind an ‘Hour’ was a part of the day set aside for religious devotion. The most formal ‘Hours’ were the monastic Divine Office, or Canonical Hours, which gave a rigid framework to the monastic day. There were seven services: the night hours of Matins and Lauds (usually taken together), followed at three-hourly intervals by Prime at daybreak, Tierce, Sext and None and then the evening services of Vespers and Compline. Originally used in a monastic setting, the Divine Office became an increasingly important part of lay piety. In the transformation from monastic to lay use the emphasis changed from Christ to the Virgin Mary and the ‘Little Office of Our Lady’ formed the heart of the Books of Hours. The majority of the office was the recitation of psalms, but other contents included a calendar of feasts and saints’ days, as well as sections of biblical texts, prayers and the Office of the Dead, which, like the rest of the ‘Hours’ would have been read daily. This inclusion of the Office of the Dead once again emphasised that the individual must be prepared for death by being conscious of his or her own sin, which would lead to a state of grace after suitable confession, repentance and penance (Littlehales 1895, Harthan 1978:11–18, Bossy 1991: 140–1).

In exceptionally pious cases, instead of private reading only, the entire household might follow a daily round of prayers. Cecily, the Duchess of York, virtually lived the life of a nun without going into a nunnery: it is possible that she took the vows of a Benedictine nun. She would rise at 7 and then with her chaplain say the Matins of the day and then Matins of Our Lady, followed by a Mass in her chamber. Then she ‘eats something, then to chapel for divine service and two low masses, then dinner and reads holy matter: the Golden Legend, St Katherine of Sienna, Revelations of St Bridget…’. In the late afternoon and evening she

prays until first peal of evensong, then drinks wine or ale at her pleasure. Chaplain says with her both evensongs; after the last peal goes to chapel and hears evensong by note; thence to supper, and recites reading as heard at dinner. After supper—with gentlewomen, one hour before bed, a cup of wine, then into private closet, and takes leave of God for all night, making end of her prayers for that day; and by eight o’clock she is in bed.

(Myers 1969: no. 498)

The numerous Christian festivals which marked the turning of the year affected the workings of the household. The most obvious were Christmas and Easter. Two other festivals—Lady Day (25 March, the feast of the Annunciation) and Michaelmas (29 September, the feast of St Michael the Archangel)—divided the year in half and were often used as dates on which to pay rents or to repay loans. Lady Day was also the start of the new calendar year, rather than the present 1 January. Throughout the year, the festivals ushered in seasonal observances which affected everyone. In the forty days of Lent no meat was to be eaten nor marriages take place: marriages were also banned during the four weeks of Advent.

Religion therefore permeated society at all times and at every level. At its heart was the Mass. This was the ultimate proof that Christ had died and that souls could be saved by His sacrifice. The seven services of the Divine Office formed a structure for the monastic day, but it was the Mass which was the most significant service. The reason for its importance was that Christ was spiritually and bodily present within the bread and wine during the Mass. Parts of the Mass changed seasonally, but the central core, called the canon of the Mass, remained more or less constant. A priest was expected to say Mass once a day, except on Good Friday when no Mass was said because of the Agony of the Crucifixion. Two Masses could be said on Easter Day and for special occasions such as marriages or funerals. The only day in the year on which three Masses could be said was Christmas Day.

Within a single church many Masses could be celebrated during the day by different priests. The Masses varied in time and number, and to differentiate between them they had different names. The Morrow Mass was usually held at daylight or very early in the morning, such as 4, 5 or 6 o’clock, and was popular with travellers. The High Mass was usually around 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning. There could also be other Masses said, for example, the Requiem Mass for the Dead. Masses often followed one another. At Lichfield Cathedral the first morning Mass was said at 5 o’clock. Others then followed immediately upon one another every hour until the sung High Mass at 10 o’clock, after which the last Mass of the day was held (Gasquet 1907:140). Generally, the number increased over time. In 1306, Beverley Minster recorded that it held twenty-five Masses each week and recited the Psalter ten times each month (Leach 1898:165). The number of Masses rose with the introduction and increasing popularity of chantries. In the Statutes of the Chantry at Sibthorpe parish church, dated 4 February 1342–3, Thomas de Sibthorpe specified that after Matins each day there should be a Mass, followed by psalms, which in turn were to be followed by another Mass (Thompson 1966:258). Including the obligatory Mass said by the parish priest, at least three Masses a day would have been said in the church— almost the number said at Beverley Minster forty-three years earlier. At Lichfield in the fifteenth century six Masses were said per day: forty-two Masses a week (Gasquet 1907:141). The increase in the number and types of Masses was mocked by Reformers in the sixteenth century: Erasmus wrote of the ‘Mass of the crown of thorns, of the three nails, the Mass of the foreskin of Christ, Masses for those who travel by land and sea, for barren women, for persons sick of…fevers’ (Every 1978: 108).

This inflation of Masses could reach enormous proportions, and it was a sign of honour to have as many Masses said as possible immediately after death. William Courtney, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1396, requested 15,000 Masses (Dahmus 1966:229) and Henry VII requested 10,000 Masses to be said for his soul (Colvin 1991:174). At the extreme, Bokeland in 1436 requested that after his ‘wretched body’ was buried in the Pardon Churchyard of St Paul’s in London, one million masses might be said for his soul, though as this number is so exceptional it is possible it is a scribal error (Furnivall 1882:104). Several hundred or thousand Masses for an individual soul were, however, by no means uncommon for the richest in society.

The Mass lay at the core of Medieval religion, and in the late fourteenth century The Lay Folk’s Mass Book described the Mass as the ‘worthiest thing, most of goodness in all this world’ (Simmons 1879:2). At the heart of the Mass was the idea of ‘transubstantiation’—a mystical process which turned the bread and wine into the literal and physical body and blood of Christ, without changing their appearance. This change occurred during the prayer of consecration. The priest had his back to the congregation and said the prayer in a very low voice. Any noise from the congregation stopped and the church became quiet and still. What was happening had deep theological importance and was the supreme act of worship. At that moment bread and wine did not change their appearance, they physically became the body and blood of Christ.

The prayer of consecration was said as the priest held the bread aloft, which was known as the elevation of the host (Rubin 1992:57). (‘Host’ comes from the Latin word hostia meaning ‘victim’.) This was followed by the elevation of the chalice containing wine, although by this stage the change of wine into blood had already taken place (Rubin 1992:54–7). As well as being the most important action theologically, the elevation was also the most visually impressive part of the Mass for the congregation and was thought to benefit those who saw it. In 1375 Bishop Brinton of Exeter taught that after seeing God’s body no need for food would be felt, oaths would be forgiven, eyesight would not fade, sudden death would not strike one, nor would one age, and one would be protected at every step by angels (Rubin 1992:63). Many people left immediately after the elevation and it became good luck to race around the churches to see as many elevations as possible. Given this power of the holy on earth it is not surprising that artistically the elevation is often depicted as shafts of heavenly light coming down to earth, or Christ being physically present in the hands of the priest, instead of the host.

There were of course doubters who found it hard to believe that this real physical change happened, and there were many stories relating how the doubters were converted by real body parts or blood appearing on the altar. One of the most famous stories, which first appeared in Northumbria between 704 and 714 in the earliest account of Pope Gregory the Great’s life, was very well known throughout medieval England. A woman, who had baked the bread used for the Mass, had doubted that it had really become the body of Christ, whereupon Gregory showed the woman the bread which had turned into a bleeding finger (Colgrave 1985b:107, Rubin 1992:116–29, 135–9).

The parishioners were encouraged to attend important services, but a congregation was an extra, for the priest performed the Mass every day and might well have done so to an empty church. The only time when the parishioners were expected to take communion was at Easter. The congregation normally only took the host, and not the wine, and the power of the sacred vessels was so great that they could only touch them with their hands covered.

At every Mass Christ was sacrificed, and the Mass came to be seen as a distinct sacrifice in itself. Christ, who had received a human body, literally gave His body and blood back to people in Holy Communion. In this way Christ, as the head of the Church, remained ever present amongst the faithful. Daily, in every one of the tens of thousands of churches in medieval Christendom, Christ was literally thought to be sacrificed again on earth. Christ’s own sacrifice and death, as well as the afterlife, were reinforced at every Mass. Christ’s death was therefore, at the heart of the medieval religious experience (Plate 1).

The religious symbolism of Christ’s sacrifice was also emphasised by the depiction of the Passion on the rood-screen that physically separated the chancel from the nave. On the screen was a painting or sculpture of Christ’s crucifixion. (The word ‘rood’ is Old English for ‘cross’). When the host was elevated by the priest, the congregation’s sight would not only be on the host, but also drawn towards the Cross on the rood-screen at the most important part of the Mass.

The Mass was the most important of the daily services, but once a year at Easter the nature and intensity of the Mass reached its peak. The heart of the Easter celebrations was Christ’s death, and His return from death at the Resurrection, events which were acted out in church (see Chapter 3). By His Resurrection He proved not only the afterlife, but also that death could be conquered and sins could be forgiven. The Easter message is that physical death is not final, but a stage in the journey of the soul.

The Easter preparations and ceremonies were elaborate and detailed and lasted from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday (Duffy 1992:28– 32). On Maundy Thursday the priest would consecrate three hosts, one for his communion at that Mass, one for his communion at Good Friday and one for the celebrations centred on the Easter Sepulchre. Then the altars were stripped bare, water and wine poured on to them and they were washed with a broom made of twigs. Christ’s humiliation was thus re enacted: the stripping of the altar was the stripping of Christ, the water and wine were the blood and water from Christ’s side, and the broom twig represented the scourge used on Christ.

The following day, Good Friday, was one of deep mourning and the Passion (Christ’s crucifixion) was read from St John’s Gospel. The priest took his communion using the host from the previous day. As part of the liturgy a covered cross was brought into the church and then uncovered in three stages. This was then venerated by the priest and people who often ‘creeped’ towards it in bare feet to kiss it. The ‘burial’ of the third host and the cross then took place within the Easter Sepulchre to signify the burial of Christ. Christ’s tomb, symbolised by the Easter Sepulchre, was the centre of the ceremonies between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Candles continuously burned around it and a watch was kept until Easter morning. On Easter morning the clergy gathered and processed into the church and censed the Easter Sepulchre. The host was removed and placed in its normal position above the altar. The Cross was venerated and ‘raised’, and then processed around the church, while the bells were rung and the choir sang ‘Christus Resurg...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• PLATES
• PREFACE
• 1: DEATH IN THE MIDDLE AGES
• 2 FROM DEATH-BED TO REMEMBRANCE
• 3: THEMES OF DEATH
• 4: THE GEOGRAPHY OF BURIAL
• 5: THE BODILY EVIDENCE
• 6: CEMETERIES AND GRAVE GOODS
• 7: DEATH FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE REFORMATION
• APPENDIX 1: Jews and Lepers
• APPENDIX 2: The Living
• BIBLIOGRAPHY