medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Christopher Crockett" <[log in to unmask]> wrote
Subject: [M-R] Visitation &c
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
"Ms Brenda M. Cook" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
[snip]
the overwhelming majority of pre-1200 charters are undated (and, frequently,
undatable), for example.
>I am specifically thinking of the discrepancies in the death dates recorded
for the same person in different necrologies...and the fact that members of
the same family are frequently commemorated on the same day in necrologies -
they can't ALL have died together ! ...
no, indeed...
never having seen mention of this phenomenon in the literature (i'd welcome
a
reference from someone), i like to call these "cluster obituaries" --several
families not always on the same day, but all within a few days of each
other,
usually in the necrology of the same house, but sometimes in those of
several
houses in the region.
I too would like to know of any study of this phenomenon. Nothing in the
literature I have read. And it causes laughable discepancies in some of the
less discriminating family trees on the 'Net. As far as I know, genealogical
software makes no provision for "commemorations" - only for death & / or
burial.
Is the phrase "cluster obituaries" copyrighted ? [:)] It is just the
expression I have been looking for.
(a good occassion for a family reunion, also.)
A nice idea this, and one that had not occurred to me.
i can't recall the details, but seem to remember that there was some
evidence
to suggest that the family "cluster" of obits was more or less centered
around
Udo's anniversary --clearly he, as abbot of a great and powerful monastery,
would have been the most important (clerical) member of the family.
>I suspect that the day in a necrology when the death is commemorated is the
anniversary of the day the NEWS of the death of the first recorded, or most
socially significant member of the family, reached the ecclesiastical
institution, and was the anniversary of the first requiem mass rather than
of
the actual death. (The rest of the family got added later.)
yes, that's my feeling too.
and, of course, the same fellow would commonly be entered into different
necrologies on different days, the difference sometimes a function of the
distance the given house was from the actual place of death.
Exactly my feeling, especially if X died (for example) in the Holy Land, or
if the eccl. inst. was distant from the family seat.
There is the additional point of the OBITUARY SCROLLS of senior
ecclesiastics - those things that went the rounds from monastery to
monastery to have laudatory comments added on. Probably not enough evidence
has survived, but has anyone tried to collate the entries on an obituary
scroll with the entries in the necrologies of the contributing abbeys ? To
see if the commemoration dates would fit with the possible date the scroll
arrived and was added to.
[snip]
the possibility exists, however, that having an anniversary mass for the
same
guy (or girl) on different days would allow members of the family to attend
more than one ceremony in more than one house on the same trip in from the
Sticks.
Another nice one this,
But in any case, Necrology data should carry a health warning for
unsuspecting genealogists!
Brenda M. C.
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