medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A place to look might be in accounts of the now destroyed memorial
chapel erected in 1413 at the site of the battle of Grunwald
(Tannenberg) between the Poles and the Lithuanians (on one hand) and
the Teutonic Order (on the other) in 1410. Another could be the
literature on the since rebuilt memorial chapel from 1472/73 at the
site of the battle of Sempach (1368) in Canton Luzern between Swiss
forces on one hand and the Austrian Hapsburgs on the other. Both of
these battles are big moments in the national history of the victors,
so there's at least a possibility that their chapels have received
enough scholarly attention to be of some assistance here.
But since memorial chapels on a battlefield can be expressions of
gratitude for a victory won, I wouldn't have thought that these had any
_necessary_ connection (other of course than the historical one of the
battle itself) with graves that shared the same general site. What
does the literature say about such thank offerings as the memorial
chapel erected in Eichenau in Bayern by Duke Ernest of Bayern-München
after the battle of Hoflach in 1422 ('die Hoflacher Kapelle')? Did
these as a class also serve as memorials to those still buried on the
field of battle? One _not_ to look at, by the way, would be the
predecessor of Santa Maria di Maniace outside of Bronte (CT) in Sicily,
thought to have begun life as a memorial chapel honoring George
Maniakes' victory in that vicinity over Muslim forces in 1040 during
his ephemeral reconquest of eastern Sicily for the (East) Roman
empire. There's just not enough early documentation to permit any
conclusion about a relationship between that church and any battlefield
burials.
Best,
John Dillon
On Monday, September 11, 2006, at 12:21 pm, Cris Daniell wrote:
> I wonder if I may try once more with the following query (I tried
> several
> weeks ago with no response, not surprising as it was the middle of
> the
> holidays)
>
> Does anyone know details about the theology and liturgy concerning
> battlefields and battlefield chapels, in particular in relation to
> the
> burial of the dead?
>
> The reason I ask is that battlefield chapels (for example at
> Towton and
> Shrewsbury) were built many years after the respective battles.
>
> Therefore, originally the bodies of the dead - which were buried
> on the
> battlefield - would have been buried in unconsecrated ground.
>
> This is made more vivid by the mass grave found at Towton where
> there was
> no consistency of alignment: some burials were prone; some
> reversed and
> two even north-south!
>
> Later a battlefield chapel was built, giving rise to the following
> questions:
>
> As consecration can presumably be retospective, was this an
> attempt to
> consecrate the previous burial ground? (As an aside - are there
> examples
> of Anglo-Saxon priests consecrating pagan burial grounds?)
>
> As the chapel was located in a defined space (presumably with a
> defined
> boundary) was it assumed/thought that the consecrated nature of
> the chapel
> ground flowed across the whole of the battlefield (ie
> incorporating
> burials outside its boundaries)
>
> I assume that the liturgy of consecration was no different to
> 'normal'
> chapels / churches, but I may be wrong.
>
> Any help gratefully received
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