medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 03/08/2012 17:46, Anne Willis wrote:
>>>
>>> The passing bell, summoning the Psychopomp (wonderful term - the role
>>> shared by Michael and Charon), was rung from bell chambers newly fashionable
>>> in the period and detectable where surviving by the diagnostic openings.
>>
>> The openings being positioned so that the exact moment that the body was
>> lowered into the grave could be observed, and the bell silenced.
>
> Mmm... OK if they bury everybody in the same place, but one opening would
> give a very limited view of the whole graveyard. Maybe as it filled up
> they kept cutting out more stonework?
I could forgive you failing to grasp my clarification - but there was
actually nothing wrong with Graham's explanation in the first place.
Once again: the openings in the bell chambers of the particular towers
in the study [late-11th century towers in Lincolnshire - Archdeaconry of
Lindsey?] are positioned such that they overlook the greater part of the
graveyard - whether S, W or N, of some combination of those, as appropriate.
John Briggs
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