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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Chris, Although the ground of for such battlefield burials was unconsecrated - i.e. had not been formally consecrated by a bishop - I presume that the graves were blessed by a priest. Blessing the grave is part of the Catholic burial rite, and I have seen film of twentieth century mass burials after natural disasters and military action with a priest (in black cope in one instance) sprinkling the bodies or coffins with holy water. Speed may have been important in clearing a battlefield of the dead, but medieval armies would certainly have had clergy with them, and the burial of the dead was one of the corporal acts of mercy. The case ot Towton is slightly complicated by the later removal of many of the dead to the nearby churchyard at Saxton and the reburial if the dead in consecrated ground - this suggests that the local man who organised this considered that a more appropriate place for the dead to lie than graves out on the battlefield. John Whitehead Chris Daniell <[log in to unmask]> wrote: medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear listmembers 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 Chris Daniell ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html