 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 31/07/2010 22:28, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote: > > This is something of a follow up to an earlier discussion. Regardless of whether hands and feet > were tied, when do bodies of other than religious start to be 'watched' over in churches prior to burial? I´ve just > come across a reference which implies that this did not become usual until the 13th century, at least > in Liege; until that time, the body was kept overnight in the house of the deceased, and all kinds of inappropriate > (in the eyes of the preachers) activity took place - hence the desire to get the bodies into the church where > things could be controlled to a greater degree. Not that this was foolproof; in the example I´m interested in, the body sits up and demons attack the sole watcher . . . . > Any references to customary practice will be appreciated, It is thought (says he cautiously) that the body would be kept overnight in the chancel of the parish church in England from at least the 13th century. There is a chicken-and-egg situation with regard to the longer, square-ended chancels that were built from the late 12th/early 13th century onwards. On the other hand, David Stocker and Paul Everson, in their book "Summoning St Michael: Early Romanesque Towers in Lincolnshire", argue from the features of the structure of a series of late 11th century west towers in parish churches in Lincolnshire that the ground floor of those towers was used as a mortuary chapel, and that the body was taken straight out of the west doorway for burial in the graveyard. Literary (or even liturgical) evidence is lacking. John Briggs ********************************************************************** 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