Death and Burial through the Middle Ages and Renaissance Flashcards
Roman peace is also known as
Pax Romana
This ended due to Teutonic invasion
Pax Romana
A territorial system with established small fiefdoms interconnected by blood and marriage alliances and based on inequality and social ranking of the population
Feudalism
Funeralizing the dead in white garments changed to
garments indicating social rank
The funeral service consisted of
Wake
Requiem Mass
Committal Service
Mortuary fees paid to the church from the estate of the deceased for complete funeral service
Soul Shot
Who was paid the soul shot?
the Decani
Describe the preparation of the body during the middle ages
Little embalming
Annointed with oils and spices and wrapped in shrouds
What was the deceased placed on?
A draped Catafalque or bier
The deceased, on the catafalque or bier, was then illuminated with
as many as 400 candles
What happened at the funeral feast?
The estate was divided and an heir was named
This, passed in 313 AD, encouraged intramural interments without regard to sanitation. It also developed church yard
Constantine’s Edict of Toleration
The name given to intramural church yard, cemeteries built next to churches
God’s Acre
During the beginning of the plague years, what was the norm?
Intramural interment
A significant rise in extramural cemeteries consecrated for that purpose arose out of
Necessity out of the bubonic plague
A state in which those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing before they can enter heaven
Purgatorial Doctrine
What was the purpose of the purgatorial societies?
To bury the dead and pray for the deliverance of the soul from purgatory
Who made the necessary funeral arrangements which included a Requiem Mass, burial with solemnity, the payment of the soul shot, and a liberal distribution of alms to the poor?
The Steward of the Guild
A death crier, dressed in black with a skull and crossbones on both sides of his gown, would ring a bell and announce the death of a Guild Member
Death Watch
Who would announce the death of a Guild Member?
Death Crier
This was characterized by rioting and drunkenness, basically making fun of the deceased
Rousing the Ghost
These were only for the nobility and church leaders, involved long wakes, crude embalming practices used to deter putrefaction
Funerals of State
Usually a death mask, sometimes an entire caricature, used to represent the deceased
Waxen Effigy
These were made from the finest materials (for nobility only)
Crypts
What materials were noble’s crypts made of?
Silver, Gold, bronze, and jewels
How much of the European population died during the Bubonic Plague?
50%
What caused Bubonic Plague?
Yersinia pestis, carried by infected fleas on black rats
What did people think caused the Bubonic Plague
Punishment from God for sins
These were an antisemetic order of lay men who blamed the Jewish population of Europe for the Bubonic Plague
Flagellant Society
Because of the massive numbers of deaths, what kind of burial was consecrated?
Extramural burial pit
The word coffin is derived from what?
the Greeks word kofinos
Kofinos means what?
Basket, coffer, or chest
Sarcophagus means what?
Greek body eater
Most people in the middle ages were buried how?
Shrouded and uncoffined
A rented coffin used as a bier during the middle ages
Parish Shell
What did the middle class in the middle ages consist of?
Merchants military men, and Tradesmen
At the end of the middle ages, the middle class is
Small in number, and for the first time, others besides nobility have money
These were most common among Guild members and other laboring or serf classes
Burial Clubs
The dues collected to defray costs for masses, pall, chaplain fees, bier rental, shroud, etc
Quarterage
Describe the Burial in Woolen Act
Linen was desperately needed to make high grade paper, and the wool industry was in depression. The two industries got together to pass a law saying that all shrouds and coffin linings must be made with wool
The mourning colors for the average person in the Middle Ages was
black
For royalty, the mourning color in the middle ages was
Purple
These symbolized the mourning garments of the widow during the middle ages
Black Cloak
The code of conduct for the widow of an important man required that the widow do what?
Retire to a convent or dower house garbed as a nun
White cuffs, widow’s bonnet, black veil, and the barbe are often referred to as
Widow’s Weods
The portion of or interest in the real estate of a deceased husband that is given by law to his widow during her life
Dowry
Protestant custom to sprinkle this on the corpse
Handful of dirt
Jewish custom of placing this in the coffin
A bag of Earth from Palestine
This was falsely believed by the British to be a disinfectant against plague if it was thrown into the grave
A Sprig of Rosemary
By eating a loaf of bread, drinking a bowl of stale beer over a corpse, and accepting a six pence, a man was able to take unto himself the sins of the deceased, whose ghost thereafter would no longer wander
Sin-Eater
The clergy were buried with their feet towards the
East
The spirit of the time, the view men take of death
Zeit Geist
These emphasized the face that death was common place
Death dance, public execution, bubonic plague, and warfare
A semi-secular under the office of the church delegated to care for church property, ringing of bells and the digging of the graves
Sexton
What are the two types of Divided Burial?
Independent Bone and Independent Heart Burial
This practice was usually associated with relics, having this organ removed from religious leaders and preserved as relics
Independent Heart Burial
This practice was usually associated with transporting those who died in war back home to be interred
Independent Bone Burial
Describe the process of Independent Bone Burial
The dead bodies were boiled down to skeletons and the bones shipped for funeralization
Embalming during the middle ages
Rarely practiced
Why was embalming rarely practiced?
It violated the doctrine that the body was the temple of the holy spirit
List the situations when bodies were allowed to be embalmed, eviscerated and vatted by the church
Making relics of Martyrs and Saints
Intramural interments demanded some kind of preservation
Transportation of prominent leaders to their homes during warfare
Preservation of remains for anatomical study
List prominent monarchs known to be embalmed for intramural interments
Henry I of England
Edward I of England
Who was doing the embalming during the middle ages?
The Monks
In the late middle ages, who was doing the embalming?
Anatomist to make cadavers to study anatomy related to the practice of medicine
This person describes the earliest complete account of Medieval embalming describing the three variants of the basic cavity method
Pietro d’Argellata
Had the only credible work in human anatomy which dominated medicine for almost 1300 years
Galen of Pergamon
Wrote one of the best studies of anatomy during the Renaissance
Vesalius
Considered to be the first serious anatomist of the Middle Ages
Mundinus
Why was developing methods of preservation important
To research the structures and function of the human body
Embalming procedure in the middle ages consisted of
Evisceration and vatting
With the abolition of monastic orders and burial and purgatorial brotherhood, guilds and leagues, what happened to the new protestant funeral procession
It lost most of its solemnity
In this, the puritans within the Anglican church stripped away the last vestiges of ostenation and pageantry of the Roman Catholic Church as it related to funerals
Vestiarian Controversy
Who began the Reformation?
Martin Luther
What began the Reformation?
Rejection of the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences
Remission of part of the temporal punishment due to sin offered for the soul of the deceased
Indulgences
This was rejected for a time by protestants
Lying in state
The emerging Protestant funeral contained
Reading of scripture and singing of hymns
Brief discourse on death and resurrection from the Bible
Sermon on the life and death of the deceased
Blessing of the dead
