History Exam 4

Required Clothing for a Widow in the Middle Ages:

1. Barbe - a long pleated arrangement of fine linen resembling a beard 2. Widow's Bonnet - derived from the nuns habit, with a veil covering the face 3. Window's cap - represents ancient custom of cutting off the hair as a sign of mourning & renunciation 4. White cuffs - another off-shoot of the convent

When embalming was practiced:

1. Charlemagne who died in 814 CE was embalmed & placed in a sitting position in his tomb at Aachen. 2. Edward I of England, buried in Westminister Abbey in 1307, were discovered intact in 1770.

Influence of the Reformation in Christian funeral beliefs & practices:

1. Decrease of burial clubs - reformation beliefs which "trimmed" the Roman Catholic views of elaborate ceremony made funerals more affordable 2. Decrease in ostentation- the elaborate need for a "requiem mass," carrying a bier & religious paraphernalia went away under protestant Christianity 3. Rejection of the Doctrine of Purgatory - Since Protestants rejected purgatory even the need for the wake was dismissed. Protestant funerals became known for their simplicity & affordability. 4. Belief in the resurrection held that the body was sacred, created in the image of God. However, no amount of decomposition or damage could prevent the resurrection.

Leonardo da Vinci (1425-1519)

1. Dissected over 50 cadavers. 2. Developed a system of venous injection which may have been the inspiration for Ruysch & Hunter. (Ruysch = European Father of Embalming)

Sprinkling a Handful of Dirt On Corpse;

1. It is widespread custom among Protestants, for instance, to sprinkle a handful of dirt on the corpse, & act reminiscent of the Roman custom of covering a body found unburied with at least 3 handfuls of earth while reciting the ceremonious farewell. The custom of sprinkling earth on the coffin was formally instituted for the Church of England by a rubric, or rule for conducting the liturgical service, as an assigned part of the duty of the officiating clergy. 2. Also practiced by the Irish priest 3. English custom also handed a sprig of rosemary to the attendants which were later thrown into the grave

Importance of Preservation:

1. Low temperatures retard decomposition 2. Ability to study human anatomy

The embalming procedure:

1. One "recipe" for embalming in 1281 consisted of wax & spices, with the body being wrapped in linen & silk. 2. Evisceration & topical/cavity embalming

The embalming steps:

1. Removal of those body parts which are most susceptible to rapid decomposition (intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidneys, & esophagus) 2. The opened & eviscerated body cavities were then washed with water, alcohol, & a pleasant smelling substance such as rose water. 3. After the cavities were dried they were filled with a variety of spices, chemicals, & absorbent, cotton. 4. The body is dried & then wrapped in layers of cloth.

Coffins & funeral goods:

1. Some undertakers made a sideline of upholstery; carpentry, cabinet makers, joiners, & wood workers possessed the skill of making wood coffins, so they likewise had their own establishment 2. Undertakers would hire the carpenters to make coffins in connection with their lines of furniture. The occupation of funeral undertaker did not emerge in England until the end of the 17th Century.

Reason for interest in dead human bodies:

1. Surgeons & anatomist utilized text on embalming & human anatomy, but very limited "real" experience with the human body. 2. Necessitated getting fresh cadavers to study.

Code of Conduct for Widows during the Middle Ages:

1. Young widows were encouraged to remarry 2. Others retired to a convent or to live in strict seclusion in the "dower-house." They would stay in contemplation regarding their late husband's works & virtues. This "sacrifice" was to continue until her death.

Influence of Chadwick's Report on intramural interments & burial practices:

1840's reported on unsanitary conditions in London created by intramural burials, the high cost of funerals & the first use of the death certificate.

The Plague of 1547;

An order was issued prohibiting burial between six in the evening and six in the morning, based on the belief that during the daytime people were less susceptible to the foul vapors of contagion than they were at night

Development of barber-surgeons:

Approximately 1540-1745 were the sole agency permitted to embalm & perform anatomical dissections in the city of London Practice of bloodletting - belief or practice of draining a quantity of blood to cure illness or disease

Burial Clubs

Created in 1800s in London by the poor people as a means to afford funerals; cost were shared by others via weekly collections; were the forerunners of industrial insurance

Burial & Sanitary Reform:

Edwin Chadwick & the Poor Law Commissioners - In 1839, Chadwick began to investigate the condition under which the urban English worker lived, worked, & died. In 1842, he summarizes the findings in his famous report "The Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great Britain," the supplement to which The Practice of Interments in Towns, describes the burial customs of working people & the conditions of the interment of the dead.

Requiem Mass

Either said or sung

Church & cemetery burial - funerals were very what?

Elaborate

The development of the anatomist & surgeons led to a need for better what?

Embalming methods & cadaver regulations. "In 2 cases varying widely as to purpose Huizinga records how in an effort to keep them intact until burial, the features of Pierre of Luxembourg were toughed up with paint; and how when an heretical preacher of the sect of the Turlupins died in prison before sentence could be passed, the body was preserved in quicklime for a fortnite in order that it could be burned in public with a living heretical woman." Demand for better preservation by artist who drew anatomical plates.

Embalming during the middle ages;

Embalming was NOT a common practice. They did not have the highly skilled Embalming teams that had existed in Egypt. In early Christian thought this practice became equated with paganism & fell out of favor.

Tombs & Monuments:

First tombs were made of wood, plated over with silver due to the plagues.

Great Plague of London 1664-1665

In 1665, out of a population of 460,000 there were 68,596 recorded deaths in London.

Bubonic Plague (6th century AD)

In 542 it killed as many as 100,000 people in Constantinople in one day.

Funeral Feasts:

In the middle ages the wake also served as a feast to welcome the principal heirs to his new estate.

Placing a bag of earth from Mt. of Olives into the coffin:

Jewish

Emerging Role of the Sexton in funeral matters:

Originally called an under officer force church who took care of the church property. As time went on the Sexton had the task of digging graves.

The Wake during Middle Ages:

Originated as an ancient Hebrew practice, family & friends sit with the deceased as a precaution against premature burial; continued as an act of piety in the middle ages (AKA Vigil for the dead)

Feudal Funerals:

Peak of heraldry and pomp - a resurrection of ceremony during the end of the Renaissance. 1. Black drapery to decorate the deceased's home 2. Black mourning bed 3. Funeral carriages, velvet pall, & hearses with hatchment or panel upon which the deceased person's arms were temporarily displayed. 4. Mourning clothes & mourning gifts

The use of coffins appears in many cultures but universal coffined burial is a development of?

Recent centuries

Purgatorial Doctrine, League of Prayers & other pious practice:

Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory- Catholic belief that those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing before they can enter heaven League of Prayers- formed in the middle ages by lay persons to bury the dead & to pray for the soul of the faithful departed, & other pious practices Steward of the Guild- made necessary funeral arrangements Soul Shot - mortuary fee paid to insure entrance of the decedent's soul into heaven Sin-eater - middle age custom of eating a loaf of bread & drinking beer in the presence of the deceased, transferred the sins to the participant. Therefore the spirit wouldn't wander (associate this with Christian culture)

Burial with feet toward the East:

The Priests were always buried in this manner to rise first in the resurrection & lead their congregation to the judgment. *NOTE: The East Wind in Wales is called the "Wind of the Dead Men's Feet.

14th Century AD:

The cycle of epidemics were known as the Black Death

Independent Bone Burial:

The poor & the unimportant who met death at a distance from home were disposed of where they died. The noble & rich were sometimes brought back in parts, their bodies being cut up & boiled to extract the bones. These were placed in a chest & returned to the family.

Relationship of the clergy & the undertaker:

These relationships were strained. 1. The tradesman undertaker came from another group & for different reasons. They weren't interested in a decent practice in preservation according to the clergy. 2. Clergy sees men as equals according to creation, not according to monetary prominence.

Medieval Preoccupation With The Physical Side of Death:

This led to the need of disposition of the body rather than with afterlife of the soul.

Independent Heart Burial:

This practice began in 1117 as dismembered fragments of the bodies of saints were preserved & regarded as holy relics with special prominence being given to the heart.

Disposal & Contagion - it was believed that it was injurious to the living to expose them to what?

To the corruption of the dead because of disease & pestilence.

The plagues or Black Death:

great emphasis was places on the need for sanitation due to the plagues.

English middle ages:

increase of funeral ostentation - increase of elaborate funerals

The widow during the middle ages:

orginally the mourning garment was called a weed (a long black cloak similar to those now worn by nuns)

Funeral Undertaker:

provided services of organizing & facilitating funeral details as an occupation. Were NOT embalmers.

Change of shroud from linen to wool - Burial in Woolen Act of 1666:

provided that woolen cloth should be substituted for linen in the shroud & in the lining of the coffin

Catafalque

raised platform (with or without a canopy) used for a body to lie in state

Effects of plague on the cemeteries:

the cemeteries were overloaded from deaths of the plague

Funerals of state during the middle ages;

use of effigy - a life-sized, waxen recreation (dummy) of the deceased; often used at state funerals because the body of the deceased should be present for the funeral, but could not be preserved for that length of time

Mourning Colors

white was the color of mourning worn by all