Summary. Dying, death and burial rites in pre-Reformation were intended to give salvation and ultimately eternal life; hell, and damnation had to be avoided. Receiving the last sacraments was essential.
In 1276, the average length of life was 31–5 years. Those born with wealth could expect an extra 10 years. Infant mortality was high with one third not reaching their 5th birthday. As much as 20% of women died from childbirth and complications that followed. Between 1348 and 1351 and periodically afterwards, plague added to the toll. Images in church of hell and judgement, such as on rood screens, reminded all of the need to approach death without sin.
Cadaver tomb said to be Dean Thomas Haywode (Haywood) who died in 1492. The dried skeleton sculpture would be a reminder of death. If it had an upper part this would show the individual in life.
For Christians dying, death and burial involved a series of rituals.[1] Priests were obliged to visit the sick and give a blessing. This could be a challenge to large, rural parishes. The priest would vest himself, ring a passing-bell and be accompanied by a clerk when travelling by horse or foot to the dying. Seriously ill parishioners would receive an anointing and a mass. A crucifix would be placed in the house for the gravely ill to see. After aspersing water and saying prayers, the priest asked, presumably in the vernacular, for the individual to profess their faith by responding ‘I believe.’ Then followed questions to assess the depth of sins committed. If the individual died without completing their penance, then the family and friends had to undertake the penance, which often meant giving alms. The priest offered the crucifix to be kissed and then prayers to remit the sins confessed.[2] Those dying were anointed with holy oil on each eye, ears, lips, nostrils, hands, feet and back (or navel for a woman).
Anointing. 1445–50. Painting by Roger van der Weyden. Wikipedia Commons
After washing his hands with
saltwater, the priest gave a blessing and prayers for healing. Finally, he
questioned whether the individual believed in the transubstantiation of the
bread and wine and, if so, gave a shortened mass with a wafer given to the
mouth.[3]
Last rite, Dutch school of painting, c. 1600. Wikipedia Commons.
If the priest
could not reach the dying, then psalms were read and prayers given, especially
invoking the Trinity and saints (Chad and Mary for Lichfield), in the
cathedral. A passing bell might have been rung.[4]
After death,
prayers and psalms were said around the body. The body was washed and given a
white shroud (white only if in faith). The coffin was surrounded by a black
cloth to show death. Sometimes, the body was then placed in the church with mourners
‘watching’ overnight. There was an ancient custom for close ones to drink, sing
and dance, but this was discouraged by the church. If available, a priest might
sing the psalms. If the deceased had been kept at home, it was taken for burial
in a borrowed community-coffin accompanied by loved ones carrying candles. This
could be a long journey and out of the parish. The cortege would normally have
to arrive early morning, but occasionally a service would be held after the
mid-morning mass.
At the
cathedral the coffin was taken to the chancel, whilst mourners stayed in the
nave. A service of matins for the dead was given. High status deceased might
have a sermon with the clergy robed in black or blue vestments.[5]
Clergy and wealthy could be buried within the cathedral. Burial around Chad’s
gravesite was generally favoured by deans[6] whereas
bishops were usually interred close to the high altar. Sometimes canons were
buried in the aisles. They were usually buried in a stone coffin or in a
stone-lined grave topped with a ledger stone becoming part of the floor. The
stone recorded the death date as the most important time for the life
remembered. Ordinary folk were buried in the cemetery in shallow (0.4–0.7 m
deep) earth graves[7]
wrapped in a shroud. The grave might be aspersed with water, censed and
blessed. The priest scattered earth to the grave in a configuration of a cross
before it was closed.[8] Sprigs
of rosemary were often carried by people in the funeral procession and cast
onto the grave, much as wreaths are today.
Christians
were buried with their head to the west and feet to the east. At Lichfield the
east-west alignment of the cathedral is poor and graves in the Close have shown
variable alignments which might be due to lack of space at the time of burial.[9]
Often a cross was added to the grave. A priest’s coffin found in the nave
excavations, 2003, was covered with a white cloth on which was painted a Greek
cross (+) and alongside were two broken sticks arranged in the same way. In
some graves a broken measuring rod has been found.[10] Sometimes
a wax cross was placed on their chest. The priest’s coffin had a pewter chalice
on the lid with a veil covering it and a wafer stuck to the veil; perhaps, a
reminder to have Mass when reaching paradise. Bishops were buried with religious
and secular artefacts and sometimes bullae from the pope.[11] Parliamentarian
soldiers, 1643, removed from the tomb of Bishop Scrope a silver chalice and a
crozier of considerable value. The idea that Christians, unlike pagans, were
buried simply without grave goods is not true.
Chalice and paten from 2003 excavation
There has been a modern interpretation of medieval burial as being superstition and ritual intended to keep the dead from reappearing in some form to harass the living. This is an exaggeration from a few cases recorded in isolated churches. From very early times there is much evidence to show the dead were invariably respected and given a sympathetic burial. There is also the charge that the church used burial to make money. Payment was necessary,[12] but there were reduced charges for the poor and disadvantaged.
Orme concluded ‘a medieval church was
almost as much a place of the dead as it was of the living.’[13]
The 1552 Cranmer’s Prayer Book signalled the end of the
church assuming prayer would affect life after death.[14]
The church from now on prayed for Christ’s work in life and for his grace in
death.
[1]
Information is mostly from N. Orme, Going to church in Medieval England, (New
Haven and London: 2022), 337–47. See also M. Gray, ‘Deathbed and Burial
Rituals in Late Medieval Catholic Europe.’ In A Companion
to Death, Burial, and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, c.
1300–1700, Chapter 3. (Leiden, Netherlands: 2020), 106–131.
[2]
For many, the soul lay in purgatory waiting for all sins to be pardoned by God.
Purgatory became accepted in the Catholic church at the Council of Lyon, 1274.
The concept predates Christianity because it was a belief of Orthodox Jews. It
is not mentioned in the Bible.
[3]
Mass was not offered to children, the insane and anyone likely to vomit the elements.
It could be offered again to adults if ever they recovered.
[4]
Two rings for a woman and three for a man.
[5]
Lichfield Cathedral was stated to have a large wardrobe of vestments in the
time of Walter Langton.
[6]
The location of Chad’s grave must have been known, but its discovery in 2003
was a revelation.
[7]
Archaeology found Chad’s grave to be recessed 0.8 m into the sandstone bedrock
of the cathedral.
[8]
Cremation in this time was strongly forbidden. Criminals, suicides, and the
unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated ground. This was relaxed in 1547;
clergy had to bury whoever was brought to the church.
[9]
See the post, ‘East-west alignment.’
[10]
A reminder we have no defence after death. Monarchs have been buried with a
broken staff of office.
[11]
At Lichfield these valuables were removed by Parliamentarian soldiers in the
Civil War, 1643.
[12]
A London church charged 8 pence for an adult burial and 4 pence for a child.
The sexton digging the grave and ringing the bell might charge 6 pence. A
member of a Guild could expect to receive help with their payment. There are
many records of poor people paying 1 penny, and the paupers being buried on the
north side of a churchyard without ceremony. Those buried in the cathedral
would have had to pay much.
[13]
Note 1. Orme, (2022), 348.
[14] Diarmaid Maculloch expressed it as ‘the church surrendered its power over death.’
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