Funerals in Medieval England served religious, social, and practical purposes. The church used funerals to remind the living that they must not fall into sin if they wished to avoid eternal damnation in hell. Rituals involved preparing the body, processions to the church, and burial. Burial locations could be chosen by the deceased's will or family and included parish graveyards or abroad for nobility. Funerals were community events involving prayers, litanies, and mass to aid the deceased soul's passage to the afterlife.

1. Isabel Mastrapa
Funerals in Medieval England
Background information:
main idea of the church in England was the fate of the soul after death
While on this earth immortal soul bonded to mortal body
Soul not affected by bodily illnesses but body could be at the mercy of the soul.
(ex. Leprosy thought to be illness of the soul’s sexual sin)
To protect churchgoers from sin , church instilled fear into the fate of hell
Purposes of funerals:
To instill fear and caution about your souls fate the church depicted the afterlife
and death in religious texts, art and events
Funerals were not only way to dispose of the body ,were also used to show living
that death the last destination and that afterlife was right after
Funerals showed that one must not fall into sin if they didn’t wish to

3. be tortured in pits of hell
Funeral Rituals:
It was the persons job to prepare for their funeral a few days before death
Dying person confessed to entire community then returned to bed where a procession
came and prayed
After official death body placed on sack-cloth and ashes and whole community came and
recited prayers and litanies
Body then washed and placed in a hair-shirt and carried to church bier by people of the
same social standing.
Body next day carried to burial site as procession recited psalms and the body was
covered in the smell of incense
Body then lowered into burial and sprinkled with holy water and earth and procession
returned to church to hold mass for deceased.
Burial sites:
The place of burial could be decided by persons will or by decisions of family members
Lower classes had to generally be buried in the parish graveyard but nobility could be
buried elsewhere
Nobility could be buried in other countries besides their own as long as family willing to
travel with the body (ex. Noble died in England but wanted to be buried in
Normandy)
Also if men died during battles or crusades their comrades had the duty to decide what to
do with the body
They could bury them there , carry the entire body back, or bring back parts of the body
(i.e. bones and heart)
One instance where a father buried in
Normandy and son unearthed bones and
reburied them in England
Images:
http://youall.com/HELL/medievalhell.htm

4. http://contagions.wordpress.com/the-plague/
http://historum.com/art-cultural-history/48606-theme-death-art-down-ages.html
http://www.escapeintolife.com/showcase/medieval-art/
http://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/28/magic-for-the-dead-the-archaeology-of-magic-in-later-medieval-burials/
3 Best sources:
Danielle. Christopher. Death and Burial in Medieval England. London. Routeledge. 1997. Print
Gordon. Bruce. Marshall. Peter. the Place of the dead. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 2000 . nonprint
Binski. Paul. Medieval Death. New York. Cornell University Press. 1996. Nonprint.