Burial, Exhumation and Charnel Houses - The Routine Reburial of the Medieval Dead
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- Опубліковано 2 гру 2022
- #death #medievalhistory #graves #charnelhouses #bones #skeletons #funerals
In this video I explore the burial experience of ordinary people from Medieval and Early Modern Britain, looking particularly at how churchyards were managed and how exhumation was a standard part of mortuary practice in this period. Churchyards were constantly reused and often the bones of the dead were placed reverently in Charnel houses, bone repositories where they would be seen and reflected on by the living.
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My church was originally founded in 633 AD by Queen St Ethelburga, daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent and Bertha of Frankia, widow of Edwin, King of Northumbria. Ethelburga founded a monastic house for both monks and nuns. This means interments have been taking place since then (and still are). It is virtually impossible to dig a hole without finding bones. We recently had an archaeological team from Reading Uni conduct a dig in the churchyard and we had to reinter all the bones that were disturbed together with a service in Latin as the populace would then have understood. We are a simple village church in Kent .. St Mary & St Ethelburga but we have a rich and varied history. Thanks for reading this
Speaking as an American, I don't have the language to express how jealous I am. We just don't have that kind of history readily available to us except in those rare few places where real, permanent Native American archaeological sites exist. But to have a church site that goes back to the seventh century and was founded by a Northumbrian Queen is really incredible.
Fantastic history ❤
@@jonathonfloyd5757
Perhaps sometime you could come and visit?
@@lylearnold9122 Someday, when my degree program is done and I have a little time/money on my hands, yes. I'll be coming and spending some delightful time exploring at least a small slice of what England's history has to offer!
What an amazing story. Thanks for telling us!
I vividly remember visiting the catacombs in Vienna as a child with my grandparents. Strangely, I did not feel any fear as we walked through, I just remember a sense of wonder at what I was seeing (there are some very intricate patterns made out of bones) and almost a sense of quiet reflection. I don’t know how I would feel these days as an adult! Such an interesting topic, thank you
Thank you so much for clearing up why I haven't found many ancestors' headstones during my genealogy quests in churches of England and Scotland. So very interesting.
The UK is an island with a relatively small amount of land set aside for the burial of the dead. It may seem very strange
to some in larger countries that the deceased will not stay in one place too long before someone is laid to rest in an
area that held a previously deceased person. Thanks for putting out a video that discovers what and why things like
this are done Allan. I guess the old saying "Once you do business with us you'll never go anywhere else." may not be a
proper claim for a churchyard cemetary !
Thank you for this insight into British burial practices. As a Canadian living in a part of the country (British Columbia) that was only settled by Europeans about 150 years ago, there's a lot of space to inter the dead. Indeed, the idea of reusing graves was so foreign to me that I was perplexed for years how European nations managed to sequester enough space! When I learned about the catacombs of Paris, my first thought was, "Why would they put people down there? And on display, too!" It looks very macabre to North American eyes, where's it assumed that once you're in the ground, no one is disturbing you, ever.
Eventually, I put two and two together, but this notion of a person's grave being their "eternal home" is very engrained here. Cemeteries promise "perpetual care," for the cost of purchasing the space - presumably, in perpetuity.
@fishhead06 Yes, I live in the Deep South of the US and it's illegal to 'overbury' cemeteries here. A German friend debated whether to go back to her mother's grave site to retrieve her mother's stone. When I asked why on earth she'd get her mother's stone, she told me about the burial practices in Germany of waiting a number of years (much less than 75 years), then making space for the next person's burial. So profoundly ingrained as I was that one's burial place is to be permanent, I was appalled. Of course, I see it differently and more pragmatically now. But the subject is fascinating.
@@DeanawatI live in the Netherlands where my Mother in law was buried ten years ago. Her remains will be removed in a couple of years since it wasn’t an expensive grave..We won’t be able to visit ‘her’ again-that’s why I choose cremation..Greetz from the Netherlands!👍🏼👀✨🌲
@@richsiwes where will the remains be removed to? This is so interesting to me.
You are a fantastic historian, Mr. Barton. I enjoy your videos, and magazine, very much. Very interesting. Many things I didn't know.
My pleasure, I'm glad you enjoy my productions so much! Thank you.
Allan, you are a fountain of knowledge! I truly enjoy every one of your videos! Thank you for all the hard work you put into this endeavor!
Very much obliged, I'm so glad you are enjoying my videos!
Graves played a large part in my upbringing and I am very grateful for this information.
Just come across your channel Allan. Love it! I am an ex pat former history teacher and medieval church visitor so this is brilliant for me. I can traverse the "tyranny of distance" and accompany you to places I may not have ever visited if I still lived in the UK. One of the last group trips I made before emigrating was to visit the Norman Churches of Hereford and Worcester Shires. Never forgotten. Lokk forward to seeing the rest of your presentations.
So glad you're enjoying my channel! Thanks for watching 😊
I once visited the catacombs in Paris which are vast. There were signs everywhere saying that this was the place of the dead and telling you to show respect. There were loads of French school children with torches running up and down yelling, so much for respect.
Hi Allan! I was nearly altogether ignorant of the practices you describe. We humans tend to apply our own sensibilities and standards to the people of the past. The assumption that societal attitudes toward the care of the dead has always been as they are now, is a manifestation of that tendency. My anticipation is running high at the thought of December's addition of The Antiquary. I must say, the magazine is a lovely compliment to your efforts here on the channel. Cheers!
Thanks Terry.
Thank you for covering such a ' taboo ' subject . Very interesting and informative .
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it.
That’s was a great video. I don’t think I knew that graves were”reused”. So interesting. Thank you again Allan. Such great content and explanation so complete.
In Budapest, Hungary's two famous cemeteries (Kerepesi, and Farkasréti) it is common the see notices on the many columbariums stating "the owner should please come to the office." Those spaces are 'rented' for 25 years and are cleared out after that time unless they are renewed for another 25 years. Traditionally, grave plots are also reused after a time in rural areas to this day.
Thank you Alan for this interesting information. It is very interesting that there were images painted in the Charnel houses reminding people about the inevitability of death but the existence of an afterlife. It makes me think of the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs and high officials which had the text on the walls instructing the departed on what they needed to do to enjoy a successful and peaceful afterlife.
That is very interesting.
Very interesting, never knew about the Charnel houses
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Greetings from the beautiful Hudson Valley. I just discovered your channel, and find it simply delicious! I will never get back to England again due to advancing age, but you have given me an opportunity to return again and again to places I never would have known previously.
Your videos are perfectly researched, and wonderfully delivered in your beautiful, warm and modulated voice.
A thousand thanks,
Greetings! Thanks very much for your kind comment, I'm so pleased you're enjoying my channel!
There are some very strange circular, high walled graveyards in Ireland.
You have to climb up a high stairwell and then down the otherside to get into them.
Very strange.
Just read a great article on St. Brides church in London. Because of your videos I enjoyed the pictures with help from your knowledge. I appreciate the beauty and style much more thanks to you.
My pleasure, am I right in thinking that there is still a charnel house in the crypt of the church?
How fascinating. I knew nothing about this! Thank you Allan.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Ooooth! Gets even better. Thank you, Allan!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you once again Allan. Another very interesting video ( I love them all ;)) - it’s good to hear how the common folk were buried/ disinterred for a change. Useful information also on what rights one has over a burial plot in English churchyards too. Looking forward to your next video!
Wonderful insights Allan! I've learnt so much about burial practices from you that when I read an item about remains being unearthed in churches (as in Notre Dame in Paris recently) I now know so much more. Fascinating. Thank you so much and I'm so glad to see you are building a strong following to your channel now. Well done. There is a real thirst for history out there!
In Naters, Switzerland there is a Beinhaus where the skulls are stacked and look out of the medieval arched open window….the inscription….above the arch….translated in English is…..What you are….We were….What We are….You….will be ☠️ 😉
Another winner Alan. Each one is better than the last.
You're very kind, thanks for watching! 🥰
Thank you!! I am so interested in these elements of human history and culture
Me too 😆. Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.
Good act. In Belgium we can only dream of 100 years resting in peace.
So fascinating! I have visited the catacombs in Paris a couple times. It’s quite creepy down there! The Capuchin Crypt in Rome is also quite interesting! Thanks!
That was fascinating. I knew nothing about the history of charnel and charnel houses. I knew the word but had no idea what it related to. In my ignorance I thought it was another word for a brothel! Such an interesting video. Thank you .
😆 Glad to have set that straight then! Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it.
@@allanbartonYes I’m glad I’ve got that sorted now 🤣
I recently read The Hour of Our Death from Philippe Aries (Czech translation), pretty interesting book related to this theme
Fantastic as usual, always love the juicy bits.❤
Much obliged, as always!
Thank you! Very well researched and presented!
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for this it has motivated me to find out what the burial practices are around our baptist church.
Fascinating video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I was utterly intrigued by this description of how burials were done back then. Personally, having glimpsed the prepared body of my late granny, I decided on cremation for myself, in the future, of course.
I think that's a fair choice. I want something simple, a shroud in a natural burial ground.
What a wonderful video. You always give us such interesting and amazing topics. So many disturbing elements in the stories, including schools and colleges in the old charnels, a grave digger falling into a charnel, partly decomposed bodies being dug up…who needs fictional horror movies when you have history!
It is horrendous, I can really understand why people reacted badly against these horrible scenes.
Thanks for a informative and educational video. I'm a gravedigger in the US and it's interesting to see how different countries approach the subject.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
The Charnel House at Trinty in Stratford was on the north side. The door you see to the left of Shakespeare's ledger stone (the door below his effigy) is the door (which still remains) to the charnel house. The door is now non-functional. In 1800 The Charnel house was demolished but the basement (subterranean crypt) remained which they filled with the bones and arched over. So the chanrel house (crypt) is still there but hidden beneath the ground.
Fascinating stuff all round. Thanks for taking the time to make this for us. I understand you wrote a work on the medieval stained glass of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire previously. If you can point me to a copy of this I would be extremely grateful.
That was my PhD thesis, it is on my academia.edu page. I will find the link.
Excellent and informative as always. Thank you, Allan!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
So interesting as always! Really enjoy your videos. Thanks so much!
Well researched and thoughtfully presented Allan. Thank you.
In the early 1980s, I was living in Bushey, near Watford. Not only had the original churchyard become full but also the extension churchyard, and it was necessary to close them. But since the churchyard was part of the Established Church, this apparently had to be done by an Order in Council. At the time, Her Majesty the Queen was out of the country, so the Order had to be signed by two Counsellors of State (if my memory serves me correctly, they were the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret). The Order was pinned to the door of the church, and it was interesting to see that, while the wording of the Order was fairly short, there was a much longer statement asserting the legal right of the two signatories to act as Counsellors of State and that therefore the Order was valid!
Absolutely fascinating, thank you for enlightening us all, may you continue to do so for many years to come!
Very happy to oblige! I'm glad you're enjoying my videos.
Hi Allan another interesting video and I have learned something interesting
Super video! I appreciate the hard and detailed work that goes into making your videos. My great thanks. 🙏
Thank you very much.
Thank you for this informative video!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.
So very interesting. I very much appreciate your videos and your vast knowledge.
Much obliged, as always. Thanks for watching!
We "moderns" have a lot to learn from the practicality and respect shown in these practices from the past. I was never aware of the "recycling" circuit that was used in churchyards. So sensible.
Very sensible.
I think it warrants pointing out that, at the same time the attitudes of western people towards the treatment of *their* ancestral remains became more protective, that the sensitivity did not extend to other cultures whose dead were commonly used for everything from medicine to oddities for public display. In fact, most natural history museums today possess and display remains of the peoples of other cultures. I always find myself wondering how we would feel if a museum were to display the remains of Queen Elizabeth I or George Washington.
Love your channel and your no nonsense approach to presenting history.
Very true, extraordinary hypocrisy.
Just found your channel and subscribed,fascinating 🇬🇧
Wow, this was just so intriguing. I love your channel!!!
Thanks Laura.
It’s been a pleasure watching your videos for the last month or two. Great research. I’m subscribed, of course. -Rich from Boston MA
Thanks Richard
This was fascinating. I had heard of charnel houses but didn't know anything about them. I had always shuddered at the thought but now understand why they existed. An excellent video
I loved this lecture! I visited the catacombs of Paris in the mid 1990s when I was living in the Netherlands, and there the bones were stacked by anatomical sort in interesting decorative patterns, for example a stack of femurs with skulls inlaid at set intervals. (Like how some people get creative with firewood stacking, if you’ll forgive the analogy.) It was evident that that they had been quite carefully arranged.
Thank you, as always, for your clear and informative lectures.
Eugenia M
Washingtonville NY, USA
The charnel house at Worcester cathedral still holds bones of those removed when the cathedral was extended. The chapel above ground was demolished but the crypt is still there underground, only accessible from a nearby cellar. It's not generally known about and is not accessible to the public. I went there as a schoolboy when the house with the cellar access was unoccupied. We walked over the bones. I don't know how deep they were, but our heads were up against the vaulted ceiling.
What an interesting recollection! Thanks for sharing!
Your channel is now my favourite. So interesting. A quick question. If someone has a headstone and the grave is reused. What happens to the stone? Say if the family of the most recent burial want a new one?
A non English ossuary possibly best known is the Ossuary at Verdun where bones from the battles fought around that French town by the Soldiers of the First World War.
I remember going on holiday as a child to a town called Faro in the south of Portugal where there was a 19th century chapel called the 'Capela dos Ossos' where the entire chapel was literally an architectonic ossuary made of the bones excavated from the overcrowded cementaries as the town began to grow. I believe most of the bones were the remains of Carmelite monks, in any case their bones became the decoration of the chapel's walls, so masses takes place under the gaze of a hundred rictus grins. Not something I can imagine that would have been approved of then or now by the Church of England.
I’ve been there. It’s truly creepy, but also awe inspiring.
I wasn’t aware of this practice, but it makes sense. There is only so much space. I America we are too young of a country to have this type of history. In New Orleans, the old cemeteries have “oven” vaults in the walls. After a time the oven is opened, everything is scooted to the back and down into a space and the new dead person is placed in there. Wonderful video.
A similar practice.
Excellent video! Wonderful channel!
Thank you Denise.
Fascinating.
In Germany grave plots are still rented for only 15 to 20 years, sometimes even less, especially for urns.
It's interesting that there wasn't a London version of the Paris Catacombs.
Paris had the same problem with growing and the Paris churchyards and cemetaries had, also, run out of room.
I can't remember who came up with the idea of using the old underground quarries, but, that's how the Paris Catacombs were started.😮😮😮😮
No wonder the present day British monarhy insists on being buried in lead lined caskets in vaults rather than in the soil.
that was so interesting! Something I always wondered about. Most churches I know have churchyard gravestones from the 1680s at the earliest and always wondered where( if they weren't posh enough to go inside the church in a private vault) the wealthy and Upper class were buried from earlier centuries. I had always assumed it was only the plebs without stones that got moved. Having done a little work on my family tree I discovered that my 5x great and 6x great grandparents were moved from the crypt pf St Martins in the Fields to.... where I don't know ! I'm sure they should have been wealthy enough to stay put.. so that was a bit of a surprise
Probably to one of the London cemeteries. There is a book called crypts of London that describes all that.
Thank you!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching.
Fantastic video. Can you recommend any articles or books on the subject?
You have a fan here in the States.
Me too, Colorado fan!❤
Thanks very much!
Hello it's me again! Very interesting indeed. I've always questioned exhumations. Wish we could live forever though, not gunna happen though-
Do you? I'm rather glad we eventually die.
@@allanbarton I'm afraid of death you see, I always have been. Nobody knows what it feels like until you actually die. Nobody knows if the afterlife was real. I am a believer of God and both my great grandmothers we're. I'm just hoping my time isn't too early.
I do think it odd everyone assumes the reason people in the US and Canada especially are horrified at the idea of moving one's remains or buying someone on top of them is because of how much "space" there is here. Up until they were plowed under by European settlers, there were mortuary mounds all over the Eastern Woodlands--especially in the South--that functioned pretty similar to cathedral charnel houses. I think most of the well-known mounds that are extant today were built primarily for civic or ceremonial ceremonial purposes, not typical village mortuary mounds, but there are still quite a number out there if you know where to look and what for.
As with all Indigenous things, not every culture did or does things the same way--my people (Chahta) alone have multiple "traditional" ways of handling our ancestors' remains--time, location, and circumstance changes what's considered apropos. But in general, Eastern Woodland, Mound-building, "Mississippian" cultures have preferred to bury our dead some way similar to this: 1) remains are exposed so the flesh will be removed by decomposers 2) bones are cleaned by a bone picker (an incredibly well-respected person in the village--it was an immense honour) 3) bones are bundled and stored in the ossuary (often called a charnel house by Euro-American observers) 4) when the ossuary was full, the community would gather to take the bones from the ossuary and inter them in a new layer raised over the mortuary mound. Temporary internment was practiced as well, with the bones sometimes being collected and brought back after decomposition if someone died away from home.
Most often, bones were moved from the ossuary to the mortuary mound around the beginning of November--same time as All Saints was celebrated in Europe (it's half way between the equinox and winter solstice, seems most cultures in the Northern Hemisphere care for their ancestors' remains around this time of year!)
,This is why all my family are Buried on a pice of private consecrated ground and can not be touched.
Great video. Thanks. Worth mentioning is the effect of grave robbers looking for material for medical research. Burke and Hare were famous Scottish grave robbers who were caught. This caused more laws protecting grave yards to be put in place.
Very true - that would deserve another video.
Question: where are the remains of the dead that were removed from the charnel houses 🏘 that are no longer in use❓️. I once worked with a woman who was German. She told me that in Germany 🇩🇪 you 'rented' a grave for so many years (I can't remember how long). I thought 💭 that was creepy. But, after watching this video 📹, I see that it's a rather common practice in Europe.
Crikey. It's like the graveyard in Grimsby instead of removing previous interments they put the new burial on top and eventually the graves ended up to be only an inch or so under the surface. When it rained the dead literally rose. Also they removed the remains of a former pope from a grave so they could put John Paul 2nd in at St Paul's Basilica
The graveyard in Grimsby was scandalous Denise. There only one until the cemeteries were constructed.
I always used to wonder how small churchyards in the UK seemed to have space, despite centuries of use.
Now...where did they put the skeletal remains from all of these charnal houses?
They cleared them, but where did they deposit the remains and is there memorial to these mass reburials?
When I lived in Hesse, Germany the local churches used the 100 year rent for graves.
I know this may ve a stupid question, so here goes. I understand the need for burial ground space. So if they move you after 100 years how come in cemetaries we have headstones which are more than two years. I have found headstones in a church in Salhouse, Norfolk, where i live, some headstones go back to 1700
Oooo charnel houses scary stuff
A number of the churches established along the California Coast by the Spanish Friars have bones as decoration.
I was reading an article online and I’m certain it said you would lease a burial plot for 25 years. For the life of me I can’t remember which site it was on. That’s a lot less than you mention, I’m certain I must have misread it.
I think the Swiss rent, don’t they?
Would you have any books you would recommend regarding this subject?
I wondered if the Burial Acts were in any way a reaction to the issue of 'resurrectionists' illicitly robbing graves to provide bodies for anatomy lessons in operating theatres as a response to the lack of criminals which had been a problem for centuries but reached a peak in the late 18th and early 19th century. Especially as by the early 19th century the number of capital offenses for things like theft began to fall in favour of transportation. But apparently not... the problem had already been "solved" in the Anatomy Act of 1832 by the rather depressing solution of allowing the use the corpses of the unclaimed dead in workhouses, prisons and hospitals.
Why did the ancients not grind the bones that remained over 100 years to be placed back on the consecrated grounds of the church yards, much as we now do in religious cemeteries here in the USA. Clearly this is reverent and certainly more reverent than cremations as done today.
When a charnel house was to be used for another purpose, what would they have done with all the bones stored in it?
Hi, I can help answer this. One of my ancestors was laid to rest in the crypt of church in Holborn London in the mid 1800s. Much later the now over full crypt was re-purposed and all the skeletal remains were carefully gathered and re-interred under a monumental cross in a large cemetery in East London. Although bodies can be exhumed here in England and Wales - Scottish Law may be different - it is not a trivial process. Many approvals are required from very senior levels in both the Civil and Church authorities. Great care is taken to treat the remains with dignity and respect, they are after all an 'ex temple' that once was home to a Soul.
@@bobuk5722 Thank you.
8:49 It will be more difficult in 2122 to continue this practice when modern caskets are still there and embalmed corpses are still preserved within. It would be better to bury people in wood coffins still.
They still haven't caught on here that much. I've conducted three maybe four hundred funerals and never saw one.
Dr barton they already been reburing in most church cemetery
When was hte term Rest In Peace first used on headstones etc? I think this is when it became unfavourable to move bodies after burial.
I heard that Mozart wasn't buried in a Potter's Field but in a proper grave that had a time limit of use.
Yes that's right, he was buried in the same way as everyone else in Vienna in an unmarked common grave.
Oh wow! I visited Shakespeare's burial place many years ago and I did wonder why the inscription was so worded.
Hi Helen, I did n't appreciate the reasons for the wording either. Mind you, I was a young child when I saw it with Mum and Dad, it was a long time ago now. It has occasionally come to mind since but I only understand the reason now having watched this episode.
So, did the policy of grave ownership in the U.S. which predated that of the U.K. apparently, provide the impetus for the U.K. later abandoning their historical stance and adopting the one from the U.S.?
No, permanent grave ownership as a concept has never been adopted in the UK. Exclusive use of a grave for a certain term of years is as far as it goes. Usually for 100 years, but in some cases as little as 50.
Big difference is that the US has virtually unlimited land so American's haven't been forced to consider the reuse of burial space.
Many cities and towns in the US, though, *are* dealing with full cemeteries and no more local land available to expand existing ones or create new burial space. We do need to start embracing the alternatives.
I have a Hardback DORLING KINDERSLEY DK EYEWITNESS GUIDES Book of MEDIEVAL LIFE.
Discover medieval Europe - from life in a country manor to the streets of a developing town.
I will be cremated - it's cheaper, plus being slightly claustrophobic burial doesn't appeal
The mystical nonsense we invent around dead sacks of meat....🙄
Similiar to the Jewish practices of Jesus times.
Yes, it has been the practice in most cultures in every age. Only recently that people have become a little more squeamish.