Middle Ages History and Medieval Funeral Customs

Vocabulary flashcards detailing key medieval terminology, feudal structure, Christian burial customs, plague concepts, and the evolution of undertaking.

Middle Ages

The historical era from 476 BCE to 1500 CE that began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the Renaissance; also known as the Dark Ages or Medieval Era.

Feudal System

A social structure derived from the Latin terms feudalis (fee) and feodum (fief/land), in which land was given as payment to military and loyal nobles in return for service.

Vassal

A person who pledged service in exchange for property under the feudal system.

Serfs

Peasants tied to the land who worked without pay to produce food for themselves and their lords.

Peasant Clothing

Typical apparel worn by medieval peasants, consisting of items such as tunics, hoods with liripipes, coifs, hoses, gowns, and veils with wimples.

Purgatorial Doctrine

The Catholic doctrine of a temporary state of final purification after death where souls who died in grace are cleansed of remaining temporal effects of sin.

Leagues of Prayer

Societies of lay-persons formed to pray for the souls of the departed.

Steward of the Guild

A church administrator appointed by a priest to schedule mass, collect fees for soul shots, and oversee church operations.

Soul shot

A fee paid to the church to ensure the rise of the decedent's soul into heaven.

Sexton

A church caretaker whose duties included ringing church bells and digging graves.

Catafalque

A raised platform, with or without a canopy, used for a body to lay in state that is more decorative than a bier.

Effigy

A wax mask made of the deceased used in place of the actual body during state funerals due to heat and the length of the service.

Requiem Mass

A Catholic mass for the dead during which incense was burned to mask the smell of decomposition.

God's Acre

The consecrated ground of the church yard where common people were buried.

Woolen Act 1666

An English law requiring deceased bodies to be wrapped in wool for burial, with an exception allowing linen for plague victims.

Bubonic Plague

An infectious disease caused by Yersinia Pestis bacteria spread by fleas on rats, causing boils, fever, gangrene, seizures, and muscle cramps.

Plague pits

Mass burial sites used for rushed interments with little or no ceremony during plague mortality crises.

Barber-Surgeon

Practitioners 'of the short robe' who performed bloodletting, surgery, and rudimentary embalmings after clergy were banned from shedding blood.

Barber's Pole

A pole originating from the rod held by patients during bloodletting to expose veins, around which bloodied bandages were hung to dry in the wind.

Undertaker

A term originally applied to general builders and tradesmen who transitioned into coffin making and managing funeral arrangements.