Dark Ages Glossary

Barber-Surgeon

the sole trade permitted to embalm and perform anatomical dissections in the Middle Ages

Bloodletting

belief or practice of draining a quantity of blood to cure illness or disease

Burial Club

organizations intended to assist people of the working classes, particularly guildmembers, to defray the heavy expenses of the funeral and to perpetuate the memory of dead friends; costs were shared by others via weekly collections; were the forerunner of industrial insurance

Burial Woolen act of 1666

required that woolen cloth be substituted for linen in the shroud and lining of the coffin; was an attempt to shift the use of imported linen to the expanding paper industry of England and provide customers for the wool industry. Heavy fines were assessed for violation; not repealed until 1814.

Casket

from the French term ‘casse’ meaning ‘jewel box’ or container for something valuable; came into dominant use in patent literature for burial receptacles in the 1890’s in America; a rigid container which is designed for the encasement of human remains and which is usually constructed of wood, metal, fiberglass, plastic, or like material, and ornamented and lined with fabric.

Catafalque

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

Chadwicks report

a report published in 1843 on unsanitary conditions in London created by intramural burials and the high cost of funerals; recommended the use of death certificates

Crier

English custom in the Middle Ages which lasted until the 19th century; person who walked the street calling out the name of the deceased and asking people to pray for the soul of the departed.

Effigy

a life-sized, waxen recreation 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

Funeral feast

the Middle Ages the wake also served as a feast to welcome the principal heir to his new estate. For the ancient Greeks, funeral feasts ended the fast for the bereaved

Leagues of prayer

formed in the Middle Ages by laypersons to bury the dead and to pray for the soul of the faithful departed

Purgatorial Doctrine

Catholic belief that those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing before they can enter Heaven.

Soul Shot

mortuary fee paid to insure entrance of the decedent's soul into Heaven