[4]. When the grave of King Olaf at Sore was opened, a long sword was found over the body from the head to the feet. In the coffin of King Erik Glipping, in the Church of Viborg, his sword lay at his side. Kornerup, Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1873, p. 251.
[5]. In the Capitularia Regum Francorum we are told that the custom which had grown obsolete among the common people was retained for the clergy:—Mos ille in vulgo obsoletus in funeribus episcoporum et presbyterum retinetur.
[6]. Durandus says, “Clerici vero, si sint ordinati, illis indumentis induti sint, quae requirunt ordines, quos habent; si vero non habent ordines sacros more laicorum sepeliantur. Verumtamen licet in aliis ordinibus propter paupertatem hoc saepius omittatur, in sacerdotibus tamen et Episcopis nullo modo praetermittendum est.”—De Div. Off. lib. 7. Kornerup, describing the practice in Denmark, says of the burials of the higher orders of the clergy in the Middle Ages—“On their heads they bore the mitre, on their shoulders the cloak of gold brocade, on the finger the Episcopal ring, and the crosier lay by the side of the corpse. Their feet were shod, and the chalice and paten were placed in their hands.” These particulars have been verified in many instances, among which it is only necessary to mention the graves of Bishop Absalon at Sore, and Bishop Suneson at Lund.—Kornerup, Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1873, p. 251.
[7]. In a tumulus opened near Picton Castle, there were found, along with the skeleton of a man, a sword, a breastplate, four horse-shoes, and a gold ring, on the bezel of which were engraved the arms of Sir Aaron ap Rhys, a knight of the Holy Sepulchre. The latest instance of this custom carried out in its integrity occurred at the interment of Frederick Casimir, a knight of the Teutonic Order, who was buried with his horse and his arms at Treves in February 1781.
[8]. A variety of the custom of burial clothed took the form of burial in a monkish habit. It was not uncommon in the twelfth century for laymen to be thus buried, under the notion that the sanctity of the dress preserved the body from molestation by demons. Thus Erik Ploupenning sets forth in a deed dated 1241, “Votum fecimus ut in habitu fratrum minorum mori deberemus et in ipso habitu apud fratres minores Roeskildenses sepiliri.”—Pontoppidan, Annales Eccl. Dan. 1669. The idea of sanctity connected with the monastic orders led people to seek for burial, not only in the consecrated ground about the monastery, but in the habit of the monks. The right was in early times purchased by the great men of Brittany by the gift of lands and other offerings, as we have seen to be the case in Ireland.—Stuart’s Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 63.
[9]. Bernard, grandson of Charlemagne, who died in 818, was found with shoes on his feet when his coffin was opened in 1638. William Lyndewode, Bishop of St. David’s, who died in 1446, was buried in St. Stephen’s. When his grave was recently disturbed during repairs, the body was found unclothed, but with shoes on the feet.—Archæologia, vol. xxxiv. p. 403. In the cathedral of Worcester a skeleton was found in 1861 having shoes or sandals on its feet, the soles of which were quite entire.—Gent. Mag., Oct. 1861. The Abbé Cochet mentions a large number of instances in France, proving the existence of the custom there from the twelfth century to the seventeenth. In an account of the funeral expenses of Roger Belot, who died in 1603, there is a charge of twelve sous six deniers for a pair of shoes to place on the feet of the defunct.—Revue Archæol., vol. xxv. (1873) p. 12.
[10]. The Christian liturgists account for this custom on other grounds than as a simulation of the effect of cremation, or a survival by symbol; but we should not expect them to recognise it as a survival of the Pagan custom. Durandus says:—“Carbones ponantur in testimonium quod terra ilia in communes usus, amplius redigi non potest; plus enim durat Carbo sub terra quam aliud.” Is not the “ashes to ashes” of the burial service a lingering echo of this ritual?
[11]. Vases of glass and of clay were buried with the early Christians in the catacombs. The glass vessels were drinking cups, the clay vessels are in all probability such as were in domestic use. Garrucci gives a list of 340 of these glass vessels, many of which have the Christian monogram, or scenes from Scripture, depicted on them. There are others, however, ornamented with scenes from domestic and civil life, and even with subjects from the Pagan mythology.
[12]. Mabillon also notices this custom:—"L’on trouvent assez souvent dans l’anciens tombeaux des Chretiens des petits vases de terre pleins de charbons."—Dissertation sur le culte des Saints inconnus, p. 25. “Aquam benedictam et prunas cum thure apponerent.”—Beleth, De Divinis Officiis, c. 161. “Deinde ponitur in spelunca in qua ponitur aqua benedicta et prunae cum thure. Aqua benedicta ne demones qui multum eam timent ad corpus accedant; solent namque desaevire in corpora mortuorum, ut quod nequiverunt in vita, saltem post mortem egant. Thus propter faetorem corporis removendum, seu ut defunctus creatori suo acceptabilem bonorum operum odorem intelligatur obtulisse, seu ad ostendendum quod defunctis prosit auxilium orationis.”—Durandus, De Off. Mortuorum, In Rationale Div. Off. lib. vii. c. 35. “Vascula cum aqua lustrali in sepulchris apponebantur.”—Aringhi, Roma Subterranea, vol. i. p. 94. “Statutum etiam fuit ut in sepulchris crux, et aqua lustralis seu benedicta apponeretur.”—Durantes, Ex Antiq. Ritual. Sacr. Libris. apud Aringhi, loc. cit.
[13]. The following are a few of the localities in which these vases have occurred most abundantly:—Braquemont, Martin Eglise, Bouteilles, where over 100 vases occurred, Roux Mesnil, Neuchatel, etc. It may be interesting to indicate the range in time of the custom, by a few instances, with well-defined dates. In the coffin of Urson, Abbot of Jumieges, who died in 1127, two pierced vases were found. At Leure, near Havre, among many interments with similar vases, there was one with an inscribed slab identifying it as that of Pierre Berenguier (1270–1290). In the stone coffin there were six of these pierced vases. The stone coffin of Simon de Goucans, Bishop of Amiens, who died in 1325, contained three vases, two being placed at the shoulders and one at the feet, all pierced with holes and partly filled with charcoal. In the coffin of John Count Dunois, who died in 1468, seven vases occurred. In that of Francis Longueville, who died in 1491, twelve pierced vases with charcoal were ranged along the sides of the coffin. On the right side of the wooden coffin of the Abbé François d’Orignai, who died in 1483, two pierced vases were found. In the leaden coffin of Agnes of Savoy, Duchess of Dunois, who died in 1508, there were four vases of common red unglazed ware containing charcoal. The latest precise date is furnished by an interment in the graveyard of the Benedictine monastery at Mans. The coffin, on which the inscription was still legible, Charlotte Le Normant de Beaumont, Decede le 12 Avril 1688, contained a vase with charcoal. This curious and little known custom is fully illustrated in the Abbé Cochet’s works, La Normandie Souterraine, 2d edition, Paris 1855, and its sequel Sepultures Gauloises, Romaines, Franques et Normandes, Paris 1857. See also Bulletin Monumental, vol. xxii. pp. 329–364, 425–447; vol. xxv. pp. 103–132, 273–311; Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, vol. xxii. pp. 11, 12, 294–298, vol. xxiv. p. 5–8; Archæologia, vol. xxxv. p. 233, vol. xxxvii. p. 399, vol. xxxviii. p. 66, vol. xxxix. p. 117; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1855, pp. 206, 290; Revue de l’art Chretien, vol. ii. (1858), p. 420; De Caumont, Cours d’Antiquites Monumentales, vol. vi. p. 316; A. Murcier, La Sepulture Chretienne en France, p. 159–164.