Medieval villagers mutilated the dead to stop them rising?

[Brian G Turner]

I know Wharram Percy very well - used to visit the site regularly - and have the English Heritage booklet on its history, so am a little surprised by this headline:

Medieval villagers mutilated the dead to stop them rising, study finds

Archaeological research may represent first scientific evidence of English practices attempting to protect the living from the dead

As they were buried in pits, rather than the village graveyard, my initial thought is that we'd be looking at plague victims, or similar. However, the bones only came from 10 individuals so it seems a big stretch to claim a new mediaeval practice across Britain.

Additionally, there was a report not long before about Fountains Abbey - not too far away - which suggests the monks were buried ready to rise up on the Day of Judgement:
Fountains Abbey study reveals scale of monks' burial site

In which case, in the light of that, it might be presumed that then 10 bodies at Wharram Percy were mutilated not to protect the living from the undead, but instead to prevent them rising on the Day of Judgement, and therefore be denied the chance for eternal life.

So a punishment of sorts, rather than a fear of a zombie apocalypse.

 

[Venusian Broon]

However there clearly was some idea, at least in the 12th Century, that people did return from the dead and plague and infect the living, much like what we would call vampires. (In fact they are what the original vampires in Eastern Europe were, so I'm going to call them the same!)

Famously such hearsay was documented by William of Newburgh: The First Vampirologist: William of Newburgh - Monstrum Athenaeum

Quite how widespread this belief was I don't know. But enough that I'm sure that some people did mutilate the bodies of people they deemed evil to 'stop them rising after death'.

Also there were occasions where it was necessary to 'stake' down a dead person to 'stop their spirit wandering' up to at least the 1800s. The suspect in the Ratcliff Highway murders (1811) where two families were bludgeoned to death committed suicide whilst being held in custody. They buried him with his heart staked and at a crossroads, to further confuse his spirit if it managed to escape the pin. Apparently they also gave him a coffin that was too small, so that he would eternally discomforted.

 

[tinkerdan]

Hence the saying: I'm at a bit of a crossroads here.

They buried him with his heart staked and at a crossroads, to further confuse his spirit if it managed to escape the pin. Apparently they also gave him a coffin that was too small, so that he would eternally discomforted.

:r not

 

[Null_Zone]

It's Yorkshire, if the zombie apocalypse was going to start anywhere it would be Yorkshire.

If only so the undead would attack Bradford and decide humanity had suffered enough.

 

[Montero]

I seem to vaguely remember from a documentary that one of the reasons there was a lot of opposition to cremation was then the lack of a body to rise on judgement day..

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I seem to vaguely remember from a documentary that one of the reasons there was a lot of opposition to cremation was then the lack of a body to rise on judgement day..

That's an argument used to this day -- against organ donation as well as cremation.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Staking the dead to stop them raising!
Well that was my excuse with my mother-in -law.
The case comes up next week!

 

[Danny McG]

It's Yorkshire, if the zombie apocalypse was going to start anywhere it would be Yorkshire.

If only so the undead would attack Bradford and decide humanity had suffered enough.

This happened several years ago and all Bradford has long been changed - sadly nobody has noticed.

 

[hej]

The Vikings had serious reservations about the dead. One had to propitiate the deceased or incur their wrath.

To my knowledge, the Vikings believed that the dead could rise up from their graves and roam the Earth -- causing all sorts of harm, especially the wizard-types.

I found the view humorous, but I suppose it was anything but at the time.

 

[hej]

Staking the dead to stop them raising!
Well that was my excuse with my mother-in -law.
The case comes up next week!

Humorous.

Not so funny is the following, from Matthew 27.

"and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

From this, I glean a couple of points.

1. The concept of the dead arising from their graves has ancient roots (likely well antedating Christianity).
2. The appearance of the dead was not worthy of recording at the time -- even by Romans.

 

[Cathbad]

even by Romans

...who recorded literally everything.

 

[hej]

...who recorded literally everything.

That was unexpectedly funny!

 

[Caledfwlch]

I too thought it was more an Eastern European thing - staking the dead, and something about hammering a nail through spilled blood?
The "real" Vampires from myth of course, weren't handsome/beautiful EMO Men or Women bemoaning how awful and tragic it is to be beautiful and live forever, they were horrid, filthy, grey dead things, crawling through the night to eat your life.