Part 3

LECTURE I. (17TH OCTOBER 1881.) CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN BURIAL—VIKING BURIALS.

At the outset of my first series of Lectures I stated that the necessity of abandoning the historical method of inquiry was involved in the very nature of the investigation which I contemplated, because the relations which the materials to be investigated bear to each other, and to special phases of human culture and civilisation, are neither disclosed by historical record nor discoverable by historical methods of research. I therefore proposed that, for the purposes of this inquiry, we should consider ourselves engaged in the exploration of an unknown region; and that, starting from the borderland where the historic and the non-historic meet, and ascending the stream of time, we should proceed to make such observations of the facts and phenomena encountered in our progress as would enable us to determine their relations by comparison with facts and phenomena already familiar to us, and to deduce conclusions which, so far as they are sound and relevant, would serve as materials for the construction of a logical history of culture and civilisation within the area investigated.

Having thus traversed the region characterised by the phenomena of the Early Christianity of Scotland, all that is distinctively Christian is now left behind. Before us lies the whole extent of the Pagan period, resolvable into three great divisions, characterised as the Ages of Iron, of Bronze, and of Stone. In each of these we shall meet with distinctive manifestations of culture, disclosing their peculiar characteristics by their special products. These products are the materials of our investigation, and they fall to be dealt with by the same methods that have been employed in the disclosure of the nature and quality of the culture and civilisation of the Early Christian Time in Scotland.

I have adopted this division of the general subject into “Christian Times” and “Pagan Times,” because the phenomena with which I am dealing do themselves exhibit a clearly defined distinction, and are separable from each other by their characteristics according as they are products of Christian or of Pagan forms of culture and civilisation.

For instance, while Paganism existed, there were two customs which gave a distinctly typical character to the archaeological deposits of the heathen period. These were (1) the burning of the bodies of the dead; and (2) the deposit with the dead (whether burnt or unburnt) of grave-goods—urns, weapons, clothing, personal ornaments, and implements and utensils of domestic life. Previous to the introduction of Christianity, the burials are characterised by cremation or by the association of urns, arms, implements, and ornaments. After the introduction of Christianity these characteristics cease. The substitution of Christianity for Paganism thus produced an alteration in the character of the archæological deposits exactly comparable to that which was produced by the substitution of bronze for stone, or of iron for bronze; and the difference between the Christianity and the Paganism of a people or an area, as thus manifested, is therefore a true archæological distinction.

But no archæological boundary is of the nature of a hard and fast line. The deposits which constitute the periodic divisions of archæology (like those of the geological series) are always to a greater or less extent products of a re-formative process, by which portions of pre-existing systems are imbedded in the new formation, in whose constitution the disintegrated elements of the older system are often quite clearly visible. There is therefore necessarily a series of transitional phenomena along the whole line of contact, and though the new system may have been characterised by a gradually increasing number of new types, the older types are often continued with altered characteristics, caused by an increasing conformity to the new conditions. It thus becomes of importance that the character of these transitional phenomena should at least be indicated before we finally pass from the region of Christianity into that of Paganism. Their investigation is essentially an examination of the disintegrated elements and altered fragments of the Pagan systems that have entered into the composition of later Christian formations; and no branch of this inquiry is more instructive than that which takes cognisance of the survival of Pagan customs in the usages connected with Christian burial.

“The first Christians,” says Aringhi, “did not follow the heathen custom of placing deposits of gold, silver, and other precious articles in their sepulchres.” But it is plain from his further statement that they followed it partly, or, in other words, that the older custom was continued in a modified form;[1] for he goes on to say that “they permitted gold, interwoven with the cloth used in the preparation of the body for burial, and such things as gold rings on the fingers; with young girls, too, they often buried their ornaments and such things as they most delighted in.”

Footnote 1:

The body was swathed in linen, sometimes with the insignia of office, or with ornaments of gold, or gems placed in the coffin or sarcophagus.—Euseb. _Vit. Const._ iv. 66; Ambros. _Orat. in obit. Theodos_; _August. Conf._ ix. 12, cited in Smith’s _Dict. of Christ. Antiq._, _sub voce_ “Burial of the Dead.” The insignia of office, if the deceased had held any such position—gold and silver ornaments in the case of private persons—were often flung into the open grave, and the waste and ostentation to which this led had to be checked by an imperial edict.—_Cod. Theodos._ xi. tit. 7, 1, 14. _Ibid._ So common was the burial of weapons and ornaments in Early Christian times among the Franks, that enactments against the violation of graves in search of treasure form a special feature in the Salic Laws. Gregory of Tours tells of the robbery of the grave of the wife of Gonthram, who was buried in the Church of Metz, “cum auro multo rebusque preciosis;” and Montfaucon adds that from this we see that it was not the kings only, but the great of the land also, who were at that time buried with things of price.

Although the Pagan form of burial in which the dead were placed in their tombs, apparelled in their richest robes, and with their arms, ornaments, and insignia, is clearly opposed to the doctrine taught in all ages of the church, that the dead are for ever done with the things of this life,[2] we find it strangely surviving as a Christian ceremonial in the burial of kings and clergy. Childeric, the last of the Pagan kings of France, was buried seated on a throne, in his kingly robes, and with the arms, ornaments, and insignia of royalty. Charlemagne, the establisher of Christianity (who meted out the punishment of death to the Saxons who dared to burn their dead after the old manner),[3] was also buried seated on a throne, with his royal robes, his arms and ornaments, and the book of the Gospels on his knee. The Scandinavian Viking was buried with his arms because his Valhalla was a fighting place; but the Christian kings of Denmark continued to be buried with their arms although there was no Valhalla prepared for them.[4] Giraldus Cambrensis, describing the miserable death of Henry II. of England, laments that when the body was being prepared for burial “scarcely was a decent ring to be found for his finger or a sceptre for his hand, or a crown for his head, except such a thing as was made from an old head-dress.” When the custom was disused for kings, it was retained for the clergy.[5] Archbishops and bishops have always been buried with their insignia and robes of office.[6] Their graves, containing the crosier or staff, the chalice and paten, the robes and ring, although necessarily of Christian time and Christian character, are directly related in the line of archæological succession to those of the earlier Paganism. The custom also survives in the pompous accessories of a military funeral. When we see the sword laid over the coffin, and the horse led in procession to the grave, we witness the survival of one of the oldest ceremonies ever performed among men—the difference being, that of old the weapon was laid in the grave beside the hand that had wielded it, and the horse was slaughtered to accompany his master to the unseen world.[7] Some forms of this survival gradually passed into distinctively Christian usages[8] with a definitely Christian significance, and others became actually incorporated in the ritual of the Church. One of the most striking of the sepulchral customs of the Pagan Northmen was that of binding the “hell-shoes” on the feet of the dead. It is stated in the Saga of Gisli the Outlaw that when they were laying Vestein in his grave-mound, Thorgrim the priest went up to the mound and said, “’Tis the custom to bind the hell-shoes on men so that they may walk on them to Valhalla, and I will now do that by Vestein;" and when he had done it he said, “I know nothing about binding on hell-shoon, if these loosen.” This custom is often found in Christian as well as in pre-Christian graves in Central Europe. It was well known to the liturgical writers of the Middle Ages. Durandus says: “The dead must also have shoes on their feet by which they may show that they are ready for the judgment.” Members of religious orders were usually thus buried, but the custom was not confined to them alone.[9] The idea of providing for a journey which was implied in the Northern custom of the “hell-shoon,” is curiously illustrated by the statement of Weinhold, that in some remote districts of Sweden, up to a very recent period, the tobacco-pipe, the pocket-knife, and the filled brandy-flask, were placed with the dead in the grave.

Footnote 2:

There are records of occasional cases in which the converts rebelled and went back to their old customs in spite of the efforts of the clergy to restrain them. Thus we find in A.D. 1249, that in Livonia, where heathenism lingered longer than in almost any other part of Europe, there is a solemn deed of contract entered into between the converts and the brethren of the Holy Cross, by which the converts become bound, for themselves and their heirs, never again to burn their dead or to bury with them horses or slaves, or arms or vestments, or any other things of value, but to bury their dead in the cemeteries attached to the churches.—Dreger, _Codex Diplomaticus Pomeraniæ_. Again we find that the Esthonian converts rebelled in 1225, took back the wives they had given up, exhumed the dead they had buried in the Christian cemeteries, and burned them, after the fashion of the old Pagan times.—Gruber, _Origines Livoniæ_, cited by Wyllie in _Archæologia_, vol. xxxvii. p. 46.

Footnote 3:

Si quis corpus defuncti hominis secundum ritum paganorum flamma consumi fecerit, et ossa ejus ad cinerem redierit, capite punietur.—_Capitulary_, A.D. 785.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Broadly stated, the archæological effect of the establishment of Christianity was to cut off the presence of grave-goods from the burials of the area. But these examples show that while this was the general and final result, it was neither obtained absolutely nor at once. The burial usages of a people are among the most unalterable of all their institutions. Other observances may change with the convictions of individuals, but the prevailing sentiment which leads to the disposal of the dead—"gathered to their fathers"—in the same manner as the fathers themselves were disposed, resists innovation longer and more stubbornly than any other. In point of fact we find that from the beginning there have been but two great typical forms of burial—viz. burial with grave-goods, which is the universally Pagan type, and burial without them, which is the universally Christian type.

These typical forms of burial are respectively products of the opposing doctrines of Paganism and Christianity as touching the future life. I cannot tell what may have been the precise attitude of mind which induced my Pagan ancestor to provide his dead with grave-goods. In view of the general prevalence of the custom, I cannot doubt that it was an attitude which regarded their provision as a sacred duty, universally binding and almost universally performed. But the Christian belief in a resurrection to newness of life recognised no such duty to the dead, and steadily opposed the practice as amounting to a denial of the faith. On this account it is plain that when we find the dead in Christian graves provided with grave-goods we have a form of burial which cannot be accounted for by anything in the essential elements of Christianity itself, and therefore it must be regarded as a survival of the older custom, which logically ought to have died with the death of the Pagan system,—of which it was a distinctive usage.

The Christian fathers appear to have drawn the line of demarcation between Pagan and Christian burial so as to prevent the continuance of cremation. Yet the practice of strewing charcoal and ashes ritually in the open grave, and laying the unburnt body upon them, was a wide-spread Christian custom of the early Middle Ages.[10] I cannot conceive the process by which a custom like this could have been evolved from any of the distinctive usages of Christianity, if the custom of cremation had not preceded it. Again the practice of placing vessels of clay in the cist with the unburnt body, which was one of the most widely diffused and most distinctively Pagan customs connected with the interment of the dead, was continued with certain modifications of form and significance as a Christian usage.[11] In Pagan times these vessels contained food and drink; in Christian times they held holy water and charcoal and incense. The holy water vessel was shallow and basin-like, and was placed usually at the feet of the corpse. Johannes Belethus, in the twelfth century, notices this custom, and after him Durandus, Bishop of Mende,[12] who says that the holy water is used “that the demons who are greatly afraid of it may not come near the body;” and that incense is used "to indicate that the dead person has entered his Creator’s presence with the acceptable odour of good works, and has obtained the benefit of the Church’s prayers." That the latter usage was widely extended throughout Christendom is proved by the frequent discoveries of vases pierced with holes, and containing the remains of charcoal, which have occurred in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Denmark.[13] It was not unknown in Scotland, as the following examples will show. On the demolition of the old town steeple of Montrose in 1833, in [Illustration: Fig. 1.—Clay Vase, one of four found in a mediæval stone coffin at Montrose.] removing the soil under the base of the structure, a rude stone cist was discovered at a depth of three feet. The cist contained a skeleton disposed at full length, and beside the skeleton were four vessels of clay placed two at the head and two at the feet. One of these vessels (Fig. 1 1 ) is still preserved in the Montrose museum. It is of reddish clay, 4 inches in height, 5 inches in diameter at the widest part, and 3 inches across the mouth. Its form is shown in the accompanying woodcut, from which it is also observable that it is pierced with holes which exhibit irregular outlines. There are five of these holes in the circumference of the widest part of the vase, and it is evident from their appearance that they have been pierced by driving a sharp-pointed instrument through it, not when the clay was soft but after it was fired.[14] All the characteristics of the interment—the stone-lined grave, the full-length burial, the vases placed two at the head and two at the feet[15]—are those of the commonest form of Christian burial with incense vases, as manifested in continental examples later than twelfth century.

Footnote 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?

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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._

Footnote 13: