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Beyond cemetery walls: early medieval funerary topography and Christian salvation
Author(s) -
Effros Bonny
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0254.t01-1-00001
Subject(s) - early christianity , history , christianity , art , archaeology , classics , ancient history
The article examines how the topography of the Christian cemetery in Merovingian Gaul mirrored the status which the souls of individuals were believed to occupy in the sphere of the next world. In practice, moreover, the clergy's treatment of Christian corpses was often perceived as determining their fate. Drawing on both literary and material evidence, the article argues that the boundaries established between the faithful and the damned in the Christian cemetery supported the Church's claims to sacral authority in this life and the next.