NEW FACTS RELATIVE TO CHRISTIAN SEPULTURE BY THE ABBE COCHET. Pikes in the Graves.—Buckles and Rings.—Chaplets.—Cockle-shells pierced.— Sandals. IN 1860 I laid before the readers of the Revue de l'Art Chrétien the particulars of some novel facts which I had observed in Christian burials of the Middle Ages. During the two years that my researches have continued on this interesting branch of our national archæology, I have collected many particulars calculated, as I believe, to interest liturgists, archæologists, and ecclesiologists. Some of the observations I here submit are the result of my readings and travellings; but the greater part are the fruits of my personal discoveries. 1. Pikes in the graves.-The first peculiarity seems to me confined to the diocese of Evreux; for the only parish in the diocese of Rouen in which the fact has been revealed is that of Caudebec-les-Elbeuf, which is only in our diocesan circumspection since the Concordat, in consequence of the departmental division of 1790. The brotherhood that retains this custom is a Society of St. Michael, of whose origin I am ignorant. In spite of our researches we have not been able to procure a copy either of the rules or the statutes of the association, which no longer exists at Caudebec, and has disappeared in the diocese of Evreux. We only know that at Caudebec-les-Elbeuf at the time of the suppression (1820) the brotherhood of St. Michael was composed of only one dozen of associates, all of whom have disappeared. Every year some one among them made a pilgrimage to Mont St. Michel (aux pèrils de la Mer), and on his return the fraternity went to meet him at the confines of the parish. Each of the pilgrim brothers carried a halberd, formed of a pike of iron, set upon a staff; and at the death of every brother the iron pike was deposited in the grave by his side. The three grave-diggers of Caudebec whom I have interrogated assure me that in digging they have met with these pikes. At Caudebec there remains only the memory of the fraternity of St. Michael. I except, however, a statue of the Archangel, as a warrior with a lance in his hand, that we see in the church; and an old flag of two colours which they still carry (or did so lately) in processions. This square standard was surmounted by the iron lance of St. Michael. In the department of the Eure the Society yet exists, as, for instance, at Huest and at Hanville near Evreux. 2. Buckles and Rings.-In my first "Particulars relative to Christian Sepulture in the Middle Ages," I have published the stone coffin of a member of the abbey of St. Geneviève of Paris a. This sarcophagus, opened in 1807, at the time of the destruction of the abbatial church, has been preserved in its original state by M. Alexandre Lenoir, and has been published, towards 1850, by M. Albert Lenoir, his son. We advert to this monastic sepulture, of which the coffin is Frankish, while the last occupant was most probably an ecclesiastic of the sixteenth century, as we judge from the costume and the four charcoal vessels which accompanied him. This ecclesiastic was habited in his monastic costume, with a girdle fastened by a buckle. A second instance of this custom was presented last year. In July, 1861, excavations for the foundations of a sacristry were made on the north of the church of Auffay (arrondissement de Dieppe). Apprized of the discovery of encaustic tiles, of tombstones, and even of incense vases, I proceeded to the site, and I myself discovered a skeleton bearing at the girdle a buckle and two rings, in bronze. These three interesting objects were enveloped in some dark-coloured matter, which I considered to be the remains of leather or woollen". Was this the corpse of a layman or of an ecclesiastic? It is what I cannot pretend to decide, looking merely to the medieval custom of laymen and monks wearing girdles. "Cingula pro lumbis," says a description of Paris of the fourteenth century. Although this discovery has been made in a cloister, I was uncertain to which class to attribute the remains. But a second discovery, made some months after, inclined me to recognise in them the monastic costume. In October last, when excavating the ruins of the celebrated abbey of St. Wandrille, I found before the chief altar of the ancient basilica an interment, which I could not suppose could be other than that of a Benedictine of Fontenelle. At the girdle of the defunct was found a buckle, and two rings of bronze precisely like those of Auffay. From this double discovery made in a priory and in an abbey of the order of St. Benedict, I have some right to conclude that the girdle and buckles are usual in the monastic sepulture of the Middle Ages. I may also mention the discovery, by M. L. Métayer, of a buckle resembling ours in a grave in the Madeleine de Bernay. chaplets in the hands supposed it would be However it is not so: 3. Chaplets. When we see daily so many and in the dwellings of Catholics, it may be natural to expect to find them upon the dead. and up to the present time, in my numerous excavations in churches and in cemeteries, I have only found two chaplets. The first was found in Revue de l'Art Chrétien, tom. iv. p. 434; Quelques particularités relatives à la sépulture chrétienne de Moyen-Age, p. 12. bA. Lenoir, Statist. Mon. de Paris, 13e liv. pl. xi. figs. 1 et 10. Bulletin de la Soc. des Antiquaires de Normandie, 2e année, p. 383. GENT. MAG. VOL. CCXIII. 3 A 1860 in digging upon the site of the destroyed church of Etran, near Dieppe. Beads in wood were mounted upon a chain of silver, or of copper silvered. We know it was near a corpse; but not being present at the moment of discovery I cannot say upon what part of the body it was placed. The second chaplet was found in the church of St. Wandrille, in October, 1861. It accompanied the corpse of an ecclesiastic, and was composed of beads of wood mounted upon latten wire, the cross itself being formed of beads of wood, and terminated, we believe, by a medallet of copper, of St. Benedict, which may be assigned to the early part of the seventeenth century. To these humble discoveries we may add that, in 1861, chaplets in wood have been discovered at Bernay, in an ancient convent of the Cordeliers; they accompanied the corpses of ecclesiastics: and in 1858 one was discovered by M. L. Métayer, of Bernay, in the choir of St. Leger de Rostes (Eure). It was upon the corpse of one of the Capuchins clothed in his chasuble, having near his head a charcoal vessel, and on his right side a cord, on which was suspended a chaplet made of beads of wood, hard, and like ebony. The divisions often were indicated by beads of a different kind; and to the chaplet were attached two medallets and a little cross of ebony. In the coffin, made of pear-tree wood, and filled with boughs of plants of the heath, was placed a coin of the sixteenth century. 4. Escallop shells.-At Fécamp, tombs attributed to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries have been discovered. In them were charcoal vases, containing charcoal, the vases being perforated in the body. There were also found escallop shells pierced with two holes, as worn by pilgrims. These have been found in other places, and described as being placed one upon each shoulder of the defunct. 5. Sandals. Sandals in leather were discovered in 1861 in the sepultures of the Benedictines of St. Wandrille; they are attributed to the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They have also been found at Jumièges and various places in France and in England. The texts of the two great liturgic oracles of the Middle Ages seem to prove clearly that these sandals were symbolical. To this effect speak Jean Beleth, Chancellor of the University of Paris in the twelfth century, and his commentator Guillaume Durand'. 4 Engravings of this medallet (which is common enough) have been published. The initials upon it are read to signify as follows: "Vade Retro Satana, Non Suadeas Mihi Vana: Sunt Vana Quæ Libas, A full account has been printed in the Revue de la Normandie, Rouen, 1862. of which many examples must be known to our readers.—ED. ON DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE RELATING TO WORCESTER IN MS. REPOSITORIES IN WORCESTER". THE few notices I may be able to lay before this meeting respecting the documents relating to this city and county must, I need scarcely say, be exceedingly imperfect. It was never my intention, however, to attempt to present more than some indications of the stores that exist. To any one disposed to research, and especially to the members of the Institute, it would be a waste of time to shew the great importance of documentary evidences upon every subject which comes under their notice. Their value has been more apparent than ever when so many are doing their best to fill up the bald pictures which the writers of past times have presented to us. We now know the value of the curious and interesting details illustrative of the inner life of our ancestors, which so many members of the Institute have brought before this section, and others lately assembled. All who heard the valuable and entertaining lecture upon the great cathedral must have been struck with the few references to documentary evidences which Professor Willis was able to give. Repeatedly was their absence deplored by the lecturer, and the only data for the periods of the construction of the main portion of the building were given by him from a document drawn up by a prebendary many years ago, "from some old record which was now destroyed:" so, too, with regard to many other of the great ecclesiastical buildings to which attention has been directed during our visit. And yet we know quite enough of the careful and businesslike manner in which the affairs of monastic establishments were conducted during the Middle Ages. And we know so much of the records of many such establishments elsewhere to be sure that as regards this county such evidences must have existed, and that they have either perished or are lying neglected and unknown. It was to assist in ascertaining these facts that I ventured to request permission of the authorities to examine the collections in their charge, and never was such a request more cordially responded to than by the officials of this cathedral and of this corpora A paper read at the Worcester Meeting of the Archæological Institute, by Joseph Burtt, Esq., Assistant Keeper of the Public Records, July 28, 1862. tion. I think I shall be able to shew you that you must not expect from me any great illustrations of new facts, or any satisfactory solutions of grave doubts. It is for those who may come afterwards upon the field to effect these results, and I shall be content if my humble efforts shall in any way have cleared the way for them, or indicated to them the path which might be followed. I shall now attempt to give some account of the MS. stores which have passed under my hands. First, with regard to the muniments of the Dean and Chapter. The registers of the bishops of this see are well known. It is not my intention to give you a catalogue, and to describe details that may be most uninteresting to many. It is sufficient for me to say, as regards the bishops' registers, that they are gencrally in very good condition, that their contents have already been much used (as indeed they are the only evidences of the Chapter which have), but that they are by no means exhausted. They are full of copies of charters of various kinds, and other documents attesting numerous important transactions, which teem with local names, and which will supply many particulars of the changes through which they have passed. As an example, too, of their miscellaneous character, I may mention the curious and interesting will of Bishop Giffard, enrolled in the second volume. There is also a curious record of proceedings as to the marriage of William de Monte Caniso, and several cases recorded of serious disputes arising out of the infraction of the sanctuary privileges. Beside these bishops' registers are the cartularies, or books of register of the see during its vacancy, and of the ancient priory independent of the see. Among these I am confident a zealous enquirer would find much new and valuable material which has escaped the researches or been thought below the notice of previous workers. Again I can give an example, by referring to the existence of portions of MSS. of a date long antecedent to the books themselves which have been worked. up in the binding. These have not yet been submitted to the notice of a competent authority, but I need hardly say that every portion of Saxon MS. has value; and a very interesting addition to the literature of that time was made by the discovery, at Gloucester, of a portion of the Life of St. Swithin, found under exactly similar conditions to those I have mentioned. They were the subject of a most valuable paper by |