Title: Dying and death in later Anglo-Saxon England /
Authors: Whitworth, V. M. 1966-
Publisher: Boydell Press,
Year: 2004
Subjects: Funeral rites and ceremonies, Medieval England.; Anglo-Saxons Funeral customs and rites.; Anglo-Saxons Social life and customs.; Death history.; Great Britain History
Abstract: "Pre-Conquest attitudes towards the dying and the dead have major implications for every aspect of culture, society and religion of the Anglo-Saxon period; but the death-bed and funerary practices of this period have been comparatively and unjustly neglected by historical scholarship. In her wide-ranging analysis, Dr. Thompson examines such practices in the context of confessional and penitential literature, wills, poetry, chronicles and homilies, to show that complex and ambiguous ideas about death were current at all levels of Anglo-Saxon society.