Beyond cemetery walls: early medieval funerary topography and Christian salvation
Bonny Effros
The article examines how the topography of Christian cemetery in Merovingian Gaul mirrored status which souls individuals were believed to occupy sphere next world. In practice, moreover, clergy's treatment corpses was often perceived as determining their fate. Drawing on both literary and material evidence, argues that boundaries established between faithful damned supported Church's claims sacral authority this life next.
Early Medieval Europe