Heart-burial

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Modern marker for the site of the burial of the heart of Robert the Bruce at Melrose Abbey Melrose Abbey - Marker for heart of Robert the Bruce.jpg
Modern marker for the site of the burial of the heart of Robert the Bruce at Melrose Abbey

Heart-burial is a type of burial in which the heart is interred apart from the body. In medieval Europe heart-burial was fairly common among the higher echelons of society, as was the parallel practice of the separate burial of entrails or wider viscera: examples can be traced back to the beginning of the twelfth century. [1] Evisceration was carried out as part of normal embalming practices, and, where a person had died too far from home to make full body transport practical without infection, it was often more convenient for the heart or entrails to be carried home as token representations of the deceased. [2] The motivation subsequently became the opportunity to bury and memorialise an individual in more than one location.

Contents

Medieval

Notable medieval examples include:

Modern

Burial site of Thomas Hardy's heart Burial marker for the heart of Thomas Hardy.jpg
Burial site of Thomas Hardy's heart

More modern examples include:

Cultural references

In the 1994 movie Legends of the Fall , the character Samuel (Henry Thomas) is killed while serving in the Canadian Army in World War I. His brother (Brad Pitt) cuts the heart out of the body and sends it home to be buried on his father's ranch in Montana. [10]

See also

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References

  1. Badham 2019, p. 21.
  2. Badham 2019, p. 20.
  3. Chisholm 1911.
  4. "Prince Archbishop Leopold von Firmian | Constructor Schloss Leopoldskron Salzburg". www.schloss-leopoldskron.com. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  5. McGreevy, Nora (2 September 2020). "Renovations Reveal 19th-Century Mayor's Heart Entombed in Belgian Fountain". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Belgian mayor's heart dug out of fountain during renovation works". The Brussels Times. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  7. Léon 1979 , p. 161
  8. "Verviers - fontaine David". Musée de l'Eau et de la Fontaine (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  9. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2378266.html%5B%5D
  10. "Legends of the fall Script". Script-o-rama.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.

Bibliography