The English Way of Death: The Common Funeral Since 1450

Dr. Julian Litten, long regarded as England's authority on funeral customs, leads us from the pomp and panoply of the post-medieval funeral to the clinical anonymity of present-day obsequies. Lavishly illustrated in color and monochrome, this study explores the rise of the undertaking trade and the changing etiquette which governed burial—for the rich, embalming, lying-in-state, heraldic parades with richly attired attendants and intermural burial in the family vault and for the poor, by stark contrast, parochial processions through muddy fields and interment in a shroud in the corner of a country churchyard. Unavailable for more than a decade, this reissue will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in social history.