The grave yards of London : being an exposition of the physical and moral consequences inseparably connected with our unchristian and pestilential custom of depositing the dead in the midst of the living : with the examinations of the author, upon this highly important subject, before a Select Committee of the House of Commons / by George Alfred Walker.

  • Walker, George Alfred, 1807-1884.
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The grave yards of London : being an exposition of the physical and moral consequences inseparably connected with our unchristian and pestilential custom of depositing the dead in the midst of the living : with the examinations of the author, upon this highly important subject, before a Select Committee of the House of Commons / by George Alfred Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    6/49 (page 5)
    such a profanation determined the practise of burning the dead ; their repose, from that moment, was considered as secure.” The Jems were very careful to remove the dead from their dwell- ings. They dreaded all communication with them, so much so that travellers were even forbidden to walk upon places where the dead were buried. Caverns and fields were destined for places of burial. The priests, it is true, were buried on their own estates, and some- times in the tombs of kings; but every city always had its public cemetery outside the walls. Inhumation was always more general in Greece than elsewhere, and the very salutary custom of conveying the dead to a distance from the cities, was inviolably preserved; indeed the whole religious doctrine and mythology of the Greeks tended powerfully to strengthen and support the laws which directed the bodies of the dead to be removed far from the habitations of the living. The Romans entertained a religious veneration for the dead: and the places destined for sepulchre, were held particularly sacred. The law of the Twelve Tables expressly forbids the burning or burial of any dead body in the city. “ Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito.” Inhumation was established among the early Christians, and their dead were carried out of the city ; but after Constantine had embraced the Christian religion, and peace had been established, innovations were admitted in the mode or place of interment. Constantine was allowed the privilege of being buried in the vestibule of a temple he had himself built; and the same honour was afterwards conferred on many of his successors. It was subsequently granted to benefac- tors, who had provided liberally for the decorations of altars, and for the expenses incurred in performing the august ceremonies of religion, till at length, from veneration, ambition, or superstition, the abuse was carried so far, that interment, in the vicinity of churches, was granted to Pagans and Christians,—to the impious and the holy. Attempts were unquestionably made by Emperors and Ecclesiastics, to correct this abuse. Theodosius the Great, in 381, published his celebrated code in which he forbade the interment of the dead in the interior of cities, and even ordered that the bodies, the urns, and the monuments which were in the city of Rome, should be carried without, the walls. The monks strictly observed the rules, and con- ducted themselves on this point, with the most austere severity ; those who inhabited grottoes and deserts, were buried in forests, and in the heart of mountains. Walford, Abbot of Palazzolo, in Tuscany, was the first who, in the eighth century, wished to be buried in his own cloister. Sepulchres were soon afterwards introduced into churches, and further encroachments were rapidly made, till at length the prevailing custom was opposed to the established law, and the prerogative which was originally reserved for Emperors, became the portion of the lowest class of citizens, and that which was at first a distinction became a right, common to every one. It must be admitted, however, that in Catholic countries, the authorities of councils and the decrees of Popes, &c. have been di- rectly opposed to interment in churches, and in the vicinity of cities and towns; but the desire of distinction penetrated into the interior °f temples, and permission having become easy and general, distinc-