Collective Identity: Funeral Monuments to Academics in Northern Europe

Abstract

Abstract The study of funeral monuments is still largely restricted to monuments celebrating members of the upper classes. Traditionally informed by considerations of sculptor and style, such studies have been supplemented only recently by sociological and gendered methods, which place more emphasis on assessing the function of funeral monuments in death rituals. A few recent studies of scholars’ monuments have also appeared, but they focus primarily on spectacular Italian examples, neglecting more common specimens and other geographies. The present study discusses funeral monuments erected to the memory of professors in the universities of Oxford, England (founded in the twelfth century), Tübingen, Germany (founded in 1477), and Leiden, The Netherlands (founded in 1575), during the period 1580–1700. While the difference between Catholic and Protestant iconography is relatively obvious, this study examines the subtle differences that existed between monuments erected in the context of differing Protestant denominations—Anglican Oxford, Calvinist Leiden, and Lutheran Tübingen. It is beyond the scope of this paper to address the particular tenets of each church; nor does it seek to analyze monuments specifically commemorating noted Lutherans or Calvinists. Instead, it will consider monuments of academics—including some Catholics-that were erected within a specific Protestant context.