The Making of Churchyards and Parish Territories in the Early-Medieval Landscape of France and England in the 7th-12th Centuries: A Reconsideration

Abstract

NEW developments in burial archaeology and recent re-assessments of historical evidence compel a reconsideration of the transition from unassociated burial-grounds to churchyards. This paper focuses on five inter-related aspects: the interpretation of scattered burials in Early-medieval settlements, the re-use of barrows and Roman buildings for burial, the doctrinal elaboration of the churchyard as a bounded sacred place, the process of the reduction of burial-grounds and the relationship between burials and parish boundaries. It is argued that a great variety of burial locations were in use during the Early Middle Ages, and that this does not constitute evidence for evaluating the level of Christianization among the rural population. It is only between the 10th and the 12th centuries that the churchyard was established as the sole legitimate burial place for the parish community. The archaeological evidence for the topographical evolution of burial-grounds mirrors the shifting boundaries between the living and the dead, and between sacred and profane spaces. The comparison of archaeological evidence on both sides of the Channel reveals more similarities in the development of burial practices than might be expected.