Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Archaeology and the Life Course
- 2 Experiencing Age: the Medieval Body
- 3 Clothing the Body: Age, Sexuality and Transitional Rites
- 4 The Medieval Household: the Material Culture of Everyday Life
- 5 The Medieval Church and Cemetery: The Quick and the Dead
- 6 Medieval Lives: People and Things
- Appendix 1 The Medieval Ages of Man: natural, humoral, temporal and material associations of age
- Appendix 2 Excavated Medieval Cemeteries Discussed in the Text
- Appendix 3 Indicative Age Profiles Based on Excavated Medieval Cemeteries
- Appendix 4 Children's Clothing and Dress Accessories from Burial Contexts in Britain: infants to 15-year olds
- Appendix 5 Sexual Signs: medieval dress accessories incorporating sexual imagery
- Appendix 6 Dress Accessories Associated with May Festivities
- Appendix 7 Love Gifts: dress accessories associated with courting and betrothal
- Appendix 8 Apotropaic Materials: dress accessories, domestic and devotional objects
- Appendix 9 Charms: devotional inscriptions on excavated objects and dress accessories
- Appendix 10 Devotional Inscriptions on Medieval Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
- Appendix 11 Priests' Burials from Medieval English Parish Churches and Hospitals
- Appendix 12 Grave Goods associated with Aged Skeletons from Medieval English Parish Churches and Hospitals
- Appendix 13 The Classification of Grave Goods from Medieval Burials
- Appendix 14 Infant Burials from Domestic Contexts in Medieval England
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Experiencing Age: the Medieval Body
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Archaeology and the Life Course
- 2 Experiencing Age: the Medieval Body
- 3 Clothing the Body: Age, Sexuality and Transitional Rites
- 4 The Medieval Household: the Material Culture of Everyday Life
- 5 The Medieval Church and Cemetery: The Quick and the Dead
- 6 Medieval Lives: People and Things
- Appendix 1 The Medieval Ages of Man: natural, humoral, temporal and material associations of age
- Appendix 2 Excavated Medieval Cemeteries Discussed in the Text
- Appendix 3 Indicative Age Profiles Based on Excavated Medieval Cemeteries
- Appendix 4 Children's Clothing and Dress Accessories from Burial Contexts in Britain: infants to 15-year olds
- Appendix 5 Sexual Signs: medieval dress accessories incorporating sexual imagery
- Appendix 6 Dress Accessories Associated with May Festivities
- Appendix 7 Love Gifts: dress accessories associated with courting and betrothal
- Appendix 8 Apotropaic Materials: dress accessories, domestic and devotional objects
- Appendix 9 Charms: devotional inscriptions on excavated objects and dress accessories
- Appendix 10 Devotional Inscriptions on Medieval Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
- Appendix 11 Priests' Burials from Medieval English Parish Churches and Hospitals
- Appendix 12 Grave Goods associated with Aged Skeletons from Medieval English Parish Churches and Hospitals
- Appendix 13 The Classification of Grave Goods from Medieval Burials
- Appendix 14 Infant Burials from Domestic Contexts in Medieval England
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Humoral theory and the Ages of Man
This chapter addresses the medieval life course at the scale of the individual body and considers osteological evidence for the quality of life of respective age cohorts. Two different approaches are used to explore the theory and reality of ageing: medieval ideas about the body are introduced and bioarchaeological evidence is examined to reconstruct the corporeal experience of age. The theological and medical literature of the Middle Ages is vast and complex, and my intention here is to summarize only the basic tenets which informed medieval understandings of the life course. The emphasis is placed on the key theories which impacted on medieval popular belief and social practice. These theories may appear obtusely academic, but the main ideas were transmitted to ordinary people through the preaching of sermons, the performance of miracle plays and through material practices and visual imagery, such as burial rites and wall paintings in the local parish church. Illustrations accompanying the medieval ‘Ages of Man’ literature represent each age with characteristic material culture, providing insight to the objects that were associated with the everyday activities and perceived capabilities of respective age groups. Historical and archaeological sources together demonstrate the ‘temporal biology’ of medieval England, how the life course was shaped by cultural patterns of work, migration and marriage, and by environmental factors such as climate change, nutrition and epidemics.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Medieval LifeArchaeology and the Life Course, pp. 32 - 67Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012