Le cimetière dans le Moyen Âge latin. Lieu sacré, saint et religieux - article ; n°5 ; vol.54, pg 1047-1072

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales - Année 1999 - Volume 54 - Numéro 5 - Pages 1047-1072
The cemetery in the Middle Ages sacred holy and religious place. LAUWERS. The institution of the Christian cemetery- a collective burial space for the faithful attached to cult edifice and consecrated by bishop- required long evolution that implied several discontinuities from Antiquity and was not fully accomplished until the twelfth century. Placing the dead consecrated ground reverts to Ecclesia in all its forms: a spiritual society made up of the community of the faithful, but also an ensemble of stone buildings rooted in the ground -ground in which the bodies of the Christians are buried against the walls of churches. In the absence any scriptural or patristic authority medieval people mainly used juridical categories from Antiquity to justify the institution of the Christian cemetery Canonists and liturgists called the cemetery sacred place holy and religious according to tripartition defined by late Roman law (sacer/ sanctus/ religiosus). The notions of Roman law thus rediscovered by clerics were manipulated contorted in order to conform to the medieval realities to which they were basically alien.
26 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.