Remembering the Dead: Postmortem Guild Membership in Late Medieval England

Harkes, Rachael

Abstract

As in many areas of pre-Reformation devotion, the dead were a conspicuous presence in English religious guilds of all sizes. Members joined in the expectation that the guild would say prayers and perform masses for their souls after death, and previous members and benefactors would be commemorated with regularity. This article, however, investigates a new avenue of the fraternal relationship with the dead: the practice of enrolling people after their death. Doing so shifts the paradigm of our understanding of the multi-dimensional functions of pre-Reformation society, commemoration, and guilds, privileging the experiences of the dead and living equally while highlighting the interplay of the spiritual and socio-economic. Taking the extensive membership records of England’s ‘great’ guilds as its basis, it is revealed that post-mortem enrolment was a practice both common and widespread, and questions of practicalities and motivations are addressed. As such, the richness of commemoration in late medieval society is demonstrated, and the importance of post-mortem membership brought to the fore.

Citation

Harkes, R. (2024). Remembering the Dead: Postmortem Guild Membership in Late Medieval England. Journal of British Studies, 63(2), 323–348. https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2023.109

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 26, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 28, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 28, 2023
• Journal: Journal of British Studies
• Print ISSN: 0021-9371
• Electronic ISSN: 1545-6986
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 63
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 323–348
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2023.109
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1708200