Unveiling the Veiled: A Comparative Study of Merovingian and Anglo-Saxon Female Burial Practices

There have been many studies done on Medieval Europe and the Kingdoms and cultures that lived during this period. The Merovingians and the Anglo-Saxons are two of these groups that lived as neighbours in the same period. A lot of research has therefore been done on them. However, one element has been overlooked by both of them for many centuries: women. Women have been an overlooked part of history and society. Only in the last few decades did they get more attention. This thesis investigates the lives and deaths of women in the Merovingian and the early and middle Anglo-Saxon periods from an archaeological standpoint. It does this by looking at the different themes, such as burial practices, what their status was in society and the influence of Christianity. This thesis is a literary review that discusses two case studies; the Merovingian cemetery of Bergeijk-Fazantlaan and the Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Buckland, Dover. There are a lot of similarities between the two neighbouring...Show moreThere have been many studies done on Medieval Europe and the Kingdoms and cultures that lived during this period. The Merovingians and the Anglo-Saxons are two of these groups that lived as neighbours in the same period. A lot of research has therefore been done on them. However, one element has been overlooked by both of them for many centuries: women. Women have been an overlooked part of history and society. Only in the last few decades did they get more attention. This thesis investigates the lives and deaths of women in the Merovingian and the early and middle Anglo-Saxon periods from an archaeological standpoint. It does this by looking at the different themes, such as burial practices, what their status was in society and the influence of Christianity. This thesis is a literary review that discusses two case studies; the Merovingian cemetery of Bergeijk-Fazantlaan and the Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Buckland, Dover. There are a lot of similarities between the two neighbouring groups. A similarity is that both groups highly sexualised their women. Additionally, women did not have a lot of power and control in their lives. Their societal status depended on their fathers and husbands' status. There were still a few differences between the two groups. The Anglo-Saxons still used cremation burials, while the Merovingians discarded them. Another difference is the appearance of knives in the Anglo-Saxon female graves in the case study. These knives show a difference in how women were seen in society. Merovingian women were encouraged to be helpless and to never bear arms. The knives show that the Anglo-Saxon women were encouraged to protect themselves and to be slightly more powerful in life. This thesis showed, that even though the neighbouring cultures had a lot in common, they did have differences. One of the biggest differences between the two is the difference in scholars. This is why cross-culture analyses are important as they show new sides to old research and give people new ideas to test in their respective fields.Show less

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Unveiling the Veiled: A Comparative Study of Merovingian and Anglo-Saxon Female Burial Practices