In this chapter and the next, I shall explore the ways in which the noble body was perceived both in death and in funerary practices. Firstly, I will look at where and how aristocrats were buried and how they were represented after death. Secondly, I shall examine in greater detail the practices surrounding the dead aristocratic body, in particular the role of embalming and multiple burial.

Funerary practices such as multiple burial should be seen in a wider context of aristocratic presence in a local setting and the role of religious houses in maintaining the image of nobility and status upon which a successful local lord was dependent. Perceived in real and metaphorical terms as superior to the people he lorded over, the aristocrat was reliant on presenting himself as noble towards his tenants, peers and ecclesiastics, all of whom were part of an intricate status- and honour-related network of socio-economic relationships, which in general excluded the peasantry; in other words, one only had to be noble towards one's peers and superiors. As the Limousin troubadour Bertran de Born reminded his aristocratic audience: it will not do to rule by fear and extortion, but rather nobility should be used to attain one's goal. Although it may in reality not always be the case that lords acted nobly towards each other or towards their inferiors, the idea was certainly present in the aristocratic mentality.