The Dead and the Living in Paris and London, 1500-1670

Vanessa Harding is Senior Lecturer in London History at Birkbeck, London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Note on spelling, sums of money, etc.; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. London and Paris, the setting of life and death; 3. 'Lamentable pinfoulds of the deaths of men': parish churchyards and churchyard burial; 4. Innocents and outcasts: civic and non-parochial churchyards; 5. 'Making churches charnel houses': the constraints of church burial; 6. 'A fine and private place': burial chapels, vaults and tombs; 7. 'Meet and convenient for my estate and degree': funeral conventions and choices; 8. 'The whole profit of the funeralls': commercialisation and consumption; 9. 'The last love and ceremony': funerals, community and civic identity; 10. Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

"This is undoubtedly a major scholarly contribution to the literature and research on death in the early modern period, underscored by the impressive seven pages of archival sources listed in the bibliography. Harding has provided a monograph which is both detailed and thorough, but also fascinating and highly readable." Sixteenth Century Journal