Time, death and burial in the ancien diocese of Le Mans

This chapter provides a survey of the role of time in the relevant historiography of death in early modern France, focusing on some of the contrasting times of normality and emergency, and of peace and war. It outlines the normal patterns and obligations of buriel, depending on the circumstances of death and social class. It then contrasts this with times of upheaval, such as war and plague. Finally, it asks how ideas of 'resting in peace', commemoration and exhumation depended on turning the clock back to create a fictional Catholic continuity and posthumous identity.