() or less commonly () was a postmortem funerary custom used in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

as a means of transporting, and solemnly disposing of, the bodies of high-status individuals. Nobles would often undergo Mos Teutonicus if their burial plots were located far away from their place of death. The process involved the removal of the flesh from the body, so that the bones of the deceased could be transported hygienically from distant lands back home.

Background

During the Middle Ages, nobles sometimes died far away from where they wished to be buried. They often wanted their hearts to be buried in their homeland, thus their bodies had to travel far distances. Emperor

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

outlawed

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

, deeming destruction of the bones as destruction of the soul. Anyone who cremated a person's bones was subject to the death penalty. Thus, the practice of Mos Teutonicus came about as a way to preserve the bones over long distances without destroying them. Mos Teutonicus has been observed as early as the 10th century. Notable examples were multiple rulers from the Ottonian and Salian dynasties in which the rulers were transported to burial locations far from their place of death. During the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

for the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

it was not thought fit for

aristocrats Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

to be buried away from their homeland in

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

territory. The transportation of the whole body over long distances was impractical and unhygienic due to decomposition. Mos Teutonicus was especially prevalent in warmer climates, such as around the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, since the body was subject to faster decay. German aristocrats were particularly concerned that burial should not take place in the Holy Land, but rather on home soil. The Florentine chronicler Boncompagno was the first to connect the procedure specifically with German aristocrats, and coins the phrase , meaning 'the Germanic custom'. English and French aristocrats generally preferred

embalming Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them with embalming chemicals in modern times to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or ...

to , involving the burial of the entrails and

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

in a separate location from the corpse. One of the advantages of was that it was relatively economical in comparison with embalming, and more hygienic. Corpse preservation was very popular in medieval society. The decaying body was seen as representative of something sinful and evil. Embalming and , along with tomb effigies, were methods of giving the corpse an illusion of stasis and removed the uneasy image of putrefaction and decay. In 1270, the body of King Louis IX, who died in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, which was Muslim territory, was subject to the process of for its transportation back to France.

Process

The process of ''Mos Teutonicus'' began with the

cadaver A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a Death, dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue (biology), tissue to ...

being

dismembered Dismemberment is the act of completely disconnecting and/or removing the limbs, skin, and/or organs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with regicid ...

to facilitate the next stage in the process, in which the body parts were boiled in water, wine, milk, or

vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

for several hours. The boiling had the effect of separating the flesh from the

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

. The heart and intestines needed to be removed in order to allow for proper transfer of the bones. Any residual was scraped from the bones, leaving a completely clean

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

. Both the flesh and internal organs could be buried immediately, or preserved with salt in the same manner as animal meat. The bones could then be sprinkled with perfumes or fragrances. The bones and any preserved flesh, would then be transported back to the deceased's homeland for ceremonial interment. Medieval society generally regarded entrails as ignoble and there was no great solemnity attached to their disposal, especially among German aristocrats.

Prohibition

Although the Church had a high regard for the practice,

Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII (; born Benedetto Caetani; – 11 October 1303) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of baronial origin with connections t ...

was known to have an especial repugnance of ''Mos Teutonicus'' because of his ideal of bodily integrity. In his bull of 1299, '' De Sepulturis'', Boniface forbade the practice. The

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

issued which banned this practice was often misinterpreted as prohibition against human dissection. This may have hindered anatomical research, if anatomists feared repercussions and punishment as a result of medical autopsies, but ''De Sepulturis'' only prohibited the act of ''Mos Teutonicus,'' not dissection in general (medieval physicians were known to have widely practiced dissection and

autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...

, though most had an assistant perform the actual incisions and manipulations of cadavers). The practice of Mos Teutonicus eventually stopped in the 15th century.

Background

Process

Prohibition

See also

Notes

References

Further reading