Regulating urban death in early modern German towns

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article argues that in the course of the early modern period, urban death was ordered in new ways. Since the mid-sixteenth century, clerics and church officials already kept lists of the deceased in their congregation. Gradually, these functions were taken over by urban magistrates, who also promoted a new kind of order during burials. Through the rise of additional instructions, rules and orders, they gave urban death a new shape. The reasons for these instructions were manifold and included fear of divine punishment because of inappropriate behaviour, damage to the town through the spread of diseases and the fortification of privileges reserved for mayors, councilors, or high-ranking clerics. As the early modern period progressed, the number and details of the funeral ordinances increased. Additionally, burial spaces became increasingly regulated and by the nineteenth century, decrees by both rulers and individual towns stipulated how cemeteries should be regulated and administered.