Religion in medieval London: the archaeology of belief

Abstract

• Religious belief was central to the lives – and deaths – of all medieval Londoners. Archaeology sheds light on many aspects of that belief: from organised religion, both Christianity and Judaism, to superstition or witchcraft; places of worship, from the smallest parish churches to the great cathedral of St Paul; tiny objects of personal devotion to entire monastic landscapes. Monasteries include communities cut off from the world, hospitals providing for London’s poor and the headquarters of military brotherhoods active in the Crusades. Cemetery excavations reveal how Londoners responded to mortality both individually and together in the face of catastrophes such as the Black Death, while the events of the Reformation dramatically transformed both institutions and beliefs. This fully illustrated book summarises the evidence of belief from archaeological excavations in and around the capital.