Heart-burial

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heart-burial is a type of burial in which the heart is interred apart from the body. This is a very ancient practice, and the special reverence shown towards the heart is doubtless due to its early association with the soul, affections, courage and conscience of man.

In medieval Europe heart-burial was fairly common. Some of the more notable cases of this include:

Richard I, whose heart, preserved in a casket, was placed in the Cathedral in Rouen, Normandy;
Henry I, whose body was buried in Reading Abbey, but his heart, along with his bowels, brains, eyes & tongue, is interred at the Cathedral in Rouen, Normandy;
Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Edward I, whose body is interred in Westminster Abbey, but heart and other viscera are in the Lincoln Cathedral;
Robert the Bruce, whose body lies in Dunfermline Abbey, but heart is at Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire. He wished his heart to rest at Jerusalem in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and on his deathbed entrusted the fulfilment of his wish to Sir James Douglas. The latter broke his journey to join the Spaniards in their war with the Moorish kings of Granada, and was killed in battle. He had kept the heart of Bruce enclosed in a silver casket hanging round his neck. The heart was subsequently recovered and buried in the Abbey.

Burial site of Thomas Hardy's heart

A more modern example is that of Thomas Hardy whose ashes were interred in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey whilst his heart was buried in his beloved Wessex alongside his first wife. A recent biography of Hardy details the arguments over the decision, and addresses the long-standing rumour that the heart was stolen by a pet cat so that a pig's heart had to be used as a replacement.[1]

Another is John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, scholar, art patron and Catholic convert, whose heart was buried in 1900 on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.