Ship of Fools: Have a Heart?

Thread: Have a Heart? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

Picking up from another thread, which cites the various burial locations of parts of Eleanor, Queen of Edward I of England:
I know that the bodies of Hapsburg monarchs were 'scattered' around Vienna -- heart one place, viscera another, body yet another. So I have these questions: a) was this common in other royal houses; b) was it confined to royalty; c) why was it done?

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

a) Yes
b) Mostly
c) Don't know

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

Didn't it used to be popular with poets and suchlike, too? I'm sure Keats, or Shelley, or somebody like that is currently in several places at once.

When I read about this, there was a scene from the movie Prick Up Your Ears came to mind. Grieving relatives are mixing the cremated ashes of Joe Orton and Keith Halliwell and the dialogue goes

quote:
"I think I'm putting more in of Joe than I am of Ken."
"It's a gesture, dear, not a recipe."

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :

Not merely human heroes, either, but some dead equines

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

A decent number of saints have been divided up in this way, so as more than one church could house their remains. St. Oswald of Northumbria has his head, trunk and arms in three different churches, for instace.

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

Robert the Bruce's heart was removed so that it could go on Crusade. His body was buried at Dunfermline, and his heart was buried at Melrose, on its return.

[ 25. March 2015, 20:57: Message edited by: North East Quine ]

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

It is not rare, and much less gruesome, in this day of cremation. You hear all the time of the ashes of the deceased divided among the children, for instance. Or for part of them to be scattered at one location, and the rest kept by the family. Essentially this allows the survivors to have their cake and eat it too, fulfilling the wishes of many people. And this is putting aside all the =really= creative stuff, like putting the ashes into a firework or using them in the manufacture of a man-made diamond.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

But it can lead to some NASTY discussions among the survivors. My father's second wife (who took very good care of him in his last days, I must say, which is truly the important thing), was charmed by the idea of turning him into a coral reef container. Something about mixing the ashes up into a concrete form. I think the diamond thing might have been mentioned as well.

We kids (and everybody else) were horrified, and I think the only reason it got nixed was because we paid for the cremation etc.

sheesh.

(This was the one who turned his funeral into a luau and we were all directed to show up in Hawaiian shirts etc. Also a bagpiper (we're what, 1/16 Scots, if anything?) the "American Indian Prayer," and throwing rose petals into the waves.

My siblings and I scandalized everybody by showing up in solemn black. Our godparents (black, from Mississippi, where they did things RIGHT) did too, and sat with us, which took the heat off us a bit, God bless 'em.

The ashes finally wound up in our custody and were buried in a beautiful place. No coral reefs, diamonds, or space shots.

[ 26. March 2015, 01:37: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

Oh, the survivors can (and do) fight about everything. The cremated remains are just another item on a long list.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

Brenda Clough, in a religion where so much to-do is made over incarnated spirit and enspirited bodies it ignores first principals to breezily mention one's bodily relic as just one more piece of personal property.

Lamb Chopped, it sounds as though the good-hearted second wive was the spaceshot.

[ 26. March 2015, 16:34: Message edited by: The Silent Acolyte ]

Posted by JoannaP (# 4493) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
It is not rare, and much less gruesome, in this day of cremation. You hear all the time of the ashes of the deceased divided among the children, for instance.

You may do; I never have. AFAIK, in this country ashes are usually scattered or interred; keeping them around in an urn is rare over here.

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