HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-01-30T15:30:03.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Medieval vampire slayers: why did our ancestors dig up and dismember the dead?
items: Alice Roberts: “Christianity didn’t invent itself as an empire from nothing: it adapted existing Roman structures”
items: Why we should be better about talking about death, with Dr Helen Gittos
items: Egypt’s lost tombs
items: Seeking eternity: 5,000 years of ancient Egyptian burial
items: Five places Richard III may have wanted to be buried (and none of them are Leicester)
items: Richard III reburial special
items: Victorian burials and the history of psychology

Medieval vampire slayers: why did our ancestors dig up and dismember the dead?
type: item
date: 2026-01-30T15:30:00.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Burial
subject: Death
subject: Medieval life
description: At the turn of the 12th century, two men from a Staffordshire village died suddenly. A few days after they were solemnly laid to rest, they were spotted walking around the village, with their coffins on their backs. John Blair investigates the medieval terror of the living dead
encoded: In the last decades of the 12th century, the townsfolk of Annan in the Scottish borders were terrified by a sinister nocturnal revenant that stalked the dark byways. “Each night his corpse, driven by Satan, left his grave and wandered through the streets” accompanied by howling dogs and spreading sickness and death, according to the contemporary chronicler William of Newburgh. Desperate to put an end to the unholy scourge, two brothers whose father had been carried off by the plague opened the grave and “exposed the corpse, which was distended to a huge corpulence, with a swollen, livid face. It was observed that the shroud, which had been wound around it, was completely shredded up. Too angry to be frightened, the young men struck a blow at the lifeless corpse, whereupon such a flow of blood gushed out that they understood it to be a sucker of many people’s blood. Dragging it out of the town, they quickly built a pyre.” Recalling the accepted wisdom that such a being would burn only after they’d cut out its heart, the brothers took their shovels and hacked out the organ – after which the cadaver was immolated. The curse was finally over. Walking corpses To modern ears, this story stretches credulity far beyond breaking point. Not so to William of Newburgh: he recorded another three such tales, and hinted at many more. There are “numerous modern cases and abundant reports”, he wrote, but “it would be just too laborious and burdensome to write down all episodes of this kind that I have heard to have happened in our own times”. Yet though walking corpses were boringly commonplace in the 1190s, they had almost vanished from the English scene only a few decades later. Apparently they retreated northwards, leaving only occasional traces south of the border with Scotland. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/01/W45702webready-05b1689-e1769699879666.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="An illustration shows two people standing over a cu…

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Alice Roberts: “Christianity didn’t invent itself as an empire from nothing: it adapted existing Roman structures”
type: item
date: 2025-09-15T08:00:29.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Burial
subject: Roman rulers
description: Alice Roberts speaks to Danny Bird about the evolution of the new religion that swept across the Roman empire and beyond
encoded: Danny Bird: What made you decide to write about the collapse of the western Roman empire and the rise of Christianity? Alice Roberts: I’ve long been fascinated by this historical period, especially in Britain, where written records are scarce. This book grew from my interest in burial archaeology, shaped by excavations I took part in 20 years ago on a Welsh cliff. Bones were eroding from the cliff face, and we uncovered cist graves – stone-lined, coffin-like structures – some dating from as early as the fifth century. One grave even had a stone lid carved with a simple cross. These early Christian burials sparked my curiosity. More recently, I visited an excavation at Llantwit Major, where archaeologists are investigating what may be Britain’s earliest monastery, possibly dating to the fifth century. This raised further questions: why was Christianity spreading so early? And who was behind it? Rather than relying on broad generalisations, my book focuses on individuals: the people who carried Christianity across regions, and their motives. A story that began with burials in Wales led me across the Roman world from Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) to Alexandria, aiming to find out how Christianity spread so widely, and what that reveals about the fall of the western Roman empire. Christianity presents itself as a faith for the powerless, but your book suggests that it was adopted by urban elites in its early centuries. How does this challenge the mythology surrounding its origins? It stands in stark contrast, really. It’s a tricky point, because those writing about Christianity were necessarily literate members of the elite. So, from the outset, we’re seeing a movement that appears to have spread among relatively well-off individuals. By the fourth century, it had clearly reached the highest echelons of Roman society. Emperor Constantine had begun to take notice, convening a council of bishops in AD 325. But even in the earliest years, this was a movement involving…

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Why we should be better about talking about death, with Dr Helen Gittos
type: item
date: 2025-09-05T08:00:56.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Burial
subject: Death
description: For our ancestors, death was part of daily life. We can learn from their open conversations about this taboo topic, says Dr Helen Gittos, and create modern rituals to help us cope
encoded: We don’t know how to talk about death. It’s a modern taboo. Search the topic online and you’ll quickly find people who deal in end-of-life matters arguing that we need more transparent, more honest conversations about an event that is, after all, going to come to us all. Charities like Hospice UK definitely want us to be better about talking about it. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, it’s only really in the 20th century that we’ve actively disassociated ourselves from death. The process has been institutionalised and medicalised. The palliative care physician and author Kathryn Mannix wrote about it in a Guardian article a few years ago. In the 19th century, according to the historian Judith Flanders, discussing Victorian death and mourning on a recent episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, “ it was part of daily life. It wasn’t tucked away neatly in hospitals where you go in and visit for an hour, but you don’t see all the day-to-day stuff, you don’t see people die”. She continues: “Many people go happily through their whole lives without ever seeing a dead person, which is simply not possible in the 19th century. Then, hospitals were very limited in the kind of diseases or illnesses they cared for. They were very specifically for certain things only. If you could afford it, you were looked after at home. Hospitals were a place of last resort for people who were too poor, too desperate, so everybody saw death.” <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/09/GettyImages-464472069-ccb7e8d.jpg" width="5204" height="3383" alt="A bracelet with two gold edged picture frames on it. In each, there is a photo of a girl with brown ringlets and wearing a purple dress" title="This Victorian bracelet has a band of woven hair and may have been a piece of mourning jewellery, which was in fashion during that era (Image by Getty Images)" /> Past and present rituals I went to a funeral the other day. It was of a dear friend who had died far too young, …

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Egypt’s lost tombs
type: item
date: 2019-01-03T16:59:42.000Z
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Burial
subject: Death
description: Chris Naunton on the search for the resting places of famous Egyptians such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra
encoded: Egyptologist, author and broadcaster Chris Naunton talks about the search for the resting places of famous Egyptians such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra.

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Seeking eternity: 5,000 years of ancient Egyptian burial
type: item
date: 2017-01-27T12:14:59.000Z
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Burial
subject: Death
description: While the ancient Egyptians' hope for eternal life remained constant, their burial practices were ever-changing. Dr Margaret Maitland, senior curator at National Museums Scotland, charts the remarkable changes in Egyptian tombs and the extraordinary objects that filled them…
encoded: Evidence of ancient Egyptian belief in life after death emerged as early as c4500 BC. Over the following millennia, the Egyptians’ preparations for eternal life changed significantly, with different styles of tombs, evolving mummification practices, and a wide variety of funerary objects. Egypt’s dry climate, secure geographic position, and wealth of resources means that we have been left with an abundance of evidence about burial practices. In the early 19th century, Europe’s race to uncover ancient Egyptian mummies and treasures amounted to little better than tomb looting. However, recently the archaeological recording of burials and a systematic approach to their study have made it possible to make sense of Egypt’s changing funerary traditions. An upcoming exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, The Tomb: Ancient Egyptian Burial, charts the development of burial in ancient Egypt, and examines one of the first tombs to be excavated and recorded in detail: a tomb that was used and reused for more than 1,000 years. An eternal holiday The ancient Egyptians saw the afterlife as a potential extension of their lives on earth – but an idealised version, almost an eternal holiday. Preparations for the afterlife are first evidenced in prehistoric Egypt (c4500–3100 BC) by the placement in burials of pots containing food and drink for the deceased. Through this period an increasing number of provisions were placed alongside the dead, such as stone or pottery vessels, eye makeup palettes, flint tools, and beads. In this early period, the dead were buried in pits, usually laid facing west, towards the setting sun. Throughout ancient Egyptian civilisation, the sun held particular importance. To reach the afterlife, the Egyptians hoped to join the sun god, who set every evening and was reborn at dawn each morning on his eternal journey. The pyramids built to house the tombs of Egyptian kings evoke the descending rays of the sun – a stairway to heaven – and were often give…

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Five places Richard III may have wanted to be buried (and none of them are Leicester)
type: item
date: 2015-03-24T06:00:37.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: Burial
subject: Medieval kings and queens
subject: Where history happened
description: Richard III may have wished to be buried in Middleham, Northamptonshire, London, York or County Durham, leading historian Michael Hicks has said. This article was first published in May 2014
encoded: Speaking exclusively to History Extra, Hicks said that at one time or another, the last Plantagenet king envisaged being buried at at least five different locations. Hicks, who is head of history at the University of Winchester, said: “Death was ever-present in the Middle Ages, and people prepared for it at much younger ages than they do today. “Determining what happened to their possessions was a factor, but it was more important to ensure salvation and to mitigate sufferings in purgatory after death. “Richard III died at the age of 32. He drafted wills – none of which now survive – and planned his death on several occasions. Each will would have succeeded the previous one. “Richard died a traitor, with all his possessions seized by the crown. He died intestate [as though without making a formal will]; therefore we do not know for sure where he wanted to be buried. But I believe there are a number of possible places.” The result of a judicial review over where the remains of Richard III should be buried is expected this month. The judicial review will examine the justice secretary’s decision to authorise the exhumation and reinterment of the monarch’s remains in Leicester. It has been brought by a group of Richard III’s distant relatives, the Plantagenet Alliance Limited, who are campaigning to see the former king reburied in York. Here, Hicks explores five sites Richard may have wished to have been buried: Fotheringhay College Where? The mausoleum of the House of York, Northamptonshire Why? Richard was born at Fotheringhay, and I think the presumption must have once been that he would be buried at the family mausoleum at Fotheringhay College. It was founded by the Dukes of York, and contains memorials to many of the members of the House of York. There, in 1476, Richard presided as chief mourner at the reburial of his father, Richard Duke of York, and elder brother, Edmund Earl of Rutland, both slain by the Lancastrians in 1460 at the battle of Wakefield. [They wer…

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Richard III reburial special
type: item
date: 2015-03-19T12:36:54.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Burial
subject: Medieval kings and queens
description: With just a few days to go until the Plantagenet king is reburied, we speak to Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society, and historian Alexandra Buckle about this momentous event
encoded: With just a few days to go until the reburial of the last Plantagenet king in Leicester Cathedral, we speak to two experts with close connections to the event. Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society, considers the ways that the recent discoveries have changed our view of the king. Meanwhile, Alexandra Buckle of Oxford University, explains how her research will inform the reinterment ceremony.

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Victorian burials and the history of psychology
type: item
date: 2014-05-01T12:00:47.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Burial
subject: Death
subject: Psychology
description: Ruth Levitt explains how Britain struggled to bury its dead during the 19th century, while Martin Sixsmith gives us the lowdown on his new Radio 4 series
encoded: Ruth Levitt describes how London's cemeteries couldn't cope with the rising number of dead in the 19th century and reveals the solutions the Victorians devised for this problem. Meanwhile, we speak to Martin Sixsmith, presenter of the Radio 4 series In Search of Ourselves, about the history of psychology.

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