Onely baits for sacrilege : good deaths and worthy remembrances in Gloucestershire, c.1350-1700

This thesis considers the definition of elite identity and its relationship to the constitution of power structures through the manipulation of material culture. The following discussion will assess the nature of identity and how it is comprehended within contemporary archaeological theory. Thereafter the formation of medieval and early modem elite identities will be considered with reference to the manipulation of ideals of piety through the funerary material culture of Gloucestershire c.1350-1700. This study will consider how monuments that proposed a link between worldly wealth and divine favour might articulate elite selves in relation to each other and in opposition to those unaccustomed or unable to erect a monument to themselves or their kin. Funerary evidence will be analysed alongside the ideal of dying well as presented in the Ars Moriendi texts. It will be found that the ideological potential of 'dying well' was exploited to its fullest potential during the period under study. The idealised pious death provided the affluent with a focus for competition, the significance of which can only be fully comprehended if the texts are analysed alongside other forms of material culture.