Ancient Funerall Monuments – John Weever – 1631 | First Edition, English Burial Laws

Ancient Funerall Monuments within the United Monarchie of Great Britaine, Ireland, and the Ilands Adiacent by John Weever was first printed in London in 1631. Weever, known for his early antiquarian efforts, compiled this volume to record the epitaphs and monuments found across Great Britain and Ireland. It covers a variety of topics including practices surrounding funerals, such as lavish spending, co-burials, and the embalming of bodies. Weever also describes punishments for desecrating tombs and the destruction of religious monuments during and after the English Reformation.

While most of the work focuses on funeral events, it includes a curious section on Henry VIII’s role in ending papal authority in England.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Ancient Funerall Monuments within the United Monarchie of Great Britaine, Ireland, and the Ilands Adiacent, with the Dissolued Monasteries Therein Contained
• Author(s): John Weever
• Publisher: London, Printed by Thomas Harper to be sold by Laurence Sadler
• Edition: First Edition. 1631.
• Format: (4to), single volume
• Binding: Full leather
• Size:  11 in x 8 in (27.9 cm x 20.3 cm)
• Collation: [16], 871, [15]
• Illustrations: 11 woodcut engravings + frontis and engraved title page
  • Wanting 5 full-page engravings
• Contents Include:
  • Funeral expenses in early England
  • Burial practices involving multiple individuals in single tombs
  • Regulations on corpse preservation
  • Laws punishing the violation of burial sites
  • Accounts of damage to royal graves
  • Papal authority nullification under Henry VIII
• Provenance: bookplate – Matthen:Wise Esqr.; ephemeral biography of Weever

Condition:

Very Good. Bound in full leather with hinges intact and a secure text block. The preliminaries show moderate water staining. Edges and corners are worn with age but remain stable.

Why Collect This?

• Printed in 1631, first and only edition
• Document of post-Reformation burial practices
• Reports on tombs of English monarchs
• Includes commentary on England’s religious shift under Henry VIII

Item Number: # 29498