#medieval-france

#medieval-france

In medieval France, professional criers were paid to walk the streets, ringing bells and announcing deaths. Known as the "criers of the dead," they gave voice to mourning, turning grief into a public performance. In the Middle Ages, mourning was as much a public performance as a private feeling. Cries and wails, the social "staging" of grief, lay at the heart of funeral rituals, echoing ancient gestures of lamentation such as tearing one's hair, striking one's chest, or wringing one's hands.