Heart Burial in the Middle Ages

The separate burial of the heart and intestines was a hallmark of English and French aristocratic mortuary behavior from the 12th century onwards. In these cases, it would have been probably for mainly symbolic reasons rather than practical ones. By physically fragmenting corpses, high ranking individuals could express loyalty to more than one site and comply with a range of political, religious, and social demands. The English often quickly discarded the viscera close to the side of corpse treatment, whereas the French treated them with great respect.