- My research into 18th century preservation practices led me to a favourite book that details these heart histories of the famous and infamous: historian Charles Bradford’s quirky tome, Heart Burial (1933).
- Amazingly sweeping and entertaining, the book narrates the heart journeys of many – primarily western – military, religious and political figures.
- One such figure, the diplomat Sir William Temple (1628-1699), is buried next to his wife in Westminster Abbey.
- The practice of preserving the heart – the ancient symbol of the soul and emotion – was not uncommon.
- But for people in the 18th century, as this case and others show, it also symbolised lovers being united in death.
Literary hearts
- Perhaps the most storied literary heart is that of poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).
- Italian law required the cremation of a drowning victim’s body, so Shelley’s corpse was laid upon a funeral pyre on the shores of the sea, with literary luminaries such as Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt in attendance.
- The Shelleys’ son, Sir Percy Florence, had his father’s heart encased in silver and placed on display at Boscombe Manor.
- Upon his death in 1889, the heart was laid to rest in the family vault at St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth.
Hungry hearts
- In May 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte’s corpse was autopsied over two days before it was to be transported from St Helena to France.
- Napoleon had requested his intestines be preserved and given to his son, and his heart be sent to his wife Empress Marie-Louise.
- When rumours circulated in January 1928 regarding the heart of renowned English novelist Thomas Hardy, many were in disbelief.
- Placing the dead cat with the remainder of the heart in a box, he left the Hardy residence, surrounded by mourners, and proceeded to St Michael’s where the contents were buried.
- Though Napoleon’s and Hardy’s storied hearts also serve as reminders, perhaps, that we shouldn’t take romantic traditions too seriously.
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Jolene Zigarovich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
