Burial clubs were common among the Anglo-Saxons, and heavy fines were inflicted on those who did not attend the funeral of a member. The corpse was placed on a bier, and on the body was laid the book of the Gospels, a code of belief and a cross as a symbol of hope. A silken or linen pall was used, according to the rank of the dead person. The clergy bore lighted tapers and chanted the psalter, the mass was performed, and a liberal offering made to the poor. [Illustration: HIRED MOURNERS.] From a 9th century MS. in the National Library, Paris, is given a sketch which clearly defines the mourning habit of that period. The gown is evidently of black woollen cloth, trimmed with black and white fur; and a gauze veil of the same sombre tint envelops the head. From the same source a drawing of an Anglo-Saxon priest is given, on account of his wearing a black dalmatic, edged with fur, a vestment only adopted when a requiem mass was performed. [Illustration: MOURNING IN SACKCLOTH] [Illustration: WIDOW'S DRESS OF QUEEN KATHERINE DE VALOIS, IN THE YEAR 1422] In the Middle Ages black was used for mourning as a rule, though purple and brown were occasionally substituted. Chaucer, in "The Knight's Tale," speaks of "clothes _black_ all dropped with tears," and, again, of "widdowes habit of samite _brown_." In many cases, on the death of her husband, the wife retired for a year to a convent, when she assumed the nun's dress, of which the widow's weeds of the present day are a symbol. The mourning adopted by Katherine of Valois, wife of Henry V., the hero of Agincourt, who died at Vincennes in 1422, may be regarded as the typical widow's dress of that period. It consisted of a black brocade cote hardi, edged with white fur, and further embellished with black glass beads, which were also used for ornamenting the winged head dress. Her black woollen gown has a deep bordering of white fur. Some mourning habits of this period are represented in a splendid manuscript "Liber Regalis," still preserved in Westminster Abbey. They are composed of black fabrics in the prevailing fashion, and are furred with ermine. Froissart relates that the Earl of Foix, on hearing of the death of his son, Gaston, sent for his barber, and was close shaved, and clothed himself and his household in black. At the funeral of the Earl of Flanders, all the nobles and others present were attired in black gowns; and on the death of John, King of France, the King of Cyprus clothed himself in black mourning. [Illustration: COSTUMES WORN BY KING PHILIP II. OF SPAIN AND HIS ATTENDANTS AT THE FUNERAL PROCESSION OF HIS FATHER.]