Ritual objects: placed deposits in medieval churches

This paper considers the evidence for placed deposits in later medieval Christian contexts, focusing particularly on parish and monastic churches. The aim is to consider placed deposits within the contextual framework of Christian ritual, to trace patterns in the types of object deposited in churches and to begin to establish frameworks of reference in which they may be understood. These practices are not recorded in medieval documents and have therefore fallen outside the orbit of historical scholarship on popular religion and magic.