Samenvatting

From October 1980 until May 1981, the Heritage Department of the municipality of Utrecht excavated 173 burials and 40 charnel pits at the former St. Jobsgasthuis. The focus of this thesis is on the skeletal research of the buried individuals in the chapel of the St. Jobsgasthuis. The individuals buried in the chapel were also analyzed by a fellow student, Gendra Laclé. The graves further away from the altar and choir were analyzed by me and are named the ‘chapel graves’, the graves around the altar and choir were analyzed by Gendra Laclé and are named the ‘choir graves’. The purpose of this research is to answer the question: “Based on historical and osteoarchaeological data, what can be told about the analyzed individuals buried in the chapel of the former St. Jobsgasthuis?.”
 
This gasthuis was founded in 1504 and managed by Willem and his brother, and was the first hospital in the Netherlands dedicated to the treatment of syphilis. In addition to syphilis, individuals with other diseases and illnesses were admitted to the St. Jobsgasthuis. In 1530, the gasthuis and chapel were destroyed as a result of Charles the Fifth’s war, but the gasthuis was rebuilt soon after. The gasthuis housed both young and old patients and had a capacity of eighteen beds in 1538. The threat of syphilis began to fade in 1649, and the St. Jobsgasthuis was no longer required to accept and treat syphilis-infected patients. The gasthuis was then converted into an old men’s home, which housed elderly men in need. Next to being converted into an old men’s home, the gasthuis was also used as a residential complex from 1600 to 1771. At St. Jobsgasthuis, residents paid for their room and board for the rest of their lives. From 1789 to 1806 the gasthuis also cared for wounded soldiers. The wounded soldiers probably fought in the First Coalition War (1792-1797). By Royal Decree of 1817, the St. Jobsgasthuis was united with other Utrecht’s Gods en Gasthuizen and brought under one administration. In 1818 the gasthuis was sold for 2,425 guilders and then demolished.
 
Patients who died in the gasthuis at the beginning of the 16th century were buried in the chapel of the St. Jobsgasthuis. Given the proximity, it is plausible that the deceased patients were buried in the chapel in the early years. In 1637, however, the vast majority of the cemetery in the chapel is said to have been used by private individuals and not the patients of the hospital. Funeral registers, from the 17th to 19th century, were used to get more information about the people that were buried in the chapel. Looking at the funeral registries married couples and family members were buried in the chapel. The dating of the skeletal remains within the chapel is speculated to be from the middle of the 18th to early 19th century, considering the chapel was continuously raised and cleared to make room for more burials.
 
The burial rituals will be explained in a general sense of Christianity, as the St. Jobsgasthuis was named after St. Job, a Patriarch whose faith was tested by God, and therefore likely to have practiced Catholicism, but the majority of the individuals buried in the chapel were Dutch-reformed, according to the funerary registries. Christian burial traditions have a lot of specifics. It includes traditions such as the last sacrament and the kissing of the cross. When the dead were laid out, shrouds were put on and eyes and mouth were closed. Pins that held together the shrouds can be found during an archaeological excavation, if they are preserved well. Buttons were not allowed to close this shirt as they would hold the soul, for this reason they