This study considers how the treatment of death in related forms of material culture might have contributed to the definition of elite identity and the constitution of power structures throughout the changes which took place in England c. 1350-1700. The following discussion will also assess the nature of identity and how it is comprehended in past and contemporary theoretical discussion. The formation of medieval and early modern elite identities will be considered with reference to the funerary material culture of a single region, Gloucestershire, focusing intensively upon the...