what were the elizabethan views on death and suicide

the Elizabethan time suicide was considered the worst
crime that could possibly be committed. People`s lives revolved around God and they
believed that live was given by God and your life was set to follow a certain path. To
commit self-murder was believed to be the result of influence by the devil. Suicides,
were denied Christian burial and were buried at cross-roads with a stake through them to
prevent their ghost from haunting the living. Also, after a suicide a posthumous trial
would take place and if the person was judged to be sane when they committed their act
all their movable property and money would be seized by the crown. People who were
insane during these times were usually imprisoned, chained up and beaten and suicides
were damned by the church. When Elizabeth came to the throne the law was applied more
severely as England had not long changed to the Protestant Faith and there was a
struggle to force people to accept the new faith therefore protestant evangelists took
up suicide as a theme to convince people that self-murder was caused by the devil and
every christian should adopt the faith to be saved. Hope this
helps...