Death and burial in late medieval women’s houses

Abstract

ABSTRACT The approaching death of a member of a women’s monastic community set a series of rituals in motion. These rituals accompanied the sister from the end of her life through her death and finally to her interment. These began with the community gathering for the last moments of the sister’s life, through the preparation of the body for burial, the procession to the church and rituals there. They end with the burial of the sister and a procession by the community back to their church. How the rituals were performed – and who performed them, whether the sisters themselves or a priest – varied based on the order to which the house belonged. Further shape of these rituals and the texts that they used reflect an order’s understanding of death. This paper considers the rituals for the dying and the dead described in books belonging to two medieval women’s communities.