>Can anyone tell me of any evidence that women were
>responsible for preparing the dead for burial in medieval
>societies. It seems to be the case that women are the
>ones who lay out corpses in traditional Indian and Irish
>communities (or maybe I'm wrong about this) and I'd like to
>know if they did so in the middle ages, especially in Italy
>
>Laura
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Dear Laura.
I got few images of burials preparations by women, but they are from french
Books of Hours.
1. Office des Morts, Livre d'Heures, France, vc. 1450, ms w.249, f.119,
Baltimore, Walter Art Gallery. You cand see it in : Medieval Death, Ritual
and Representation, by Paul Binski, 1996.
2. Office des Morts, "La mise en biere", Livre d'Heures à l'usage de Paris,
c. 1430-50, ms latin 1558, Paris, B.N. You can see it in: A reveiller les
morts. La mort au quotidien dans l'Occident medieval. Danielle
Alexandre-Bidon et als. Lyon, P.U.L., 1993.
In other kind of representation, i.e. the dying beeing by to pass away, the
dying is surrounded by women waiting for... There's a good example of it
from the "Heures Noires" (Charles le Temeraire's Book of Hours), c. 1467.
Unfortunately, I've forget to indicate on my slide the source. But it's a
very well nown Book of Hours you should not get any problem to locate.
Bien a vous.
Claire
Claire Labrecque
Un.Laval, Quebec.
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