There might be early versions of the Manual of services outaide the mass. Late but informative on washing corpses is:
Manuale et
processionale ad usum insignis ecclesiae Eboracensis
(Durham: Surtees Society, 1875), pp. 52*-58*.
Tom Izbicki
I'm looking at some Old Norwegian legal texts pertaining to the church, and am wondering where I can find good information about burial rituals in the 11th-13th centuries. After listing the prices for burial of persons
of various status, and extra payment if the priest watches by the body at night, my text specifies that the priest is obliged to sing the service for three (presumably 'only three' is meant) corpses, and goes on to say that he is obligated to consecrate three
'baths' - presumably the water for washing the corpse. I was unaware that water needed to be consecrated for this purpose, and would have thought that this would have been done before the corpse was brought to church, but obviously I need to find out more
about the details of the ritual!
Meg