As a "rite de passage" (Arnold van Gennep), burial was a central event in the social life of early medieval Bavaria and was conducted within ritualised forms. However, the political plurality and administrative openness of the post-antique world resulted in considerable regional diversity. This can be reconstructed only in fragments from written sources, while other, sometimes divergent, aspects are visible solely in the archaeological evidence. In burial culture during this period, the ancient traditions that had developed both within and beyond the Roman Empire were continued and brought together. This gave rise to the characteristic features of the burial rituals of the Latin-Catholic rite, making the early Middle Ages a decisive phase in the history of European sepulchral culture. With the establishment of cemeteries within settlements, the dead were symbolically and physically integrated into the world of the living. As a result, by the High Middle Ages the closest proximity between the living and the dead in European history had emerged. In many respects, developments in the Duchy of Bavaria and in the southern German–Austrian region reflect the broader European transformations in burial customs during the first half of the Middle Ages. These were marked above all by the gradual establishment of the churchyard, the abandonment of the earlier practice of rich grave furnishings at the beginning of the early Middle Ages and the emergence of symbolic grave offerings among the upper social classes from the eleventh century onwards.
Concepts: ritual and burial
When the focus is placed on burial rituals, understood as the actions performed by early medieval communities in connection with the interment of their dead, the historical and archaeological sources present a complex picture. This is due in large part to the imprecision of the terminology. It is neither fully clear what should be regarded as a ritual, nor can burial itself be defined or delimited with precision. In the Middle Ages, for example, care for the dying already played a central role in preparing for the period that followed death. In the Christian context, the washing and preparation of the deceased was followed by a Mass for the dead, as already attested in Freising in 776 (Trad. Freising 72a), before the actual interment took place. This was not the final act of burial. In the early Middle Ages, it often included the later removal of grave goods and from the High Middle Ages it could also involve exhumation. In the case of individuals venerated as saints, such exhumations might occur decades or even centuries after death. When the grave of St Walburga in Eichstätt was opened at the end of the ninth century, drops were discovered on her bones for the first time, although she had died a hundred years earlier. These were subsequently collected as the oil of St Walburga. At times, grave goods in the sense of grave markers were also added at a later date. One example is the lead tablet that Abbot Gerhard of Seeon placed beside the bones of Abbess Irmengard, who had died in the Carolingian period, in the monastery of Frauenchiemsee at the beginning of the eleventh century. If we understand rituals (according to Gerd Althoff) as a sequence of actions that were carried out in the same or a similar way under certain circumstances, then these acts of exhumation and grave opening can also be understood as an integral part of early medieval burial rituals. Such a long period of dealing with the physical remains of the dead, spanning generations, is not at all unusual in a cross-cultural comparison.
From cremation to burial
Already in the course of Late Antiquity, cremation was gradually abandoned in favour of burial in the various regions of the Roman Empire. The expectation of Christ’s imminent return, which for early Christians made the burial of the body seem appropriate for the resurrection, is not the sole explanation for this development. More recent archaeological discussion has emphasised that Christian and pagan burial rituals cannot be clearly separated from one another and that in practice the religious boundaries involved in burial were highly fluid. With the sole exception of Charlemagne’s Saxon Laws (reg. 765–814, from 800 emperor) with their ban on cremation, which applied only to the subjugated Saxons and was intended to secure their (outwardly visible) christianisation, there was no prohibition of cremation. Although cremation was regarded as a stigma, it had not been considered a theological obstacle to the bodily resurrection of a Christian since Augustine (354–450), and there were well-known examples of prominent saints such as Afra of Augsburg who, according to her vita, had been punished by being burned. In fact, in the Middle Ages it appears to have been social practice alone that was sufficient to bring about the general adoption of bodily burial, since there are no canonical regulations that prohibit cremation. From the end of Antiquity onwards, burial predominantly took the form of ground or earth burial in a cemetery. The customary eastward orientation of the Christian dead has neither been fully explained in its original meaning nor consistently observed, nor was it used exclusively by Christians. Nevertheless, by the High Middle Ages it had become part of the liturgical guidelines for Christian burial.
Grave goods
The Christian influence is more apparent in the practice of accompanying grave goods than in the case of burial in the earth. Although archaeological evidence shows that the Merovingian elite did not entirely abandon the custom of placing goods in graves, the written sources convey a hagiographical ideal of a simple burial. The Vita Gertrudis, which recounts the life of Gertrud, the daughter of the mayor of the palace Pippin I (615/25–640) and herself deceased in 659, reports that the saint asked for nothing more than a shroud and a veil for her burial: “She also said that superfluous things could benefit neither the dead nor the living, as the sages likewise affirm.” In a letter written a century later, Alcuin admonished the Anglo-Saxon queen of Northumbria to direct her life towards spiritual profit, as earthly pleasures would in the end merely decay in the ground. The hagiographical model of a burial without grave goods was therefore recommended for imitation by laypeople in the early Middle Ages. The material expenditure associated with burial rites was now intended to benefit a church institution in return for its prayers (memoria), and the written sources emphasise above all the gesture of humility expressed through such a practice. This is only plausible if, in practice, the norm was not consistently observed. In reality, burial in clothing appropriate to one’s rank remained common among the secular elite and especially among secular clergy. Thus the Vita Bernwardi of Hildesheim, written in the early 11th century, could still praise the bishop for having taken monastic vows on his deathbed and for humbly forgoing the precious cloth normally laid on the bier. In the course of the 11th century, however, grave goods reappeared on a larger scale. Funerary regalia were produced for the Salian burial places in Speyer and bishops were typically interred in full vestments. The items placed in the grave were, however, symbolic insignia of office and were usually of little material value or comprised older pieces.
Concepts of the afterlife
The foundations of early medieval ideas about the dead had already been laid in patristic literature. According to these writings, the bodies of Christians would be reunited with their souls at the resurrection on the Last Day (Tertullian, Augustine); the human being was therefore understood as a psychosomatic unity that could not be dissolved, even by death. Conversely, this gave rise to the early Christians’ preference for burial of the body; yet Augustine was already at pains to stress that the physical fate of the corpse could in no way hinder the resurrection. At the same time, he emphasised the importance of caring for the dead, an attitude reflected in careful burial and in the remembrance of the departed. According to Augustine, their souls fell into four groups, with the “valde boni” already in heaven and the “valde mali” awaiting the Last Judgement in hell. The “non valde boni” and the “non valde mali” were understood to be in an intermediate state of purification. Already in the early Middle Ages, this notion took shape as a place where souls were cleansed by fire and torment; only towards the end of the early Middle Ages were the two groups finally brought together and the concept of purgatory fully developed. Although this long process was not completed until the 12th century, the underlying ideas had already taken form in the early Middle Ages. The rituals surrounding the dead were directed towards their remembrance until the soul, still in a state of purification, was received into heaven. This concern for “memoria” developed particularly within the monasteries of the early Middle Ages. On the one hand, they sought to form a community dedicated to the sanctification of their members, reflected in the institutionalised intercession offered for deceased brethren. To this end, lists of their names were kept, which were also exchanged between monasteries. Necrologies and confraternity books were therefore introduced in the context of the Christian mission carried out by monks in the Carolingian period. An insular manuscript containing a calendar fragment from the second quarter of the 8th century, probably used in a Bavarian monastery (Ilmmünster or Tegernsee), counts among the earliest necrologies. A prominent example of this genre is the Carolingian “Liber vitae” of St Peter’s in Salzburg. Epigraphic evidence for this practice can also be identified, such as the altar slab from Reichenau Abbey. Because of their strict way of life, monks learned in the Scriptures were regarded by the laity as ideal intercessors before God; generous donations to monasteries were thus reciprocated through commemorative prayer. With the introduction of the Feast of All Souls under Abbot Odilo of Cluny at the beginning of the 11th century, the practice of “memoria” for the laity was established on an even broader scale by this monastic network towards the end of the period under consideration.
The churchyard and the bond between the living and the dead
According to early concepts of the afterlife, it was assumed that the living and the dead were mutually dependent on one another’s intercession before God: the saint prayed for the living, and the living for the dead who had not yet ascended to God. This bond was also expressed in the physical location of burial. In 386, Ambrose of Milan translated the bones of Saints Gervasius and Protasius; their burial beneath the altar of the church of San Ambrogio established the link between altar and saint’s tomb that was already regarded as normative in the early Middle Ages: “The victorious victims should be placed in the spot where Christ is the sacrifice. He who suffered for all is on the altar and they are beneath the altar because they have been redeemed through his suffering.” Augustine, Ambrose and his biographer Paulinus viewed this connection positively, despite imperial legislation to the contrary, which led to burials in and around the church, for Christians wished to be buried “ad sanctos”.
The effort to include the dead within the community of the living, which stood in complete contrast to ancient burial practices, also played a role in christianisation. Churches were erected on the sites of older row-grave cemeteries (for example Munich, district of Aubing; Kelheim, district of Staubing), a phenomenon particularly common in the Bavarian region and one that may indicate a stronger continuity of cult sites than in the Alemannic area, although comparable cases such as Flonheim near Alzey should also be noted. However, the precise function and dating of these sites remain uncertain. When the missionary Wulfram persuaded a Frisian prince to accept baptism, the conversion failed at the last moment because the duke realised that, in the Christian afterlife, his soul would no longer be united with his princely ancestors who were condemned to hell.
Burial “ad sanctos” and the association of altar and relics had the consequence that, in the early Middle Ages, cemeteries were established around churches; these churchyards lay within the settlement, unlike in antiquity. Even though burial inside the church was largely prohibited under canon law, except for members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and benefactors, a strict enforcement of this rule was pursued, particularly in Carolingian times. Nevertheless, interment within the church was not uncommon for both the clerical and the secular elite, even in the early Middle Ages.
Conversely, Carolingian canonists elevated the status of the churchyard and designated it as the customary place of burial; enclosure and consecration became its defining features. However, the earliest liturgical prescriptions for consecration date only from the 10th century and even the reform popes of the 11th century continued to promote the consecration of churchyards. With the establishment of the churchyard came the possibility of excluding individuals from burial there, a development that increased episcopal and papal authority from the end of the early Middle Ages onwards.
An indirect consequence of the churchyard, owing to its limited space (through consecration, enclosure and its location within the settlement), was that the dead had to be exhumed regularly once the cemetery became full. From the High Middle Ages onwards, this ultimately led to the construction of charnel houses (ossuaries). The principle of burial peace, which early medieval councils had still emphasised (Auxerre 561/605, Meaux 845/46 and also Regino of Prüm), thus became increasingly less significant by the end of this period. Exhumation after roughly two generations had by then become a common, though not mandatory, element of burial practice for most of the dead. The clerical and secular elite, by contrast, were marked by a different kind of burial rite: their dead were laid to rest within the church in tombs intended to endure over a longer period. Permanent grave markers (such as grave slabs or lead tablets placed in the grave) stood in opposition to the more ephemeral markers used for the wider population, such as wooden crosses. This contrast developed up to the 11th century and thereafter became an increasingly sharp marker of social distinction.
Washing and embalming
Early medieval written sources offer little detail on the specific treatment of the dying and the dead. Literature of the ars moriendi, intended to prepare individuals for death, is a phenomenon of the late Middle Ages only. The group of people who tended to the dead cannot be clearly identified from the sources; it evidently varied greatly depending on the context. Medically trained personnel begin to appear in the sources with increasing frequency only from the High Middle Ages onwards. In most cases, it was probably relatives and, where available, household servants who attended the dying and prepared the body for burial. The washing of the corpse is repeatedly mentioned in the sources, at least in connection with the social elite, although usually in a rather terse manner. According to Einhard, for example, the body of Charlemagne was “washed and prepared according to solemn custom.” An early pictorial depiction of the washing of a corpse appears in the Sacramentary of Warmund from around the year 1000, but even here it remains unclear how widespread this practice was and who exactly the “lavatores” shown were. Interestingly, the dead person is seated on a chair while water is poured over the body with a ladle. According to her Vita from the late 9th century, Saint Hathumoda is said to have been washed “in sellula”. By contrast, most High Medieval sources imply that the body lay flat during washing, either in a bed or, in the case of monks, on a stone table provided for this purpose.
Concrete references to the washing of corpses appear only relatively late and in a monastic context. The Consuetudines of Cluny in the 11th century stipulate that the rank of the person performing the washing should correspond to the rank of the deceased. This idea can also be found in earlier sources, for example when, according to the “Vita quarta”, the martyred body of Boniface ceased bleeding only when it was washed by Archbishop Lull. Whether other elements of the Cluniac burial rite were of older origin, such as the practice of laying the dying monk on a penitential garment (“cilicium”) and on scattered ashes, cannot be demonstrated from the sources. The custom was, however, already more widespread, as shown by the Vita of Ulrich of Augsburg, written around 990, which states that he was laid on the ground, sprinkled with holy water and marked with a cross of ash as he died.
The idea of defilement through contact with a corpse derived from Old Testament regulations (Num. 19:11–16; Lev. 21:1–4) and resulted in a seven-day period of impurity. From the 11th century onwards, however, this was limited to preventing priests from celebrating Mass or monks from taking part in it. This development was a consequence of the early medieval discourse on the primacy of inner over outer purity, a debate conducted in contrast to Judaism. Jewish communities in Europe insisted on rapid burial in accordance with halakhic regulations. Jewish cemeteries were located outside settlement walls not only because of the requirements imposed by the Christian majority, but also in continuity with Jewish–antique traditions. However, the precise locations of these cemeteries, such as that in Regensburg, are usually known only from the High Middle Ages, even in communities with a much earlier presence.
From a Christian perspective, the washing of the dead could be traced back to a biblical model, especially the preparation of the body of Christ, which included anointing the dead and wrapping them in linen bands. From this practice there emerged, already in Late Antiquity, a tradition of embalming the higher-ranking members of the Christian community. The distinguished dead of society, including high clergy, nobility and potential saints, were accordingly prepared in the early Middle Ages as well. Written sources show that saints in particular were usually embalmed again when their bodies were exhumed. A major turning point in the history of embalming occurred in the 9th century, when people began not only to treat the corpse externally but also to remove its viscera. The earliest documented case is the treatment of Charles the Bald, who died in the French Alps and was to be buried in Saint-Denis. The separate burial of body parts, which resulted from this method of embalming from the 9th century onwards, is evidenced by the viscera tomb of Otto III in St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, which is mentioned contemporaneously in the chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg.
Selection of a burial place
The further development of embalming in the late Carolingian period is directly connected with the desire to choose one’s place of burial. This desire was already widespread among the nobility and clergy in the Ottonian period. For example, Liutprand of Cremona, when gravely ill at the Byzantine court where he was serving as imperial envoy, pressed for his swift release “so that, when the time of my dissolution comes, my body may at least be received by the soil of my homeland.” When the Liudolfing duke Otto I of Swabia and Bavaria died in Lucca in 982, he was, according to the Vita of Ulrich, transferred to Aschaffenburg. This, however, posed a problem for the functional elite of society, who were confronted with the ideal of a swift burial as prescribed by canon law. Thus the Admonitio generalis of 789, in a formula repeated on many occasions, identified one of the few exceptional reasons that permitted the transport of a load on a Sunday, namely “when it is urgently necessary to carry a corpse to the cemetery.” The difference in burial rituals between the “special” and the “ordinary” dead becomes evident here once again. In the early Middle Ages, this applied above all to individuals venerated as saints, whose resting places were often determined by those who honoured them in later generations. Their remains could be placed in reliquaries to allow easier access, but were also frequently embedded in the foundations of church buildings. Examples of this include Bishops Virgil von Salzburg and Erhard von Regensburg, as well as Abbess Irmengard of Frauenchiemsee. Embalming probably played a role in transportation in this case as well, as suggested by the Vita of Saint Wolfgang. According to this account, he died in Pupping in 994, was taken to his episcopal city of Regensburg, almost 200 kilometres away, and was said to have lain in state for eight days in the monastery of St Emmeram. This makes prior treatment of the body very likely.
Distinctive features in Bavaria
The fundamental shift from burial grounds outside settlements to burial sites or cemeteries within them, meaning the physical integration of the dead into the world of the living, began in southern Bavaria as early as the late 7th century. In north-eastern Bavaria, by contrast, burial grounds located outside settlements were retained for much longer. Possible reasons for this, such as later christianisation or Slavic influence, remain unclear at present.
Alongside the late medieval development of regional building traditions such as the charnel house, other distinctive features of Bavarian developments include the comparatively early papal influence on the cult of relics and on regional saint veneration, expressed particularly in the canonisation process for Saint Wolfgang, marked by Pope Leo IX’s visit to Regensburg in October 1052.
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Cite
Romedio Schmitz-Esser, Burial Rituals (Early Middle Ages/Historical), published 12 March 2020, English version published 27 March 2026; in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, URL: <https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/EN:Burial_Rituals_(Early_Middle_Ages/Historical)> (27.03.2026)