dance of death and morality 2003

8/13/2019 Dance of Death and Morality 2003

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2004 Conference paper

*please do not cite or distribute without the authors permission.

At the Cemetery of the Innocentsas in theDanse Macabrethe spaces of the

living and the dead intermingled. An iconic site on the right ban of !aris" the #rench

used it as a cemetery since $oman days.% !rostitutes" beggars" and itinerant merchants

convened there. &he Cemetery of the Innocents became infamous as an area where shady

transactions occurred" emerging repeatedly in 'udicial reports.2 As early as %%()"

according to uillaume de +reton" the Cemetery of the Innocents was notorious as a

place of prostitution. !hillip the #air built a wall around the cemetery because of the

illicit activity that transpired there. &he situation at the Innocents had not improved by the

time of $abelais" who noted the unsavory characters that haunted the cemetery day and

night, -!aris was a good city to live in" but not to die in because of the beggars" bums"

and derelicts who haunted the cemetery day and night. / +ecause neither semen nor

blood was supposed to be spilled in a cemetery without the ground being blessed" it is

ironic that the soil was considered sacred and supposedly consumed the flesh of a body

between one and nine days in popular #rench follore and superstition.4 n all four

sides" the maretplace of 1es alles surrounded the cemetery.3 &rafficers often

displayed their boos" cloth" and iron scraps on the tombs. ) &he bustling" lively

%Clar 222+ronislaw ereme" The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris" 5ew 6or, Cambridge 7niversity!ress" %8(9:()./#ran;ois $abelais in !hilippe Aridward # Chaney"La Danse Macabre des !harniers des Saints "nnocents # Paris"1ondon, ?anchester

7niversity !ress" %843: 4.


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maretplace did not remain outside of the cemetery walls" but overflowed into the space

of the dead.9

&he living constantly interacted with the dead" which doubtlessly influenced the

Danse Macabre the$e" as well as the painting in #igure %2 by an anonymous #lemish

artist in the %)thcentury. As witnessed by this painting" the Cemetery of the Innocents

captured the popular artistic imagination of the #lemish" not 'ust !arisians. @e must

remember that =esalius spent his earliest years in #landers prior to his studies at !aris. As

if the %)thcentury #lemish artist wished to stress the coeistence of life and death in this

location" he indiscriminately scattered bones around this desolate landscape" while the

living promenade among them. Buite a few of the living figures wear rags, a beggar to

the right etends his hand to accept alms" two smaller figures scuffle in the bacground"

women carry water" and the group to the right maes a fire. ogs populate the area" often

placed directly net to these lower class individuals as if to reinforce their bestial nature.

&he dog in the foreground defecates" calling into Duestion the true sanctity of the soil at

this location. Eust as the dog pollutes the soil with fecal matter" the prostitutes" beggars"

and assorted vagabonds polluted the area with their unchristian and sacrilegious

activities. In the painting" an outdoor pulpit is visible" along with a chapel and a Calvary

cross that provided a stopping place for the !alm Funday procession. ?any of the other

crosses are the collective funerary monuments that mared the mass graves.(A singular

burial occurs in the foreground to clarify the purpose of this notGsoGholy field.

In the painting" the artist also depicts the charniers" which u CongH first

mentions in the charter of %/29.8&he word charnier actually referred both to the ossuary

9+erger 29(Ari


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above the gallery and the gallery proper. Along the walls of the cemetery" ossuaries

rested on top of covered wals that formed the gallery. &his gallery lined the inside of the

cemetery walls on the periphery" consisting of about (0 arches total.%0 Fome of the arches

contained a chapel with the name of a donor carved on the wall. %% &heDanse Macabre

fresco unfolded panel by panel along the right hand side of the charniersin the pointed

arches against the wall under the bone galleries" as also viewed in #igure %/. &he custom

of disinterring the dead and putting their remains in the galleries of the charniers to mae

room for newcomers arose in the fourteenth century because of the outbreas of plague

epidemics in overpopulated !aris. A matterGofGfact practical mentality determined which

bodies to disinter" as older bodies with dried up bones burned with greater facility. Also"

if a cadaver was hundreds of years old" no relatives would ob'ect to the practice. %2&he

architecture of the bone galleries that house the dead is almost the same as that of the

surrounding buildings inhabited by the citiKens of !aris in the painting. &he anonymous

#lemish artist in #igure %2 created a very deliberate contrast in the painting by

'utaposing the daily life in !arisian residential dwellings with the charniers directly in

front" which house the dead. &he bones of the charnel houses form a decorative pattern

and act as an architectural element" replacing the normal use of stucco or bric in the

construction of walls.

&he deliberate" overt architectural use of visible bones ought to be viewed as an

art form and not 'ust a practical means to dispose of dead bodies. &he charniersprovided

%0Clar 2211Aris 54.We even know the names of some of the individuals buried here in medieval Paris thanks to

Leprouxs careful research. Some of these wealthy bourgeois individuals were Berthauld de Rouen (1386),

Nicolas Flamel (1389), and he built the charnier de la Vierge for his wife Pernelle in 1407, Mathieu and

Martine dAuteville (1397) Guy Michel Leproux 44.

%2Ari


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a practical means of creating space in a cemetery that was increasingly unable to absorb

the growing number of deaths from epidemics. owever" the visibility of the bones is

striing" and they were artistically arranged for the purpose of spectacle beginning in the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.%/Although the eposure to air epedited the process of

turning old bones to dust" it was not necessary for the bones to be placed so artfully or so

visibly. In fact" the people of !aris loved to wal around the cemetery on holidays. &hey

looed at the decaying bones of their ancestors in the charnel house as if it were a natural

history museum"%4 or a living epression of vanitas unfolding before their eyes.

7nderneath the bone galleries" theDanse Macabre fresco unfolded with the message that

all were eDual in death. &he bones above" which had been ehumed and charnelled

regardless of oneJs social station" reinforced the message of the fresco.

It is revealing that theDanse Macabre unfolded below the charnelled bones of all

classes and generations" while the rich were buried below. &he charnelled bones above

reinforce the notion of eDuality because the rich were not spared. Eust as the image of the

Danse Macabre stresses the eDuality of all men in death" the charnelled bones resting

above it echo this sentiment within this museum of death. A processional space is created

with a highly symbolic Duality. #or 1ouis ?arin" a procession" parade" or cortege

formation entails individuals forming a totality and collectively taing shape. It becomes

a grouping with a comple and diversified structure" simultaneously real and symbolic"

aial and teleological. In this sort of space" boundaries between viewers and participants

brea down and a general structure of theatricality unites these groups. A processional

space has its own internal synta" isolating factors such as order" rans of participants"

%/Ari


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?archant reproduced the danse $acabre cycle in boo form on cheap paper in %4(3.&he

first boo printers were in !aris around %490.%8 &hese printers" mainly #rench and

erman" eploited the potential of the printing press to further the production of

nowledge on a broad basis. ?archantJs editions" among the first printed boos in !aris"

became etremely popular. @hen the first edition sold out in %4(3" he created a second

one in %4(). Another one for women followed in %4(). #emale characters from various

social groups danced with death instead of men" and he directed it at a female audience.

?archant printed 1atin versions in %480.20

In the printed cycle" we probably have a tolerable facsimile of the Danse

Macabre in its original state. &he images provide us with a decent copy" but they are still

not a precise recreation of the fresco cycle. @e need to eep certain facts in mind when

mentally reconstructing the actual frescoes from the woodcut series. In the original

fresco" only thirty figures eisted in fifteen pairs but ?archant added four more pairs.

&he original artist also distributed the figures on the wall in a slightly different manner

than ?archant. &he cycle began at the seventeenth charnier" with three couples at first"

then four beginning at the twentyGthird arcade. &he costumes in the woodcuts reflect the

fashions of the %4(0s rather than the %420s" and the flowers in the landscape did not eist

in the original. &he medium of fresco is vastly different from woodcuts. &he properties of

fresco allow a greater lifeGlie vivacity to enter the figures because of the softer tonal

gradation" as opposed to woodcuts in the %4(0s. !rintmaers still struggled to refine the

process at this date" and early prints are usually characteriKed by stiff lines and

schematiKed forms. In the original there were almost certainly three or four figures per

%8Clar 2)20Clar 2)


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panel, usually one cleric" one layman" and two seletons. In the fresco cycle" the artist

also placed the tet under the images. 2% owever" ?archantJs printed boo presents the

figures page by page" while the fresco cycle was a continuous frieKe that could be seen all

at once from a distance. It unfolded as a continuous narrative as if transpiring behind the

painted columns and arcadesP in this boo one can only see two pages at once. And yet"

?archant could have created a boo with a cycle that could be seen all at once" so he

might have been trying to reflect the stop and start nature of the fresco when viewed up

close. @hen closely viewing this fresco cycle" the columns would have delimited each

sceneP the reader would have looed at each image individually" reading the tet below

before moving on to the net panel.

?archantJs popular reproductions provided one of the first opportunities for

macabre imagery to be disseminated on a widespread scale to individuals of more modest

means. Fandra indman notes that we should not eDuate the appearance of a print with its

audience. I agree that this is less a matter of aesthetics than the cost of materials. Fhe

notes that numerous versions of uyot ?archantJs boo that were printed on epensive

materials for the wealthy" and says that this is where there is the most etant evidence. 22

@hile it is true that not all versions of theDanse Macabre were geared eclusively at

people with fewer resources" finally the possibility eisted for people of lesser means to

possess an item relating to the visual culture of death" along with a wealthier crowd. +y

people of lesser means" I mean those who could not afford to commission a transitomb

or an entire manuscript for themselves. @e cannot rule out the fact that many popular

2%n this point one could consult Isabelle le ?asne Chermont in 1eprou (3" 80G% !ierre Champion" 1e

anse ?acabre de uyot ?archant !aris, $ue des Buatre Chemins:" 4" Clar 24G23" uenther

+iedermann" -1es danses macabres du moyen Qge la renaissance. &sta$(ille%(8" %8(8: %8.22Fandra indman" -&he Career of uy ?archant %4/(G%304:, igh Culture and 1ow Culture in !aris.

InPrinting the )ritten )ordIthaca, Cornell 7niversity !ress" %88%: )(G%0/.


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-autoer had also been in use since the %2 thcentury, -Auteor n.m. fin de RII si


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down. It is piteous to thin of this. All is fashioned from

one matter.29

&he first author prepares the reader to ready his soul for the harrowing visual and

tetual 'ourney that he or she will undertae in theDanse Macabre. &his 'ourney entailed

identifying with one of the figures from various classes whom death carries off"

contemplating the possibility that he will die at any minute" and repenting while he or she

still had the opportunity to do so. &he author who closes the tet" however" ass the

reader to consider his celestial rather than his terrestrial fate. figure 24: In a rather long

passage" he ehorts the reader to consider what will happen to him after his death. &his

author points a finger upwards as if to signify that heavenly aspirations are important to

him" and ought to be important to his reader. e is also seated at a cathedra" but he wears

a different sort of scholastic costume than the first author. ?ost significantly" a dead

cadaver with a fallen crown lies in permanent repose at the authorJs feet" and points a

bony finger downward. &his immobile figure presents a star contrast with the capering

dead figures of previous pages. &he combination of the author in a cathedra with

scholastic dress" stiffly academic demeanor" and the decaying cadaver on the ground in

an outdoor environment" strongly recalls a %3th century anatomical frontispiece to

?ondino de 1iuKKiJs tet. #igure 23:

Initially" there appears to be a purposeful contrast between the upright" alive

author and the supine" decaying corpse on the ground. &his implies that the author will

live on in spite of the rampant death in the cycle that he has 'ust written. e seems

impervious to death since he has created it in his words and images" especially when a

figure resembling one of the dead men from the cycle has died at his feet. &hese dead

29Chaney 4)


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figures that carry off the living have no effect on the authorsince he created death in his

tet" he can resist death" and he can therefore become immortal as an author. And yet" at

this moment" the authorJs sober contemplation of the dead body underscores the idea that

he too will die even as his written wor endures" if we are to read the dead body as a

$e$ento $ori. &here is no boo in the authorJs hands" and a proportionately smaller

amount of boos in the entire composition relative to the first author portrait. Feveral

boos have been stashed away underneath a des on the bacground" and two only

smaller boos rest on the destop. ne is opened" and the other is closed" and the position

of both is deGemphasiKed. &he author clutches a tiny" almost invisible scroll in one hand"

the contents of which are invisible to us.

&he identifying props relating to authorial status have been removed from the

authorJs hands at the finale of the dance of death cycle. In this way" the author is very

much a part of the cycle. All of the other characters in the dance had to relinDuish the

vain" mundane items that identified their earthly station" as a symbol of their death and

final departure from the privileged hierarchies of the earthly realm. @hile the first

woodcut of the author seems to secure for us his sense of self in terms of occupation and

position" the last portrait presents a fleible" ambivalent reading. In many senses the final

author portrait is the conclusion of the boo and of life. It also becomes the end of the

authorJs terrestrial authority and creativity as an auteorand his activity as an acteur.

@hile the author leads off the cycle" the rich and powerful soon follow" as he

promises" ironically first in death as they were in their coveted lives. &he rich and

powerful feature prominently in the Danse Macabreat the #ranciscan Cemetery of the

Innocents. eath ridicules and mocs the richest members of society the most


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vehemently in the cycle. &he authorJs writing and imagery is not laudatoryP rather" it is

ironic" didactic" witty" and sarcastic. e is especially harsh with rich men who abuse the

poor" epressing a sympathetic attitude towards poverty. &his relates to the message of

the cemetery and the seven wors of charity. e speas through the mouthpiece of death

with stern wit" saying to the patriarch" -you will never be pope"2(and to the heavyGset

abbot" -the fattest rot soonest.28 e also mocs the pompous physician with his

diagnostic vial of urine" who cannot find a cure for eath. eath has no mercy for greed

or hypocrisy" and only three find favor with him, the innocent child" the Carthusian and

the #ranciscan mon.

/0

&he innocent child probably alludes to the name of the cemetery.

In fact" the underlying theme of the Danse Macabreseries probably emerged from the

compassion that the mendicant orders had for the poor./%&he ance of eath had more

effect on collective sensibility relative to other forms of the visual culture of death" as it

was often represented in large" highly visible public frescos in public places" such as

cloisters" cemeteries" and bridges./2&hese are transitional areas" reflecting the inGbetween

state of life and death in these cycles.

&heDanse Macabreat the Innocents initiated the use of image and tet in other

dance of death cycles in >urope. As 1ina +olKoni notes in her boo" The )eb of "$ages"

tet and image were intertwined in such cycles" and we ignore their interaction at the

great peril of misunderstanding how they were used in their own time. er idea of the

-web of images implies that images and tet" and various sorts of similar religious

images connect with each other in terms of the memories that they evoe and the creative

2(Clar 2928Clar 29/0Clar 2(/%Clar %03/2&enenti %4


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associations between them. !reachers mediated the way that the general public viewed

images" so she shifts her analysis from the pure aesthetics of images to their uses and

modes of reception. In images and tets" a sermon could eist outside of its usual

boundaries of time" becoming encoded in the image itself.//

+olKoni discusses the Triu$(h of Deathcycle of %//0G%/40 at the Camposanto in

!isa. @riting was inserted into the imageP large central scenes were flaned by scrolls

containing inscriptions. Fhe loos at this painting in connection with the ominican

preaching of #ra iordano at this location" and notes that this fresco cycle was very liely

to have been used in ominican sermons. In the first decades of the %4

th

century when the

building of the Camposanto was well under way and its pictorial decoration already

begun" the first large collections of public sermons also appeared./41evels of literacy and

comprehension eisted for multiple viewers of the painting. &he illiterate could

comprehend the images" literate people could read the vernacular and richly compare it to

the tetual inscriptions" and an erudite reader who new 1atin could mediate between

image tet" 1atin and vernacular./3In the %/th century" the mendicant orders began to

engage in widespread preaching in the vernacular. &he Church began to adopt this

practice as well" but with caution and resistance. #ra iordano was especially concerned

translating not 'ust words" but entire concepts written in 1atin into the vernacular in order

to reach a wide audience. e utiliKed abstract concepts and brought them down to

everyday eperience. And yet" preachers also drew divisions between themselves and

their audience based on their authority to translate and transmit the word of od.

33Lina Bolzoni, (trans. Carole Preston and Lisa Chien), The Web of Images(Burlington VT: Ashgate,

2004) 7-9.

/4+olKoni %)/3+olKoni 24


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Fermons often moced the pretension and foolish pride of illiterate people who wanted to

discuss the scriptures./)

&his is not to say that the preachers wished to obstruct nowledge from their

illiterate publicfar from it. !reacherJs sermons transmitted new nowledge and

concepts to this unlettered lay audience. +y listening to preaching" a spectator would

attain a new wealth of contemporary nowledge from many different discourses. +olKoni

cites Cavalca and iordanoJs use of the Cosmographia structure of the world: to teach

the illiterate concepts that would be abstruse for an educated person today./9&his is an

ecellent eample of the blending of religion and learned medieval natural philosophy"

since the Cosmographia often appeared in innumerable medical and natural philosophical

treatises in the %4thcentury" not 'ust religious discourse. 5ot only did the illiterate gain a

higher moral and spiritual ground from listening to the preachers" but they also received

erudite" philosophical information about the structure of the world around them that could

only have been attained from a university education in the past. &his blending of medical"

natural philosophical" and moral interests emerges in later dances of death in the %) th

century" where it becomes -medicine for the soul" and contemplating the dead body

permits a greater sense of self awareness" which leads to a more complete understanding

of od.

>ven though many people who viewed this painting were probably illiterate" they

relied on at least one person who new how to read and the charismatic authority of the

preacher to add a new level of intellectual and devotional compleity to the images. #or

iordano" the visual aspects became the most effective way to teach an audience" by

/)+olKoni %(G%8/9+olKoni 2)


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placing a concept right before their eyes" as long as the preacher could direct them to see

it correctly. &his was especially true of graphically representing the torments of ell that

awaited a sinner" so that when they saw this image it would deeply impress upon their

mind that conseDuences for sinning would indeed be dire./(It was important to see this

with oneJs own eyes" and to internaliKe this vision so that it would be constantly carried

net to the heart and mind as a reminder to be on oneJs best behavior at all times.

iordano also mentions that his neighbors in #rance maintained social and moral

control by placing hanged men in plain sight on the gallows until they decayed as a

gruesome reminder of what will happen to those who transgress social and moral

boundaries. &he goal of this was again to -see with your own eyes the sentence that you

will get for wrongdoing. &his is as much to say, S+eware of sin" man" lest you too

come to this sentence.J It is so spiritually. &he infernal gallows are placed before our eyes

as an eample...And so" if people used their memories they would not sin./8&he graphic

decay of the hanged body first transmits a powerfully grotesDue message to the viewer on

a visual" visceral level that this will also happen to him if he commits a crime. And yet"

this initial observation will not suffice to save a personJs soul. e must place the image

deep within his memory and mae active use of it for it to be effective. Images were to be

indelibly fied in the mind as well as in the eye.40

&he images drove home the point of the read or spoen word" and conversely" the

image assumed associations with the preached word after the sermon transpired. &hat is

to say" after people heard a sermon in con'unction with a painting" it probably became

associated with the sermon to a great degree" even after the sermon had ended. 4% Images

/(+olKoni 24/8#ra iordano in +olKoni 24G2340+olKoni /%4%+olKoni %/G%4.


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with a similar appearance to the one used for preaching also assumed some of the same

meaning. &his probably accounts for the similar" patterned appearances of the Danse

Macabre throughout >urope as a devotional theme" and also for the series of prints

reproduced after it. >ach of these identical paintings and prints would be rife with

associations" and further spread the devotional message that all must live well to die well.

&he interaction of tet and image resonateit can be assumed that the appearance of a

painting would influence later tet and verbal performances and vice versa.

&heDanse Macabreat the Innocents was used as a didactic tool that united word

and image for the #ranciscan preacher #riar $ichard who gave sermons at the cemetery"

according to the anonymous author of the.ournal d/un ourgeois de Paris. It is most

liely that he used vernacular speech with his vernacular imagery to preach to the masses.

Fimilar to most of the cycles that followed" the tet that accompanied the fresco cycle

was almost certainly in #rench rather than 1atin. &here is much evidence to support this"

even though the original is missing. @e now" first of all" that there was indeed tet

along with theDanse Macabrecycle at the Innocents" because uillebert de ?etK wrote

about the cycle in his %4/4Descri(tion of the !ity of Paris. e noted that there were

images" and -escriptures pour esmouvoir les gens devotion. 42 &he >nglish mon at

+ury Ft. >dmunds" Eohn 1ydgate" translated this cycle from #rench to >nglish

immediately after its completion in %424G%423. e called it the -macabres daunce and

daunce with deth.4/Although he had much assistance from the friars at the Innocents" he

still apologiKed in his translation for his poor #rench when translating from #rench to

>nglish. Additionally" cycles fashioned after that at the Innocents" such as the dance of

42uillebert de ?etK in Clar 244/Clar /( and %2" also ?aria hiraldo in &enenti 209.


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death on the eterior nave arcade at Mermaria in +rittany" were composed in !arisian

#rench beneath the images.44&hey are practically identical with the verses in ?archantJs

tet. Fo are two #rench manuscripts in the +ibliothnglish identity. #riar

$ichard had to leave town because of hostility to the >nglish during their occupation of

!aris.

About a wee later" a gray friar called +rother $ichard

arrived in !aris...all of the time that he was in !aris" hepreached every single day ecept for one. e began on

44Clar //43Clar 244)+olKoni %(


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Faturday the %)thApril in %428" and on the net Funday"

and the wee after...at the Innocents. e would begin to

preach at 3 oJcloc in the morning and go on between %0and %% oJcloc" and there were always about 3 or )

thousand people listening to him. e preached on a high

platformit was nearly one and a half toises highwithhis bac to the charnel houses opposite the Charronerie

near the danse macabre...indeed when they came to the

sermon that day" the people of !aris were so moved andstirred up to devotion that in less than three or four hoursJ

time you would have seen over a hundred fires alight in

which men were burning chess and bacgammon boards"

dice" cards" balls and stics" mirelis" and every covetousgame that can give rise to anger and swearing. &he women"

too" this day and the net" burned in public all of their fine

headgearthe rolls and stuffing" the pieces of leather or

whalebone that they used to stiffen their headdresses or tomae them fold forwards. 5oblewomen left off their horns"

their trains" and many of their vanities. Indeed" the %0sermons that he preached in !aris and % in +oulougne did

more to turn people towards piety than all the preacher who

had preached in !aris for the past %00 years...+rother+ernard Ft. +ernardino of Fiena:" is: one of the greatest

preachers of the world" as +rother $ichard is also said to

be...when +rother $ichard finished his last sermon...when

he said goodbye...everyone" great and small" wept asbitterly and as feelingly as if they had watched their dearest

friends being buried" and so did he too...It is undoubtedly

true that the gray friar who preached at the Innocents anddrew together such crowds...was riding with them the

>nglish:. As soon as the people of !aris were certain that

this was so...they cursed od and his saints. @hat is worse"they too up again in contempt of him all of those games

which he had forbidden them" such as bacgammon" bowls"

dicing" and so on. &hey even left off wearing a tin

medallion which he had got them to wear bearing the nameof Eesus and they all wore a Ft. AndrewJs cross instead.49

#riar $ichard effectively utiliKed image and tet in his sermons at the Innocents"

and the connection with +ernardino da Fiena is very compelling in light of +olKoniJs

argument. +ernardino da Fiena" the intensely popular itinerant #ranciscan friar and

preacher" conducted sermons in the %3thcentury that did not focus on the Apocalypse.

49+eaune 2/0G2/%" 2/(


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&his was Duite unusual for the time. Instead" his sermons had an immediate moral

significance and intended to bring order into the lives of individuals and society as a

whole. e preached etensively on the social ills of his day" such as gambling" usury"

political discord" and la seual mores his favorite targets were sodomites and vain"

loose women who needed bloodletting to control their seual urges:. e preached

etensively against the vanities of women who corrupted menJs hearts with their

bewitching gowns" painted faces" and feminine wiles. 4(

1ie many #ranciscan sermons" his word was to be immediately transformed into

action" similar to the message of the Danse Macabre. Also similar to #riar $ichard"

+ernardinoJs sermons were accompanied by huge bonfires. 1isteners" compelled by his

eloDuent and fervent speech" if not his powerful performative style and his integration of

images with the written or spoen word to inscribe moral ideas upon their bodies and

minds" would throw their favorite playing cards and feminine fripperies into the fire. 48

Fimilar to #riar $ichard" +ernardino made etensive use of visual images. is highly

theatrical sermons lined themes from daily life with moraliKing religious ideas.

+ernardino" similar to #riar $ichard" used images that would have an intense" immediate

impact on his audience because they were profoundly familiar with them" such as

paintings found in large public spaces of the city churches" convents" buildings" streets"

city gates:. 30&hese images were used to clarify his message during the sermon" and

sustain the elements of his lesson after the sermon had ended. +eyond this" the public was

meant to actually see parts of +ernardinoJs sermon in the image and the interplay of

+iblical concordances that it came from.3%

4(+olKoni %2%48+olKoni %2%30+olKoni %233%+olKoni %/)


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Additionally" +rother $ichard and +ernardino used the 5ame of Eesus in their

sermons. &his was the most popular and famous memory device in +ernardinoJs

sermons" if not the most controversial. &he beginnings of +ernardinoJs fame as a

preacher coincided with his use of this device. As early as %4%(" he showed this panel to

the people. e eplained its meaning and encouraged its use and diffusion. 32 +ernardino

held up a panel inscribed with EesusJ name during critical points in his sermon" on an

aKure field embellished with golden rays that shone brilliantly in the sun or in the interior

of a church lit by candelabras. od was imprisoned within the outlines of the letters" and

could be drawn out through a program of intense visual meditation and prayer. In this

case the word was the image" a memory image par ecellence that would unloc all doors

to nowledge" meditation" and contemplation.3/ owever" humanists criticiKed this

approach for being demagogic and even etymologically incorrect" since Christians

derived their name from Christ" not Eesus. Additionally" since the 5ame of Eesus was

beautifully inscribed on a panel" there was a fear that the common people would worship

the panel in a superstitious or idolatrous fashion rather than Eesus himself. 34

+ernardino suggested that his audience wear or carry medals or other ob'ects with

EesusJ name at all times to ward off evil" despite his battle against the evils of magical

and superstitious practices. If his listeners engaged in this practice of -brieve they might

also be protected from illness. +ernardino preached, -&his name Eesus is the talisman of

holy talismans. Carry it with you" either written or figured" and no evil can befall

you.33&his shows the tenuous boundaries between Christian religious practices and

32+olKoni %)83/+olKoni %)(34+olKoni %90G%9%33+ernardino da Fiena in +olKoni %93


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pagan beliefs in the ?iddle Ages. 3)5ot only would the 5ame of Eesus be inscribed upon

the eyes and minds of his viewers" it would be closely pressed net to their bodies at all

times. &his idea is especially interesting in #riar $ichardJs case" since he preached net to

theDanse Macabreduring the plague. It is liely that he recommended these medals to

ward off illness and death" even as he preached about caring for the soul because of the

immediacy of death. 5ot only were pagan and Christian traditions intermied" but so

were diverse ways of warding off illness that involved caring for the body and soul.

@hile the immediacy and omnipresence of eath would have been plain in the written

and visual message of the Danse Macabre and presumably #riar $ichardJs

accompanying sermon:" burning vanities and wearing the name of Eesus could care for

the soul and even the body by warding off illness. @hile #riar $ichard preached about

the horrors of death" he also offered hope.

&he -deliberate sinning of the #rench populace after discovering #riar $ichardJs

>nglish identity does not match up with +olKoniJs ideas" thus presenting an interesting

problem. &his issue does not invert +olKoniJs argument" but complicates it. If images

eisted in a web of associations" what tainted associations would the Danse Macabre

cycle have after a traitor preached convincing falsities before itN &o what etent would

the image and tet tae on negative associations in this situation" polluting the pious web

that the preacher had initially wovenN @e have no direct evidence that records peopleJs

reactions to the frescos afterwards" beyond the playing of games and wearing of Ft.

AndrewJs crosses instead of medals with the name of Eesus. It is notable" however" that

the anonymous author of the.ournalnever mentions the frescos again" whereas before

they had been a thing of religious wonder and delight. &he cemetery was a place where

3)+olKoni %93


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acts of prostitution and debauchery occurred" and it would hardly be surprising if these

sins worsened after #riar $ichardJs departure. It is evident from the Duote above that the

cycle began to diminish in the intense devotional impact that it had on the thousands of

people who saw it in connection with #riar $ichardJs preaching.

&he integration of image and tets flows through this cycle" and it is unnecessary

to describe every single panel from this cycle visually. &his is because so many patterns

reoccur. &he ance of eath used a patterned structure of hierarchy that was repeated

from location to location" but patterns reoccur within the cycle itself" and this has a

leveling effect. ?any of the woodcuts portray the inevitability of death and the

renunciation of worldly goods" but conveyed by a different cast of characters. In the

scene of the ing and the cardinal carried away by death" fig. 2): ?archant utiliKes the

typical composition found in the rest of the cycle. &wo cadavers address two figures

hovering in a liminal state between life and death. ne of these figures is from the laity

and the other is a clergy member" following the usual iconography.

It is uncertain if the cadavers represent eath or the dead. Clar believes that

eath itself carries away the living" while others believe that the seletons are a mirror

image of what the living will become in death. As Clar mentions" this is a difficult

distinction to draw" since the cadaver addressing the figures is entitled -le mort" the dead

man" while in the tet" the characters say that they are being carried off by -la mort"J or

death.39&hese cadavers do not appear to be individualiKed depictions that reflect each

character or even an individualiKed -dead man" and they wear the same shrouds and

carry the same props throughout the cycle. >ven if it is a dead man who addresses the

viewer" his appearance signifies that death will tae them away. eath suddenly abducts

39Clar %0)G%09" 1e ?asne de Chermont (3


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the living figures at an unepected moment. e playfully grips their rich" sumptuous

clothing or their plump arms with his bony fingers" reflecting the playfulness of the

macabre tradition. &he bare bones barely concealed by rotting sin and shrouds of plain

cloth contrast dramatically with the plush" lavishly decorated fabric worn by the living"

suggesting the transitory nature of worldly things. &he tet echoes this sentiment.

The Dead Man: ?ethins you pretend to be amaKed"

cardinal. Come DuiclyO 1et us now follow the others all

together. AmaKement is bootless now. 6ou have livedhaughtily and honorably to your heartJs content. &ae this

frolic in good part. In great honor prudence is lost.

The Cardinal: I have good cause for amaKement when I

see myself so closely caught. eath has come to attac me.5o more shall I put on my furs. @ith the greatest sorrow I

must leave my red hat and my costly robe. I was notprepared for it. All 'oy ends in sorrow.

The Dead Man: ComeO 5oble crowned ing" famed for

strength and prowess. #ormerly you were surrounded bygreat pomp and nobility. +ut now you will leave all your

grandeur. 6ou are not alone. 1ittle of your riches will you

have" for: the richest has but one shroud.

The King: I am not wont to dance and tune so wild. AlasO@e can see and reflect how much pride" strength" and

breeding are worth. eath destroys everythingthat is his

customthe great as well as the less. &he man who rateshimself least is the wisest. In the end we must turn to dust.3(

&hese words echo the visual contrast between the unsettling permanence of bare

bones and the transience of flesh and mundane goods. &he ing and the cardinal are

defined by their worldly attributes" and when stripped of them they lose their life. &he

ing and the cardinal" once so revered in life" will turn to dust in death. 1ater in the cycle"

eath captures the gray friar and the child. #igure 29:&he friar has amply prepared

himself for death by preaching about it etensively during his life" which contrasts

maredly with the small child who has had no time to live" let alone to prepare for the

3(Chaney 4(.


25/30

horrors of death. &he sympathy towards these two characters probably stems from their

central importance in the cemetery" as the child recalls the name of the cemetery and grey

friars e.g.#riar $ichard: preached there. eath does not grin at the friar in a horrifically

menacing" macabre manner" softening his epression for the first time in the cycle. e

epresses deep concern for this humble man who submits so willingly to death" with his

shoulders gently sloped" his hands crossed as if he is willing to be shacled" and his body

slightly inclining towards eath even as he attempts to step away. &he grey friarJs facial

epression is sweetly reticent with a faintly ironic smile" but he is not afraid. eath does

not violently seiKe this religious" pious man" guiding him along gently but firmly. &he

second eath figure places a gentle" reassuring hand on the friarJs bac and taes the

infant by the hand. +ecause of eathJs profile view" his macabre grin is not nearly as

frightening. &he small child appears to be puKKled and faintly sad that eathJs seletal

fingers grip his soft" pudgy" tiny hand" summoning him to dance when he cannot even

wal. eath epresses much more sympathy towards these figures tetually as well as

visually.

The Dead Man: 5et you grey friarO 6ou have often

preached about death so you should marvel the less. 6oumust not frighten yourself about it. 5o one is so strong that

death does not stop him. Fo it is good to watch your dying.

eath is ready at every hour.

The Gray Friar:@hat is life in this worldN 5o man dwellsthere securely. >very vanity abounds there and then comes

death which falls upon all. ?y mendicancy does not give

me any confidence. @e must pay the penalty of ourmisdeeds. od does our wor Duicly. @ise is the sinner

who mends his ways.

The Dead Man:1ittle child" but lately born" you will havelittle pleasure in this life. 6ou shall be brought to the dance

lie any other" for death has power over all. #rom the day

of birth everybody has to mae an offering to death. e


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who has no nowledge of this is craKy. &he longest liver

has the most to suffer.

The Child:Ah" ah" ahI cannot tal. I am a child and mytongue is dumb. 6esterday I was born" today I must depart.

I do but mae my entry and eit. I have done no wrong but

I sweat with fear. I must resign myself. &hat is best. odJsdecree does not change. &he young are as lie to die as the

old. 38

@hether ing or cardinal" child or grey friar" the acDuisition of great or small

rewards on earth is a worthless pursuit" for one must inevitably -frolic with death. &hese

-rewards" whether they are material sumptuous clothing and terrestrial might:" or

spiritual vows of mendicancy or a day of sinless" precious life:" will all be carried off by

eath. In almost all of theDanse Macabre images" #igures 2(" 28: the artist represents

the cadavers with much more vigor" energy" and life than the figures of the living. &he

vivacity of the dead compared to the bland resistance of the living further emphasiKes the

worthless material pursuits of life compared to the liberation of death. &he cadavers

appear as 'umping" capering figures who must grin enthusiastically because their flesh is

stripped away. &he 'oyful animation of these seletons compared to the reticence of their

halfGliving companions stresses that the pain of death comes from the anticipation of it

rather than the state of being dead in itself. &he 'oyfulness of eath comes from the

macabre Duality of grinning at danger and the playful irony of eath being impervious to

the punishment that he metes out to others" since he has already died and no longer has to

face death as the living must.

&he importance of preparation for death" the disgust with the rich" worldly" and

corrupt" combined with sympathy for the poor and religious that we have seen in this

cycle is emphasiKed by the fact that ?archantJs prints of the fresco represented a new

38Chaney )%


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type of visual culture of death. !art of the novelty inheres in the medium" the other part in

the message. Ftudies of macabre imagery generally classify this type of art into a

tripartite structure including, The Three Living and the Three Dead" transi tombs" and the

Danse Macabre.)0&here are many other types that emerge later" but in %423" these were

the three ma'or categories. !revious macabre imagery" such as transi tombs and

manuscript illuminations of the Three Living and the Three Dead" was costly and elitist.

Transi tombs were made of precious materials" such as marble and bronKe" and

represented an ostentatious focus on oneself and oneJs riches. enerally rendered in

costly pigments on vellum" the Three Living and the Three Dead theme usually involved

three noblemen who wandered into the woods to stumble upon three decaying clerics"

who ehort the young men to repent before it is too late. +ecause of its sub'ect matter as

well as the prohibitive cost of manuscripts" the theme mainly addressed itself to an upperG

class audience. &heDanse Macabre fresco and ?archantJs prints of it provided another

way for individuals without immense wealth to prepare for death and to care for their

souls because of they were relatively public and inepensive. Caring for the soul was

important" even if one could not guarantee care for their body in the deadly outbreas of

the plague that scourged late medieval !aris. &his relates to the tradition of the -ars

$oriendi manuscripts for the wealthy and can hardly be considered a novel idea" ecept

now those with less money had access to it.

&heDanse Macabre provided a means to care for the soul at a time of epidemics

or disasters. Although people did attempt to care for their bodies with various remedies"

the plague presented a huge medical crisis. &his was so because it was a massive

60For example, Paul Binski,Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation(Ithaca: Cornell University Press)

1996.


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epidemic disease that affected communities of people in the same way" whereas prior to

this medicine had largely focused on treating individual bodies in terms of each personJs

specific balance or imbalance of compleions in the alenic tradition. As hard as

physicians such as Eohn of +urgundy and uy de Chauliac tried to find cures for the

plague" they ultimately admitted that od had the ultimate authority and that caring for

the soul was 'ust as important as caring for the body" if not more. After all" if the soul was

well" then the bodyJs health would follow. )%&heDanse Macabre stressed preparedness

of the soul when faced with eath. At first glance" it might appear that the Danse

Macabre theme is merely a reflection of the suddenness and prevalence of death in late

medieval !aris. +ut it is the unepected nature of death that conditioned the viewerJs

positive response to this imagery. Fince theDanse Macabre taught the viewer that death

could come at any time" it ultimately trained the soul to epect death at any moment.

&hrough constant vigilance" the soul that had pondered death at length could no longer be

surprised or shoced by it. >mbracing death by thining about it daily led to an increased

capacity to live oneJs life without a surplus of fear surrounding oneJs final departure. &he

tet at the end of theDanse Macabre cycle proves that this was the authorJs intention.

It is good to thin about this death: night and morning. &he thought is a

profitable one. ?any a man who is alive today will die tomorrow. #or as: there is

nothing more real than death so there is nothing: less stable than a manJs life. 6ou see it

with your own eyes" and therefore it is not a fable. nly a fool does not believe until he

receives...Fince it is the case that death is more certain and is: more painful and terrible

than any other thingP and that nothing can be so uncertain when its hour is so dreadful

)%Eohn of +urgundy in $osemary orro" &he +lac eath" ?anchester, ?anchester 7niversity !ress"

%884: %84G20/P uy de Chauliac in >dward rant" Fourceboo in ?edieval Fcience" Cambridge, arvard

7niversity !ress" %894: 99/G994.


29/30

and filled with anguish...ur life in this happy vale is so brief and yet so full of peril"

methins it is most fitting that we should entirely eep under foot this deceptive world in

order to live long and mae a good end... mortal man and reasonable beingO If after

death you do not wish to be damned you must" at least once a day" thin of your

loathsome end so that you may have a long life and die well.)2

+y pondering death daily" it became manageable. &hrough didactic imagery and

verse" death no longer seemed lie a disorderly yet powerful force that struc without

mercy. All was certain ecept the time of death" which ideally should be prolonged so

that one could prepare for it. &he mode of death was even unimportant as plague"

accidents" violence are all leveled to one imaginary. ne saw death with his own eyes

constantly" not only in everyday life in the cemetery and on the street during times of

mass epidemics" but also in theDanse Macabrecycle. It is important to distinguish that

the author did not thin that death itself could be controlled" 'ust oneJs reaction to it.

@hen one comes to terms with the inevitability of death and the frailty and brevity of

life" they are in a much better position to en'oy what life has to offer in the brief time that

they occupy the earth.

!ondering death also offered the chance for repentance in order to live a good

Christian life. &his theme is dualistic" encouraging the viewer to en'oy lifeJs brief

pleasures and to improve the soul so it will not be damned. &he artist clearly had

Christian salvation in mind as a religious man" but he also alludes to the en'oyment of

life. owever" considering the seual and commercial activity that transpired among the

charniers" not to mention the deliberate sinning after #riar $ichard departed" I do not

thin that it is too bold to state that the audience would have occasionally viewed the

)2Chaney )4G)3


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theme in a more secular light. It seems more logical that the marginal audience might

have viewed this theme not only as a chance for the eDuality of all classes in death" or a

chance to save their soul" but also as an ecuse to immerse oneself hedonistically in all

the pleasures that life had to offer before death.

dance of death and morality 2003

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