The Dance of Death

In the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s museum at Florence there is an ancient gem, that, from its singularity and connexion with the present subject, is well deserving of notice. It represents an old man, probably a shepherd, clothed in a hairy garment. He sits upon a stone, his right foot resting on a globe, and is piping on a double flute, whilst a skeleton dances grotesquely before him. It might be a matter of some difficulty to explain the recondite meaning of this singular subject.29

Notwithstanding the interdiction in several councils against the practice of dancing in churches and church-yards, it was found impossible to abolish it altogether; and it therefore became necessary that something of a similar, but more decorous, nature should be substituted, which, whilst it afforded recreation and amusement, might, at the same time, convey with it a moral and religious sensation. It is, therefore, extremely probable, that, in furtherance of this intention, the clergy contrived and introduced the Dance or Pageant of Death, or, as it was sometimes called, the Dance of Macaber, for reasons that will hereafter appear. Mr. Warton states, “that in many churches of France there was an ancient show, or mimickry, in which all ranks of life were personated by the ecclesiastics, who danced together, and disappeared one after another.”30 Again, speaking of Lydgate’s poem on this subject, he says, “these verses, founded on a sort of spiritual masquerade antiently celebrated in churches, &c.”31 M. Barante, in his History of the Dukes of Burgundy, adverting to the entertainments that took place at Paris when Philip le Bon visited that city in 1424, observes, “that these were not solely made for the nobility, the common people being likewise amused from the month of August to the following season of Lent with the Dance of Death in the church yard of the Innocents, the English being particularly gratified with this exhibition, which included all ranks and conditions of men, Death being, morally, the principal character.”32 Another French historian, M. de Villeneuve Bargemont, informs us that the Duke of Bedford celebrated his victory at Verneuil by a festival in the centre of the French capital. The rest of what this writer has recorded on the subject before us will be best given in his own words, “Nous voulons parler de cette fameuse procession qu’on vit defiler dans les rues de Paris, sous le nom de danse Macabrée ou infernale, epouvantable divertissement, auquel présidoit un squelette ceint du diadême royal, tenant un sceptre dans ses mains décharnées et assis sur un trône resplendissant d’or et de pierreries. Ce spectacle repoussant, mêlange odieux de deuil et de joie, inconnu jusqu’alors, et qui ne s’est jamais renouvellé, n’eut guere pour témoins que des soldats étrangers, ou quelques malheureux échappés à tous les fléaux réunis, et qui avoient vu descendre tous leurs parens, tous leurs amis, dans ces sepulchres qu’on dépouilloit alors de leurs ossemens.”33 A third French writer has also treated the Dance of Death as a spectacle exhibited in like manner to the people of Paris.34 M. Peignot, to whom the reader is obliged for these historical notices in his ingenious researches on the present subject, very plausibly conceives that their authors have entirely mistaken the sense of an old chronicle or journal under Charles VI. and VII. which he quotes in the following words. – “Item. L’an 1424 fut faite la Danse Maratre (pour Macabre) aux Innocens, et fut comencée environ le moys d’Aoust et achevée au karesme suivant. En l’an 1429 le cordelier Richard preschant aux Innocens estoit monté sur ung hault eschaffaut qui estoit près de toise et demie de hault, le dos tourné vers les charniers encontre la charounerie, à l’endroit de la danse Macabre.” He observes, that the Dance of Death at the Innocents, having been commenced in August and finished at the ensuing Lent, could not possibly be represented by living persons, but was only a painting, the large dimensions of which required six months to complete it; and that a single Death must, in the other case, have danced with every individual belonging to the scene.35 He might have added, that such a proceeding would have been totally at variance with the florid, but most inaccurate, description by M. Bargemont. The reader will, therefore, most probably feel inclined to adopt the opinion of M. Peignot, that the Dance of Death was not performed by living persons between 1424 and 1429.

But although M. Peignot may have triumphantly demonstrated that this subject was not exhibited by living persons at the above place and period, it by no means follows that it was not so represented at some other time, and on some other spot. Accordingly, in the archives of the cathedral of Besançon, there is preserved an article respecting a delivery made to one of the officers of Saint John the Evangelist of four measures of wine, to be given to those persons who performed the Dance of Death after mass was concluded. This is the article itself, “Sexcallus [seneschallus] solvat D. Joanni Caleti matriculario S. Joannis quatuor simasias vini per dictum matricularium exhibitas illis qui choream Machabeorum fecerunt 10 Julii, 1453, nuper lapsa hora misse in ecclesia S. Joannis Evangeliste propter capitulum provinciale fratrum Minorum.”36 This document then will set the matter completely at rest.

At what time the personified exhibition of this pageant commenced, or when it was discontinued cannot now be correctly ascertained. If, from a moral spectacle, it became a licentious ceremony, as is by no means improbable, in imitation of electing a boy-bishop, of the feast of fools, or other similar absurdities, its termination may be looked for in the authority of some ecclesiastical council at present not easily to be traced.

CHAPTER II

Places where the Dance of Death was sculptured or depicted. – Usually accompanied by verses describing the several characters. – Other Metrical Compositions on the Dance.

The subject immediately before us was very often represented, not only on the walls, but in the windows of many churches, in the cloisters of monasteries, and even on bridges, especially in Germany and Switzerland. It was sometimes painted on church screens, and occasionally sculptured on them, as well as upon the fronts of domestic dwellings. It occurs in many of the manuscript and illuminated service books of the middle ages, and frequent allusions to it are found in other manuscripts, but very rarely in a perfect state, as to the number of subjects.

Most of the representations of the Dance of Death were accompanied by descriptive or moral verses in different languages. Those which were added to the paintings of this subject in Germany appear to have differed very materially, and it is not now possible to ascertain which among them is the oldest. Those in the Basle painting are inserted in the editions published and engraved by Mathew Merian, but they had already occurred in the Decennalia humanæ peregrinationis of Gaspar Landismann in 1584. Some Latin verses were published by Melchior Goldasti at the end of his edition of the Speculum omnium statuum, a celebrated moral work by Roderic, Bishop of Zamora, 1613, 4to. He most probably copied them from one of the early editions of the Danse Macabre, but without any comment whatever, the above title page professing that they are added on account of the similarity of the subject.

A Provençal poet, called Marcabres or Marcabrus, has been placed among the versifiers, but none of his works bear the least similitude to the subject; and, moreover, the language itself is an objection. The English metrical translation will be noticed hereafter. Whether any of the paintings were accompanied by descriptive verses that might be considered as anterior to those ascribed to the supposed Macaber, cannot now be ascertained.

There are likewise some Latin verses in imitation of those above-mentioned, which, as well as the author of them, do not seem to have been noticed by any biographical or poetical writer. They occur at the end of a Latin play, intitled Susanna, Antverp. apud Michaelem Hillenium, MDXXXIII. As the volume is extremely rare, and the verses intimately connected with the present subject, it has been thought worth while to reprint them. After an elegy on the vanity and shortness of human life, and a Sapphic ode on the remembrance of Death, they follow under this title, “Plausus luctificæ mortis ad modum dialogi extemporaliter ab Eusebio Candido lusus. Ad quem quique mortales invitantur omnes, cujuscujus sint conditionis: quibusque singulis Mors ipsa respondet.”

Luctificæ mortis plausum bene cernite cuncti.Dum res læta, mori et viventes discite, namqueOmnes ex æquo tandem huc properare necessum.

Hic inducitur adolescens quærens, et mors vel philosophus respondens.

Vita quid est hominis? Fumus super aream missus.Vita quid est hominis? Via mortis, dura laborumColluvies, vita est hominis via longa dolorisPerpetui. Vita quid est hominis? cruciatus et error,Vita quid est hominis? vestitus gramine multo,Floribus et variis campus, quem parva pruinaExpoliat, sic vitam hominum mors impia tollit.Quamlibet illa alacris, vegeta, aut opulenta ne felix,Icta cadit modica crede ægritudine mortis.Et quamvis superes auro vel murice Crœsum,Longævum aut annis vivendo Nestora vincas,Omnia mors æquat, vitæ meta ultima mors est.ImperatorQuid fers? Induperator ego, et moderamina rerumGesto manu, domuit mors impia sceptra potentum.Rex RhomanusQuid fers? en ego Rhomulidum rex. Mors manet omnes.PapaEn ego Pontificum primus, signansque resignans.Et cœlos oraque locos. Mors te manet ergo.CardinalisCardineo fulgens ego honore, et Episcopus ecceMors manet ecce omnes, Phrygeus quos pileus ornat.EpiscopusInsula splendidior vestit mea, tempora latumPossideo imperium, multi mea jura tremiscunt.Me dicant fraudis docti, producere lites.Experti, aucupium docti nummorum, et averniCausidici, rixatores, rabulæque forenses.Hos ego respicio, nihil attendens animarum,Ecclesiæ mihi commissæ populive salutemSed satis est duros loculo infarcisse laboresAgricolûm, et magnis placuisse heroibus orbis.Non tamen effugies mortis mala spicula duræ.Ecclesiæ PrælatusEcclesiæ prælatus ego multis venerandusMuneribus sacris, proventibus officiorum.Comptior est vestis, popina frequentior ædeSacra, et psalmorum cantus mihi rarior ipsoTalorum crepitu, Veneris quoque voce sonora.Morte cades, annos speras ubi vivere plures.CanonicusEn ego melotam gesto. Mors sæva propinquat.PastorEn parochus quoque pastor ego, mihi dulce falernumNotius æde sacra: scortum mihi charius ipsaEst animæ cura populi. Mors te manet ergo.AbbasEn abbas venio, Veneris quoque ventris amicus.Cœnobii rara est mihi cura, frequentior aulaMagnorum heroum. Chorea saltabis eadem.PriorEn prior, ornatus longa et splendente cuculla,Falce cades mortis. Mors aufert nomina honoris.Pater VestaliumNympharum pater ecce ego sum ventrosior, offisPinguibus emacerans corpus. Mors te manet ipsa.Vestalis NymphaEn monialis ego, Vestæ servire parata.Non te Vesta potest mortis subducere castris.LegatusLegatus venio culparum vincla resolvemusOmnia pro auro, abiens cœlum vendo, infera claudoEt quicquid patres sanxerunt, munere solvoJuribus à mortis non te legatio solvet.Dominus DoctorQuid fers? Ecce sophus, divina humanaque juraCalleo, et à populo doctor Rabbique salutor,Te manet expectans mors ultima linea rerum.MedicusEn ego sum medicus, vitam producere gnarus,Venis lustratis morborum nomina dico,Non poteris duræ mortis vitare sagittas.AstronomusEn ego stellarum motus et sydera novi,Et fati genus omne scio prædicere cœli.Non potis es mortis duræ præscire sagittas.CurtisanusEn me Rhoma potens multis suffarsit onustumMuneribus sacris, proventibus, officiisqueNon potes his mortis fugiens evadere tela.AdvocatusCausarum patronus ego, producere doctusLites, et loculos lingua vacuare loquaciNon te lingua loquax mortis subducet ab ictu.JudexJustitiæ judex quia sum, sub plebe salutor.Vertice me nudo populus veneratur adorans.Auri sacra fames pervertere sæpe coëgitJustitiam. Mors te manet æquans omnia falce.PrætorPrætor ego populi, me prætor nemo quid audet.Accensor causis, per me stant omnia, namqueEt dono et adimo vitam, cum rebus honorem.Munere conspecto, quod iniquum est jure triumphatEmitto corvos, censura damno columbas.Hinc metuendus ero superis ereboque profundo.Te manet expectans Erebus Plutoque cruentus.ConsulPolleo consiliis, Consul dicorque salutor.Munere conspecto, quid iniquum est consulo rectumQuod rectum est flecto, nihil est quod nesciat auriSacra fames, hinc ditor et undique fio opulentusSed eris æternum miser et mors impia tollet.CausidicusCausidicus ego sum, causas narrare peritus,Accior in causas, sed spes ubi fulserit auriAd fraudes docta solers utor bene lingua.Muto, commuto, jura inflecto atque reflecto.Et nihil est quod non astu pervincere possim.Mors æqua expectat properans te fulmine diro.Nec poteris astu mortis prævertere tela.ScabinusEcce Scabinus ego, scabo bursas, prorogo causas.Senatorque vocor, vulgus me poplite curvo,Muneribusque datis veneratur, fronte retecta.Nil mortem meditor loculos quando impleo nummisEt dito hæredes nummis, vi, fraude receptis,Justitiam nummis, pro sanguine, munere, vendo.Quod rectum est curvo, quod curvum est munere rectumEfficio, per me prorsus stant omnia jura.Non poteris duræ mortis transire sagittas.LudimagisterEn ego pervigili cura externoque labore.Excolui juvenum ingenia, et præcepta MinervæTradens consenui, cathedræque piget sine fructu.Quid dabitur fructus, tanti quæ dona laboris?Omnia mors æquans, vitæ ultima meta laboris.Miles AuratusMiles ego auratus, fulgenti murice et auroSplendidus in populo. Mors te manet omnia perdens.Miles ArmatusMiles ego armatus, qui bella ferocia gessi.Nullius occursum expavi, quam durus et audax.Ergo immunis ero. Mors te intrepida ipsa necabit.MercatorEn ego mercator dives, maria omnia lustroEt terras, ut res crescant. Mors te metet ipsa.FuckardusEn ego fuckardus, loculos gesto æris onustos,Omnia per mundum coëmens, vendo atque revendo.Heroës me solicitant, atque æra requirunt.Haud est me lato quisquam modo ditior orbe.Mortis ego jura et frameas nihil ergo tremiscoMorte cades, mors te rebus spoliabit opimis.QuæstorQuæstor ego, loculos suffersi arcasque capacesEst mihi prænitidis fundata pecunia villis.Hac dives redimam duræ discrimina mortisTe mors præripiet nullo exorabilis auro.NauclerusEn ego nauclerus spaciosa per æquora vectus,Non timui maris aut venti discrimina mille.Cymba tamen mortis capiet te quæque vorantis.AgricolaAgricola en ego sum, præduro sæpe labore,Et vigili exhaustus cura, sudore perenni,Victum prætenuem quærens, sine fraude doloqueOmnia pertentans, miseram ut traducere possimVitam, nec mundo me est infelicior alter.Mors tamen eduri fiet tibi meta laboris.OratorHeroum interpres venio, fraudisque peritus,Bellorum strepitus compono, et bella reduco,Meque petunt reges, populus miratur adorans.Nulla abiget fraudi linguéve peritia mortem.Princeps BelliFulmen ego belli, reges et regna subegi,Victor ego ex omni præduro quamlibet ecceMarte fui, vitæ hinc timeo discrimina nulla.Te mors confodiet cauda Trigonis aquosi,Atque eris exanimis moriens uno ictu homo bulla.DivesSum rerum felix, fœcunda est prolis et uxor,Plena domus, lætum pecus, et cellaria plenaNil igitur metuo. Quid ais? Mors te impia tollet.PauperIro ego pauperior, Codroque tenuior omni,Despicior cunctis, nemo est qui sublevet heu heu.Hinc parcet veniens mors: nam nihil auferet à me,Non sic evades, ditem cum paupere tollit.FœneratorUt loculi intument auro, vi, fraude, doloque,Fœnore nunc quæstum facio, furtoque rapinaque,Ut proles ditem, passim dicarque beatus,Per fas perque nefas corradens omnia quæro.Mors veniens furtim prædabitur, omnia tollens.AdolescensSum juvenis, forma spectabilis, indole gaudensMaturusque ævi, nullus præstantior alter,Moribus egregiis populo laudatus ab omni.Pallida, difformis mors auferet omnia raptim.PuellaEcce puellarum pulcherrima, mortis iniquæSpicula nil meditor, juvenilibus et fruor annis,Meque proci expectant compti, facieque venusti.Stulta, quid in vana spe jactas? Mors metet omnesDifformes, pulchrosque simul cum paupere dices.NunciusNuncius ecce ego sum, qui nuncia perfero pernixSed retrospectans post terga, papæ audio quidnam?Me tuba terrificans mortis vocat. Heu moriendum est.Peroratio.Mortales igitur memores modo vivite lætiInstar venturi furis, discrimine nulloCunctos rapturi passim ditesque inopesque.Stultus et insipiens vita qui sperat in ista,Instar quæ fumi perit et cito desinit esse.Fac igitur tota virtuti incumbito mente,Quæ nescit mortem, sed scandit ad ardua cœli.Quo nos à fatis ducat rex Juppiter, Amen.Plaudite nunc, animum cuncti retinete faventesFINISAntwerpiæ apud Michaelem Hillenium M.D.XXXIIII. Mense Maio

A very early allusion to the Dance of Death occurs in a Latin poem, that seems to have been composed in the twelfth century by our celebrated countryman Walter de Mapes, as it is found among other pieces that carry with them strong marks of his authorship. It is intitled “Lamentacio et deploracio pro Morte et consilium de vivente Deo.”37 In its construction there is a striking resemblance to the common metrical stanzas that accompany the Macaber Dance. Many characters, commencing with that of the Pope, are introduced, all of whom bewail the uncontrolable influence of Death. This is a specimen of the work, extracted from two manuscripts:

Then follow similar stanzas, for presul, miles, monachus, legista, jurista, doctor, logicus, medicus, cantor, sapiens, dives, cultor, burgensis, nauta, pincerna, pauper.

In Sanchez’s collection of Spanish poetry before the year 1400,38 mention is made of a Rabbi Santo as a good poet, who lived about 1360. He was a Jew, and surgeon to Don Pedro. His real name seems to have been Mose, but he calls himself Don Santo Judio de Carrion. This person is said to have written a moral poem, called “Danza General.” It commences thus:

“Dise la Muerte“Yo so la muerte cierta a todas criaturas,Que son y seran en el mundo durante:Demando y digo O ame! porque curasDe vida tan breve en punto passante?” &c.

He then introduces a preacher, who announces Death to all persons, and advises them to be prepared by good works to enter his Dance, which is calculated for all degrees of mankind.

“Primaramente llama a su danza a dos doncellas,A esta mi danza trax de presente,Estas dos donzellas que vades fermosas:Ellas vinieron de muy malamenteA oir mes canciones que son dolorosas,Mas non les valdran flores nin rosas,Nin las composturas que poner salian:De mi, si pudiesen parterra querrian,Mas non proveda ser, que son mis esposas.”

It may, however, be doubted whether the Jew Santo was the author of this Dance of Death, as it is by no means improbable that it may have been a subsequent work added to the manuscript referred to by Sanchez.

In 1675, Maitre Jacques Jacques, a canon of the cathedral of Ambrun, published a singular work, intitled “Le faut mourir et les excuses inutiles que l’on apporte à cette nécessité. Le tout en vers burlesques.” Rouen, 1675, 12mo. It is written much in the style of Scarron and some other similar poets of the time. It commences with a humorous description given by Death of his proceedings with various persons in every part of the globe, which is followed by several dialogues between Death and the following characters: 1. The Pope. 2. A young lady betrothed. 3. A galley slave. 4. Guillot, who has lost his wife. 5. Don Diego Dalmazere, a Spanish hidalgo. 6. A king. 7. The young widow of a citizen. 8. A citizen. 9. A decrepit rich man. 10. A canon. 11. A blind man. 12. A poor peasant. 13. Tourmenté, a poor soldier in the hospital. 14. A criminal in prison. 15. A nun. 16. A physician. 17. An apothecary. 18. A lame beggar. 19. A rich usurer. 20. A merchant. 21. A rich merchant. As the book is uncommon, the following specimen is given from the scene between Death and the young betrothed girl:

La MortA vous la belle demoiselle,Je vous apporte une nouvelle,Qui certes vous surprendra fort.C’est qu’il faut penser à la mort,Tout vistement pliés bagage,Car il faut faire ce voyage.La DemoiselleQu’entends-je? Tout mon sens se perd,Helas! vous me prener sans verd;C’est tout à fait hors de raisonMourir dedans une saisonQue je ne dois songer qu’à rire,Je suis contrainte de vous dire,Que très injuste est vostre choix,Parce que mourir je ne dois,N’estant qu’en ma quinzième année,Voyez quelque vielle échinée,Qui n’ait en bouche point de dent;Vous l’obligerez grandementDe l’envoyer à l’autre monde,Puis qu’ici toujours elle gronde;Vous la prendrez tout à propos,Et laissez moi dans le repos,Moi qui suis toute poupinette,Dans l’embonpoint et joliette,Qui n’aime qu’à me réjouir,De grâce laissez moi jouir, &c.

CHAPTER III

Macaber not a German or any other poet, but a nonentity. – Corruption and confusion respecting this word. – Etymological errors concerning it. – How connected with the Dance. – Trois mors et trois vifs. – Orgagna’s painting in the Campo Santo at Pisa. – Its connection with the trois mors et trois vifs, as well as with the Macaber dance. – Saint Macarius the real Macaber. – Paintings of this dance in various places. – At Minden; Church-yard of the Innocents at Paris; Dijon; Basle; Klingenthal; Lubeck; Leipsic; Anneberg; Dresden; Erfurth; Nuremberg; Berne; Lucerne; Amiens; Rouen; Fescamp; Blois; Strasburg; Berlin; Vienna; Holland; Italy; Spain.

The next subject for investigation is the origin of the name of Macaber, as connected with the Dance of Death, either with respect to the verses that have usually accompanied it, or to the paintings or representations of the Dance itself; and first of the verses.

It may, without much hazard, be maintained that, notwithstanding these have been ascribed to a German poet called Macaber, there never was a German, or any poet whatever bearing such a name. The first mention of him appears to have been in a French edition of the Danse Macabre, with the following title, “Chorea ab eximio Macabro versibus Alemannicis edito, et à Petro Desrey emendata. Parisiis per Magistrum Guidonem Mercatorem pro Godefrido de Marnef. 1490, folio.” This title, from its ambiguity, is deserving of little consideration as a matter of authority; for if a comma be placed after the word Macabro, the title is equally applicable to the author of the verses and to the painter or inventor of the Dance. As the subject had been represented in several places in Germany, and of course accompanied with German descriptions, it is possible that Desrey might have translated and altered some or one of these, and, mistaking the real meaning of the word, have converted it into the name of an author. It may be asked in what German biography is such a person to be found? how it has happened that this famous Macaber is so little known, or whether the name really has a Teutonic aspect? It was the above title in Desrey’s work that misled the truly learned Fabricius inadvertently to introduce into his valuable work the article for Macaber as a German poet, and in a work to which it could not properly belong.39

M. Peignot has very justly observed that the Danse Macabre had been very long known in France and elsewhere, not as a literary work, but as a painting; and he further remarks that although the verses are German in the Basil painting, executed about 1440, similar verses in French were placed under the dance at the Innocents at Paris in 1424.40

At the beginning of the text in the early French edition of the Danse Macabre, we have only the words “la danse Macabre sappelle,” but no specific mention is made of the author of the verses. John Lydgate, in his translation of them from the French, and which was most probably adopted in many places in England where the painting occurred, speaks of “the Frenche Machabrees daunce,” and “the daunce of Machabree.” At the end, “Machabree the Doctoure,” is abruptly and unconnectedly introduced at the bottom of the page. It is not in the French printed copy, from the text of which Lydgate certainly varies in several respects. It remains, therefore, to ascertain whether these words belong to Lydgate, or to whom else; not that it is a matter of much importance.

The earliest authority that has been traced for the name of “Danse Macabre,” belongs to the painting at the Innocents, and occurs in the MS. diary of Charles VII. under the year 1424. It is also strangely called “Chorea Machabæorum,” in 1453, as appears from the before cited document at St. John’s church at Besançon. Even the name of one Maccabrees, a Provençal poet of the 14th century, has been injudiciously connected with the subject, though his works are of a very different nature.