2004 Conference paper *please do not cite or distribute without the authors permission.

At the Cemetery of the Innocentsas in the Danse 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 fol lore and superstition. 4 0n all four sides" the mar etplace of 1es 2alles surrounded the cemetery. 3 &raffic ers often displayed their boo s" cloth" and iron scraps on the tombs.
)

&he bustling" lively

% 2

Clar 22 +ronislaw *ereme " The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris" 45ew 6or , Cambridge 7niversity !ress" %8(9:(). / #ran;ois $abelais in !hilippe Ari<s" The Hour of our Death" 41ondon, !eregrine +oo s" %8(/: 90. 4 Clar 22 3 =anessa 2arding. The Dead and the Living in Paris and London 1500-16 0.Cambridge, Cambridge 7niversity !ress" 2002: %00. ) >dward # Chaney"La Danse Macabre des !harniers des Saints "nnocents # Paris"41ondon, ?anchester 7niversity !ress" %843: 4.

mar etplace 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 %)th century. 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 %)th century #lemish artist wished to stress the coeAistence 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 eAtends his hand to accept alms" two smaller figures scuffle in the bac ground" women carry water" and the group to the right ma es a fire. Cogs populate the area" often placed directly neAt 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 mar ed 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 Cu CongH first mentions in the charter of %/29.8 &he word charnier actually referred both to the ossuary
9 (

+erger 29 Ari<s 29% 8 1eprouA in ?ichel #leury" Les Saints-"nnocents"4!aris, CHlHgation I lJaction artistiDue de la =ille de!aris" %880:29

above the gallery and the gallery proper. Along the walls of the cemetery" ossuaries rested on top of covered wal s 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. %% &he Danse Macabre fresco unfolded panel by panel along the right hand side of the charniers in 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 ma e room for newcomers arose in the fourteenth century because of the outbrea s 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 'uAtaposing 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 charniers provided
%0

Clar 22 Aris 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.
11
%2

Ari<s 34

a practical means of creating space in a cemetery that was increasingly unable to absorb the growing number of deaths from epidemics. 2owever" the visibility of the bones is stri ing" and they were artistically arranged for the purpose of spectacle beginning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.%/ Although the eAposure to air eApedited 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 loo ed at the decaying bones of their ancestors in the charnel house as if it were a natural history museum"%4 or a living eApression of vanitas unfolding before their eyes. 7nderneath the bone galleries" the Danse Macabre fresco unfolded with the message that all were eDual in death. &he bones above" which had been eAhumed and charnelled regardless of oneJs social station" reinforced the message of the fresco. It is revealing that the Danse 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 ta ing shape. It becomes a grouping with a compleA and diversified structure" simultaneously real and symbolic" aAial 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 syntaA" isolating factors such as order" ran s of participants"

%/ %4

Ari<s )0 Clar 22

and the composition of the totality. 0rder becomes a means to convey the message" which is complicated by the participantsJ reciprocal relationships and relative positions within the parade. &he procession creates a system of values from this series of compleA relationships" in which repetition plays a ey role in driving home messages of hierarchy.
%3

In the !arisian Danse Macabre" the artist creates a patterned" repetitive procession consisting primarily of the most wealthy and powerful individuals" but includes a range of classes" creating a social hierarchy. +ut the artist constructs this elaborate social hierarchy only to destroy it" eAposing the helplessness and worthlessness of the most powerful in the face of Ceath" who perceives all men eDually. >ach viewer was meant to respond to one of the varied social classes that he belonged to in the cycle and act appropriately according to his social station. &he viewer also witnessed the actions and reactions of other social types eAperiencing death" which diminished the hierarchy to a certain degree. Fo did the location of the cycle beneath the charniers. &here was no respect for any particular social class at the Innocents in the process of charnelling, rich and poor were treated ali e.%) #ran;ois =illon" a %3th century #rench poet" wrote about the leveling effect of the charniers. @hen I thin of all the s ulls In charnel houses piled in rowsLAll of them were state officials ...of the MingJs household I supposeL 0r carters and porters" who nowsNL @hich one of them was a bishopN And which one could move a house on his bac with a strapNL I give up.L And those heads once owned great landsL And bowed and scraped to one anotherL And gave other heads commandsL @ho hastened to obey in fearL I see the heads now stac ed up here pellGmell" estates torn from their handL #rom this
%3

1ouis ?arin" -Femiotics of a !rocession". in Ti$e out of Ti$e% &ssays on the 'estival 4ed. Allesandro #alassi: 4 AlbuDuerDue, 7niversity of 5ew ?eAico !ress" %8(9: 220G22(. %) Clar 22

decree thereJs no repair.L @ho is the cler nowNL @ho commandsNL *od have their souls" now they are deadOL As for their bodies" they are rotting.L &hough they were lords and ladies" fedL $ichly on cream" rice and mil puddingL &heir bones to dust are fast decayingL 0blivious to sport and laughter.%9 &his passage regarding the charniers also applies to the Danse Macabre painting" as the charniers communicate very similar ideas and reinforce its meaning. &his passage is strongly directed at the rich and the powerful" in spite of the fact that people of all social stations were charnelled at the Cemetery of the Innocents. &he idea that these high and mighty individuals are permanently forced to share space with their inferiors fascinates =illon. In the last two lines" he stresses the idea that the living should en'oy life before it is too late. &he charniers with the Danse Macabre below them" and graves of the rich beneath the painting inverts the hierarchy that places the rich and powerful at the top of society. Fince they had been placed first in life" they would be the first to eAperience the horrors of death" which had a leveling effect. In this way" a poor individual en'oying all of the illicit pleasures at the cemetery could be superior to a dead rich person who followed all of the rules in life" only to have his honor stripped from him by uneApected death. &his fresco cycle that echoes these sentiments was placed on the right hand side of the cemetery" but the !arisian government demolished it in %))/ to widen the road" and is only nown today through *uyot ?archantJs %4(3 reproduction. %( 4figure %4G22: As the egalitarian nature of this large" public fresco cycle gained popularity" *uyot
17

Franois Villon,(trans. Louis Simpson)The Legacy and the Testament, (Ashland, Oregon, Storyline Press, 2000) 133.
18

Robert Berger, Public Access to Art in Paris, (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999) 28-29, Clark 22.

?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" eAploited the potential of the printing press to further the production of nowledge on a broad basis. ?archantJs editions" among the first printed boo s in !aris" became eAtremely 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 eAisted 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 eAist in the original. &he medium of fresco is vastly different from woodcuts. &he properties of fresco allow a greater lifeGli e vivacity to enter the figures because of the softer tonal gradation" as opposed to woodcuts in the %4(0s. !rintma ers 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

%8 20

Clar 2) Clar 2)

panel, usually one cleric" one layman" and two s eletons. In the fresco cycle" the artist also placed the teAt under the images.
2%

2owever" ?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 loo ed at each image individually" reading the teAt below before moving on to the neAt 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 2indman 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 eApensive materials for the wealthy" and says that this is where there is the most eAtant evidence. 22 @hile it is true that not all versions of the Danse Macabre were geared eAclusively at people with fewer resources" finally the possibility eAisted 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 transi tomb or an entire manuscript for themselves. @e cannot rule out the fact that many popular
2%

0n this point one could consult Isabelle le ?asne Chermont in 1eprouA (3" 80G% !ierre Champion" 1e Canse ?acabre de *uyot ?archant 4!aris, $ue des Buatre Chemins:" 4" Clar 24G23" *uenther +iedermann" -1es danses macabres du moyen Qge I la renaissance.. 4&sta$(ille %(8" %8(8: %8. 22 Fandra 2indman" -&he Career of *uy ?archant 4%4/(G%304:, 2igh Culture and 1ow Culture in !aris.. In Printing the )ritten )ord 4Ithaca, Cornell 7niversity !ress" %88%: )(G%0/.

prints are no longer with us today because they were printed on cheap paper" especially when she provides evidence that seven editions were printed between %4() and %300 at the beginning of her essay. @hile we now Duite a bit about ?archant" we have little evidence about the author. &his is not entirely unusual in medieval art. Clar ma es some educated guesses as to his identity and character. Clar believes that the artist must have been a scholarly man" definitely a theologian. 2e belonged to the circle of Eean *erson" the erudite" learned" and influential chancellor at the 7niversity of !aris" but he could not have been *erson because he was voluntarily eAiled from !aris in %423. In a Catalan version of the !arisian Danse Macabre cycle" the translator lists the original author as Eoannes Climachus or Climengis and states his profession as a doctor or canceller. *erson did have a friend named Climengis who was not a doctor" but he may well have been a cler .2/ 2owever" the authorJs eAact identity is of much less concern than the role that he fulfills within the conteAt of this cycle. &he author appears twice in ?archantJs %4(3" %4()" and %480 editions of the cycle 4and presumably in the original fresco:" once at the beginning and again at the end. Although he is not depicted within the cycle itself" he is very much a part of it" as he frames and narrates the events to come. &he author presents himself to us as the -acteur"J a term that emerged in late %4th century #rance" which had multiple meanings and associations. In *reimasJs Dictionnaire du Moyen 'ran*ais" the word is presented thus, -Acteur n.m 4fin RI= si<cle:%. celui Dui agit" Dui fait. 2. celui Dui est responsable" auteur 4sens gHn.:" lJacteur de la paiA. /. auteur dJun livre..
24

&he term

2/ 24

Eames ?. Clar " The Dance of Death in the Middle +ges and the ,enaissance.4 *lasgow" %830: 29G2(. Eulien *reimas" Dictionnaire du Moyen 'ran*ais 4!aris, 1arousse" %882: 8.

-autoer. had also been in use since the %2 th century, -Auteor n.m. 4fin de RII si<cle F. *rHgoireP 1atin auctor: celui Dui produit" Dui engendre.. 23 @hile -acteur. can be used in the sense of one who acts" or authors a boo " the term lac s connotations of creation implicit in the concept -auteor-. In using the term acteur rather than auteor" the author implies that he has authored the piece" but that he also frames the cycle" acts and participates in it. 0n the first page of the Danse Macabre cycle" the author sits in a high academic chair" or a cathedra. 4figure 2/: 2is clothing is relatively consistent with %3 th century depictions of a learned manJs robe. &he author composes himself in an outdoor environment closed off by columns" with his boo s scattered about him. 0ne of his hands rests gently underneath his boo " as he seems to present it to us" the reader. 2e peers solemnly at the angel in the rightGhand corner" possibly representative of his divine inspiration" who presents a banderole to the author and gestures towards the earth. &he angel confers divine wisdom from above upon the author" which he presents his terrestrial reader as a boo . &he small" innocuous dots that represent the teAt in the boo on his des contrast with the strong interaction between image and teAt in the cycle itself.2) 2e points towards the ground" signifying that we must attend to the way that we live on this earth if we are to prepare for death and to die well. 2e addresses us in #rench, 0 reasonable being that desires eternal life" here you have notable teaching to end your mortal life well. It is called the macabre dance which everyone learns to dance. &o man and woman it is natural. Ceath spares neither great nor small. In this mirror everyone can read that it behoves him to dance li e this. @ise is the man who truly sees himself in it. &he dead leads forward the live man. 6ou see the greatest begin" for there is none whom death does not stri e
23 2)

*reimas %% I will discuss this interaction at great lengths in a following paragraph.

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 teAtual 'ourney that he or she will underta e in the Danse 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 teAt" however" as s the reader to consider his celestial rather than his terrestrial fate. 4figure 24: In a rather long passage" he eAhorts 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. 2e 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 teAt. 4#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. 2e 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
29

Chaney 4)

figures that carry off the living have no effect on the authorsince he created death in his teAt" 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 boo s in the entire composition relative to the first author portrait. Feveral boo s have been stashed away underneath a des on the bac ground" and two only smaller boo s rest on the des top. 0ne 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 fleAible" 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 auteor and 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 Macabre at the #ranciscan Cemetery of the Innocents. Ceath ridicules and moc s the richest members of society the most

vehemently in the cycle. &he authorJs writing and imagery is not laudatoryP rather" it is ironic" didactic" witty" and sarcastic. 2e is especially harsh with rich men who abuse the poor" eApressing a sympathetic attitude towards poverty. &his relates to the message of the cemetery and the seven wor s of charity. 2e spea s 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 2e also moc s the pompous physician with his diagnostic vial of urine" who cannot find a cure for Ceath. Ceath 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 Macabre series probably emerged from the compassion that the mendicant orders had for the poor./% &he Cance of Ceath 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. &he Danse Macabre at the Innocents initiated the use of image and teAt in other dance of death cycles in >urope. As 1ina +olKoni notes in her boo " The )eb of "$ages" teAt 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. 2er idea of the -web of images. implies that images and teAt" and various sorts of similar religious images connect with each other in terms of the memories that they evo e and the creative
2( 28

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

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 teAts" a sermon could eAist outside of its usual boundaries of time" becoming encoded in the image itself.// +olKoni discusses the Triu$(h of Death cycle of %//0G%/40 at the Camposanto in !isa. @riting was inserted into the imageP large central scenes were flan ed by scrolls containing inscriptions. Fhe loo s at this painting in connection with the Cominican preaching of #ra *iordano at this location" and notes that this fresco cycle was very li ely to have been used in Cominican 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. /4 1evels of literacy and comprehension eAisted for multiple viewers of the painting. &he illiterate could comprehend the images" literate people could read the vernacular and richly compare it to the teAtual inscriptions" and an erudite reader who new 1atin could mediate between image teAt" 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. 2e utiliKed abstract concepts and brought them down to everyday eAperience. And yet" preachers also drew divisions between themselves and their audience based on their authority to translate and transmit the word of *od.
33

Lina Bolzoni, (trans. Carole Preston and Lisa Chien), The Web of Images (Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2004) 7-9.
/4 /3

+olKoni %) +olKoni 24

Fermons often moc ed 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 4structure of the world: to teach the illiterate concepts that would be abstruse for an educated person today. /9 &his is an eAcellent eAample of the blending of religion and learned medieval natural philosophy" since the Cosmographia often appeared in innumerable medical and natural philosophical treatises in the %4th century" 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 compleAity to the images. #or *iordano" the visual aspects became the most effective way to teach an audience" by

/) /9

+olKoni %(G%8 +olKoni 2)

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 2ell 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 neAt 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" 0 man" lest you too come to this sentence.J It is so spiritually. &he infernal gallows are placed before our eyes as an eAample...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. 2e must place the image deep within his memory and ma e active use of it for it to be effective. Images were to be indelibly fiAed in the mind as well as in the eye.40 &he images drove home the point of the read or spo en 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
/( /8

+olKoni 24 #ra *iordano in +olKoni 24G23 40 +olKoni /% 4% +olKoni %/G%4.

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 teAt and image resonateit can be assumed that the appearance of a painting would influence later teAt and verbal performances and vice versa. &he Danse Macabre at 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 0ourgeois de Paris. It is most li ely that he used vernacular speech with his vernacular imagery to preach to the masses. Fimilar to most of the cycles that followed" the teAt 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 teAt along with the Danse Macabre cycle at the Innocents" because *uillebert de ?etK wrote about the cycle in his %4/4 Descri(tion of the !ity of Paris. 2e noted that there were images" and -escriptures pour esmouvoir les gens I 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. 2e 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

42 4/

*uillebert de ?etK in Clar 24 Clar /( and %2" also ?aria *hiraldo in &enenti 209.

death on the eAterior nave arcade at Mermaria in +rittany" were composed in !arisian #rench beneath the images.44 &hey are practically identical with the verses in ?archantJs teAt. Fo are two #rench manuscripts in the +iblioth<Due 5ationale that claim to be copies of the original cycle" bearing the words -les vers de la danse macabre tels DuJils sont au Cimiti<re des Innocents..43 +olKoni notes that in the %/th century" mendicant preachers used the vernacular to preach to the masses" so that they would be able to understand better" but there was a tension involved in doing so. =ernacular teAts" while encouraging a greater understanding for the masses who did not now 1atin supposedly carried the ris of corrupting the original meaning and religious import of the teAt.
4)

*uyot ?archant carefully included

1atin verses above the images and #rench verses below" as a sort of compromise. &he 1atin verses hover above the images if to indicate the lofty" superior position of the words" while the vernacular remains below so that the less educated" earthy people of #rance could comprehend the message. ?any #rench men and women reacted in an intensely pious manner when #riar $ichard preached in front of the Danse Macabre at the Innocents in %428. &he anonymous author of the .ournal d/un bourgeois de Paris initially noted the gray friarJs presence in the #rench capital with awe and wonder. &hen" he became disappointed when he discovered #riar $ichardJs >nglish 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" he preached every single day eAcept for one. 2e began on
44 43

Clar // Clar 24 4) +olKoni %(

Faturday the %)th April in %428" and on the neAt Funday" and the wee after...at the Innocents. 2e would begin to preach at 3 oJcloc in the morning and go on between %0 and %% oJcloc " and there were always about 3 or ) thousand people listening to him. 2e preached on a high platformit was nearly one and a half toises highwith his 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 and stirred 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 bac gammon boards" dice" cards" balls and stic s" mirelis" and every covetous game that can give rise to anger and swearing. &he women" too" this day and the neAt" 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 to ma e them fold forwards. 5oblewomen left off their horns" their trains" and many of their vanities. Indeed" the %0 sermons 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 4Ft. +ernardino of Fiena:" 4is: 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 as bitterly 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 and drew together such crowds...was riding with them 4the >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 bac gammon" bowls" dicing" and so on. &hey even left off wearing a tin medallion which he had got them to wear bearing the name of Eesus and they all wore a Ft. AndrewJs cross instead. 49 #riar $ichard effectively utiliKed image and teAt 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 %3th century that did not focus on the Apocalypse.
49

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

&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. 2e preached eAtensively on the social ills of his day" such as gambling" usury" political discord" and laA seAual mores 4his favorite targets were sodomites and vain" loose women who needed bloodletting to control their seAual urges:. 2e preached eAtensively against the vanities of women who corrupted menJs hearts with their bewitching gowns" painted faces" and feminine wiles. 4( 1i e 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 spo en 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 eAtensive use of visual images. 2is highly theatrical sermons lin ed 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 4churches" 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( 48

+olKoni %2% +olKoni %2% 30 +olKoni %23 3% +olKoni %/)

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. 2e eAplained 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 eAcellence that would unloc all doors to nowledge" meditation" and contemplation.3/ 2owever" 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 - brieve1. 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 3/

+olKoni %)8 +olKoni %)( 34 +olKoni %90G%9% 33 +ernardino da Fiena in +olKoni %93

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 neAt to their bodies at all times. &his idea is especially interesting in #riar $ichardJs case" since he preached neAt to the Danse Macabre during the plague. It is li ely 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 intermiAed" but so were diverse ways of warding off illness that involved caring for the body and soul. @hile the immediacy and omnipresence of Ceath would have been plain in the written and visual message of the Danse Macabre 4and 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 eAisted in a web of associations" what tainted associations would the Danse Macabre cycle have after a traitor preached convincing falsities before itN &o what eAtent would the image and teAt ta e 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 .ournal never 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

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 teAts 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 Cance of Ceath 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" 4fig. 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. 0ne 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 Ceath or the dead. Clar believes that Ceath itself carries away the living" while others believe that the s eletons 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 teAt" 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 ta e them away. Ceath suddenly abducts
39

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

the living figures at an uneApected moment. 2e 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 s in 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 teAt echoes this sentiment. The Dead Man: ?ethin s you pretend to be amaKed" cardinal. Come Duic lyO 1et us now follow the others all together. AmaKement is bootless now. 6ou have lived haughtily and honorably to your heartJs content. &a e 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. Ceath 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 not prepared for it. All 'oy ends in sorrow. The Dead Man: ComeO 5oble crowned ing" famed for strength and prowess. #ormerly you were surrounded by great pomp and nobility. +ut now you will leave all your grandeur. 6ou are not alone. 1ittle of your riches will you have" 4for: 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. Ceath destroys everythingthat is his customthe great as well as the less. &he man who rates himself 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" Ceath captures the gray friar and the child. 4#igure 29:&he friar has amply prepared himself for death by preaching about it eAtensively during his life" which contrasts mar edly with the small child who has had no time to live" let alone to prepare for the
3(

Chaney 4(.

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 4e.g.#riar $ichard: preached there. Ceath does not grin at the friar in a horrifically menacing" macabre manner" softening his eApression for the first time in the cycle. 2e eApresses 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 shac led" and his body slightly inclining towards Ceath even as he attempts to step away. &he grey friarJs facial eApression is sweetly reticent with a faintly ironic smile" but he is not afraid. Ceath does not violently seiKe this religious" pious man" guiding him along gently but firmly. &he second Ceath figure places a gentle" reassuring hand on the friarJs bac and ta es the infant by the hand. +ecause of CeathJs profile view" his macabre grin is not nearly as frightening. &he small child appears to be puKKled and faintly sad that CeathJs s eletal fingers grip his soft" pudgy" tiny hand" summoning him to dance when he cannot even wal . Ceath eApresses much more sympathy towards these figures teAtually as well as visually. The Dead Man: 5eAt you grey friarO 6ou have often preached about death so you should marvel the less. 6ou must not frighten yourself about it. 5o one is so strong that death does not stop him. Fo it is good to watch your dying. Ceath is ready at every hour. The Gray Friar: @hat is life in this worldN 5o man dwells there 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 our misdeeds. *od does our wor Duic ly. @ise is the sinner who mends his ways. The Dead Man: 1ittle child" but lately born" you will have little pleasure in this life. 6ou shall be brought to the dance li e any other" for death has power over all. #rom the day of birth everybody has to ma e an offering to death. 2e

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 my tongue is dumb. 6esterday I was born" today I must depart. I do but ma e my entry and eAit. I have done no wrong but I sweat with fear. I must resign myself. &hat is best. *odJs decree does not change. &he young are as li e 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 4sumptuous clothing and terrestrial might:" or spiritual 4vows of mendicancy or a day of sinless" precious life:" will all be carried off by Ceath. In almost all of the Danse Macabre images" 4#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 s eletons 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 Ceath comes from the macabre Duality of grinning at danger and the playful irony of Ceath 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
38

Chaney )%

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 eAhort 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. &he Danse 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 ineApensive. Caring for the soul was important" even if one could not guarantee care for their body in the deadly outbrea s 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" eAcept now those with less money had access to it. &he Danse 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

60

For example, Paul Binski, Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation (Ithaca: Cornell University Press) 1996.

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 compleAions 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.
)%

&he Danse Macabre stressed preparedness

of the soul when faced with Ceath. 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 uneApected nature of death that conditioned the viewerJs positive response to this imagery. Fince the Danse Macabre taught the viewer that death could come at any time" it ultimately trained the soul to eApect death at any moment. &hrough constant vigilance" the soul that had pondered death at length could no longer be surprised or shoc ed by it. >mbracing death by thin ing about it daily led to an increased capacity to live oneJs life without a surplus of fear surrounding oneJs final departure. &he teAt at the end of the Danse Macabre cycle proves that this was the authorJs intention. It is good to thin about this 4death: night and morning. &he thought is a

profitable one. ?any a man who is alive today will die tomorrow. #or 4as: there is nothing more real than death 4so there is nothing: less stable than a manJs life. 6ou see it with your own eyes" and therefore it is not a fable. 0nly a fool does not believe until he receives...Fince it is the case that death is more certain 4and 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 2orroA" &he +lac Ceath" 4?anchester, ?anchester 7niversity !ress" %884: %84G20/P *uy de Chauliac in >dward *rant" Fourceboo in ?edieval Fcience" 4Cambridge, 2arvard 7niversity !ress" %894: 99/G994.

and filled with anguish...0ur life in this happy vale is so brief and yet so full of peril" methin s it is most fitting that we should entirely eep under foot this deceptive world in order to live long and ma e a good end...0 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 li e a disorderly yet powerful force that struc without mercy. All was certain eAcept 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. 0ne 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 the Danse Macabre cycle. 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. 2owever" considering the seAual 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
)2

Chaney )4G)3

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 eAcuse to immerse oneself hedonistically in all the pleasures that life had to offer before death.