The Franciscan in the pulpit
Franciscan
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The Franciscan in the pulpit |
(Hyr ste)et dy bruder van sunte franciscus orden
(uppe) eyneme predickstul unde seeth ...
(leven wold)e gy sunder grot(e not)
(nu mute gi lide)n den bitteren doet
.............den konde an liuen
...............t syner....
............unde met myne..
.................litche.....
........... redyen..ik......
.......... den pypen wike
(bytterlyken s)terven ys dy erste sanck
(dy ande)r alzo dy klokkenklanck.
(dy drudde van) frunden syn vorgeten
(al)tydes dat svlle gy weten
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Here the brother of the order of St. Francis(1) is standing
in a pulpit and says ...(2)
You would live without great need
Now you must suffer the bitter death
.............could in life
.............
.............and with my
.............
.............
...........give way to the fife
Bitterly dying is the first song
the second [is] like the ringing of bells
The third [is to] be forgotten by friends
This you should always know.(3)
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The start of the dance of death in Berlin.
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Notice the little monsters, one of which is playing a bagpipe - the same instrument used in
Tallinn.
In other dances of death the music is always supplied by the dead.
Footnotes:
(1)
(2)
(3)
Giovanni Francesco Bernardone
(Francis of Assisi - 1182-1226) founded several orders. Franciscans are preachers and these "grey brothers"
are not allowed to possess any goods, but must live of alms,
however, they usually built their own
churches on ground conceded to them for that purpose.
It's interesting that the Franciscan is allowed to introduce
the dance of death in St. Mary's Church,
which is a parish church and does not belong
to the Franciscan friary's complex.
It's not clear whether something is missing here.
The two first lines don't rhyme, and as the lithograph at the top of the page shows
there's room for another word or two.
On the other hand, this scene has 14 lines of text as opposed to
all the other scenes, that have 12 lines.
Thus the two first lines could be an (unrhymed)
introduction, in spite of them being written with the same type as the rest of the text.
Dances of death
Berlin
Franciscan