The young nobleman

Young nobleman

Death to the young nobleman
Her juncker med jwen haweke fyn gy wolden alle tied die schoneste syn mennigen hebbe gy gebracht tho valle vppe den doeth dachte gy nicht mid alle wedewerken howiren was jwe art volget nhu desseme dantze mede der fart	Mr Nobleman with your fine hawk, you always wanted to be the prettiest. Many have you brought to a fall. You did not think about Death at all. Hunting and merrymaking was your way. Follow now this dance speedily.
The young nobleman
Och liue doeth beide noch eyne stunde ik wolde gerne lewen wen ik konde alzo muchte ik myne sunde bichten vnde my med gades licham borichten sunder dhu wilt dar leider nicht nha beidin o criste laeth my van dy nummer scheidin	Oh dear Death - wait yet a moment, I would like to live - if I could. Then I could confess my sins and make an arrangement with God's body. But you will, sadly, not wait for it. Oh Christ - let me never separate from you.

Lübke, 1861. The red lines indicate the damaged parts

Nobleman with a fine hawk

It's not certain whether the nobleman originally had a hawk. Because of the beams from a stair (that was later removed), parts of the mural was damaged here. The lithograph by Lübke/Schick from 1861 shows the damaged area. The area includes the young nobleman's arm, and according to Lübke there were no traces that there had been a hawk here.

The picture to the right is from the concertina-folder for sale in St. Mary's Church, and the publisher only informs us that it's a "reconstructing drawing" from after the First World War. Here the nobleman has a hawk on his arm, but this must have been added during a restoration in the 19^th Century. In Prüfer's lithograph from 1883 (top of this page) the nobleman is portrayed without a hawk on his hand, and the same is true for Lübke's lithograph from 1861 (to the left).

Notice, that there's no hard and fast rule that text and painting must reflect each other. The merchant doesn't have spurs; the monk doesn't have a white biretta; the usurer doesn't have a blue sack; and the landlady doesn't have a "false measure" in her hand.