The canon

The canon

The canon(1)
Mi dunckt, it is mi noch to vroch, Van minen Prunden hadde ik genoch To bruken went her min Leven; Late mi des Dansses noch begheven. Nu scholde ik vullen min Schrin, Dine velen Worde don mi grote Pin. Late mi doch Gade denen bat, Den ik in miner Jöget vergat.	Methinks it's still too soon for me. I had enough of my office income to make good use of in my life, until now. Let me renounce this dance. Now I should fill my chest (shrine). Your many words give me great pain. Let me then serve God better, because I forgot it in my youth.
Death answers the canon
[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]	[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]

The red area shows the location in the chapel in Lübeck

The painting in St. Mary's Church in Lübeck.

With the mayor we are now meeting the citizens of Lübeck (there were no nobility in the free and imperial city) and the background in this picture and the previous one shows closely what Lübeck looked like back in 1463.

St. Mary's church behind the canon

St. Mary's seen from the Jakobikirche

Most of the buildings are gone today, but you can clearly see St. Mary's church. Either the city has grown or the church has shrunk, because today you have to go up in the tower of the Jakobikirche (St. James' church) to get a good picture.

It's a special characteristic of Lübeck's dance of death that the city appears in the background but this goes to show that the dance of death is a mirror of society.

Footnotes: (1)

Canon . . .: a priest attached to a cathedral.