Lübeck's dance of death, The mayor

The mayor / nobleman

The mayor / nobleman

The mayor
[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]	[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]
Death answers the mayor
Grot Lon schaltu entfan, Vor din Arbeit, dat du hefst ghedan, Wil di God dusentvult belonen, Unde in deme ewighen Levende kronen. Mer dine Bedrechlicheit mede Mochte di bringen in groten Unvrede. Wultu umme dine Sunde ruwich syn, Volghe na, Meister Medecin.	Great wages shall you receive. For your work that you have done, God will reward you thousandfold, and in the eternal life crown [you]. But your fraudulence may also bring you in great strife.(1) Will you regret your sins! Follow after, Master Medicine.

The red area shows the location in the chapel in Lübeck

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

Concerning the order of text and pictures - see the note on the previous page. The painting clearly shows a nobleman with his hunting falcon.

There's a much better reproduction of this section available here: The Dance of Death in Lübeck.

Footnotes: (1)

At that time Lübeck had 4 mayors who were chosen among the leading burgher families. As leaders of the council the mayors had legislative power, but at the same time the mayors functioned as judges and thus also had judicial power. That's why the mayor gets such a nice treatment in St. Mary's - the burghers' church in Lübeck.

The mayor is warned against his own fraudulence - this is because the mayor in Lübeck's dance of death takes over the role played by lawyers and solicitors in other dances of death.