Table of Contents

Main page

Primary sources, texts and pictures

• Text (illustrated with the painting from St. Mary's in Lübeck)
  • The preacher, Death speaks to all, The pope, The emperor, The empress, The cardinal, The king, The bishop, The duke, The abbot, The knight, The Carthusian, The nobleman, The canon, The mayor, The physician, The usurer, The curate, The merchant, The parish clerk, The craftsman, The hermit, The peasant, The youth, The maiden, The baby
• Pictures (drawings of the painting in Lübeck)
  • Ludewig Suhl with the "new" text by Schlott
    • Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 Part 8
  • Robert Geißler
  • Carl Julius Milde
• Manuscripts (books, where the text draws on Lübeck's dance of death)
  • Des dodes dantz Lübeck, 1489
    • Index, Prologue, Death to the pope, Pope, Emperor, Empress, Cardinal, King, Bishop, Duke, Abbot, Knight Templar, Monk, Knight, Canon, Mayor, Physician, Nobleman, Hermit, Citizen, Student, Merchant, Nun, Craftsman, Church warden, Peasant, Beguine, Rider, Maiden, Journeyman, Nurse with child, Epilogue
  • Dodendantz Lübeck, 1520
    • Prologue, Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, Emperor, Empress, King, Duke, Abbot, Crusader, Physician, Canon, Parish Priest, Monk, Knight, Official, Hermit, Burgomaster, Nun, Merchant, Nobleman, Maiden, Burgher, Beguine, Fool, Craftsman, Student, Peasant, Rider, Journeyman, Nurse with child
    • The complete text from Dodendantz
  • Copenhagen's Dance of Death Copenhagen, 1536
    • Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 35 (The Danish section consists of 42 parts)
    • Danish article by Lauritz Nielsen about the printer Hans Vingaard.
    • A poem, that might hint at the author and year of publication.
    • A conjecture about the original title of Copenhagen's Dance of Death.
  • Dødedantz Copenhagen, 1634
    • Part 1, Part 2 (Note: page openings 21 through 24 are the same as 39 through 42 in Copenhagen's Dance of Death (in the Danish section).)
  • Is Dodendantz older than Des dodes dantz?
  • How old is Copenhagen's Dance of Death?
• Marienkirche: description of St. Mary's church and the people behind the painting.
  • Historical timeline with photos of St. Mary's church from 1906 to 2001.
  • Bernt Notke painted the dance of death in 1463 (maybe)
    • Did Bernt Notke paint the dances of death in Lübeck and Tallinn?
    • St. George and the Dragon in Stockholm's cathedral (attributed to Notke)
    • Is St. George and the dragon an allegory over the battle of Brunkeberg?
    • Has Bernt Notke created St. George and the dragon?
    • The Mass of St. Gregory in Marienkirche in Lübeck (attributed to Notke)
    • The Trinity altarpiece in Lübeck (attributed to Notke)
  • Anton Wortmann copied the painting in 1701. How good a copy did he make?
  • Jacob von Melle is our only source for the old text. Is he reliable?
  • Nathanael Schlott authored the new text
    • Den Lybekske Dødning-Dantz (only in the Danish section)
    • Thomas Nugent: Travels through Germany - With a particular account of the courts of Mecklenburg.
  • Wilhelm Mantels and the infamous wood table theory
  • The chapel before the bombardment.
  • The chapel today (with stained glass windows).
  • Postcards bought in St. Mary's church .

Other dances of death

• The dance of death in Tallinn (Estonia)
  • Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
  • Restoring the fragment in Tallinn
  • Is the fragment in Tallinn a remnant from Lübeck? No it isn't:
    • Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
• Berlin´s dance of death
  • The text from Berlin's dance of death
    • Prologue, Sacristan, Curate, Official, Augustin friar, Preacher, Parish priest, Carthusian, Physician, Monk, Canon, Abbot, Bishop, Cardinal, Pope, Jesus on the cross, Emperor, Empress, King, Duke, Knight, Mayor, Usurer, Nobleman, Merchant, Craftsman, Peasant, Landlady, Cook / Fool, Mother and child
  • Berlin's dance of death and Dodendantz
• The dance of death in London (st. Paul's cathedral)
  • Words of the translator, Words of the authority, Pope & emperor, Cardinal & king, Patriark & constable, Archbishop & baron, Princess, Bishop & squire, Abbot, abbess & bailif, Astronomer & burgess, Canon & merchant, Carthusian & sergent, Monk & usurer, Physician & squire, Man of law & minstrel, Conjuror, Parson & labourer, Friar minor & child, Clerk & hermit, The king lying dead, Translator's words
• La Danse macabre in Cimetière des Innocents, Paris
• The dances of death by Hans Holbein.
  • Holbein's dagger sheath
  • Holbein's dance of death alphabet - all 24 letters.
  • A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z
  • Holbein's great dance of death
    Creation, Temptation, Expulsion, Punishment, all men's bones, pope, emperor, king, cardinal, empress, queen, bishop, duke, abbot, abbess, nobleman, canon, judge, advocate, senator, preacher, priest, monk, nun, old woman, physician, astrologer, miser, merchant, sailor, knight, count, old man, countess, noblewoman, duchess, peddler, peasant, child, the Last Judgment, the escutcheon of Death, soldier, waggoner, gambler, robber, blind man, beggar, drunkard, fool, young woman, young man, boys
    
    Hans Holbein (1538) - the original woodcuts
    Heinrich Aldegrever (1541)
    Heinrich Vogtherr (1544)
    Arnold Birckmann (1555)
    Scharffenberg (1576)
    Peter Paul Rubens (1600-1610)
    Eberhard Kieser (1617)
    Wenceslaus Hollar (1651)
    Johann Weichard von Valvasor (1682)
    Christian de Mechel (1780)
    David Deuchar (1788)
    John Bewick (1789)
    Alexander Anderson (1810)
    Pseudo-Bewick (1825)
    Ludwig Bechstein (1831)
    Joseph Schlotthauer (1832)
    Unknown English artist
• Danish Dances of Death
  • Lübeck's dance of death as seen by Hans Christian Andersen.
  • Dances of death in Danish churches
    • Nørre Alslev & Egtved
    • Jungshoved & Ørslev
    • Malmø & Ronneby
      • Malmø: pope, emperor, bishop, king, queen, citizen
  • Typus Omnium Morientium (printed in Copenhagen, 1622)
    • Part 2
  • Døde-dands (printed in Copenhagen, 1762)
    • Dead men's music, Pope, Emperor, King, Jew, Turk, Lovers, Old man, Old woman, Children, Jesus' victory over Death, Psalm. 90 Chap. 12 v.
• Heidelberg's Blockbook
  • Sermon, pope, emperor, empress, king, patriarch, archbishop, cardinal, bishop, duke, count, knight, abbot, juror, canon, physician, nobleman, noblewoman, merchant, pharmacist, nun, cook, peasant, cripple, mother, child

  Essays

  • Introduction to the dance of death as an art from
  • Part 2, Part 3
  • The moral of the story
  • The dance of death as a mirror
  • Adam, Eve and the original sin.
  • God's wounds and the Man of Sorrows
  • The black death (plague).
  • Apocalypse Now and Death as a thief in the night.
  • The Reformation
  • Make your own dance of death (and find out why Dodendantz is so jumbled).
  • Background images - put a little life in your PC.

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