The High German 4-lined Dance of Death

Cpg 314, the two preachers

Codex xyl. 39, Death and the child

A number of dances of death from southern Germany and Switzerland are collectively called Oberdeutscher vierzeiliger Totentanz: "Oberdeutscher" because the language is High German — as opposed to the Low German dances of death in Lübeck, Tallinn and Berlin — and "vierzeiliger" because each verse consists of 4 lines — as opposed to the 8-lined der doten dantz mit figuren.

The oldest of these texts, Cpg 314(1) (picture to the left), shows how the German text is a translation from Latin. In this old manuscript Death doesn't appear, and the text only consists of the complaints of the dying people. It is easy to see the inspiration from the Vado Mori-literature.

The 24 dancers introduce themselves: »I was a holy pope […]«, »I have, as king […]«, etc., lament their fate, and let the next participant take over.

In all the other (later) versions of Oberdeutscher vierzeiliger Totentanz, speeches have been added for Death, but the result is only ostensibly a dialogue: Death greets the humans energetically, vivaciously, ironically - even humorously - while the humans ignore Death's words, introduce themselves to the reader, »I was a holy pope […]«, »I have, as king […]«, etc., whereupon they go on lamenting. In fact the German word "Wechselrede" is more precise: Death and the dying take turns speaking.

The child ignores Death and calls for his mother: "How can you leave me thus?"

The start of Kleinbasel

This is most evident at the end of the dance, where the mother ignores Death and addresses her son: »Oh child, I would have saved you;«, while the child in turn also ignores Death and calls for his mother: »Oh woe, my dear mother […] How can you leave me thus?«

In other dances of death, like the ones in Lübeck and Berlin, the dying might address Death directly and implore for respite, but this never happens in Oberdeutscher vierzeiliger Totentanz — precisely because the humans' speeches were written many years before Death appeared on the scene.

Strictly speaking Death still doesn't appear anywhere. What we have here is a "real totentanz", where a row of dead people drag the living away. Read more about Dance of Death or Line of the Dead.

The most famous dance in this family is Death from Basel. There were two dances in Basel and both had increased the number of dancers from 24 to 39. In Kleinbasel the text is still familiar, but the famous dance in GroßBasel had been changed so thoroughly through repair and renovations that it can only be partly recognized.

Variants

Cod xyl. 39, Death and the pope:
"Der tod zu dem Bapst spricht"

We know the text from a number of sources. The first person to correlate the texts were Maßmann(2) in 1847, who named his sources H or M, depending on whether they resided at the library in Heidelberg or Munich:

• H¹: Four pages from Cpg 314. This text is the most original and thus at the top of the family tree. In this old manuscript Death doesn't even appear.
• H²: Cpg 438, Heidelberg's block book
• M¹: Cgm 270(3)
• M²: Codex xylogr. Monac. 39.(4) The illustrations are from a block book (i.e. picture and text made out of one woodblock), but the pictures were cut out in the 15^th century and have been supplied with a newer handwriting.
• M³: Cgm 2927, leaves 13" - 15". Handwriting which at places is illegible. »Dye erst predig. Diser werlt weyse kint / all dy noch in leben sint …«
• M⁴: See below.
• Basel's dances of death. The dance has been expanded with 15 extra dancers in Großbasel and Kleinbasel. As the family tree shows, the text in Kleinbasel is at a more developed stage compared to the others.

In 1908 Fehse,(5) pointed out that the source that Maßmann had designated M⁴ wasn't a source at all, but was a printed version of Cgm 270, which had been "improved" with a little help from Codex xylogr. Monac. 39.

On the other hand another manuscript had shown up in the mean time in Berlin:

• Ms. germ. fol. Berol. 19(6), leaves 224 - 227

Based on this, Fehse made the sketch to the right, which shows the evolution from Cpg 314, where Death doesn't appear, to the mural in Kleinbasel, where the dance has been expanded to 39 dancers.

Since then more sources have appeared and must be added to the list:

• A: Augsburg 2° Cod. 157. The pages 18^ra to 20^ra

  Metnitz (Wikipedia)

• Bu: Budapest: Cod. Muz. 11, pages 137^r-141^v (formerly: Cod. Esztergom 11). The manuscript used to reside in the Güssing monastery, and for this reason the dance is also called Güssinger Totentanz, but this monastery wasn't founded before 1638, so the manuscript cannot have been written here.

  The scribe has confounded the duke and the knight and as a consequence the persons in between are missing, i.e. the duke's reply, bishop, count, abbot and Death's speech to the knight. The leaf that held the end of the dance with the mother's reply and maybe held the second sermon is also missing.

• To this come a number of murals: Ulm, Metnitz, Wil, Kleinbasel and Basel

Click each picture to read the text

First Preacher

Pope

Emperor

Empress

King

Cardinal

Patriarch

Archbishop

Duke

Bishop

Count

Abbot

Knight

Lawyer

Canon

Physician

Nobleman

Noblewoman

Nun

Merchant

Cook

Beggar

Peasant

Child

Mother

Second preacher

Resources

• Der 'Oberdeutsche vierzeilige Totentanz': Formen seiner Rezeption und Aneignung in Handschrift und Blockdruck. By Almut Breitenbach, 2015.

  Parts of it kan by read at Google Books.

• Totentanz-Studien. By Mischa von Perger, 2013. Pages 57-156 + 247-289.
• Memento mori: Bild und Text in Totentänzen des Spätmittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit. By Susanne Warda, 2011. Pages 199-269.
• Die Deutschsprachigen Spätmittelalterlichen Totentänze Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Inkunabel, 'Des dodes dantz'. Lübeck 1489. By Brigitte Schulte, 1990. Pages 157-162 + 173-180.

  Can be downloaded: Des dodes dantz - LWL

• Der Tanzende Tod. By Gert Kaiser, 1982. Introductions, images and modern German translations. The pages 194-275 contains the dance of death in Basel while 276-329 contains Heidelberg's block book.
• Der vierzeilige Oberdeutsche Totentanztext. By Wilhelm Fehse. Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, vol. 40, 1908, pages 67-93.

  Fehse corrects many of the mistakes made by Maßmann, and he coins the expression vierzeilige Oberdeutsche Totentanz.

• Die Baseler Todtentänze in getreuen Abbildungen : nebst geschichtlicher Untersuchung, so wie Vergleichung mit den übrigen deutschen Todtentänzen, ihrer Bilderfolge und ihren gemeinsamen Reimtexten. By Hans Ferdinand Maßmann, 1847.

  At the back of the book, Maßmann compares Cgm 270, Xyl. 39, Cgm 2927, Cpg 314, Heidelberg's block book, Kleinbasel and Basel.

  You can say a lot about Maßmann but he was the first to try and compare the various sources, and for half a century he was the only one.

Further information

• Death's Dance, or Line of the Dead?
• Cpg 314
  • Cpg 314 - the text with a translation
• Cgm 270
  • Cgm 270 - the text
• Augsburg 2° Cod. 157
• Xyl. 39
  • The first Preacher, Pope, Emperor, Empress, King, Cardinal, Patriarch, Archbishop, Duke, Bishop, Count, Abbot, Knight, Lawyer, Canon, Physician, Nobleman, Noblewoman, Nun, Merchant, Cook, Beggar, Peasant, Child, Mother, The second preacher
  • Xyl. 39 - the text
• Mgf 19, Berlin
  • Mgf 19 - the text
• Murals in Ulm, Metnitz, Wil, Kleinbasel and Basel
• Heidelberg's block book
  • 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
• Kleinbasel
• Basel

Footnotes: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Dansk The dance of death Oberdeutscher vierzeiliger Totentanz