La Danse Macabre

Cimetière des Innocents
The authority / preacher introduces the dance.

The world's first dance of death was probably the one on the wall of the churchyard Cimetière des Innocents in Paris. This was the dance that Lydgate translated into English and the dance that inspired the one in Lübeck. This dance may be called the mother of all dances of death.

Cimetière des Innocents
Death, carrying a coffin, opens the ball with the pope.

The painting was finished Easter 1425 - i.e. 38 years before the painting in St. Mary's Church in Lübeck. This was a relatively quiet period in the 100 Years War - and both text and pictures are full of satire and slapstick. The portly abbot is told that the fattest person is the first to rot: »Le plus gras est premier pourry«. Death makes eyes(!) at the chevalier and tugs the urineglass-carrying physician by his crotch.

In 1485 Guyot Marchand published the text - illustrated with woodcuts. We know that Guyot Marchand followed the original reasonably closely - since the text also survives in 16 different manuscripts.

As the picture to the left shows, the dance of death starts with an "acteur", who gives us an introductory admonishment - just like in Tallinn, Berlin and in the manuscripts. The preacher's first words "O creature roysonnable" exactly match those in Tallinn/Lübeck: "Och redelike creatuer", which shows that the dance in Paris has inspired the dance in Lübeck.

Then follows Death with the pope (see picture to the right). Death carries a coffin - just like in Lübeck and Tallinn. The dancers are alternating clergy and laity - same arrangement as in Lübeck.

One thing that sets this dance of death apart from all the German and Danish dances on the rest of this site, is that there's no music. Several times Death carries a coffin, a spade, a scythe or a gigantic arrow — but never any musical instrument.

Here follows the introduction:

L'acteur

O creature roysonnable
Qui desires vie eternelle.
Tu as cy doctrine notable:
Pour bien finer vie mortelle.
La dance macabre sappelle:
Que chascun a danser apprant.
A homme et femme est naturelle,
Mort nespargne petit ne grant.
En ce miroer chascun peut lire
Qui le conuient ainsi danser.
Saige est celuy qui bien si mire.
Le mort le vif fait auancer.
Tu vois les plus grans commancer
Car il nest nul que mort ne fieret
Cest piteuse chose y panser.
Tout est forgie dune matiere.

The authority

Oh rational creature,(1)
who desires eternal life.
Here you have wisdom, worth noting:
to properly end your mortal life.
It's called the dance of death,
which everyone will learn to dance.
For man and woman(2) it's natural,
Death spares neither small nor great [persons].
In this mirror(3) everyone can read
that he will dance likewise.
Sage is he who mirrors himself well.
Death(4) makes the living [one] advance,
You will see the greatest begin [= lead the dance]
for there is nobody whom Death does not vanquish.
It's a pitiable thing to consider.
All are forged out of the same material.

 

On this site, the woodcuts from Paris' dance of death has been used to illustrate the dance of death in London.

External links:

Further information:

(1) Rational creature...: See the page about Adam, Eve and the original sin.

(2) For man and woman... Quite possibly - but there are no women in the dance of death in Cimetière des Innocents.

(3) This allusion to the dance of death as a mirror shows that the text has inspired the dance of death in Lübeck.

(4) Admittedly the text says "Le Mort" and not "La mort", so maybe a more correct translation would be: "The dead one makes the living [one] advance".

As mentioned, the text was reproduced in many versions - and "Le Mort" and "La Mort" are used at random.

Up to the Medieval Dance of Death

Paris The medieval dance of death La Danse macabre in Paris