Throughout history, there has been a persistent erroneous perception of the Middle Ages, as it was depicted as a dark period due to its deep connection with death. This fact was reinforced in society through plagues, wars, famines caused by poor harvests and epidemics, with the Black Death, which began around 1348, being the most well-known for its direct impact on mortality rates across much of Europe.
Death will be conceived as the great protagonist of the medieval era since it determined a fundamental role in the development and understanding of this new culture forged through religiosity, spirituality, and war.
Washington Museum of Art, Hieronymus Bosch, around 1494 Source.
On the other hand, philosophy will be a fundamental tool for medieval thought, which was propelled by a strong conception of death, which in turn linked directly to the fervent belief based on the dual concept intrinsically tied to the figure of God and the divine.
In this sense, the world was conceived as a duality: the heavenly and the terrestrial, where, in the first place, the known world for every mortal and believer would be administered by an invisible realm directed and led by the figure of God. In contrast to the first world, the earth was conceived as a test to overcome, since medieval man knew that he had to prepare himself in life for his good death, and with it, pass into the heavenly world through faith and the seven sacraments of the Church.
At the same time, death was conceived as a mere disconnection between the body and the soul, since the soul was understood as the necessary means to achieve a better life, because upon dying, one would be reborn in the world of the divine; that is, the heavenly world.
All this led to a wealth of texts and sources closely linked with this biological phenomenon, with the most well-known being what is known in Latin as the «Ars Moriendi», which translated would be something like «The Art of Dying».
This repeated situation spurred the development of a rich iconographic program, whose language was closely reinforced by the skull as a symbol of death, being the cause and origin of what is known as the «Dance of Death». This new artistic genre appeared around the end of the medieval era, understood as a satire of fleeting life. Many of these representations are directly linked to the various convictions of society at the time, establishing a clear social and religious distinction among all the components represented in the scene. (González Zymla, 2019, Paredes Martín, 2014)
The Dance of Death was established in society as an artistic genre but also had significant literary value. Its iconography usually includes a series of elements included in its representation, which make it much more decipherable. It is for this reason that we understand these images as an allegory of life and the pleasures of earthly existence, which over time disappear. (Pérez Gras, 2001)
In this allegory of life, we can easily differentiate two groups of personalities. On one hand, there is the representation of a set of living people, who appear with certain rigidity due to rigor mortis, accompanied by another group of dead people. Both natures converge in a single dance whose rhythm is marked by time, which is the natural enemy of life.
Each of these groups appears visibly differentiated by their attire and corresponding attributes, such as a crown for the king, a habit for the clergy, and a sword for the nobleman. These distinctions are key to understanding them, allowing the viewer to differentiate each of them. (González Zymla, 2014, Lacarra Ducay, 1999)
This representation not only encompasses the power of each individual in society but also establishes a hierarchy with respect to others. At the same time, characters enter the dance with disparate behaviors, making close reference to the multiple ways humans face death.
This was one of the reasons why this genre was understood as an spontaneous critique of society itself, conceiving death as an equalizer of all hierarchy, power, and estate, thereby distinguishing between the religious and civil realms, between the poor and the rich, between common folk and court. With this, it aimed to explain that death could capture anyone regardless of their social position. (Duarte García, 2013)
In line with what was previously stated, we can establish a series of vital examples for the understanding and development of this iconography. One of the first representations of these macabre scenes were those developed in the porticos of the cemetery of the Innocents, in Paris. This cemetery had extensive capacity as it could house more than a total of 20 parishes in Paris and thus accommodate a greater number of bones due to its limited surface area.
Their representations were the result of commissions entrusted by the Duke of Berry, who, after the death of his nephew, the Duke of Orleans, decided to entrust the artistic work in 1424. Many of these representations are characterized by accompanying texts related to the dance itself (González Zymla, 1995).
Subsequently, by the late eighteenth century, the cemetery was destroyed, so nothing of its memory is preserved today, although thanks to lithographic work by Guyot Marchant, we have some plates of these wall representations.
On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the famous Dance of Death located in the Church of St Nicholas in Tallinn, Estonia. It was painted by the German painter Bert Notke, who in 1463 painted a total of 24 dancing figures belonging to both worlds, where various characters from the privileged estate of society appear dressed in red and gold-embroidered garments that dance with skeletons and mummies wearing a single white tunic as shrouds. These characters stand out against a landscape background reflecting Italian influence and the coloristic sense of Flemish painting. (González Zymla, 2014)
The iconography of death spread to other parts of Europe, with a clear example being the representation of the Dance of Death of Hrastovlje Church, where once again appear an amalgamation of characters from both this world and beyond, led by a personification of the live one. Death is understood as the social equalizer, establishing a senseless view of power and wealth. (González Zymla, 2014).
Lastly, it is worth mentioning a Spanish example located in Castellon. Specifically, we are talking about the Convent of San Francisco de Morella, one of the best preserved examples of Gothic architecture on the Mediterranean coast. In the chapter room, there appears an unusual representation of a Dance of Death where characters belonging to the clergy and nobility dance around an open casket, which reveals the corpse of a dead person, making this an inactive agent in the action, thus relegating it to second place.
For the elaboration of this article, I have relied on a total number of sources and historical documents that allowed for extensive development within the research field. With this project, I aimed to approach closely a temporal range that was unfortunately marked socially and especially in its discipline, as it came to be known as the dark period of history.
It is for this reason that I felt compelled to refute to some extent this milestone that has so deeply affected and damaged the name of the medieval era since every cause has its consequence, and it is for this reason that I find myself here today. The period of the Middle Ages, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, was marked by a series of events that intrinsically shaped the personality of medieval man, who was forced to take refuge in faith and his religiosity.
The events that marked this society over a thousand years gave the first steps towards an art characterized by the impact of death on society and daily life, so death was a close, discreet, and sudden companion.
This is reflected in numerous medieval manuscripts, church porticos, cemeteries, cathedrals, and festivals.
Bibliography
Duarte García, I. (2006). Antifeudalism and carnivalization of the dance of death. Revista de la Literatura Española Medieval y del Renacimiento, 10(1), 177-192.
Duarte García, I. (2013). Representation of death in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Silex Ediciones. Universidad de Chile.
González Zymla, H. (1995). The Dance of Death in Spain: Origins and Development of an Iconography. Universidad de Valencia.
González Zymla, H. (2019). The iconography of the macabre in Europe and its possible classical and western origins. Some manifestations of Spanish art in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Revista digital de iconografía medieval, 11(21), 1-53.
González Zymla, H. (2014). The codes of clothing as a sign of social estate identity in the iconography of the Dance of Death. Universidad de Valencia.
Lacarra Ducay, M.C. (coord.) (2008). Art and daily life in the medieval era. Institución «Fernando el Católico».
Paredes Martín, J. (2014). The coexistence of the living and the dead: origin and development. Ediciones Alfar.
Pérez Gras, M.L. (2001). Death Dances. Ediciones Istmo.
Valcárcel, M.C. (1998). The origin of the Dance of Death: Observations on its iconographic aspects. Universidad de León.
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