Description

The Middle Rhenish Totentanz (Dance of death) originated around 1450 in Mainz. It derived from the Paris Danse de macabré, but its immediate model was a German version in the form of illustrated broadsheets. In its choice of characters, it is oriented towards the townsman; in the face of the threat of plague of epidemic proportions, it is Franciscan in its pious devotion to God’s mercy. It combines texts in character (each in eight lines of verse, consisting of the accusation of Death and the confession of his surprised ...