A Danse With Death: How Medieval Murals May Have Shaped The 13th Key
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When the pope died, a meme began making the rounds. That meme, featured below, shows JD Vance meeting with the pope (soon before he died), juxtaposed with an image of "Death Meets The Bishop."
It's funny, of course, but you've likely also noticed how similar "Death Meets The Bishop" is to the Death card in tarot. In fact, this image - and the tradition it comes from - may just hold the key to understanding the Death card's history, composition and meaning. This is especially evident when it comes to the RWS, but for inclusion's sake, here are a handful of Death cards through time, most playing with that grim reaper theme.
So, where did the image from the meme come from? What does it mean, and how does it connect to the iconography we see in tarot?
First of all, the image that made its rounds in the meme is not the original, but rather a reinterpretation by the artist Hieronymus Hess in the 1800s. The original comes from a larger series - a mural known as The Basel Dance of Death. This mural was painted inside the wall of a cemetery belonging to a Dominican convent in Basel (Switzerland). Created around 1440, the Basel Dance of Death featured 40 scenes, each depicting people from all walks of life encountering Death.
The cathedral that contained this mural is no longer standing, but the original prints and subsequent recreations (such as the one from the meme), are still preserved in print. Now, it should be stated that while we're specifically talking about the Basel Dance of Death, the Dance Macabre genre (Totentanz) predates this series of images, showing up all over Europe in the Middle Ages. Totentanz (German for ‘Dance of Death’) is an allegory about death and its indiscriminate nature, regardless of what position in life one occupies. The mural in Basel is one famous example of a Totentanz, but there are many others.
Let's take this back to tarot now. These prints, and the wider Dance Macabre genre, may offer insight into the kinds of imagery that likely influenced the cards. Here are a few more scenes from The Basel Dance of Death. These ones were done by Matthäus Merian in the 1600s. (from top left, moving clockwise: The Empress, The Hermit, The Fool, Adam & Eve)
Especially where the RWS is concerned, you can really see how Death emulates what we see in "Death Meets The Bishop" - crozier and all! Again, this version is by Matthäus Merian.
What stands out about Waite-Smith’s Death, is that it really incorporates that motif of Death meeting various individuals. But instead of it being stretched across a mural, we see the examples collpased into one scene. Death meets the bishop, Death meets the maiden, Death meets the king and Death meets the child. All of these individuals can be found in your typical Danse Macabre style painting or mural as their own separate panel. Furthermore, the individuals represented have their own way of interacting with Death’s arrival, much like what we see happening in the Death card itself.
"The Danse Macabre consists of the dead, or a personification of death, summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer." -Wikipedia
And beyond the imagery, if we go back to the message of these murals, the moral implications and the genre as a whole, we have what equates to a social/political/spiritual warning to us all - Death comes regardless of your title or who you are, so better to shed that skin before the danse begins!
"Mr. Emperor, your sword won't help you out
Sceptre and crown are worthless here
I've taken you by the hand
For you must come to my dance."
-Vierzeiliger oberdeutscher Totentanz, Heidelberger Blockbuch, c. 1455/58
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre
http://www.dodedans.com/Eindex.htm
https://www.hmb.ch/en/museums/objects-in-the-collection/details/s/basel-dance-of-death-the-herald/
Death and Mortality: An Image Archive for Artists and Designers, curated by Kale James (Vault Editions)