Medicine: examining urine
The medieval Church
Medieval Surgery
Rural life: the lazy ploughman
Friar playing music
Dante's Divine Comedy
Harvesting acorns
Living and dead Princes
Golden Haggadah
Noah in the Holkham Bible
Apothecary shop
City walls
Lord at supper
Peasants work the land
The Last Judgement
Hundred Years War
Demons fall into Hell
Chronicle of the Black Death
Genesis picture book
Medieval encyclopedia
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
Peasants' Revolt
Scottish freedom
English cookery manuscript
Stories in which terrifying meetings occur between the living and the dead became increasingly popular from the early 1300s. One common theme found in manuscripts, paintings and sculptures, was the story of three living princes who encounter three dead princes, shown as worm-eaten corpses. The dead princes warn the living that they will soon be just as grisly as the dead. The story reminds the reader that life in this world is short. Artists seem to have taken particular care to depict the dead as gruesomely as possible to create a startling contrast between the corpses and the elegant living princes.
Shelfmark: Arundel 83 II f.127