1 Map of St Paul’s Cathedral and precinct, London, c.1430, with Pardon Churchyard to the north of the nave. Copyright: John Schofield 2

2 The Three Living and the Three Dead, mid-fourteenth century, wall painting, church of St. Andrew, Wickhampton (Norfolk). Photo: C. B. Newham 6

3 The Three Living and the Three Dead, miniature and accompanying text in the Psalter of Robert de Lisle, London, British Library, MS. Arundel 83, pt. 2, fol. 127r. © The British Library Board 7

4 Shroud brass of John Brigge (d. 1430), c.1440, church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Salle (Norfolk). Rubbing: Martin Stuchfield 9

5 Double-decker tomb monument of Thomas Beckington, bishop of Wells (d. 1465), completed thirty years before his death, Wells Cathedral (Somerset). Photo: Jules & Jenny on Flickr. (CC BY 2.0) 10

6 Contrast between tomb effigy and corpse, illustration of the Disputacioun Betwyx the Body and Wormes in the so-called Carthusian Miscellany, c.1435–40, probably produced in Mountgrace Priory (Yorkshire), London, British Library, MS. Add. 37049, fol. 32v. © The British Library Board 12

7 Detail of the two effigies on the double-decker monument to Henry Chichele, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1443), completed by 1427, Canterbury Cathedral (Kent). Photo: Xavier de Jauréguiberry on Flickr. © Xavier de Jauréguiberry 13

8 Cadaver or transi tomb effigy of John Baret (d. 1457), church of St. Mary, Bury St. Edmunds (Suffolk). Photo: C. B. Newham 14

9 “The Kyng liggyng dede and eten of wormes,” woodcut appended to the text of The Daunce of Machabree printed by Richard Tottel in 1554 18

10 Vincent of Kastav, Danse Macabre with the Fall of Man (left) and Wheel of Fortune (right), fresco, 1474, west wall, church of St. Mary, Beram (Istria, Croatia). Photo: Science and Research Centre, Koper (Slovenia) 22

11 Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543), The Expulsion, third woodcut from the Images of Death series first published in 1538 23

12 Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543), Adam and Death Digging, fourth woodcut from the Images of Death series first published in 1538 24

13 Master of the Dresden Prayerbook (Flemish, active c.1460–1520) or workshop, The Three Living and the Three Dead, tempera colors and gold on parchment, c.1480–85, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. 23 (86.ML.606), fol. 146v. Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 27

14 Death and the Young Gallant, wall painting, mid-fifteenth century, south wall, church of St. Cadoc, Llancarfan (Glamorgan, Wales). Photo: Kevin Thomas 29

15 Death and the Young Gallant, painted panels, early sixteenth century, exterior of the chantry chapel of Robert Markham (d. 1506), church of St. Mary Magdalene, Newark (Nottinghamshire). Photo: Sophie Oosterwijk 30

16 Danse Macabre, wall painting, mid- to later 15th century, south side of the nave, church of Notre-Dame, Kermaria (Brittany, France). Photo: Ilona Hans-Collas 32

17 Three Dance of Death pairs, sculpted vault ribs, mid-15th century, east end, Rosslyn Chapel (Midlothian). Photo: Sophie Oosterwijk 35

18 Misericord with the Corporal Act of Mercy of clothing the naked in the center, flanked by two Dance of Death supporters showing Death with a Pilgrim(?) and Death with a Bishop, originally at the church of St. Michael, Coventry (Warwickshire), until destroyed in 1940. Photo reproduced by kind permission of Coventry City Council 36

19 Death and the Bishop, c.1500, single remaining stained-glass window from a Dance of Death series, church of St. Andrew, Norwich (Norfolk). Photo: Mike Dixon 37

20 The Patriarch and the King, detail of the Dance of Death wall painting of the early sixteenth century in the Guild Chapel at Stratford-upon-Avon, watercolor reconstruction executed by Wilfrid Puddephat when the mural was uncovered in 1955. Courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 38

21 Marginal macabre imagery including two Dance of Death pairs with the Beggar and the Rogue, and a female corpse in the bottom margin, in Richard Day, A Booke of Christian Prayers collected out of the auncient writers and best learned in our tyme, worthy to be read with earnest mynde of all Christians in these daungerous and troublesome dayes, published by John Day in 1581, fol. 112r. Courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 40

22 Dance of Death wall painting, c.1470, former Franciscan convent of Morella (Castellón, Spain). Photo: Lenke Kovács 45

23a Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I, penultimate panel painting in the succession series of portraits of the counts and countesses of Holland, 1486–91, Haarlem, City Hall. Courtesy of the Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem 47

23b Death, final painting in the succession series of portraits of the counts and countesses of Holland, oil on panel, 1486–91, Haarlem, City Hall. Courtesy of the Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem 47

24 Reconstruction of the cemetery of the Holy Innocents around 1550, viewed from the west, based on a drawing of 1552 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, lithograph published in Fédor Hoffbauer, Paris à travers les âges (Paris, 1885), vol. 2, pl. I. Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 49

25 Spitz Master (French, active c.1415–25), Burial scene in a churchyard, with a charnel house in the background, miniature in tempera colors, gold, and ink on parchment in the Spitz Hours, c.1420, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. 57 (94.ML.26), fol. 194r. Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 50

26 The Dead King and the Author, c.1500, detail of the Dance of Death mural, church of Saint-Orien, Meslay-le-Grenet (Eure-et-Loir, France). Photo: Antoine Philippe 53

27a–b Master of the Munich Golden Legend (attr., French, active c.1420–40), illuminated Dance of Death border, with a detail of Death with an aristocratic couple (above) and Death and the King (below), datable c.1425–35, Rothschild Hours, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. Rothschild 2535, fol. 108v. Courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France 55

28 Death, the Legate and the Duke, additional woodcut published in Guy Marchant’s expanded Danse Macabre edition of 1486 57

29 Marginal macabre imagery including two Dance of Death pairs with the Physician (“Medicus”) and the Wife of the Knight (“Equitis Uxor”), and a Dead King in the bottom margin, 1507, in a book of hours printed on parchment by Thielman Kerver, fol. 237v. Photo reproduced by kind permission of Andrea van Leerdam 59

30 Death, the Cardinal and the Constable(?), fragment of a Danse Macabre mural with accompanying text, c.1430–40, church of Notre-Dame, Kernascléden (Brittany, France). Photo: Sophie Oosterwijk 60

31 Four Dead Musicians, additional woodcut published in Guy Marchant’s expanded Danse Macabre edition of 1486 74

32 Death, the Queen and the Duchess, sole woodcut for the Danse Macabre des Femmes, published as part of Guy Marchant’s expanded Danse Macabre edition of 1486 74

33 The Dead King and the Author, with colophon, final page (10r) of the Danse Macabre published in 1485 by Guy Marchant, Grenoble, Bibliothèque municipale, I.327 Rés. 170