A tomb with a ‘view’

The chaos, uncertainty and devastation that came with the Black Death caused profound changes in the Medieval world.  This is well-documented by contemporary writers and also reflected in art and social practices.  The emergence of transi tombs is one example.

In the 13^th and 14^th centuries, prior to the Black Death, effigy tombs called gisants were popular. These tombs featured a lifesize horizontal sculpture of the deceased ‘resting’ on top. The sculptures were somewhat stylised depicting the deceased usually in their ‘prime of life’ (around 33 years of age – based on the age of Jesus when he died), dressed in their finest and seemingly ‘asleep’. The hope seemed to be that the effigies would mirror the soul of the deceased in heaven.

During the plague pandemic, gisants morphed into a more grim mortuary form which was known as a transi tomb. Deriving from the French word transi (meaning passed over), these tombs were also known as ‘cadaver tombs’ as the effigy depicted would now be of a skeletal, decaying or diseased version of the deceased (sometimes with snakes, worms or vermin coming out of the body) as part of the tomb. The tomb was often in a ‘double-decker’ format with the earlier ‘perfected’ effigy on top and the cadaver form below.

While both men and women selected transi tombs as their final resting place, the clergy were especially drawn to this style of memorial and were instrumental in their dissemination. Surprisingly, this new morbidly confronting style quickly gained popularity and would be seen across Europe (particularly in France, Germany and England) for the next two centuries.

Transi tombs embodied a markedly different style of mortuary art and encompassed a more complex spectrum of meaning. The tombs were commissioned by, and constructed for, individuals well before their deaths and became objects of contemplation.

One of the themes that emerged in artistic practice of the period was the notion of the memento mori – ‘remember that you will die’ – and it is clear that people at the time were obsessed with death and fears for their own mortality. ‘Memento mori’ art was a way of coping as it personified ‘Death’ and featured Death interacting with humanity. What seems a morbid preoccupation today, most historians understand to be a ‘healthy adaptation’ to extreme circumstances with death being acknowledged as inevitable and ‘Death’ being met with courage, humility and affirmation. The inevitability of physical death was intended to inspire penance and a preparation for eternity. 

The death represented by transi tombs was in tune with the Christian spirituality of the period. Medieval Christianity focused heavily on the human desire to reach heaven. The state of the soul after death was of huge importance to people, and the decomposing emaciated cadaver effigy would represent the soul’s passage between the mortal, temporal world and the eternal spiritual world – a body undergoing a physical transformation while the soul underwent a spiritual transformation.

Medieval art and literature also often portrayed the body as intrinsically sinful with death being the final reckoning. People believed that upon death, most would end up in purgatory for an indeterminate period before reaching their final destination, be it heaven or hell.  Part of this concern for the soul expressed itself in a wish to humiliate or abase the mortal (and sinful) body in order to save the soul and reduce the time in purgatory. The emaciated, suffering cadavers on tombs were thought to be an embodiment of this. Many examples look as is if they are in a liminal state between living and dying with open mouths and half-closed eyes in the painful throes of dying. This led to another of the purposes of medieval tombs which was to elicit prayers from the living to speed the deceased person’s passage through purgatory to heaven.

These tombs had a significant didactic function and often included an inscription that reinforced their visual message. The inscription on de la Grange’s tomb translates as: “We are a spectacle to the world. Let the great and humble, by our example, see to what state they shall be inexorably reduced, whatever their condition, age or sex. Why then, miserable person, are you puffed with pride? Dust you are, and unto dust you shall return, rotten corpse, morsel and meal for worms.”

We can only wonder how artists will respond to the current crisis?!