A cadaver monument or ''transi'' (or

memento mori ''Memento mori'' (Latin for 'remember that you ave todie'Erwin Panofsky's phrase, a sculpted stone

bier A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...

displays on the top level the recumbent effigy (or ''gisant'') of a living person, where they may be life-sized and sometimes represented kneeling in prayer, and in dramatic contrast as a rotting cadaver on the bottom level, often shrouded and sometimes in company of worms and other flesh-eating wildlife. The iconography is regionally distinct: the depiction of such animals on these cadavers is more commonly found on the European mainland, and especially in the German regions. The dissemination of cadaver imagery in the late-medieval danse macabre may also have influenced the iconography of cadaver monuments. In

Christian funerary art Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the death, dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, a ...

, cadaver monuments were a dramatic departure from the usual practice of depicting the deceased as they were in life, for example recumbent but with hands together in prayer, or even as dynamic military figures drawing their swords, such as the 13th- and 14th-century effigies surviving in the Temple Church, London. Cadaver monuments often acted as a portrait of the deceased in death. The term can also be used for a monument which shows only the cadaver without a corresponding representation of the living person. The sculpture is intended as a didactic example of how transient earthly glory is, since it depicts what all people of every status finally become. Kathleen Cohen's study of five French ecclesiastics who commissioned ''transi'' monuments determined that common to all of them was a successful worldliness that seemed almost to demand a shocking display of transient mortality. A classic example is the " Transi de René de Chalons" by Ligier Richier, in the church of Saint Etienne in Bar-le-Duc, France. These cadaver monuments, with their demanding sculptural devices, were made only for high-ranking persons, usually royalty, bishops, abbots or nobility, because one had to be wealthy to have one made, and influential enough to be allotted space for one in a church of limited capacity. Some monuments for royalty were double tombs, for both a king and queen. The French kings Louis XII,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

and Henry II were doubly portrayed, as couples both as living effigies and as naked cadavers, in their double double-decker monuments in the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris. Other varieties also exist, such as cadaver imagery on incised slabs and

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...

es, including the so-called "shroud brasses", of which many survive in England.

Countries

England

The earliest known ''transi'' monument is the very faint matrix (i.e. indent) of a now lost monumental brass shrouded demi-effigy on the ledger stone slab commemorating "John the Smith" (c.1370) at

Brightwell Baldwin Brightwell Baldwin is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northeast of Wallingford. It was historically in the Hundred of Ewelme and is now in the District of South Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as ...

in Oxfordshire. In the 15th century the sculpted ''transi'' effigy made its appearance in England. Cadaver monuments survive in many English cathedrals and parish churches. The earliest surviving one is in

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...

, to Bishop Richard Fleming who founded

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

and died in 1431.

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

houses the well-known cadaver monument to

Henry Chichele Henry Chichele ( , also Checheley; – 12 April 1443) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Chichele was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364; Chicheley told Pope Euge ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

(died 1443) and in

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...

survives the 16th-century monument and chantry chapel of Precentor Sylke, inscribed in Latin: 'I am what you will be, and I was what you are. Pray for me I beseech you'. Winchester Cathedral has two cadaver monuments.

has an example. The cadaver monument traditionally identified as that of John Wakeman, Abbot of Tewkesbury from 1531 to 1539, survives in Tewkesbury Abbey. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, he retired and later became the first Bishop of Gloucester. The monument, with vermin crawling on a sculpted skeletal corpse, may have been prepared for him, but his body was in fact buried at

Forthampton Forthampton is a village in Gloucestershire, England The village is located three miles from the market town of Tewkesbury and features "a great number of interesting buildings", fine views, several duck ponds, a church, a collection of thatched ...

in Gloucestershire. A rarer, post-medieval example is the standing, shrouded effigy of the poet

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

(d. 1631) in the crypt of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

in London. Similar examples from the Early Modern period signify faith in the Resurrection.

Italy

Cadaver monuments are found in many Italian churches. Andrea Bregno sculpted several of them, including those of Cardinal

Alain de Coëtivy Alain (II) de Coëtivy (8 November 1407 – 4 May 1474) was a prelate from a Breton noble family. He was bishop of Avignon, Uzès, Nîmes and of Dol, titular cardinal of Santa Prassede, then cardinal-bishop of Palestrina and cardinal-bishop o ...

in Santa Prassede, Ludovico Cardinal d'Albert at Santa Maria in Ara Coeli and Bishop

Juan Díaz de Coca ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish language, Spanish and Manx language, Manx versions of ''John (given name), John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronoun ...

in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. Three other prominent monuments are those of Cardinal

Matteo d'Acquasparta Matthew of Aquasparta ( it, Matteo di Aquasparta; 1240 – 29 October 1302) was an Italian Friar Minor and scholastic philosopher. He was elected Minister General of the Order. Life Born in Acquasparta, Umbria, he was a member of the Bentiveng ...

in Santa Maria in Ara Coeli"Guide to Rome." Online at: http://www.romecity.it/Berninieglialtri.htm. and those of Bishop Gonsalvi (1298) and of Cardinal Gonsalvo (1299) in

Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

, all sculpted by

Giovanni de Cosma The Cosmati were a Rome, Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculpture, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of C ...

, the youngest of the Cosmati family lineage. Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome contains yet another monument, the tomb of Pope Innocent III, sculpted by Giovanni Pisano.

France

France has a long history of cadaver monuments, though not as many examples or varieties survive as in England. One of the earliest and anatomically convincing examples is the gaunt cadaver effigy of the medieval physician Guillaume de Harsigny (d. 1393) at Laon. Another early example is the effigy on the multi-layered wall-monument of Cardinal Jean de La Grange (died 1402) in Avignon. Kathleen Cohen lists many further extant examples. A revival of the form occurred in the Renaissance, as testified by the two examples to Louis XII and his wife Anne of Brittany at Saint-Denis, and of Queen

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

who commissioned a cadaver monument for her husband Henry II.

Germany and the Netherlands

Many cadaver monuments and ledger stones survive in Germany and the Netherlands. An impressive example is the sixteenth-century Van Brederode double-decker monument at Vianen near Utrecht, which depicts Reynoud van Brederode (d. 1556) and his wife Philippote van der Marck (d. 1537) as shrouded figures on the upper level, with a single verminous cadaver below.

Ireland

A total of 11 cadaver monuments have been recorded in Ireland, many of which are no longer in situ. The earliest complete record of these monuments was compiled by

Helen M. Roe Helen M. Roe (18 December 1895 – 28 May 1988), was an Irish librarian and antiquary, a champion of medieval Irish art and iconography. Early life and education Born in 1895, Helen Maybury Roe was the daughter of William Ernest Roe and Anne ...

in 1969. One of the best known examples of this tradition is the monumental limestone slab known as 'The Modest Man', dedicated to Thomas Ronan (d. 1554), and his wife Johanna Tyrry (d. 1569), now situated in the Triskel Christchurch in Cork. This is one of two examples recorded in Cork, with the second residing in Church of St Multose in Kinsale. A variant is in the form of Cadaver Stones, which lack any sculpted superstructure or canopy. These may merely be sculptural elements removed from more elaborate now lost monuments, as is the case with the stone of Sir Edmond Goldyng and his wife Elizabeth Fleming, which in the early part of the 16th century was built into the churchyard wall of

St. Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda St. Peter's Church of Ireland is an Anglican (Episcopalian) church located in Drogheda, Ireland, in the Diocese of Armagh. Designed in the Georgian style, St. Peter's starkly contrasts with the Neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church of the same name, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadaver Tomb Burial monuments and structures History of sculpture Christian iconography Memento mori