A lot of people are already aware of memento mori, which is an idea I really love, and basically means (roughly) ‘Remember that you must die’.
I’ve definitely been doing a bit of a deep dive into all things memento mori lately. The history of it is fascinating, but I think it is also a good way to live life, remembering that my time on earth isn’t permanent, and therefore trying my best to be grateful for everything I have.
So here is some fun memento mori stuff…
Cadaver Monuments
I’ve a bit fascinated lately with the medieval funeral craze of cadaver monuments, also known as transi. A friend of mine travelled to see family in Wales and stumbled across one, and she told me about it because she knows how much I love creepy, weird things, haha.
the one I wanted to talk about today, is the funeral monument of a dead prince in France, who died at the young age of 25 during a siege in 1544.
At the time, transi memorials were all the rage among the rich and powerful, so the dead prince’s wife made a cadaver monument statue, which shows the young prince as a corpse complete with jutting bones, flapping skin and withered flesh.
Even more interesting, the dead prince is holding a shrivelled heart … well, originally this was the real prince’s ACTUAL HEART, dried and stored in the upraised hand of his own cadaver monument. You can read more about it here.
… Whoah!
Cadaver monuments or transi are pretty crazy … if you google them you’ll find plenty of mad statues of rotten, withered corpses and skeletons, which are designed to be a type of memento mori … or a reminder that all must die, even princes.
Memento Mori pendents
Also, I found an article about a beautiful but creepy small memento mori ivory pendant, which is in England now but was made in the Netherlands around 1500.
The article is here if you want to know more.
The front the pendant shows a wealthy, healthy woman, and inscribed on her veil are the Latin words for ‘Alas, I must die.’
The back of the pendant is a rather wormy corpse, and the Latin on the skull apparently translates to ‘This is the end‘.
Three Living and Three Dead
And lastly … I found in the same article ‘The three living and the three dead’, which apparently was a really popular motif that recurred in medieval art showing three wealthy youths at the prime of their lives and three skeletons.
The example in the article is beautiful and from the 1300s.
Apparently, the image shows the three youths out on a hunting trip, where they meet three decaying corpses who kindly remind the young men:
‘As you are, so were we; as we are, so shall you be.’
I guess medieval times were pretty harsh and life expectancy wasn’t that high, so maybe surrounding themselves with memento mori helped? Anyway, this article also has some more info on the Three Living and the Three Dead.
And that is my weird creepy oddity for the week 🙂
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PJ Nwosu
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PJ Nwosu writes dark mystery novels set in epic fantasy worlds.
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