On behalf of my student, I want to thank everyone who contributred to
my "Black Death and Image of Christ". Personally, I also tend to
agree with the interpretation that contests a direct link between the
Black Death and Pestkreuze, or even Danse Macabres. Still, weren't
there also occasional outbreaks of plague before 1349? And isn't it
also possible to say that the plague made an existing genre even more
popular?
I still think that for teaching the fourteenth century in a History
101, it makes sense to use both to give a description of the
mentality of the period.
My student (who is doing this for an art history paper, not for my
class) at first seemed a bit bewildered by the suggestion that the
pest crucifixes might predate the plague, but I encouraged her, and
said that it would make her paper more interesting if she presented
a question, reather than a statement.
Thanks again,
Frans van Liere
Calvin College
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids MI 49546
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/history/fvliere.htm
tel. (616) 957-6535
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