1. MedievWorld1_fm_4pp.qxd

Dandolo, Enrico 211

In the central Middle Ages to answer the popular
taste for dancing, the church sought to incorporate danc-
ing into the liturgy and pastoral activities. Eventually the
church denounced dancing in front of or inside places of
worship. However, round dances enjoyed great popular-
ity until the Council of Trent suppressed them in the
16th century.
Further reading:Antonio Cornazzano, The Book on
the Art of Dancing,trans. Madeleine Inglehearn and Peggy
Forsyth (London: Dance Books, 1981); Pierre Riché,
“Dance” in EMA,1.406.

dance of death(danse macabre) This was a represen-
tation of a dance of people from all social levels illustrat-
ing the concept that death affects all. In the later Middle
Ages the dance of death or danse macabrewas expressed
in literature, iconography, and music. The first traces of
this motif date from the late 14th century after the
numerous visitations of the PLAGUE. A typical image
showed a hierarchical succession of 30 male couples rep-
resenting all estates of society, from the pope, the
emperor, and the king to the laborer and the child. They
were painted for the benefit of those who passed by as a

lesson of the future that awaited everyone. Throughout

the 15th century, such sinister dances were depicted in

the form of frescoes or wood carvings in France, England,

and Germany.

Further reading:J. M. Clark, Death and the Visual

Arts(1897; reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1977); Edel-

gard Du Bruck, The Theme of Death in French Poetry of the

Middle Ages and the Renaissance(The Hague: Mouton,

1964); Leonard Paul Kurtz, The Dance of Death and the

Macabre Spirit in European Literature (New York:

Columbia University, 1934).

Dandolo, Enrico (ca. 1107–1205)doge of Venice, par-

ticipant in the sack of Constantinople

Born about 1107 in VENICE, Enrico Dandolo held a num-

ber of public offices for the Venetian Republic throughout

his life. In was not until he became doge in 1192 at the

age of 85 that his career was of major historical impor-

tance. In his first years as doge, though blind, he reformed

the coinage, updated Venetian legal statutes, defeated a

fleet from PISA, and broke their blockade. Dandolo’s most

significant political achievement, however, was his arrang-

ing the hiring of Venetian ships for the Fourth Crusade in

Fifteenth-century fresco of a danse macabre from a parish church in La Ferté-Loupière between Burgundy and Paris in France
showing authorities of the church dancing with skeletons taking them off to their just rewards(Courtesy Edward English)