The Three Dead Kings
15th-century Middle English poem on three kings meeting three dead.
The Three Dead Kings (Latin: *De tribus regibus mortuis*) is a 15th-century Middle English poem preserved in MS. Douce 302, housed at Oxford’s Bodleian Library. It is sometimes credited to John Audelay, a priest from Shropshire. The work is a rare example of a late alliterative verse form and holds distinction as the sole English poetic version of a widely known *memento mori* theme found in medieval European church art.
The poem opens with an unnamed narrator observing a boar hunt, a conventional start for the *chanson d’aventure* genre. Three kings follow the hunt but become lost in mist, separated from their attendants. Suddenly, three walking corpses burst from a wood, described in gruesome detail. The kings react with terror, some wanting to flee, others standing firm. The dead declare they are not demons but the kings’ ancestors, rebuking their heirs for neglecting their memory and failing to say masses for their souls. They recall their own past love of pleasure and material wealth, for which they now suffer. After the dead depart at dawn, the kings ride home, heeding the final warning to “make your mirror be me” and remember life’s transience. They later build a church with masses and inscribe the story on its walls. The poem is noted for its vivid, imaginative language and complex structure.
The poem’s dialect is local to Shropshire and west Staffordshire, matching other works in MS. Douce 302. Its stanza form is unusually intricate: a four-stress alliterative line with a tight rhyme scheme (ABABABAB for the first eight lines, then CDCCD for the final five), plus regular assonance and a consistent final consonant on the fourth stress, creating pararhyme between line pairs. While a few other Middle English poems use a similar thirteen-line stanza, this one is the most elaborate; medievalist Thorlac Turville-Petre called it “the most highly patterned and technically complex poem in the language.”
Authorship is debated. MS. Douce 302 is a collection of works by John Audelay, a chantry priest at Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire, who was alive in 1426, when the manuscript may have been compiled. By then, he claimed to be old, deaf, and blind, complicating his role as author. Some scholars argue that Audelay’s other poems lack the technical skill of *The Three Dead Kings*, and that its more northerly dialect suggests a different writer. Others defend his au
- field
- Middle English poetry
- known_for
- Only English poetic retelling of the 'Three Living and the Three Dead' memento mori
- manuscript
- MS. Douce 302, Bodleian Library, Oxford
- language
- Middle English (Shropshire/west Staffordshire dialect)
- form
- Four-stress alliterative line with complex rhyme and pararhyme
Lore & Background
The poem opens with an unnamed narrator describing a boar hunt, a typical opening of the chanson d'aventure genre. Three kings following the hunt lose their way in mist and are separated from their retainers. Suddenly, three walking corpses appear out of a wood, described in graphically hideous terms. The kings react with terror, ranging from a desire to flee to a resolve to face them. The corpses state they are not demons but the kings' forefathers, criticizing their heirs for neglecting their memory and not saying masses for their souls. The Dead once were materialistic and pleasure-loving, saying 'While I was a man upon Earth, pleasures were mine,' and now suffer for it. The Dead leave, red daylight comes, and the kings ride home. The final message is that the living should always be mindful of them, saying 'Make your mirror be me,' and of the transient nature of life. Afterwards the kings raise a church with masses and have the story written on its walls.
Reader's Guide
The Three Dead Kings is distinguished for its vividly descriptive and imaginative language and its extremely unusual poetic structure. It combines a four-stress alliterative line, a tight rhyme scheme, and regular use of assonance. The rhyme structure is ABABABAB in the first eight lines of each stanza and CDCCD in the final five, with the same final consonant on the fourth stress throughout the entire stanza, producing an additional pararhyme between pairs of lines. Medievalist Thorlac Turville-Petre refers to it as 'the most highly patterned and technically complex poem in the language.' The poem is an extremely rare survival from a late genre of alliterative verse and is the only English poetic retelling of the well-known memento mori theme of 'The Three Living and the Three Dead,' which appears in medieval European church art. The earliest manuscript evidence for that story comes from late 13th-century France, with a version by Baudoin de Condé traced back to 1280. The poem's authorship is disputed: some scholars argue that John Audelay's other poetry lacks the great technical skill shown here, especially as the poem shows signs of a more northerly dialect; others defend his authorship, noting he favors both alliteration and thirteen-line stanza forms elsewhere in the manuscript.
Did You Know?
- The poem is found in the manuscript MS. Douce 302 in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
- Its authorship is sometimes attributed to a Shropshire priest, John Audelay.
- It is the only English poetic retelling of the memento mori theme 'The Three Living and the Three Dead.'
- Medievalist Thorlac Turville-Petre called it 'the most highly patterned and technically complex poem in the language.'
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