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The song "Ring-around-a-Rosy" is still popular today, often danced in a circle just as we see the monkeys doing here. Yet this seemingly lighthearted song has a dark past. The plague swept Europe during the 14th century, and the song's words actually refer to its terrible symptoms: a circular rose-colored rash, sneezing or coughing, and finally, death. Flower petals were worn in a pouch around the neck to keep the smell of death away. The song, then, seems very different in this context.Ring-a ring-o-rosiesA pocket full of posiesAchoo, Achoo,We all fall down.
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- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- ec5e254367467dee
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 81316
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
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"title": "Leaf from Psalter-Hours: Apes Dancing to Ring-around-a-Rosy",
"description": "The song \"Ring-around-a-Rosy\" is still popular today, often danced in a circle just as we see the monkeys doing here. Yet this seemingly lighthearted song has a dark past. The plague swept Europe during the 14th century, and the song's words actually refer to its terrible symptoms: a circular rose-colored rash, sneezing or coughing, and finally, death. Flower petals were worn in a pouch around the neck to keep the smell of death away. The song, then, seems very different in this context.Ring-a ring-o-rosiesA pocket full of posiesAchoo, Achoo,We all fall down.",
"provenance": "Jacques Mauze (?), 15th century [1]. Ex libris Crouzon, 17th or 18th century [2]. G. E. Street, 19th century [3]. Léon Gruel, Paris, late 19th-early 20th century [4]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, early 20th century; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.[1] inscriptions on fols. 167r and 213v (the latter now erased)[2] inscription on 1r[3] inscription on 1r[4] No. 46 on 1r",
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Document identity
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Document source metadata
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"title": "Leaf from Psalter-Hours: Apes Dancing to Ring-around-a-Rosy",
"description": "The song \"Ring-around-a-Rosy\" is still popular today, often danced in a circle just as we see the monkeys doing here. Yet this seemingly lighthearted song has a dark past. The plague swept Europe during the 14th century, and the song's words actually refer to its terrible symptoms: a circular rose-colored rash, sneezing or coughing, and finally, death. Flower petals were worn in a pouch around the neck to keep the smell of death away. The song, then, seems very different in this context.Ring-a ring-o-rosiesA pocket full of posiesAchoo, Achoo,We all fall down.",
"provenance": "Jacques Mauze (?), 15th century [1]. Ex libris Crouzon, 17th or 18th century [2]. G. E. Street, 19th century [3]. Léon Gruel, Paris, late 19th-early 20th century [4]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, early 20th century; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.[1] inscriptions on fols. 167r and 213v (the latter now erased)[2] inscription on 1r[3] inscription on 1r[4] No. 46 on 1r",
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Document source extras
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Page context
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