I was a pauper born, then to this archbishopric raised.

Now I am lain in the ground, ready to be food for worms.

Behold my tomb: 1442.

Whoever you be who will pass by, I ask you to remember,

You will be like me after you die,

For all to see: horrible, dust, worms, vile flesh…

–Inscription from Archbishop Henry Chichele’s tomb at Canterbury Cathedral, c. 1425 (Aberth, Source 45)

Archbishop Chicele’s Transi Tomb at Canterbury Cathedral

Animation: Dealing with Mass Death in Folklore

Horrible, dust, worms, vile flesh…