“Dance of death”, 15th Century

All humans are equal to the eyes of Death, even the Pope or the Emperor have to dance with her.

The oldest traces of these kind of books are found in Germany, but there is also a Spanish text for a similar dramatic performance dating back to the year 1360, "La Danza General de la Muerte". In Italy was known as "Trionfo della Morte" (treated by Dante and Petrarch).
This post has relation with the “Art of dying” or “Ars moriendi” post I published last December, 2011 (link here). In this case, the purpose is similar and explained in two different components: Teach the truth that all men must die and prepare for judgement.

The iconography of “Dance of death” is different to the “Art of dying”, and introduces the concept that all humans are equal to the eyes of Death in a different way, more related to life moments like a party with dancers (in the “Art of dying”, the person who’s going to die is always represented at bed). To emphasize the idea that all humans are equal to the eyes of Death, the first figure or character in the dance is a Bishop or even the Pope, Emperor or the King. The Death –represented as a group of skeletons or rotten corpses- hold his hands during the dancing, playing musical instruments and creating a “happy” procession, leaded by a preacher who explains its meaning.

There’s a good Wikipedia article about the “Dance of death” and its influences on painting, architecture, etc. (link here). I would like only to remark one of my favorites: “The triumph of Death” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder -this painting is located in the Museo del Prado, Madrid-.

Pilgrims or Pleasants will also dance with Death. The codex starts with Pope and Emperor and finishes with lowest class according to social medieval classification

14th Century had a very high infant mortality rate. In this representation Death also invites a child to dance...

Treatise of the drugs and medicines of the East Indies (16th Century)

Cover from 1578 spanish edition of "Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias Orientales", by Cristóbal Acosta.

Cristobal Acosta (Portuguese origin but settled down in Burgos at the end of his life) was a Doctor and Physician considered a pioneer in the study of plants and its use in pharmacology. In 1568 he travelled to remote East Indies to serve as personal physician for the Viceroy and started to collect botanical specimens from various parts of India. In 1578 he returned to Spain (Burgos) and commissioned a treatise with all material collected in India during 10 years, named "Treatise of the drugs and medicines of the East Indies". In the treatise he says he was brought to India by his desire to see "the diversity of plants God has created for human health and provide to Occidental Medicine new remedies from distant lands, observed directly on site". Cristobal Acosta provides a very accurate description of each Plant, name and different use provided by local population, most favorable regions to find it, characteristics, and even the value (translated to local goods).

The codex is written in ancient spanish and online hosted by google books. I tried to find references -page by page- to drug plants but most of the references I could find were oriented to plants like cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, peppermint, saffron... I imagine this was the "commercial" side of the Book. During 16th Century, these Plants (spices) were considered as "foreign exchange" and even more valuables that gold...

Cristobal Acosta bio from wikipedia here. 

Cinnamon Plant.

Black pepper tree

Nutmeg tree

Peppermint

Saffron