The Three Living and Three Dead

This section of the medievil wall paintings on the North Wall are in the lower tier and at the far right.

Here we see three figures that appear to be kings. The two on the left have crowns and the figure in the middle could even be female. The figure on the right has a falcon on what is supposed to be his arm but the painting has been lost in this area.

These kings are part of the Three Living and the Three Dead, the subject of a famous Anglo-Norman morality poem 'Li troi vif et li troi mors', was written by Baudouin de Condé, minstrel at the court of Margaret II, countess of Flanders, 1244-80.

We can only see the Three Living as the Three Dead have been lost due to the 19th century renovatiions to the church. The Three Dead, macabre skeletal figures, are now replaced by the internal structure of a buttress.

The survival of this part of the painting is quite remarkable as many others painted on the North Walls of many English churches have been lost. In fact Professor Tristram in his classic work, "English Wall Paintings of the Fourteenth Century, London 1955", made no mention of them as they were covered in whitewash when he wrote his book. This particular rendition of the Three Kings is remarkably similar in composition to that see as an illustration in the de Lisle psalter which is now in the British Museum.

The PCC has letters from Fred Kloppenborg who wrote to the church in 1999 who was researching other examples of this painting. Fred provided to Anne Marshal who describes the Madonna and Child at St. Mary's in her book "The Painted Church". Fred visited the churches of the Belchamps and was particularly impressed with those at Belchamp Walter.

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