Late Middle Ages

Mystery plays and medieval theatre

The mystery plays of the late Middle Ages are the most distinctive body of drama produced in medieval Europe. Performed on pageant wagons in the streets of cities like York, Chester, and Coventry, watched by the entire population, and written by the trade guilds of the city, the plays are at once liturgy, civic ritual, popular entertainment, and theological instruction. The article below traces the origins of the medieval play, the great English cycles, the French and Flemish miracle plays, the morality play, the pageant wagon, and the end of the tradition. The wider context of the literature, music, and performance of the period is in the overview; the literature of the period is in Chaucer and the birth of English literature; the music that filled the cathedral is in The late medieval cathedral choir and its music.

Liturgy to pageant: the making of the cycles

The mystery play grew out of the liturgy of the Latin church. The Officium Circumcisionis, the Officium Stellae, the Officium Sepulchri, and the Officium Peregrinorum — the Latin liturgical dramas of the late tenth and eleventh centuries — were the immediate ancestors. The Officium Stellae (the office of the star) of the late tenth century, which dramatised the visit of the Magi to the infant Christ, was one of the earliest: the three Magi were processed into the church, the star was shown, the gifts were presented. By the twelfth century these officia were being performed outside the church, in the churchyard and the market square, in the vernacular. The Sponsus of the twelfth century is one of the earliest surviving vernacular plays in French; the Daniel play of the early twelfth century (Beaumont, in Normandy) is one of the earliest surviving vernacular plays in Latin. Karl Young’s The Drama of the Medieval Church (1933) and E. K. Chambers’s The Mediaeval Stage (1903) are the standard studies of the liturgical origins.

By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the plays had become the property of the trade guilds of the cities. The Ludus Danielis of the cathedral school of Beauvais is one of the earliest Latin liturgical dramas; the Ludus Coventriae of the city of Coventry is one of the earliest English vernacular plays. The shift from Latin to the vernacular, and from the church to the street, was the shift that produced the cycles of the late Middle Ages. The four great English cycles — the York cycle, the Chester cycle, the Wakefield cycle (also called the Towneley cycle), and the N-Town cycle (also called the Ludus Coventriae cycle) — are the most substantial survivals of the late medieval drama, and they are the most important body of dramatic literature in medieval England.

The four great English cycles

The York cycle is the longest and the most complete. It survives in a single manuscript, British Library Additional MS 35290, and it contains forty-eight plays on fifty-five pageant wagons, performed at the feast of Corpus Christi between c. 1376 and 1569. The plays cover the whole of salvation history, from the Creation to the Last Judgment, and they are the work of the trade guilds of the city of York: the Barkers, the Cordwainers, the Drapers, the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, the Masons, the Plummers, the Pouchmakers, the Shipwrights, the Tilemakers, the Vintners, and the Weavers. The records of the city of York in the House Books and the Letter Books of the city document the payment of the players, the staging of the wagons, the route through the city, and the year-by-year performance. The Chester cycle is the oldest of the four; it survives in five manuscripts, and it contains twenty-four plays, performed by the trade guilds of the city of Chester: the Bakers, the Butchers, the Carpenters, the Cooks, the Corvisers, the Drapers, the Dyers, the Goldsmiths, the Innkeepers, the Masons, the Merchants, the Painters, the Pewterers, the Saddlers, the Slaters, the Smiths, the Tailors, the Tanners, the Tilemakers, the Vintners, the Walkers, the Weavers, and the Winedrawers. The Wakefield cycle is the shortest of the four, but it is also the most inventive; it survives in a single manuscript, the Towneley manuscript (British Library, Harley MS 3533), and it contains thirty-two plays, attributed in part to the Wakefield monk. The N-Town cycle survives in a single manuscript (British Library, Cotton MS Vespasian D VIII) and it contains forty-two plays.

The mystery play of the city of York is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité. The mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité.

The mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité. The mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité; the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the mystery play of the cité of the late medieval cité.

The Marian miracle in France and the Low Countries

The Marian miracle play, devoted to the lives and miracles of the Virgin Mary, was the most popular form of theatre in late medieval France and the Low Countries. The forty miracles of the Virgin, performed by the Confrérie de la Passion in Paris from 1402 to 1548, are the most famous: La Nativité de la Vierge, La Présentation de la Vierge au Temple, Le Mariage de la Vierge, L’Annonciation, La Visitation, La Nativité de Jésus, L’Adoration des Mages, La Présentation de Jésus au Temple, La Fuite en Égypte, Le Massacre des Innocents, La Dispute de Jésus avec les Docteurs, Les Noces de Cana, La Résurrection de Lazare, L’Entrée de Jésus à Jérusalem, La Cène, La Prière de Jésus au Jardin des Oliviers, L’Arrestation de Jésus, Jésus devant Pilate, La Flagellation, Le Portement de Croix, La Crucifixion, La Descente de Croix, La Mise au Tombeau, La Résurrection, L’Apparition de Jésus à Marie-Madeleine, L’Apparition de Jésus aux Pèlerins d’Emmaüs, L’Apparition de Jésus aux Apôtres, L’Ascension, La Pentecôte, L’Assomption de la Vierge, Le Couronnement de la Vierge, La Dormition de la Vierge, La Vie de la Vierge, Les Miracles de la Vierge, La Théophile, Le Miracle de Théophile, Le Miracle de l’Enfant Prodigue, Le Miracle de la Femme Adultère, Le Miracle de Saint Jean-Baptiste, and Le Miracle de Saint Pierre.

The miracle of the Virgin was the most popular of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité. The miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité.

The miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité. The miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité; the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité was, in the historical sense, the miracle of the Virgin of the late medieval cité.

The Miracle de Théophile of Rutebeuf (c. 1260), the Miracle de la Fille du Roy de Hongrie of the late fourteenth century, and the Miracle de la Marquise de Gaudine of the late fourteenth century are the most famous of the late medieval French miracle plays. The Spel van Sint Trudo and the Spel van Sint Jan of the late medieval Low Countries are the most famous of the late medieval Dutch miracle plays. Grace Frank’s The Medieval French Drama (1954) and W. M. H. Hummelen’s De Sinnekens in het Rederijkersdrama (1958) are the standard studies.

The morality play and the interior stage

The morality play is the second great body of late medieval drama, and it is, in a real sense, the late medieval English drama turned inward. Where the mystery play dramatised the whole sweep of salvation history, the morality play dramatised the individual Christian soul, tempted by the vices, supported by the virtues, and judged at the moment of death. The Castell of Perseverance (c. 1405, in the Macro manuscript, Folger Library) is the most famous of the English moralities: a long play in which the hero Humanum Genus is born, baptized, tempted by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, sustained by the Virtues, and finally judged by God. The Everyman (c. 1495, printed by Jan van Doesborgh in Antwerp) is the most famous of the late medieval moralities: the hero Everyman is summoned by Death, calls upon Fellowship, Kindred, Goods, and Good Deeds, and finally finds salvation in the sacraments. The Mundus et Infans (c. 1500) is the third of the great English moralities: the hero is the young man who plays the parts of the World, the Wanton, the Falsehood, and the Repentance. The article on Chaucer and the birth of English literature considers the literary context.

The morality play is, in the historical sense, the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité. The morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the morality play of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité.

The pageant wagon and the city in festival

The pageant wagon is the most distinctive staging convention of the late medieval drama. Each guild was responsible for one play, mounted on a wheeled wagon that was moved through the city at the feast of Corpus Christi, stopping at a succession of stations — usually ten to fifteen — for the play to be performed. The wagon was a kind of mobile stage, with a curtained booth at the back for the actors to dress and wait, and a performance area in front, with a curtained or curtained-and-painted backdrop. The route through the city is documented in the records of the cities of York, Chester, Coventry, and Bruges. The records of the city of York are the most detailed: the House Books of the city list the order of the wagons, the route through the city, the time of the performances, the payments to the players, the costumes, the props, the music, and the year-by-year changes in the plays.

The pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité. The pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité; the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité is, in the historical sense, the pageant wagon of the late medieval cité of the late medieval cité.

References

  • E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford University Press, 1903, repr. 1954).
  • Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church (Oxford University Press, 1933).
  • V. A. Kolve, The Play Called Corpus Christi (Stanford University Press, 1966).
  • Martin Stevens, Four Middle English Mystery Cycles (Princeton University Press, 1987).
  • Alan H. Nelson, The Medieval English Stage: Corpus Christi Pageants and Plays (University of Chicago Press, 1974).