Book 4 — APPENDICES (continued 4)

In the MS. life of the Puritan vicar of Rotherham, John Shaw, is a description of how he spoke to an old man at Cartmel of salvation by Christ:—

‘Oh Sir,’ said he, ‘I think I heard of that man you speak of once in a play at Kendall, called Corpus Christ’s play, where there was a man on a tree, and blood ran down, &c. And afterwards he professed he could not remember that he ever heard of salvation by Jesus, but in that play⁠[830].’

Kenninghall, Norfolk.

‘Kenningale game’ was at Harling (q.v.) in 1463, and the ‘Kenyngale players’ in 1467.

Kilkenny, Ireland.

John Bale, in his description of his brief episcopate of Ossory, gives an account of the proclamation of Queen Mary, at Kilkenny, on August 20, 1553, ‘The yonge men, in the Forenone, played a Tragedye of God’s Promyses in the olde Lawe, at the Market Crosse, with Organe, Plainges, and Songes very aptely. In the Afternone agayne they played a Commedie of Sanct Johan Baptistes Preachinges, of Christes Baptisynge, and of his Temptacion in the Wildernesse, to the small contentacion of the Prestes and other Papistes there⁠[831].’

These plays are extant; cf. Texts (iii), s.v. Bale.

King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

There was a Corpus Christi guild as early as 1400, and the Tailors’ Ordinances of 1449 require them to take part in the Corpus Christi procession; but I do not find evidence of regular annual plays. The Chamberlains’ Accounts for 1385, however, include:—

‘iijˢ iiijᵈ to certain players, playing an interlude on Corpus Christi day.’

‘iijˢ iiijᵈ paid by the Mayor’s gift to persons playing the interlude of St. Thomas the Martyr.’

And those for 1462—

‘iijˢ paid for two flagons of red wine, spent in the house of Arnulph Tixonye, by the Mayor and most of his brethren, being there to see a certain play at the Feast of Corpus Christi.’ In the same year the Skinners and Sailors ‘of the town’ received rewards ‘for their labour about the procession of Corpus Christi this year⁠[832].’

In 1409-10 Lady de Beaufort came to see a play⁠[833].

See also s.v. Middleton.

Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey.

On May 20, 1505, Henry VII made a payment

‘To the Players of Kingeston toward the bilding of the churche steple, in almasse, iijˢ iiijᵈ⁠[834].’

The churchwardens’ accounts for 1505-6 include

‘That we, Adam Backhous and Harry Nycol, amountyd of a play, 4ˡⁱ.’

A few later items relate to plays at Easter.

‘1513-4. For thred for the resurrection, jᵈ.

For 3 yards of dorneck for a player’s cote, and the makyng, xvᵈ.

1520-1. Paid for a skin of parchment and gunpowder for the play on Ester-day, viijᵈ.

For bred and ale for them that made the stage and other thinges belonginge to the play, jˢ ijᵈ.

1565. Recᵈ. of the players of the stage at Easter, jˢ ijᵈ ob.⁠[835]’

Lancaster.

A Corpus Christi play was acted within the lifetime of Weever, who was born 1576, and wrote 1631⁠[836].

Lanchire(?), Essex.

‘Somers of Lanchire’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe in 1566. But I can find no such place.

Langley, Oxfordshire.

See s.v. Shipton.

Lavenham, Suffolk.

The Earl of Surrey rewarded the players of ‘Lanam’ on Jan. 8, 1492 (Appendix E, vii).

Leconfield, Yorkshire.

The list of customary rewards given by the fifth Earl of Northumberland to his servants, drawn up †1522, includes:—

‘Them of his Lordschipes Chapell if they doo play the Play of the Nativite uppon Cristynmes-Day in the mornynge in my Lords Chapell befor his Lordship, xxˢ.

... Them of his Lordship Chappell and other, if they doo play the play of Resurrection upon Esturday in the morning in my Lords Chapell, xxˢ⁠[837].’

Leeds, Yorkshire.

Ten Brink, ii. 256, says that Leeds formed a centre ‘for the art of the cyclic plays, which were represented yearly’; and Ward, i. 55, that at Leeds ‘the religious drama was assiduously cultivated by the citizens.’ I cannot find any authority for this, and can only suggest that it is a misapprehension of an entry in the Catalogue of Ralph Thoresby’s manuscripts appended to his Ducatus Leodensis (1715), 517. This was copied by Sharp, 141. But it refers to the York Plays, then in Thoresby’s possession.

Leicester.

The Hall book of the Corporation contains the following entries:—

1477, March 26. ‘The pleyers the which pleed the passion play the yere next afore brought yne a byll the whiche was of serten devties of mony and whedʳ the passion shulbe put to crafts to be bounden or nay. And at yᵗ tyme the seid pleyers gaff to the pachents yʳ mony which that thei had getten yn playng of the seid play euer fore to that day and all yʳ Rayments wʰ al othʳ maner of stuff yᵗ they had at that tyme. And at the same Common Halle be the advyse of all the Comons was chosen thies persones after named for to have the gydyng and Rule of the said play’ [19 persons with 2 ‘bedalls’ named]⁠[838].

1495, Friday after xijᵗᵉ day. ‘Yᵗ ys ordent agreyt stabelechyd & acte for the comon well of the towne and of seche guds as ys yn a store hows in the Setterday marcat yᵗ ys to say wodde tymber and vdyr playyng germands yf ther be ony her hys chosyn to be ouersears thereof’ [6 names]⁠[839].

It is not clear on what day the Passion play took place. There were great processions on Whit Monday from the churches of St. Martin and St. Mary to that of St. Margaret, and in these the Twelve Apostles figured⁠[840].

The accounts of the same churches show plays apparently distinct from the Passion play.

St. Mary’s.

1491. Paid to the Players on New-year’s day at even in the church, vjᵈ.

1499. Paid for a play in the church, in Dominica infra Octavam Epiphaniae, ijˢ.

1504. Paid for mending the garment of Jesus and the cross painting, jˢ iijᵈ.

Paid for a pound of hemp to mend the angels heads, iiijᵈ.

Paid for linen cloth for the angels heads, and Jesus hoose, making in all, ixᵈ.

1507. Paid for a pound of hemp for the heads of the angels, iijᵈ. Paid for painting the wings and scaff, &c., viijᵈ⁠[841].

These entries suggest a Quem quaeritis, but perhaps only a puppet-show.

St. Martin’s.

1492. Paid to the players on New-year’s day at even in the church, vjᵈ.

1546-7. Pᵈ. for makynge of a sworde & payntynge of the same for Harroode.

1555-6. Pᵈ. to the iij shepperds at Whytsontyde, vjᵈ.

1559-60. Pᵈ. to ye plears for ther paynes.

1561. Rᵈ. for serten stufe lent to the players of Fosson⁠[842].

In 1551 the Corporation came not to a feast ‘because of the play that was in the church⁠[843].’

Lichfield, Staffordshire.

The Cathedral Statutes of Bishop Hugh de Nonant (1188-98) provide for the Pastores at Christmas and the Quem quaeritis and Peregrini at Easter.

‘Item in nocte Natalis representacio pastorum fieri consueuit et in diluculo Paschae representacio Resurreccionis dominicae et representacio peregrinorum die lunae in septimana Paschae sicut in libris super hijs ac alijs compositis continetur.’

Similarly in the account of the officium of the Succentor it is provided:

‘Et prouidere debet quod representacio pastorum in nocte Natalis domini et miraculorum in nocte Paschae et die lunae in Pascha congrue et honorifice fiant⁠[844].’

Lincoln.

About 1244 Bishop Grosseteste names ‘miracula’ amongst other ‘ludi’ which the archdeacons, so far as possible, are to exterminate in the diocese⁠[845].

Chapter computi for 1406, 1452, and 1531 include entries of payments, ‘In serothecis emptis pro Maria et Angelo et Prophetis ex consuetudine in Aurora Natalis Dñi hoc anno⁠[846].’

‘In 1420 tithes to the amount of 8ˢ 8ᵈ were assigned to Thomas Chamberleyn for getting up a spectacle or pageant (“cuiusdam excellentis visus”) called Rubum quem viderat at Christmas.... An anthem sung at Lauds on New Year’s day ... begins thus⁠[847]’ (cf. Sarum Breviary, ccxciii). Was this spectacle a Moses play forming part of, or detached from, an Ordo Prophetarum?

A set of local annals (1361-1515) compiled in the sixteenth century records the following plays:—

1397-8. Ludus de Pater Noster lvi anno.

1410-11. Ludus Pater Noster.

1424-5. Ludus Pater Noster.

1441-2. Ludus Sancti Laurentii.

1447-8. Ludus Sanctae Susannae.

1452-3. Ludus de Kyng Robert of Cesill.

1455-6. Ludus de Sancta Clara.

1456-7. Ludus de Pater Noster.

1471-2. Ludus Corporis Christi.

1473-4. Ludus de Corporis Christi.

Canon Rock, apparently quoting the same document, also mentions a ‘Ludus de Sancto Iacobo⁠[848].’

On Dec. 13, 1521, the Corporation ‘agreed that Paternoster Play shall be played this year⁠[849].’

In 1478-80 the Chapter Curialitates include ‘In commun’ canonicorum existent’ ad videndum ludum Corporis Christi in camera Iohannis Sharpe infra clausum, 17ˢ 11ᵈ⁠[850].’

But the Corpus Christi play, although so called, would appear not to have been played upon Corpus Christi day, but to be identical with the visus or ‘sights’ of St. Anne’s day (July 26). These are mentioned almost yearly in the city minute-books of the early sixteenth century, and appear to have been cyclic and processional. They certainly included Noah’s Ship, the Three Kings of Cologne, the Ascension, and the Coronation of the Virgin. The Corporation ordered them to be played; the mayor and the ‘graceman,’ or chief officer of the guild of Saint Anne, directed them; the guild priest gave his assistance in the preparations. In 1517 Sir Robert Denyer was appointed on condition of doing this. Garments were often borrowed from the priory and the local magnates. In 1521 Lady Powys lent a gown for one of the Maries, and the other had a crimson gown of velvet belonging to the guild. Each craft was bound under penalty to provide a pageant. In 1540 some of the crafts had broken their pageants and were ordered to restore them. In the same year a large door was made at the late school-house that the pageants might be sent in, and 4d. was charged for housing every pageant, ‘and Noy schippe 12ᵈ.’ In 1547 the valuables of the procession were sold, but the ‘gear’ (i.e. the theatrical properties) still existed in 1569. During the Marian reaction in 1554 and 1555 ‘it was ordered that St. Anne’s Gild with Corpus Christi Play shall be brought forth and played this year⁠[851].’

The friendly relations of the Cathedral Chapter to the civic play are noteworthy. In 1469 the chapter paid the expenses of the visus of the Assumption given on St. Anne’s day in the nave of the church. In 1483 it was similarly agreed to have ‘Ludum, sive Serimonium, de Coronatione, sive Assumptione, beatae Mariae, prout consuetum fuerat, in navi dictae Ecclesiae.’ This was to be played and shown in the procession to be made by the citizens on St. Anne’s day. Apparently the crafts played the earlier plays of the cycle during the progress of the St. Anne’s procession through the streets, and the Chapter gave the Assumption as a finale to the whole in the cathedral itself. But their interest extended beyond their own visus. In 1488 Robert Clarke received an appointment, because ‘he is so ingenious in the show and play called the Ascension, given every year on St. Anne’s Day⁠[852].’

Under Elizabeth a new play appears. In 1564 the Corporation ordered ‘that a standing [i.e. non-processional?] play of some story of the Bible shall be played two days this summertime.’ The subject chosen was Tobias, and the place the Broadgate. Some of the properties, e.g. ‘Hell mouth, with a nether chap,’ were possibly the old ‘gear’ of St. Anne’s guild. In 1567 ‘the stage-play of the story of Toby’ was again played at Whitsuntide⁠[853].

Little Baddow, Essex.

Little Baddow men hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe during 1564-6.

London.

William Fitzstephen (†1170-82), in a description of London prefatory to his Vita of St. Thomas à Becket, says:—

‘Lundonia pro spectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis scenicis, ludos habet sanctiores, representationes miraculorum quae sancti confessores operati sunt, seu representationes passionum quibus claruit constantia martyrum⁠[854].’

Nothing more is heard of plays in London until 1378, when the scholars of St. Paul’s petitioned Richard II,

‘to prohibit some unexpert people from representing the History of the Old Testament, to the great prejudice of the said Clergy, who have been at great expence in order to represent it publickly at Christmas⁠[855].’

The chronicler Malvern records that in 1384,—

‘Vicesimo nono die Augusti clerici Londoniae apud Skynnereswelle fecerunt quendam ludum valde sumptuosum, duravitque quinque diebus⁠[856].’

In 1391 Malvern again records,—

‘Item xviijᵒ die Iulii clerici Londonienses fecerunt ludum satis curiosum apud Skynnereswell per dies quatuor duraturum, in quo tam vetus quam novum testamentum oculariter ludendo monstrabant⁠[857].’

In 1393, according to the London Chronicle, ‘was the pley of seynt Katerine⁠[858].’

Other chronicles record a play in 1409:—

‘This yere was the play at Skynners Welle, whiche endured Wednesday, Thorsday, Friday, and on Soneday it was ended⁠[859].’

The accounts of the royal wardrobe show that a scaffold of timber was built for the King (Henry IV), prince, barons, knights, and ladies on this occasion, and that the play showed,—

‘how God created Heaven and Earth out of nothing, and how he created Adam and so on to the Day of Judgment⁠[860].’

Finally, the Grey Friars Chronicle mentions a yet longer play in 1411:—

‘This year beganne a gret pley from the begynnyng of the worlde at the skynners’ welle, that lastyd vij dayes contynually; and there ware the moste parte of the lordes and gentylles of Ynglond⁠[861].’

The performers in most, if not all, of this group of plays were the clerks in minor orders who naturally abounded in London. The Guild of St. Nicholas of Parish Clerks had existed since 1233. In 1442 they received a charter, which refers to ‘diversis charitatis et pietatis operibus per ipsos annuatim exhibitis et inventis⁠[862].’ These opera possibly include the plays, which may have become annual between 1411 and 1442. They seem to have been given at various times of year, and hard by the well, variously described as Skinners Well or Clerkenwell. The Priory of St. Bartholomew is not far, and the plays may have had some connexion, at one time or another, with the famous Bartholomew Fair⁠[863]. It was probably the double name of the well that led Stowe to say that ‘the skinners of London held there certain plays yearly, played of Holy Scripture⁠[864].’

There is another gap of a century in the history of these greater London plays. But on July 20, 1498, Henry VII rewarded ‘the pleyers of London’ (Appendix E, viii), and of 1508 the annalist of Henry VII, Bernard Andrew, says:—

‘Spectacula vero natalis divi Iohannis vespere longe praeclarissima hoc anno ostensa fuerunt, quemadmodum superioris mensis huiusque aliquot festis diebus pone Christi ecclesiam circa urbis pomaria divinae recitatae fuere historiae⁠[865].’

Some of the London churches had their own plays, as may be seen from their churchwardens’ accounts. Those of St. Margaret’s, Southwark, have the following entries:—

‘1444-5. Peid for a play vpon Seynt Lucy day [Dec. 13], and for a pley vpon Seynt Margrete day [July 20], xiijˢ iiijᵈ.

1445-6. [Similar entry.]

1447-8. Also peid for a pley vpon Seynt Margrete day, vijˢ.

1449-50. Item, peyd vpon Seynt Lucy day to the Clerkes for a play, vjˢ viijᵈ.

1450-1. [Similar entry.]

1451-2. Fyrste, peyd to the Pleyrs vpon Seynt Margretes day, vijˢ.

Also peyd for hyryng of Germentes xiiijᵈ.

1453-7 and 1459 [a play on St. Margaret’s day in each year⁠[866]].’

Towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign the Revels office was able to borrow ‘frames for pageants’ from the wardens of St. Sepulchre’s⁠[867].

Probably the guild of Parish Clerks made it a profession to supply such church plays as these for a regular fee. They were employed also at the feasts of the city guilds. The Brewers, for instance, had plays in 1425 and 1433, and in 1435 paid ‘4 clerkis of London, for a play⁠[868].’ The Carpenters paid iiijˢ iiijᵈ for a play in 1490⁠[869]. London players occasionally performed before Henry VII. Besides ‘the players of London’ in 1498, he rewarded in 1501 the players at ‘Myles ende⁠[870].’

Attempts were made to revive religious plays during the Marian reaction. On June 7, 1557, ‘be-gane a stage play at the Grey freers of the Passyon of Cryst⁠[871].’ On St. Olave’s day, July 29, in the same year ‘was the church holiday in Silver street; and at eight of the clock at night began a stage play of a goodly matter, that continued until xij at mydnyght, and then they mad an end with a good song⁠[872].’

The last such play in London was ‘the acting of Christ’s Passion at Elie house in Holborne when Gundemore [Gondomar] lay there, on Good-Friday at night, at which there were thousands present⁠[873].’ This would be between 1613 and 1622.

Midsummer Watch.

A ‘marching watch’ was kept on the eves of Midsummer and SS. Peter and Paul (June 29) until 1538, and revived, for one year only, in 1548. Some 2,000 men went in armour; lamps and bonfires were lit in the streets, and ‘every man’s door shadowed with green birch, long fennel, St. John’s wort; orpine, white lilies and such like, garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers.’ It seems to have been customary for the guilds to which the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the year belonged to furnish pageants. Stowe says that ‘where the mayor had besides his giant three pageants, each of the sheriffs had besides their giants but two pageants, each their morris dance.’ In 1505 the Grocers had ‘a pageant for the maire [Sir John Wyngar] at Midsomer.’ In 1510 Henry VIII, disguised as a groom, came to see the Midsummer Watch, and on St. Peter’s eve came openly with the queen. There were ‘diverse goodlie shewes, as had beene accustomed.’ In 1522 the Drapers resolved ‘that there shall be no Mydsomʳ pageant becaus there was so many pageants redy standyng for the Emperors coming into London,’ and ‘for divers considerations’ to ‘surcease the said pageants and find xxx men in harness instead.’ But later they decided to ‘renew all the old pageants for the house; including our newe pageant of the Goldyn Flees for the mayr against mydsomʳ; also the gyant, lord Moryspyks, and a morys daunce, as was used the last year.’ The account-books mention Lord Moryspyks or ‘Marlingspikes,’ and a ‘king of the Moors,’ with a ‘stage’ and ‘wyld fire.’ In 1523, the King of Denmark being in London, the Drapers allowed the Sheriff two pageants, ‘but to be no precedent hereafter.’ They paid ‘for garnyshyng and newe repayring of th’ Assumpcion, and also for making a new pageant of St. Ursula.’ The King of Denmark was duly brought to see the watch. In 1524 they again had a pageant, the nature of which is not specified⁠[874].

Lopham, Norfolk.

‘Lopham game’ was at Harling (q.v.) in 1457.

Louth, Lincolnshire.

An inventory of documents in the rood-loft in 1516 includes the ‘hole Regenall of corpus xr̄i play.’ In 1558 the corporation paid for a play ‘in the markit-stede on corpus xr̄i day.’⁠[875]

Lydd, Kent.

The town accounts show a play of St. George on July 4, 1456, and payment to the ‘bane cryars’ of ‘our play’ in 1468. In 1422 the Lydd players acted at New Romney, and in 1490 the chaplain of the guild of St. George at New Romney went to see a play at Lydd, with a view to reproducing it. Between 1429 and 1490 the New Romney players acted often at Lydd, and also players of Ruckinge (1431), Wytesham (1441), Ham (1454), Hythe (1467), Folkestone (1479), Rye (1480), Stone (1490). Unnamed players were in the high street in 1485⁠[876].

Lyneham, Oxfordshire.

See s.v. Shipton.

Malden, Essex.

The Chelmsford (q.v.) play was shown at Malden in 1562.

Manningtree, Essex.

John Manningham, of the Middle Temple, wrote in his Diary, on Feb. 8, 1602, ‘The towne of Manitree in Essex holds by stage plays⁠[877].’ So Heywood, in his Apology for Actors (1612), ‘To this day there be townes that hold the priviledge of their fairs and other charters by yearly stage-plays, as at Manningtree in Suffolke, Kendall in the North, and others⁠[878].’ There are further allusions to these plays in T. Nash, The Choosing of Valentines,

and in Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins of London (1607), ‘Cruelty has got another part to play; it is acted like the old morals at Manning-tree⁠[880].’

Maxstoke, Warwickshire.

The accounts of Maxstoke Priory (a house of Augustinian canons) for 1430 include, ‘pro ientaculis puerorum eleemosynae exeuntium ad aulam in castro ut ibi ludum peragerent in die Purificationis, xivᵈ. Unde nihil a domini [Clinton] thesaurario, quia saepius hoc anno ministralli castri fecerunt ministralsiam in aula conventus et Prioris ad festa plurima sine ullo regardo⁠[881].’

Middleton, Norfolk.

In 1444 the corporation of Lynn (q.v.) showed a play with Mary and Gabriel before Lord Scales⁠[882].

Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Thetford Priory made a payment to ‘the play of Mydenale’ in 1503-4 (Appendix E, iii).

Mile End, Middlesex.

Henry VII rewarded ‘the Pleyers at Myles End’ on Aug. 6, 1501 (Appendix E, viii).

Milton, Oxfordshire.

See s.v. Shipton.

Morebath, Devonshire.

The churchwardens’ accounts record an Easter play at some date between 1520 and 1574⁠[883].

Nayland, Essex.

Richard More, of Nayland, hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe in 1566.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland.

The craft-plays on Corpus Christi day are mentioned in several fifteenth-century ordinaries, the earliest being that of the Coopers in 1426/7. The last years in which performances can be proved to have been given are 1561 and 1562. Ordinaries dated from 1578 to 1589 stipulate for a performance by the crafts ‘whensoever the generall plaies of the town of Newcastle, antiently called the Corpus Christi plays, shall be plaied,’ or the like. The determination of this point rested with the Corporation. The Goldsmiths drew up an ‘invoic of all the players apperell pertainyng to’ them in 1598/9. The cost of the plays fell on the crafts, who took fixed contributions from their members. The Taylors in 1536 required iijᵈ from each hireling, and vijᵈ from each newly admitted member. The Fullers and Dyers paid 9s. in 1561 for ‘the play lettine’ to four persons.

The mentions of ‘bearers of the care and baneres’ of them ‘that wated of the paient’ and of ‘the carynge of the trowt and wyn about the town’ seem to show that the plays were processional. On the other hand the one extant play (cf. p. 424) ends with a remark of the Diabolus to ‘All that is gathered in this stead.’ Perhaps the pageants first took part in the Corpus Christi procession proper and afterwards gathered in a field. The Mercers’ ordinary of 1480 shows that the procession was ‘by vij in morning,’ and the plays were certainly in the evening, for it was deposed in a law-suit at Durham in 1569 that Sir Robert Brandling of Newcastle said on Corpus Christi day, 1562, that ‘he would after his dinner draw his will, and after the plays would send for his consell, and make it up’ (Norfolk Archaeology, iii. 18).

For the list of plays, so far as it can be recovered, see p. 424. The ordinary of the Goldsmiths (1536) requires their play (Kynges of Coleyn) to be given at their feast⁠[884].

New Romney, Kent.

There are many notices of a play in the town accounts between 1428 and 1560. In 1456 the wardens of the play of the Resurrection are mentioned. In 1463 the jurats paid Agnes Ford 6s. 8d. ‘for the play of the Interlude of our Lord’s Passion.’ From 1474 the banns of the play are mentioned. In 1477 the play was on Whit-Tuesday. In 1518 the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports forbade the play, but it was revived elaborately in 1560. The accounts mention the purchase of copes and vestures from the corporation of Lydd, and refer to ‘a fool,’ ‘the Cytye of Samarye,’ ‘our last play,’ ‘the iijᵗʰ play,’ ‘the iiijᵗʰ play,’ and the ‘bane cryers.’ No crafts are mentioned: perhaps the play was produced by the corporation itself. The performances may have been on Crockhill or Crockley Green. ‘Playstool’ is a common name for a bit of land in Kent. Performances were often given in other towns: see s.v. Lydd. The play seems to have been only a Passion and Resurrection play, and not a complete cycle. ‘Le Playboke’ is mentioned from 1516. It is in an Elizabethan inventory of town records. A second play of St. George was probably started in 1490 when a chaplain of the guild of St. George went to see the Lydd St. George play, with a view to reproducing it. In 1497 the chaplains received the profits of the play. Players from the following towns are found acting at New Romney: Hythe (1399), Lydd (1422), Wittersham (1426, they ‘shewed th’ interlude’), Herne (1429), Ruckinge (1430), Folkestone (1474), Appledore (1488), Chart (1489), Rye (1489), Wye (1491), Brookland (1494), Halden (1499), Bethersden (1508)⁠[885].

Northampton, Northamptonshire.

Brotanek (Anglia, xxi. 21) conjectures that the Abraham and Isaac of the Dublin MS. may come from Northampton (cf. p. 427), and hints at an explanation of the ‘N. towne’ in the prologue to the Ludus Coventriae as ‘N[orthampton] towne’ (cf. p. 421).

But the only allusion even remotely suggesting miracle-plays that I can find in the printed civic records is in 1581, in which year some interrogatories as to St. George’s Hall contain a deposition by an old man to the effect that he had known the hall fifty years, and that the mayor and chamberlains had been wont to lay therein pageants, &c.⁠[886]

Norwich, Norfolk.

Whitsun Plays.

J. Whetley writes from Norwich on Corpus Christi even (May 20), 1478, to Sir John Paston in London, of a visit of Lord Suffolk to Hellesden, ‘at hys beyng ther that daye ther was never no man that playd Herrod in Corpus Crysty play better and more agreable to hys pageaunt than he dud⁠[887].’

I do not know whether it is fair to infer from this that in 1478 the Norwich plays were not at Whitsuntide, but at Corpus Christi; but this would account for J. Whetley’s trope.

On Sept. 21, 1527, the guild of St. Luke, composed of painters, braziers, plumbers, &c., made a presentment to the Assembly of the town that,—

‘where of longtime paste the said Guylde of Seynt Luke yerly till nowe hath ben used to be kept and holden within the citie aforesaid upon the Mundaye in pentecoste weke at which daye and the daye next ensuyng many and divers disgisyngs and pageaunts, as well of the lieffs and martyrdoms of divers and many hooly Saynts, as also many other light and feyned figurs and picturs of other persones and bests; the sight of which disgisings and pageaunts, as well yerly on the said Mondaye in pentecoste weke in the time of procession then goyng about a grett circuitte of the forsaid citie, as yerly the Tuysday in the same weke [serving] the lord named the Lord of Misrule at Tumlond within the same citie, hath ben and yet is sore coveted, specially by the people of the countre.’

The presentment goes on to show that much resort and profit have accrued to the city, but all the cost has fallen on the guild, which ‘is almost fully decayed’; and urges an order,—

‘that every occupacion wythyn the seyd Citye maye yerly at the said procession upon the Mondaye in Pentecost weke sette forth one pageaunt.’

It was agreed that each craft should play,—

‘one such pageaunt as shalbe assigned and appoynted by Master Mair and his brethern aldermen, as more playnly appereth in a boke thereof made.’

In the same hand is a list of crafts and plays (cf. p. 425)⁠[888].

Some extracts made in the eighteenth century from the, now lost, books of the Grocers’ Company, contain (a) two versions of their play on The Fall, dating from 1533 and 1565 respectively (cf. p. 425), and (b) various notices of the same from the Assembly Book.

The latter begin in 1534, when ‘4 Surveyors of yᵉ Pageant’ with a ‘Bedell’ were chosen, and an assessment of 22s. 10d. made for the pageant and the Corpus Christi procession. The expenses include, besides repairs to the pageant, fees to actors, refreshments, &c.,—

‘It. to Sʳ Stephen Prowet for makyng of a newe ballet, 12ᵈ.

House ferme for ye Pageant, 2ˢ.’

The pageant went in 1535 and 1536. In 1537 it ‘went not at Wytsontyde,’ but went in October ‘in yᵉ Processyon for yᵉ Byrthe of Prynce Edward.’ From 1538 to 1546 it went, the assessment for pageant and procession being about 20s. to 30s. As to 1547 the record is not clear. Then there is a gap in the extracts, and from 1556 onwards the ‘Gryffon,’ ‘Angell,’ and ‘Pendon’ of the Corpus Christi procession, with flowers, grocery, and fruit ‘to garnish yᵉ tre wᵗʰ,’ &c., appear alone in the accounts. In 1559 was ‘no solemnite’ at all. In 1563 it was agreed that the pageant should be ‘preparyd ageynst yᵉ daye of Mʳ Davy his takyng of his charge of yᵉ Mayralltye,’ with a ‘devyce’ to be prepared by the surveyors at a cost of 6s. 8d. The play cannot have quite lapsed, for in 1565 a new version was written (cf. p. 425). It was apparently contemplated that it might be played either alone or in a cycle. To the same year belongs the following

‘Inventory of yᵉ p’ticulars appartaynyng to yᵉ Company of yᵉ Grocers, a.d. 1565.

A Pageant, yᵗ is to saye, a Howse of Waynskott paynted and buylded on a Carte wᵗ fowre whelys.

A square topp to sett over yᵉ sayde Howse.

A Gryffon, gylte, wᵗ a fane to sette on yᵉ sayde toppe.

A bygger Iron fane to sett on yᵉ ende of yᵉ Pageante.

iiijˣˣ iij small Fanes belongyng to yᵉ same Pageante.

A Rybbe colleryd Red.

A cote & hosen wᵗ a bagg & capp for doloʳ, steyned.

2 cotes & a payre hosen for Eve, stayned.

A cote & hosen for Adam, Steyned.

A cote wᵗ hosen & tayle for yᵉ serpente, steyned, wᵗ a wᵗ heare.

A cote of yellow buckram wᵗ yᵉ Grocers’ arms for yᵉ Pendon bearer.

An Angell’s Cote & over hoses of Apis Skynns.

3 paynted clothes to hang abowte yᵉ Pageant.

A face & heare for yᵉ Father.

2 hearys for Adam & Eve.

4 head stallis of brode Inkle wᵗʰ knopps & tassells.

6 Horsse Clothes, stayned, wᵗ knopps & tassells.

Item, Weights, &c.’

There is a final memorandum that in 1570 the pageant was broken to pieces for six years ‘howse ferm’ due. There had been no ‘semblye nor metynge’ of the Company for eight years. The pageant had stood for six years in a ‘Gate howse,’ and then ‘at yᵉ Black Fryers brydge in open strete,’ where it became ‘so weather beaten, yᵗ yᵉ cheife parte was rotton⁠[889].’

Processions.

There were three notable annual processions at Norwich.

(a) The Corpus Christi Procession, in which the crafts were held to take part in 1489, and which appears, as above stated, in the Grocers’ records until 1558. They seem to have been represented by the ‘griffon’ from the top of their pageant, a banner with their arms, a crowned angel, and an emblematic ‘tree’ of fruit and grocery (possibly the ‘tree of knowledge’)⁠[890].

(b) The Procession of the Guild of St. Thomas à Becket on the day of his Translation (July 7) to his chapel in the wood. Here interludes were played⁠[891].

(c) The Riding of the Guild of St. George on his day (April 23). This dates from at least 1408, and a good many details as to it are preserved⁠[892].

Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

The ‘lusores de Eaton’ played at Maxstoke Priory between 1422 and 1461 (Appendix E, ii).

Oxford, Oxfordshire.

The following extracts from the Bursars’ computi of Magdalen College point to a Quem quaeritis of the longer type, with the ‘Noli me tangere’ episode.

1486-7. ‘pro factura sepulturae erga pascham. xijᵈ.’

1506-7. ‘pro scriptura lusi’ of St. Mary Magdalen. xᵈ.’

[There were further payments in connexion with this play, and for music.]

1509-10. ‘pro pane, cibo et aliis datis pueris ludentibus in die Paschae ... xvijᵈ ob.’

1514-5. ‘pro carnibus consumptis in capella tribus noctibus ante Pascha et in tempore Nativitatis. ijˢ.’

1518-9. ‘pro tinctura et factura tunicae eius qui ageret partem Christi et pro crinibus mulieribus. ijˢ vjᵈ.’

1536-7. ‘pro carbonibus consumptis in sacrario per custodes sepulchri, et per pueros in festis hiemalibus.’

[Repeated in other years.]

A chapel inventory of 1495 includes ‘unum frontale ... et unum dorsale cum quibus solet sepulcrum ornari.’

The same accounts (cf. p. 248) show items for plays in the hall at various seasons, and for the Boy Bishop at Christmas⁠[893].

The churchwardens of St. Peter’s in the East kept between 1444 and 1600 a stock of players’ garments, and let them out on hire⁠[894].

Penrhyn, Cornwall.

See Texts (i), Cornish Plays, Origo Mundi.

Perranzabulo, Cornwall.

The earliest historical notice of plays in Cornwall is by Richard Carew in 1602:—

‘The Guary miracle, in English, a miracle-play, is a kinde of Enterlude, compiled in Cornish out of some Scripture history, with that grossenes which accompanied the Romanes vetus Comoedia. For representing it they raise an earthen Amphitheatre in some open field, hauing the Diameter of his enclosed playne some 40 or 50 foot. The Country people flock from all sides, many miles off, to hear and see it: for they haue therein, deuils and deuices, to delight as well the eye as the eare; the players conne not their parts without booke, but are prompted by one called the Ordinary, who followeth at their back with the book in his hand, and telleth them softly what they must pronounce aloud.’

Whereupon Carew has a story of a ‘pleasant conceyted gentleman’ who raised laughter by repeating aloud all the Ordinary’s asides to himself.

One Mr. Scawen (†1660) describes the Guirremears as—

‘solemnized not without shew of devotion in open and spacious downs, of great capacity, encompassed about with earthen banks, and in some part stonework of largeness to contain thousands, the shapes of which remain in many places to this day, though the use of them long since gone.’

Bp. Nicholson, writing in 1700, says that the plays were:—

‘called Guirimir, which Mʳ Llhuyd supposes a corruption of Guarimirkle, and in the Cornish dialect to signify a miraculous play or interlude. They were composed for begetting in the common people a right notion of the Scriptures, and were acted in the memory of some not long since deceased.’

The eighteenth-century antiquary, Borlase, identifies the places in which the miracle-plays were given with those known as ‘rounds’ or, in Cornish, plân an guare. Of these he describes and figures two. That of St. Just was of stone, 126 feet in diameter, with seven rows of seats inside. It was much decayed when Norris wrote in 1859. That of Perranzabulo, or Piran-sand, was of earth, 130 feet in diameter, with a curious pit in the centre, joined to the outer ring by a narrow trench. Borlase thought that this was used for a Hell⁠[895]. It was more likely filled with water for Noah’s ship to float upon.

The Ordinalia printed by Mr. Norris take the Cornish plays back to at least the fourteenth, if not the thirteenth century. The circular diagrams in the manuscript exactly fall in with the round plân an guare described by Borlase and others. They show a ring of eight loci or sedes (cf. p. 83), for which the terms used in the stage-directions are pulpita or tenti, with an open circular space in the middle, which the stage-directions call the platea. The action is partly at the pulpita, partly in the platea. A new character often marks his appearance by strutting about his pulpitum, or perhaps around the ring—Hic pompabit Abraham, &c.

In the English stage-directions to the later (before 1611) Creation of the World, the platea becomes the playne, and for pulpitum the term room is used. The manager of the play is the ‘conveyour.’ Some of the directions are curious and minute. At the opening, ‘The father must be in a clowde, and when he speakethe of heaven let yᵉ levys open.’ Within is a ‘trone,’ which Lucifer tries to ascend. After the fight, ‘Lucifer voydeth & goeth downe to hell apareled fowle wᵗʰ fyre about hem turning to hell and every degre of devylls of lether & spirytis on cordis runing into yᵉ playne and so remayne ther.’ Meanwhile are got ready ‘Adam and Eva aparlet in whytt lether in a place apoynted by the conveyour & not to be sene tyll they be called & thei knell & ryse.’ Paradise has ‘ii fayre trees in yt’ and a ‘fowntaine’ and ‘fyne flowers,’ which appear suddenly. Similarly, a little later, ‘Let fyshe of dyuers sortis apeare & serten beastis as oxen kyne shepe & such like.’ Lucifer incarnates as ‘a fyne serpent made wᵗʰ a virgyn face & yolowe heare vpon her head.’ Presently comes the warning, ‘ffig leaves redy to cover ther members,’ and at the expulsion, ‘The garmentis of skynnes to be geven to adam and eva by the angell. Receave the garmentis. Let them depart out of paradice and adam and eva following them. Let them put on the garmentis and shewe a spyndell and a dystaff’ The Cain and Abel scene requires ‘a chawbone’ (‘Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder’). Seth is led to Paradise and ‘Ther he vyseth all thingis, and seeth ij trees and in the one tree sytteth mary the virgyn & in her lappe her son jesus in the tope of the tree of lyf, and in the other tree yᵉ serpent wᶜʰ caused Eva to eat the appell.’ When Adam dies, his soul is taken ‘to lymbo,’ and he is buried ‘in a fayre tombe wᵗʰ som churche songis at hys buryall.’ The Noah scene requires ‘tooles and tymber redy, wᵗʰ planckis to make the arcke, a beam a mallet a calkyn yre[n] ropes mass[t]es pyche and tarr.’ Presently ‘let rayne appeare’ and ‘a raven & a culver ready.’ When the flood ends, ‘An alter redy veary fayre,’ at which ‘som good church songes’ are sung, and ‘a Rayne bowe to appeare.’ Like the earlier plays, this ends with a call on the minstrels to pipe for a dance.

A study of the place names in the Ordinalia led Mr. Pedler to suggest that they probably belonged to the neighbourhood of Penrhyn, and may have been composed at the collegiate house of Glasney. The St. Meriasek play is assigned by Mr. Stokes to Camborne, of which that saint was patron. It ends with an invocation of St. Meriasek, St. Mary of Camborne, and the Apostles.

Preston, Lancashire.

A Corpus Christi play was acted within the lifetime of Weever, who was born 1576 and wrote 1631⁠[896].

I find no trace of plays at the meetings of the Guild Merchant, although there was always a great procession, which from 1762 or earlier included such allegorical figures as Adam and Eve for the Tailors, Vulcan for the Smiths, &c.⁠[897]

Reading, Berkshire.

The churchwardens’ accounts of St. Lawrence’s record ‘a gaderyng of a stage-play’ in 1498.

In 1507 a play of Adam and Eve was held on ‘the Sonday afore Bartylmastyde’ ‘in the Forbury.’ There was a ‘schapfold,’ but ‘pagentts’ were also used. A Corpus Christi procession is also mentioned in 1509, 1512, and 1539.

In 1512 also was the ‘play of Kayme,’ and in 1515, ‘Cayme’s pageaunt’ in the market-place.

On May 1, 1499, and again in 1539, was the Kings of Cologne. This was distinct, no doubt, from the ‘king play,’ with its ‘tree,’ ‘king game,’ or ‘kyng ale,’ which took place at Whitsuntide (cf. vol. i. p. 173). But the date, May 1 (for which cf. Abingdon), is curious for a miracle-play, and must have been influenced by the folk feast.

A payment for ‘rosyn to the resurrecyon pley’ (possibly for making a blaze: cf. p. 23, note 5) occurs in 1507, and in 1533-5 payments to ‘Mʳ Laborne’ ‘for reforming the Resurrecon pley,’ and ‘for a boke’ of it.

In 1508 was a ‘pageaunt of the Passion on Easter Monday⁠[898].’

Ruckinge, Kent.

Ruckinge players were at New Romney in 1430, and Lydd in 1431.

Rye, Sussex.

Rye players were at Lydd in 1480, and at New Romney in 1489.

Sabsford (?), Essex.

‘Sabsforde men’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe in 1562, 1563, and 1566. But I can find no such place.

Saffron Walden, Essex.

‘Men of Waldyne’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe during 1564-6.

St. Just, Cornwall.

See s.v. Perranzabulo.

Salisbury, Wiltshire.

A cathedral inventory of 1222 includes:—

‘Coronae ij de latone ad representationes faciendas.’

These latten ‘coronae’ may, I suppose, have been either crowns for the Magi, or ‘stellae⁠[899].’

The churchwardens’ accounts of St. Edmund’s for 1461 include an item ‘for all apparel and furniture of players at the Corpus Christi⁠[900].’

Shelfhanger, Norfolk.

Thetford Priory made a payment ‘in regard to Schelfanger play’ in 1507-8 (Appendix E, iii).

Shipton, Oxfordshire.

It was decided (†1220-28), as part of an award concerning the rights of collation to the churches of Shipton and Bricklesworth, both being prebends in Sarum cathedral, as follows:—

‘Actiones autem, si quae competant, in villa de Fifhide et de Idebire cedant canonico de Brikeleswrth. Actiones vero, si quae competant, in villa de Mideltone et de Langele, cedant canonico de Schiptone. Emolumentum vero actionum, si quae competant, in villa de Linham aequaliter inter se dividant⁠[901].’

The editor of the Sarum Charters can only explain actiones as ‘plays.’ Ducange gives the word in the sense of spectacula.

All the places named, Fyfield, Idbury, Milton, Langley, and Lyneham, are in Wychwood, and may have formed in the thirteenth century, if they do not all now, part of the parish of Shipton-under-Wychwood.

Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

The civic orders and accounts refer occasionally to plays. The first on record was given before Prince Arthur in 1495. In 1516 the abbot of Shrewsbury, in 1533 the bishop of Exeter, and in 1542 the royal commissioners were present. The subject in 1516 was the martyrdoms of Saints Feliciana and Sabina. In 1518 it was the Three Kings of Cologne. In 1510, 1518, 1533, 1553, and 1556 the performances were at Whitsuntide. The bailiffs, according to a notice in 1556, ‘set forward’ the plays, and the ‘lusores’ belonging to the town, who are mentioned in 1527 and 1549, were perhaps the performers. The locality was, in 1542, the churchyard of St. Chad’s. In 1495, 1516, and 1533 it was the quarry outside the walls, where it is stated in 1570 that ‘the plases have bin accustomyd to be usyd⁠[902].’ Here there were traces of a seated amphitheatre as late as 1779⁠[903]. Thomas Ashton became master of the free school in 1561, and he produced plays in the quarry. Elizabeth was to have been at his Julian the Apostate in 1565, but came too late. In 1567 he gave the Passion of Christ⁠[904]. An undated list of Costs for the Play includes ‘a desert’s (disard’s) hed and berd,’ ‘vi dossen belles’ for a morris, ‘gonne poudoʳ’ and other attractions for a devil⁠[905].

Shrewsbury Show.

The craft-guilds took part in the Corpus Christi procession, and the guild of Mercers inflicted a penalty of 12d. on brethren who on that feast should ‘happen to ride or goe to Coventre Faire or elleswhere out of the town of Shrewesburye to by or sell⁠[906].’ Until about 1880 Shrewsbury Show was held on the Monday after Corpus Christi day. The crafts had tableaux which, after the Reformation at least, were emblematic rather than religious⁠[907]; thus—

Tailors. Adam and Eve or Elizabeth.

Shearmen. St. Blasius or Edward IV.

Skinners and Glovers. King of Morocco.

Smiths. Vulcan.

Painters. Rubens.

Bricklayers. King Henry VIII.

Shoemakers. SS. Crispin and Crispinian.

Barbers. St. Katharine.

Bakers. Venus and Ceres.

Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

The accounts of the guild of Holy Trinity for 1480 include:—

‘It. payd for the Ryginall of ye play for ye Ascencon & the wrytyng of spechys & payntyng of a garmet for god, iijˢ. viijᵈ.⁠[908]’

Miss Toulmin Smith finds in the same accounts for 1477, a ‘kyngyng,’ i.e. Three Kings of Cologne on Corpus Christi day⁠[909]; but I read the entry:—

‘It. payd for the ryngyng of ye same day, ijᵈ.’

Oliver, the historian of the guild, reads ‘hymnall’ for ‘Ryginall’ in the 1480 entry. He also asserts that there was a regular Corpus Christi play by the crafts. This seems improbable in a place of the size of Sleaford, and in fact Oliver’s elaborate description is entirely based upon data from elsewhere, especially the Gubernacio Ludi of Beverley (cf. p. 340)⁠[910].

Stapleford, Essex.

‘Men of Starford’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe during 1564-6. I find no Starford, but a Stapleford Tawney and a Stapleford Abbots in Essex.

Stoke by Nayland, Essex.

Sir John Howard ‘ȝafe to the pleyeres of Stoke, ijˢ’ on Jan. 12, 1466.

Lord Howard ‘paid to the pleirs of Turton Strete xxᵈ’ on Aug. 29, 1481. Thorington is still the name given to part of Stoke. There is also an independent township so named in Essex.

On May 22, 1482, Lord Howard ‘yaff to the cherche on Whitson Monday at the pley xˢ.’

On Jan. 2, 1491, the Earl of Surrey paid iijˢ iiijᵈ ‘in reward to the panget’ [? pageant]⁠[911].

Stone, Kent.

Stone players were at Lydd in 1490.

Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

The churchwardens’ accounts in 1578 mention payments for ‘the players’ geers, six sheep-skins for Christ’s garments’; and an inventory of 1585 includes ‘eight heads of hair for the Apostles, and ten beards, and a face or vizier for the Devil⁠[912].’

Tintinhull, Somerset.

The churchwardens’ accounts for 1451-2 include a receipt:—

‘de incremento unius ludi vocati Christmasse play⁠[913].’

Wakefield, Yorkshire.

See Texts (i), Towneley Plays.

Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire.

Players of ‘Wymborne Minster’ were rewarded by Henry VII on Jan. 1, 1494 (Appendix E, viii).

Winchester, Hampshire.

The early use of the Quem quaeritis in the liturgy of the cathedral served by the Benedictines of St. Swithin’s Priory has been fully discussed in Chapter xviii and Appendix O.

In 1486, Henry VII was entertained at dinner on a Sunday in the castle with a performance of Christi descensus ad inferos by the ‘pueri eleemosynarii’ of the monasteries of St. Swithin’s and Hyde⁠[914].

Windsor, Berks.

On May 24, 1416, Henry V invested the Emperor Sigismund with the Garter, the annual feast being deferred from April 23 for that purpose. Mr. John Payne Collier says, ‘A chronicle in the Cottonian collection gives a description of a performance before him and Henry V, on the incidents of the life of St. George. The representation seems to have been divided into three parts, and to have been accomplished by certain artificial contrivances, exhibiting, first, “the armyng of Seint George, and an Angel doyng on his spores [spurs]”; secondly, “Seint George riding and fightyng with the dragon, with his spere in his hand”; and, thirdly, “a castel, and Seint George and the Kynges daughter ledyng the lambe in at the castel gates.” Here we have clearly the outline of the history of St. George of Cappadocia, which often formed the subject of a miracle-play; but whether, in this instance, it was accompanied with dialogue, or was (as is most probable) merely a splendid dumb show, assisted by temporary erections of castles, &c., we are not informed.’ This performance is accepted from Collier, i. 29, by Ward, i. 50, Pollard, xx, and other distinguished writers. They ought to have known him better. The authority he quotes, Cotton. MS. Calig. B. II, is wrong. But in Cotton. MS. Julius B. I, one of the MSS. of the London Chronicle, is the following passage, ‘And the first sotelte was our lady armyng seint George, and an angel doyng on his spores; the ijᵈᵉ sotelte was seint George ridyng and fightyng with the dragon, with his spere in his hand; the iijᵈᵉ sotelte was a castel, and seint George, and the kynges doughter ledynge the lambe in at the castel gates. And all these sotelties were served to the emperor, and to the kyng, and no ferther: and other lordes were served with other sotelties after theire degrees⁠[915].’ The representation, then, was in cake or marchpane. The term ‘soteltie’ is surely not uncommon⁠[916]. But it has led a French scholar into another curious mistake. According to M. E. Picot ‘La sotelty paraît n’avoir été qu’une simple farce, comme la sotternie néerlandaise⁠[917].’ A mumming by Lydgate in 1429-30 seems to have introduced a ‘miracle’ of St. Clotilda and the Holy Ampulla (cf. vol. i. p. 397).

Witham, Essex.

‘Barnaby Riche of Witham’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe in 1566.

Wittersham, Kent.

Wittersham players were at New Romney in 1426 and Lydd in 1441.

Woodham Walter, Essex.

‘Mrs. Higham of Woodham Walter’ hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe in 1570-2.

Woodkirk, Yorkshire.

See Texts, (i) Towneley Plays.

Worcester, Worcestershire.

A cathedral inventory of 1576 includes:—

‘players gere

A gowne of freres gyrdles. A woman’s gowne. A Kˢ cloke of Tysshew. A Jerkyn and a payer of breches. A lytill cloke of tysshew. A gowne of silk. A Jerkyn of greene, 2 cappes, and the devils apparell⁠[918].’

There was a Corpus Christi play, mentioned in 1467 and 1559. It consisted of five pageants, maintained by the crafts, and was held yearly, if the corporation so decided. In 1584 a lease of the ‘vacant place where the pagantes do stand’ was granted for building, and there was a building known as the ‘Pageant House’ until 1738⁠[919].

Wrexham, Denbighshire.

The corporation of Shrewsbury saw a play by ‘quibusdam interlusoribus de Wrexam’ in 1540 (Appendix E, vi).

Writtle, Essex.

‘Parker of Writtell’ twice hired the Chelmsford (q.v.) wardrobe during 1570-2. See also p. 184, n. 2.

Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Henry VII rewarded players of Wycombe on Dec. 31, 1494 (Appendix E, viii).

Wye, Kent.

Wye players were at New Romney in 1491.

Wymondham, Norfolk.

An account of the ‘husbands for the wache and play of Wymondham,’ made up to June, 1538, includes payments for ‘the play,’ ‘devyls shoes,’ ‘the giant,’ a man ‘in armour,’ ‘the revels and dances⁠[920].’ It was at this play on July 1, 1549, that Kett’s rebellion broke out. According to Alexander Neville, the ‘ludi ac spectacula ... antiquitus ita instituta’ lasted two days and nights; according to Holinshed, ‘one day and one night at least⁠[921].’

Yarmouth, Norfolk.

The churchwardens’ accounts of St. Nicholas’s contain items between 1462 and 1512 for ‘making a new star,’ ‘leading the star,’ ‘a new balk line to the star and ryving the same star.’ In 1473 and 1486 are mentioned plays on Corpus Christi day; in 1489, a play at Bartholomew tide; in 1493, a game played on Christmas day⁠[922].

York, Yorkshire.

[Authorities.—The chief are R. Davies, Municipal Records of the City of York (1843); L. Toulmin Smith, York Plays (1885). From one or other of these all statements below, of which the authority is not given, are taken. The municipal documents used are enumerated in York Plays, ix. The earliest date from 1371. F. Drake, Eboracum (1736); R. H. Skaife, Guild of Corpus Christi (Surtees Soc.); H. T. Riley, in Hist. MSS. Comm. i. 109; M. Sellers, City of York in the Sixteenth Century, in Eng. Hist. Rev. ix. 275; and some craft-guild documents in Archaeological Review, i. 221; Antiquary, xi. 107; xxii. 266; xxiii. 27, may also be consulted.]

Liturgical Plays.

The traditional Statutes of York Cathedral, supposed to date in their present form from about 1255, provide for the Pastores and the Stella.

‘Item inueniet [thesaurarius] stellas cum omnibus ad illas pertinentibus, praeter cirpos, quos inueniet Episcopus Puerorum futurorum [? fatuorum], vnam in nocte natalis Domini pro pastoribus, et ijᵃˢ in nocte Epiphaniae, si debeat fieri presentacio iijᵘᵐ regum⁠[923].’

Corpus Christi Plays.

The first mention is in 1378, when part of a fine levied on the Bakers is assigned ‘a la pagine des ditz Pestours de corpore cristi.’ In 1394 a civic order required all the pageants to play in the places ‘antiquitus assignatis,’ in accordance with the proclamation, and under penalty of a fine. In 1397 Richard II was present to view the plays. In 1415 the town clerk, Roger Burton, entered in the Liber Memorandorum a copy of the Ordo paginarum ludi Corporis Christi, which was a schedule of the crafts and their plays, together with the Proclamacio ludi corporis cristi facienda in vigilia corporis cristi. At this date the plays were given annuatim. About 1440 the existing manuscript of the plays was probably written. It was a ‘register,’ drawn up from the ‘regynalls’ or ‘origenalls’ in the possession of the several crafts, and kept by the city⁠[924]. Halfway through the sixteenth century performances become irregular. In 1535 the Creed play, in 1558 the Paternoster play was given instead. In 1548 ‘certen pagyauntes ... that is to say, the deyng of our lady, the assumption of our lady, and the coronacion of our lady,’ were cast out. In 1550 and 1552 the play was suppressed on account of the plague, half the ‘pageant silver’ in 1552 being given to the sick. In 1562 the corporation attempted in vain to defer it to St. Barnabas day. In 1564, 1565, and 1566 it was not given, on account of war and sickness. In 1568 there was a dispute as to whether it should be played, and it was ordered that it must be ‘perused and otherwaise amended’ first. In 1569 it was given on Whit-Tuesday. It then seems to have lain dormant until 1579, when the Council made an order that it should be played but ‘first the booke shalbe caried to my Lord Archebisshop [Edwin Sandys] and Mr. Deane [Mathew Hutton] to correcte, if that my Lord Archebisshop doo well like theron.’ Various notes upon the ‘register,’ addressed to a ‘Doctor,’ and indicating that this or that play had been revised, were probably written at this time. In 1580 the citizens petitioned for the play, and the mayor replied that the request would be considered. There is no proof that any performance took place after this date; although the Bakers were still choosing ‘pageant-masters’ in 1656⁠[925].

The ordering of the plays about 1415 was as follows: Yearly in the first or second week in Lent, the town clerk copied the ‘sedulae paginarum’ from the Ordo in the Liber Memorandorum and delivered it to the crafts ‘per vj servientes maioris ad clavam.’ On the eve of Corpus Christi a proclamation of mayor and sheriffs forbade ‘distorbaunce of the kynges pees, and ye play, or hynderyng of ye processioun of Corpore Christi.’ It went on to direct that the pageants must be played at the assigned places, that the men of the crafts are to come forth in customary array and manner, ‘careynge tapers of ye pagentz,’ that there shall be provided ‘good players, well arayed and openly spekyng,’ and that all shall be ready to start ‘at the mydhowre betwix iiijᵗʰ and vᵗʰ of the cloke in the mornynge, and then all oyer pageantz fast followyng ilk one after oyer as yer course is, without tarieng.’ Fines are imposed for any neglect or failure. At this date the play and the Corpus Christi procession were on the same day. In 1426 it is recorded that a Franciscan preacher, William Melton, while commending the play, ‘affirmando quod bonus erat in se et laudabilis valde,’ urged that it should be put on the day before Corpus Christi, so as not to interfere with the ecclesiastical feast⁠[926]. This seems to have been agreed to, but the arrangement did not last. The procession was under the management of a Corpus Christi guild, founded in 1408, and the statutes of this guild dated in 1477 show that it was then the procession which was displaced, falling on the Friday after Corpus Christi day⁠[927].

Thus the plays were essentially the affair of the whole community, and the control of them by the mayor and council may be further illustrated. In 1476 the council made an order regulating the choice of actors, and laid down—

‘That yerely in the tyme of lentyn there shall be called afore the maire for the tyme beyng iiij of the moste connyng discrete and able players within this Citie, to serche, here, and examen all the plaiers and plaies and pagentes thrughoute all the artificers belonging to Corpus Xᵗⁱ Plaie. And all suche as thay shall fynde sufficiant in personne and connyng, to the honour of the Citie and worship of the saide Craftes, for to admitte and able; and all other insufficiant personnes, either in connyng, voice, or personne to discharge, ammove, and avoide. And that no plaier that shall plaie in the saide Corpus Xᵗⁱ plaie be conducte and reteyned to plaie but twise on the day of the saide playe; and that he or thay so plaing plaie not ouere twise the saide day, vpon payne of xlˢ to forfet vnto the chaumbre as often tymes as he or thay shall be founden defautie in the same.’

By ‘twise’ is probably meant ‘in two distinct pageants’; for each pageant repeated its performance at several stations. In 1394 these stations were ‘antiquitus assignatis.’ In 1399 the commons petitioned the council to the effect that ‘le juer et les pagentz de la jour de corpore cristi’ were not properly performed on account of the number of stations, and these were limited to twelve. In later years there were from twelve to sixteen, and from 1417 the corporation made a profit by letting to prominent citizens the right to have stations opposite their houses. A list of ‘Leases for Corpuscrysty Play’ in 1554, for instance, shows twelve stations bringing in from xiijᵈ to iijˢ iiijᵈ each, while nothing was charged for the places ‘at the Trinitie yaits where the clerke kepys the register,’ ‘at the comon Hall to my Lord Maior and his bredren,’ ‘at Mr. Bekwyth’s at Hosyerlane end, where as my Lady Mayres and her systers lay’ and ‘uppon the Payment.’

Outward signs of the civic control were the ‘vexilla ludi cum armis civitatis,’ which were set up at the stations by order of the mayor on Corpus Christi eve. Apparently the city claimed also to put its mark on the pageants themselves, for in an agreement of 1422 merging the pageants of the Shoemakers, Tilemakers, Hayresters, and Millers it was declared, ‘quod nulla quatuor artium praedictarum ponet aliqua signa, arma, vel insignia super paginam praedictam, nisi tantum arma huius honorabilis civitatis.’ But the more important crafts, who had a pageant to themselves, may not have been subject to this restriction.

Although the corporation profited from the ‘dimissio locorum ludi Corporis Christi,’ they did not meet many of the expenses. They paid for the services of the minstrels employed, and for refreshments for themselves and for important visitors to the town. They occasionally helped out the resources of a poor craft. The following extract from the Chamberlains’ accounts for 1397 seems to be quite exceptional:—

‘Expens’ in festo de Corpore Xp’ i.

Item: pro steyning de iiijᵒʳ pannos ad opus paginae, iiijˢ.

Et pro pictura paginae, ijˢ.

Et pro vexillo novo cum apparatu, xijˢ ijᵈ.

Et in portacione et reportacione meremii ad barras coram Rege, ijˢ jᵈ.

Et pro xx fursperres ad barras praedictas coram Rege, vˢ xᵈ.

Et pro xix sapplynges emptis de Iohanne de Craven pro barris praedictis, vjˢ viijᵈ.

Et viij portitoribus ducentibus et moventibus paginam, vˢ iiijᵈ.

Et Ianitori Sanctae Trinitatis pro pagina hospitanda, iiijᵈ.

Et ludentibus, iiijᵈ.

Et ministrallis in festo de Corpore Xp’i, xiijˢ iiijᵈ.

Et in pane, cervisiis, vino, et carnibus, et focalibus pro maiore et probis hominibus in die ad ludum, xviijˢ viijᵈ.

Et in ministrallis domini Regis ac aliorum dominorum supervenientibus, vijˡⁱ vijˢ iiijᵈ.

Et ministris camerae in albo panno et rubeo pro adventu Regis, lviijˢ xᵈ.’

Certainly the corporation did not themselves provide a ‘pagina’ in 1415 or later years. I think that in 1397 they prepared one for some allegorical performance of welcome, distinct from the play itself, to Richard II. The king was evidently placed at the gate of Trinity Priory, where was the first station as late as 1569.

But the bulk of the cost fell upon the crafts. They had to build, repair, decorate, and draw the pageant (Latin, pagina; English, pagiaunt, paiaunt, pachent, pagende, pagyant, padgin, padgion, paidgion, padzhand, &c., &c.). They had to house it in one of the ‘pageant howses’ which until recently gave a name to ‘Pageant green,’ and for each of which a yearly rent of xijᵈ seems to have been the usual charge. They had also doubtless to provide dress and refresh the actors; and some of their members were bound personally to conduct the pageant on its journey. The fully organized craft-guilds appointed annual ‘pageant-masters,’ and met the ordinary charges by a levy of ‘pageant-silver’ upon each member according to his status. The amounts varied from 1d. to 8d., and were supplemented by the proceeds of fines and payments on admissions and on setting up shop. Smaller guilds were often grouped together, and produced one pageant amongst three or four of them. Even the unincorporated trades did not escape. In 1483 four Innholders undertook the responsibility of producing a pageant for eight years on condition of a fixed payment of 4d. from each innholder in the city. Exceptional expenses were sometimes met in exceptional ways. The Mercers gave free admission into their fraternity to one Thomas Drawswerd, on condition that he should ‘mak the Pagiant of the Dome ... of newe substanciale for vij marks and the old pageant.’⁠[928] In 1501 the Cartwrights made four new wheels to a pageant, and were thereupon discharged from further charges for 6d. a year. Evidently the obligation of producing a pageant was considered an onerous one, and as trades rose and fell in York, the incidence of it upon this or that trade or trades was frequently altered. All such rearrangements came before the civic authorities, and many of them are upon record. Naturally they involved some corresponding revision, piecing together, or splitting up of plays (cf. p. 412). I only find one example of a play produced by any other body than a craft. The Hospital of St. Leonard produced the play of the Purification in 1415, but had ceased to do so some time before 1477. It is to be noted that in 1561 the Minstrels took their place with the other crafts, and became responsible for the Herod play⁠[929].

Pater-Noster Play.

Wyclif in his De Officio Pastorali, cap. 15 (1378), says that,—

‘herfore freris han tauȝt in Englond þe Paternoster in Engliȝcsh tunge, as men seyen in þe pleye of Yorke⁠[930].’ The reference here is to a performance distinct from the Corpus Christi play. The preamble to a return of the ordinances and so forth of the guild ‘Orationis Domini,’ made in 1389, states that

‘Once upon a time, a Play setting forth the goodness of the Lord’s Prayer was played in the city of York; in which play all manner of vices and sins were held up to scorn, and the virtues were held up to praise.’

The guild was formed to perpetuate this play, and the members were bound to produce it and accompany it through the streets. In 1389 they had no possessions beyond the properties of the play and a chest. A computus of the guild for 1399 contains an entry of an old debt of 2s. 2d., owed by John Downom and his wife for entrance fee:—

‘Sed dictus Iohannes dicit se expendisse in diuersis expensis circa ludum Accidiae ex parte Ric. Walker ijˢ jᵈ, ideo de praedicto petit allocari⁠[931].’

It would appear that by 1488 the guild had been converted to or absorbed in a guild of the Holy Trinity, which was moreover the craft-guild of the Merchants or Mercers. Certainly in that year this guild chose four pageant-masters to bring forth the Paternoster play. They were to bring in the pageants ‘within iiij days next after Corpus Christi Day⁠[932].’ In 1488 the Paternoster play was presumably a variant for the usual Corpus Christi plays. It was similarly played on Corpus Christi day in 1558. The management was in the hands of one of the few unsuppressed guilds, that of St. Anthony; but the corporation gathered ‘pageant silver’ from the crafts and met the charges. A ‘bayn,’ or messenger, rode to proclaim the play on St. George’s day, and another on Whit Monday. Another performance took place on Corpus Christi day (now called ‘Thursday next after Trinitie Sonday’), 1572. The book was ‘perused, amended and corrected.’ Nevertheless, on July 30 the council sent a ‘trewe copie’ of it, at his request, to the Archbishop [Grindal] of York, and although in 1575 they sent a deputation to urge him to appoint a commission to reform ‘all suche the play bookes as perteyne this cittie now in his grace’s custodie,’ there is no proof that his grace complied.

Creed Play.

As already stated, the guild of Corpus Christi had nothing to do with the regular craft-plays. But in 1446, William Revetor, a chantry priest and warden of the guild, bequeathed to it a ‘ludus incomparabilis’ called the ‘Crede play,’ to be performed every tenth year ‘in variis locis dictae civitatis.’ An inventory of 1465 includes:—

‘Liber vocatus Originale continens Articulos Fidei Catholicae in lingua anglicana, nuper scriptum, appreciatum xˡⁱ.

Et alius liber inveteratus de eodem ludo, cˢ.

Et alius liber de eodem anglice vocatus Crede Play continens xxij quaternos.’

There were also many banners and properties, amongst which

‘Et xij rotulae nuper scriptae cum articulis fidei catholicae, apprec’ iijˢ iiijᵈ.

Et una clavis pro sancto Petro cum ij peciis unius tunicae depictae, apprec’ xijᵈ.

Et x diademata pro Xp’o et apostolis cum una larva et aliis novem cheverons, vjˢ.’

Various performances of the Creed play are recorded. In 1483 it was given on Sunday, September 7, before Richard III, by order of the Council, ‘apon the cost of the most onest men of every parish in thys Cite.’ From 1495 decennial performances can be traced, generally about Lammas (August 1), and ‘at the common hall.’ In 1535 the Corpus Christi play proper was omitted, and the crafts contributed ‘pageant silver’ to the Creed play at Lammas. But they refused to give way to it again in 1545. The guild was suppressed in 1547, and the ‘original or regestre’ passed into the hands of the hospital of St. Thomas. In 1562 the corporation proposed the Creed play as a possible alternative for ‘th’ ystories of the old and new testament’ on St. Barnabas day; and in 1568 they again designed to replace the regular Corpus Christi play by it. But first they submitted it to the Dean of York, Matthew Hutton, who, in a letter still extant, advised that—

‘thogh it was plawsible to yeares ago, and wold now also of the ignorant sort be well liked, yet now in this happie time of the gospell, I knowe the learned will mislike it, and how the state will beare with it, I knowe not.’

Consequently the book was ‘delyveryd in agayn,’ and no more is heard of it.

Mr. Davies suggests that the play probably fell into twelve scenes, in each of which one of the apostles figured. If so, there is perhaps an allusion to a performance of it in a letter of Henry VIII to the justices of York in which he speaks of a riot which took place—

‘at the acting of a religious interlude of St. Thomas the Apostle made in the said city on the 23ʳᵈ of August now last past ... owing to the seditious conduct of certain papists who took a part in preparing for the said interlude.’

He requires them to imprison any who in ‘performing interludes which are founded on any portions of the Old or New Testament’ use language tending to a breach of the peace⁠[933].

St. George Riding.

In April, 1554, the Council made an order for ‘Seynt George to be brought forth and ryde as hath been accustomed,’ and the following items in the accounts show that the personages in the procession were much the same as at Dublin (q.v.):—

‘to the waites for rydyng and playing before St. George and the play.’

‘to the porters for beryng of the pagyant, the dragon and St. Xp’ofer.’

‘to the King and Quene [of Dele] that playd.’

‘to the May [the Maid].’

‘to John Stamper for playing St. George⁠[934].’

Midsummer Show.

As the regular plays waned, the ‘show’ or ‘watch’ of armed men on Midsummer eve became important. There is an ordinance for it in 1581. In 1584 it took place in the morning, and in the afternoon John Grafton, a schoolmaster, gave at seven stations a play with ‘certaine compiled speaches,’ for which the council allowed him to have ‘a pageant frame.’ Apparently the Baker’s pageant was repaired for the purpose. In 1585 Grafton borrowed the pageants of the Skinners, Cooks, Tailors, Innholders, Bakers, and Dyers, and gave another play. Grafton’s account for 1585 mentions ‘the hearse,’ ‘the angell,’ ‘the Queene’s crowne,’ ‘the childe one of the furyes bare.’ He got iijˢ, vjˢ, viijᵈ for his pains⁠[935].

X TEXTS OF MEDIAEVAL PLAYS AND EARLY TUDOR INTERLUDES

I. MIRACLE-PLAYS.

Chester Plays.

Manuscripts.

(i) Hg. †1475-1500. Hengwrt MS. 229, in the library of Mr. Wynne of Peniarth, containing Play xxiv (Antichrist) only. Probably a prompter’s copy, as some one has ‘doubled it up and carried it about in his pocket, used it with hot hands, and faded its ink.’

(ii) D. 1591. Devonshire MS., in the library of the Duke of Devonshire, written by ‘Edward Gregorie, a scholar of Bunbury.’

(iii) W. 1592. Brit. Mus. Addl. MS. 10,305. Signed at the end of each play ‘George Bellin.’

(iv) h. 1600. Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 2013, also signed after some of the plays by ‘George Bellin’ or ‘Billinges.’ A verse proclamation or ‘banes’ is prefixed, and on a separate leaf a copy of the prose proclamation made by the clerk of the pentice in 1544 (cf. p. 349) with a note, in another hand.

(v) B. 1604. Bodl. MS. 175, written by ‘Gulielmus Bedford,’ with an incomplete copy of the ‘banes.’

(vi) H. 1607. Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 2124, in two hands, the second being that of ‘Jacobus Miller.’ An historical note, dated 1628, is on the cover.

(vii) M. MS. in Manchester Free Library, containing fragment of Play xix (Resurrection) only.

[The MSS. D, W, h, B are derived from a common source, best represented by B. MS. H varies a good deal from this group, and is the better text. MS. Hg is probably related to H.]

Editions.

(a) 1818. Plays iii, x (Noah, Innocents) and Banes; J. H. Markland, for Roxburghe Club (No. 11).

(b) 1836. Play xxiv (Antichrist); J. P. Collier, Five Miracle-Plays.

(c) 1838. Plays iii, xxiv (Noah, Antichrist); W. Marriott, English Miracle-Plays.

(d) 1843-7, 1853. Cycle; Thomas Wright, from MS. W, for Shakespeare Society.

(e) 1883. Part of Play xix (Resurrection), from MS. M, in Manchester Guardian, for May 19, 1883.

(f) 1890. Plays iii, part of iv (Noah, Isaac); Pollard, 8.

(g) 1893-. Cycle (vol. i with Introduction, Banes and Plays i-xiii only issued by 1902); H. Deimling, from MS. H (with collation), for E. E. T. S. (Extra Series, lxii).

(h) 1897. Plays v, xxiv (Prophetae, Antichrist); Manly, i. 66, 170, from (g) and MS. Hg respectively.

[F. J. Furnivall, Digby Plays, xx, prints eighteen additional lines to the Banns as given by Deimling from MSS. h, B. These are from a copy in Rogers’s Breviary of Chester (cf. p. 350), Harl. MS. 1944. A distinct and earlier (pre-Reformation) Banns is printed by Morris, 307, from Harl. MS. 2150 (cited in error as 2050), which is a copy of the White Book of the Pentice belonging to the City of Chester.]

The Cycle.

The list of ‘pagyns in play of Corpus Χρi’ contained in the ‘White Book of the Pentice’ (Harl. MS. 2150, f. 85 b), and given apparently from this source, by Rogers (Furnivall, xxi), makes them twenty-five in number, as follows:—

i. The fallinge of Lucifer.

ii. The creation of yᵉ worlde.

iii. Noah & his shipp.

iv. Abraham & Isacke.

v. Kinge Balack & Balaam with Moyses.

vi. Natiuytie of our Lord.

vii. The shepperdes offeringe.

viii. Kinge Harrald & yᵉ mounte victoriall.

ix. Yᵉ 3 Kinges of Collen.

x. The destroyeinge of the Childeren by Herod.

xi. Purification of our Ladye.

xii. The pinackle, with yᵉ woman of Canan.

xiii. The risinge of Lazarus from death to liffe.

xiv. The cominge of Christe to Ierusalem.

xv. Christs maundy with his desiples.

xvi. The scourginge of Christe.

xvii. The Crusifienge of Christ.

xviii. The harrowinge of hell.

xix. The Resurrection.

xx. The Castle of Emaus & the Apostles.

xxi. The Ascention of Christe.

xxii. Whitsonday yᵉ makeinge of the Creede.

xxiii. Prophetes before yᵉ day of Dome.

xxiv. Antecriste.

xxv. Domes Daye.

The list of plays contained in the pre-Reformation Banns is the same as this, with one exception. Instead of twenty-five plays it has twenty-six. After Wyt Sonday is inserted the play ‘of our lady thassumpcon,’ to be brought forth by ‘the worshipfull wyves of this towne.’ This play of The Assumption was given in 1477, and as a separate performance in 1488, 1497, and 1515 (Morris, 308, 322, 323). Doubtless it was dropped, as at York, out of Protestantism. The post-Reformation Banns and the extant MSS. of the cycle have it not. Further, they reduce the twenty-five plays of the ‘White Book’ list to twenty-four, by merging the plays of the Scourging and Crucifixion into one. In MSS. B, W, h, the junction is plainly apparent (see Deimling, i. ix; Wright, ii. 50). In MS. H there is no break (Deimling, i. xxiv).

Literary Relations.

Wright, i. xiv, and Hohlfeld, in Anglia, xi. 223, call attention to the parallels between the Chester plays and the French Mystère du Viel Testament and to the occurrence in them of scraps and fragments of French speech. The chief of these are put into the mouths of Octavian, the Magi, Herod, and Pilate, and may have been thought appropriate to kings and lordings. They may also point to translation from French originals. Davidson, 254, suggests that the earliest performances at Chester were in Anglo-Norman, and points to the tradition of MS. H (cf. p. 351) as confirming this. There are slight traces of influence upon some of the Chester plays by the York cycle (Hohlfeld, loc. cit. 260; Davidson, 287). Hohlfeld, in M.L.N. v. 222, regards Chester play iv as derived from a common original with the Brome Abraham and Isaac. H. Ungemacht, Die Quellen der fünf ersten Chester Plays, discusses the relation of the plays to the Brome play and the French mystères, and also to the Vulgate, the Fathers, Josephus, and the Cursor Mundi.

York Plays.

Manuscripts.

(i) Brit. Mus. Addl. MS. 35,290, recently Ashburnham MS. 137, fully described by L. T. Smith, York Plays, xiii. The MS. dates from about 1430-40, and appears to be a ‘register’ or transcript made for the corporation of the ‘origenalls’ in the hands of the crafts. In 1554 the ‘register’ was kept by the clerk at the gates of the dissolved Holy Trinity Priory. After the plays ceased to be performed it got into the hands of the Fairfaxes of Denton. In 1695 it belonged to Henry Fairfax, and its ownership can be traced thence to the present day.

(ii) Sykes MS. in possession of the York Philosophical Society, fully described in York Plays, 455. This is of the early sixteenth century. It contains only the Scriveners’ play, of ‘The Incredulity of Thomas,’ is not a copy from the Ashburnham MS., and may be an ‘origenall,’ or a transcript for the prompter’s use. It has a cover with a flap, and has been folded lengthwise, as if for the pocket.

Editions.

(a) 1797. Play xlii (Incredulity of Thomas), from Sykes MS., in J. Croft, Excerpta Antiqua, 105.

(b) 1859. Play xlii (Incredulity of Thomas), from Sykes MS., ed. J. P. Collier, in Camden Miscellany, vol. iv.

(c) 1885. Cycle, from Ashburnham MS., in L. Toulmin Smith, York Plays.

(d) 1890. Play i (Creation and the Fall of Lucifer), from York Plays, in Pollard, 1.

(e) 1897. Plays xxxviii, xlviii (Resurrection, Judgment Day), from York Plays, in Manly, i. 153, 198.

The Cycle.

The subjects of the forty-eight plays and one fragment contained in the Ashburnham MS. are as follows:—

i. The Barkers. The Creation, Fall of Lucifer.

ii. Playsterers. The Creation to the Fifth Day.

iii. Cardmakers. God creates Adam and Eve.

iv. Fullers. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

v. Cowpers. Man’s disobedience and Fall.

vi. Armourers. Adam and Eve driven from Eden.

vii. Glovers. Sacrificium Cayme et Abell.

viii. Shipwrites. Building of the Ark.

ix. Fysshers and Marynars. Noah and the Flood.

x. Parchmyners and Bokebynders. Abraham’s Sacrifice.

xi. The Hoseers. The Israelites in Egypt, the Ten Plagues, and Passage of the Red Sea.

xii. Spicers. Annunciation, and visit of Elizabeth to Mary.

xiii. Pewtereres and Foundours. Joseph’s trouble about Mary.

xiv. Tille-thekers. Journey to Bethlehem: Birth of Jesus.

xv. Chaundelers. The Angels and the Shepherds.

xvi. Masonns. Coming of the three Kings to Herod.

xvii. Goldsmyths. Coming of the three Kings, the Adoration.

xviii. Marchallis. Flight into Egypt.

xix. Gyrdillers and Naylers. Massacre of the Innocents.

xx. Sporiers and Lorimers. Christ with the Doctors in the Temple.

xxi. Barbours. Baptism of Jesus.

xxii. Smythis. Temptation of Jesus.

xxiii. Coriours. The Transfiguration.

xxiv. Cappemakers. Woman taken in Adultery. Raising of Lazarus.

xxv. Skynners. Entry into Jerusalem.

xxvi. Cutteleres. Conspiracy to take Jesus.

xxvii. Baxteres. The Last Supper.

xxviii. Cordewaners. The Agony and Betrayal.

xxix. Bowers and Flecchers. Peter denies Jesus: Jesus examined by Caiaphas.

xxx. Tapiterers and Couchers. Dream of Pilate’s Wife: Jesus before Pilate.

xxxi. Lytsleres. Trial before Herod.

xxxii. Cokis and Waterlederes. Second accusation before Pilate: Remorse of Judas: Purchase of Field of Blood.

xxxiii. Tyllemakers. Second trial continued: Judgment on Jesus.

xxxiv. Shermen. Christ led up to Calvary.

xxxv. Pynneres and Paynters. Crucifixio Christi.

xxxvi. Bocheres. Mortificacio Christi.

xxxvii. Sadilleres. Harrowing of Hell.

xxxviii. Carpenteres. Resurrection: Fright of the Jews.

xxxix. Wyne-drawers. Jesus appears to Mary Magdalen after the Resurrection.

xl. The Sledmen. Travellers to Emmaus.

xli. Hatmakers, Masons, and Laborers. Purification of Mary: Simeon and Anna prophesy.

xlii. Escreueneres. Incredulity of Thomas.

xliii. Tailoures. The Ascension.

xliv. Potteres. Descent of the Holy Spirit.

xlv. Draperes. The Death of Mary.

xlvi. Wefferes. Appearance of our Lady to Thomas.

xlvii. Osteleres. Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin.

xlviii. Merceres. The Judgement Day.

(Fragment.) Inholders. Coronation of our Lady.

The majority of these plays were entered in the register about 1440. The fragment of a later play on The Coronation of Our Lady was added at the end of the fifteenth century. It was doubtless intended to supersede xlvii. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (iv) and The Purification of Mary, Simeon and Anna prophesy (xli) were inserted in 1558. The former is probably of the same date as the rest; the latter is thought by the editor to be later. It is misplaced both in the MS. and the printed text. It should follow xvii, but there was no room for it in the MS. Some notes, probably written when the plays were submitted to the Dean of York in 1579, state that xii, xviii, xxi, xxviii had been rewritten since the register was compiled.

The register does not represent quite all the plays ever performed at York. Spaces are left for The Marriage at Cana and Christ in the House of Simon the Leper, which were never written in; and the corporation archives refer to a play of Fergus or Portacio Corporis Mariae, which came between xlv and xlvi and was ‘laid apart’ in 1485; and to a scene of Suspencio Iudae, which was in 1422 an episode of xxxiii. In other respects the contents of the register agree substantially with the fifty-one plays of the Ordo paginarum entered by the Town Clerk in the Liber Memorandorum in 1415⁠[936] and with the fifty-seven plays of a second Ordo of uncertain date which comes a little later in the same Liber⁠[937]. The three lists show some variations in the grouping of the subject-matter into pageants, due to the constant shifting of responsibility amongst the crafts.

Literary Relations.

Davidson, 252 sqq., attempts to trace the growth of the York plays out of a parent cycle, from which the Towneley and Coventry plays borrowed. The biblical and apocryphal sources are discussed by L. Toulmin Smith, York Plays, xlvii; A. R. Hohlfeld, in Anglia, xi. 285; P. Kamann, Die Quellen der York-Spiele, in Anglia, x. 189; F. Holthausen, in Arch. f. d. Studium d. neueren Sprachen und Litteratur, lxxxv. 425; lxxxvi. 280; W. A. Craigie, in Furnivall Miscellany, 52. I have not been able to see O. Herrtrich, Studien zu den York Plays (Breslau Diss. 1886). There are textual studies by F. Holthausen as above, and in Philologische Studien (Sievers-Festgabe), 1896; E. Kölbing, in Englische Studien, xvi. 279; xx. 179; J. Hall, in Eng. Stud. ix. 448; Zupitza, in Deutsche Litteraturzeitung, vi. 1304; K. Luick, in Anglia, xxii. 384.

Towneley Plays.

Manuscript.

Written in the second half of the fifteenth century, formerly in the library of Towneley Hall, long in the possession of Mr. Quaritch, the bookseller, and now in that of Major Coates, of Ewell, Surrey. There are thirty-two plays in all, but twenty-six leaves are missing.

Editions.

(a) 1822. Play xxx (Iudicium); F. Douce, for Roxburghe Club (Publications, No. 16).

(b) 1836. Play xiii (Secunda Pastorum); J. P. Collier, in Five Miracle-Plays.

(c) 1836. Complete cycle; for Surtees Soc. (It is uncertain whether the editor was J. Raine, J. Hunter, or J. S. Stevenson.)

(d) 1838. Plays viii, xiii, xxiii, xxv, xxx (Pharao, Secunda Pastorum, Crucifixio, Extractio Animarum ab Inferno, Iudicium); W. Marriott, English Miracle-Plays.

(e) 1867. Play iii (Processus Noe cum filiis), E. Mätzner, Altenglische Sprachproben, 360.

(f) 1875. Play ii (Mactacio Abel); T. Valke, Der Tod des Abel (Leipzig).

(g) 1885. Plays viii, xviii, xxv, xxvi, xxx (Pharao, Pagina Doctorum, Extraccio Animarum, Resurreccio Domini, Iudicium); L. Toulmin Smith, York Plays, 68, 158, 372, 397, 501 (not quite in full, for comparison with corresponding York plays).

(h) 1890. Play xiii (Secunda Pastorum), abridged; Pollard, 31.

(i) 1897. Cycle, G. England and A. W. Pollard, for E. E. T. S. (Extra Series, lxxi).

(k) 1897. Plays iii, v, vi, xiii (Processus Noe, Isaac, Iacob, Secunda Pastorum) from (i); Manly, i. 13, 58, 94.

The Cycle.

There are thirty-two extant plays, as follows:—

i. The Creation (The Barkers, Wakefeld).

ii. Mactacio Abel (The Glovers).

iii. Processus Noe cum filiis (Wakefeld).

iv. Abraham (incomplete).

v. [Isaac].

vi. Iacob.

vii. Processus Prophetarum (incomplete).

viii. Pharao (the Litsters or Dyers).

ix. Cesar Augustus.

x. Annunciacio.

xi. Salutacio Elezabeth.

xii. Una pagina Pastorum (Prima).

xiii. Alia eorundem (Secunda).

xiv. Oblacio Magorum.

xv. Fugacio Iosep & Mariae in Egyptum.

xvi. Magnus Herodes.

xvii. Purificacio Mariae (incomplete at end).

xviii. Pagina Doctorum (incomplete at beginning).

xix. Iohannes Baptista.

xx. Conspiracio (et Capcio).

xxi. Coliphizacio.

xxii. Fflagellacio.

xxiii. Processus Crucis (et Crucifixio).

xxiv. Processus Talentorum.

xxv. Extraccio Animarum.

xxvi. Resurreccio Domini.

xxvii. Peregrini (the Fishers).

xxviii. Thomas Indiae (et Resurreccio Domini).

xxix. Ascencio Domini (incomplete).

xxx. Iudicium.

xxxi. Lazarus.

xxxii. Suspencio Iudae (incomplete).

Plays xxxi and xxxii (a fragment) are obviously misplaced. The former should come between xix and xx; the latter, which is added to the MS. in an early sixteenth-century hand, between xxii and xxiii. Probably two plays at least are lost. Twelve leaves are missing after Play i, and twelve more after Play xxix. These doubtless contained plays of The Fall and Pentecost.

Literary Relations.

The Towneley Cycle is a composite one (Ten Brink, ii. 257; iii. 274; Davidson, 253; England-Pollard, xxi). Mr. Pollard distinguishes three fairly well-marked strata, and this classification is probably not exhaustive. There are (a) a group of plays of the ordinary didactico-religious type; (b) a group derived from the York plays in an earlier form than the extant text; (c) a group written by a single writer of marked power and a bold sense of humour. The plays of this group include iii, xii, xiii, xiv, xxi, and are, for literary quality, the pick of the vernacular religious drama. Mr. Pollard considers the cycle practically complete by about 1420. The horned female headdress (xxx. 269) which led the Surtees editor to put the composition in 1388, is found in miniatures of the later date. The relation of the cycle to that of York is also studied by Davidson, 271 sqq., and A. R. Hohlfeld, in Anglia, xi. 253, 285. Ten Brink, ii. 244; iii. 274, thinks that a much earlier (late thirteenth century) play is preserved in Plays v and vi (Isaac and Iacob). I agree with Mr. Pollard that this conjecture lacks proof.

A. Ebert has a study, Die englischen Mysterien, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Townley-Sammlung, in Jahrbuch f. rom. u. engl. Lit. i. 44, 131. The folk-lore incident of the Secunda Pastorum is supplied with parallels by E. Kölbing, in England-Pollard, xxxi, and by H. A. Eaton, in M.L.N. xiv. 265, from The Merry Tales of Gotham (H. Oesterley, A Hundred Merry Tales (1526), No. xxiv; Hazlitt, Shakespeare’s Jest-Books, iii. 4). There is an allusion to the ‘foles of Gotham,’ in Play xii. 180. J. Hugienen, in M.L.N. xiv. 255, finds in Play iv. 49 an adaptation of the French Viel Testament, 9511.

The Locality.

Douce described the manuscript for the sale of Towneley MSS. in 1814 as supposed to have ‘belonged to the Abbey of Widkirk, near Wakefield, in the county of York.’ In his Roxburghe Club edition of the Iudicium he substitutes the name of the Abbey of Whalley, near Towneley Hall. How far either of these statements or conjectures rests upon Towneley family tradition is unknown. Widkirk is merely another form (cf. Prof. Skeat, in Athenæum for Dec. 2, 1893) of Woodkirk, also called West Ardsley, a small place four miles north of Wakefield. There was not, strictly speaking, an abbey at Woodkirk, but a small cell of Augustinian canons, dependent upon the great house of St. Oswald at Nostel.

The MS. itself seems to bear witness to a connexion of the plays with the crafts of Wakefield. Play i is headed ‘Assit Principio, Sancta Maria, Meo. Wakefeld.’ In the margin of Play ii is written ‘Glover Pag.’ in a later hand. Play iii is headed ‘Processus Noe cum filiis. Wakefeld.’ In the margin of Play viii is ‘Litsters Pagonn’ in a later hand, and further down, in a third hand, is ‘lyster play.’ Under the title of Play xxvii is ‘fysher pagent’ in a later hand. Further in Play xiii is a mention of ‘Horbury Shroges,’ Horbury being a village two or three miles from Wakefield, and a ‘crokyd thorne’ which may be a ‘Shepherd’s Thorn’ near Horbury in Mapplewell. These indications are spread over the three groups of plays distinguished by Mr. Pollard, and certainly suggest that the whole cycle belonged to the Wakefield crafts. On the other hand, I find no hint of any plays in the local histories of Wakefield. The evidence for a connexion with Wakefield is strengthened by M. H. Peacock, The Wakefield Mysteries, in Anglia, xxiv. 509, from which it appears that there are places called Thornhill and Thornes to the E. and W. respectively of Horbury. Play ii, line 367 ‘bery me in gudeboure at the quarell hede’ points to Goodybower Close in Wakefield, which once had a quarry. Play xxiv, line 155 ‘from this towne vnto lyn’ suggests at least a borrowing from East Anglia.

Perhaps we may combine the data of the manuscript and of tradition by supposing that the plays were acted by the crafts of Wakefield, not in the town at Corpus Christi or Whitsuntide, but at one of the great fairs which the canons of Nostel held under charter at Woodkirk about the feasts of the Assumption (Aug. 15) and the Nativity (Sept. 8) of the Virgin. These fairs, run into one continuous horse fair, and known from a local family of Legh, as Lee fair, lasted until quite recently⁠[938].

Ludus Coventriae.

Manuscript.

Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Vespasian D. viii. Forty-two plays, the last incomplete. On f. 100ᵛ is the date 1468. At the beginning is written ‘Robert Hegge, Dunelmensis’ and before the twenty-ninth play ‘Ego R. H. Dunelmensis, Possideo: Ου κτησις αλλα χρησις.’ On the fly-leaf, in an Elizabethan hand, is ‘The plaie called Corpus Christi,’ and in the hand of Cotton’s librarian, Richard James, ‘Contenta Novi Testamenti scenice expressa et actitata olim per monachos sive fratres mendicantes: vulgo dicitur hic liber Ludus Coventriae, sive ludus Corporis Christi: scribitur metris Anglicanis.’ The following account was given by a later librarian, Dr. Smith, in his printed catalogue (1696) of the Cottonian MSS.: ‘A collection of plays, in Old English metre: h.e. Dramata sacra, in quibus exhibentur historiae veteris & N. Testamenti, introductis quasi in scenam personis illic memoratis quas secum invicem colloquentes pro ingenio finget Poeta. Videntur olim coram populo, sive ad instruendum sive ad placendum, a Fratribus mendicantibus representata.’

Editions.

(a) 1830. Plays i-v (Fall of Lucifer, Days of Creation and Fall of Adam, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac) in Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (ed. 2). vi, pt. 3, 1534.

(b) 1836. Play x (Betrothal of Mary), Collier, Five Miracle-Plays.

(c) 1838. Plays xii, xiv (Doubt of Joseph, Trial of Mary), William Marriott, English Miracle-Plays.

(d) 1841. Cycle: J. O. Halliwell[-Phillipps] for Shakespeare Society.

(e) 1890. Play xi (Annunciation), Pollard, 44.

(f) 1897. Plays iv, xi (Noah’s Flood, Annunciation), Manly, i. 31, 82.

(g) A new edition of the complete cycle is promised in the ‘Extra Series’ of the Early English Text Society.

The Cycle.

The text is not definitely divided up into plays in the MS., although some such indication as an Explicit occasionally helps. Probably the following division is correct. Halliwell’s is clearly wrong, but for convenience of reference I give his numbers in brackets.

i. Fall of Lucifer (Halliwell, i).

ii. Days of Creation. Fall of Adam (H. i, ii).

iii. Cain and Abel (H. iii).

iv. Noah’s Flood (H. iv).

v. Abraham and Isaac (H. v).

vi. Moses (H. vi).

vii. Prophets (H. vii).

Then a prologue by Contemplacio, promising a ‘matere’ of ‘the modyr of mercy’ from her conception to the meeting with Elizabeth, and a ‘conclusyon.’

viii. Joachim and Anna (H. viii).

ix. Mary in the Temple (H. ix).

x. Betrothal of Mary (H. x).

xi. Annunciation (H. xi).

Opens with scene between Contemplacio, Virtutes, Pater, Veritas, Misericordia, Iusticia, Pax, Filius.

xii. Doubt of Joseph (H. xii).

xiii. Visit to Elizabeth (H. xiii).

This group of plays closes with the promised ‘conclusyon,’ namely ‘Ave regina coelorum,’ and Contemplacio disappears.

xiv. Trial of Mary (H. xiv).

xv. Nativity (H. xv).

xvi. Pastores (H. xvi).

xvii. Magi (H. xvii).

xviii. Purification (H. xviii).

xix. Slaughter of Innocents (H. xix).

xx. Death of Herod (H. xix).

xxi. Dispute in Temple (H. xx).

xxii. Baptism (H. xxi).

xxiii. Temptation (H. xxii).

xxiv. Woman Taken in Adultery (H. xxiii).

xxv. Lazarus (H. xxiv).

xxvi. Conspiracy of Jews (H. xxv).

xxvii. Entry into Jerusalem (H. xxvi).

xxviii. Last Supper (H. xxvii).

xxix. Mount of Olives (H. xxviii).

Another group of scenes begins. Contemplacio, called in the stage direction ‘an exposytour, in doctorys wede,’ reappears; and after a procession has ‘enteryd into the place, and the Herowdys taken his schaffalde and Pylat and Annas and Cayphas here schaffaldys,’ says:—

This group does not well bear splitting up into plays. The action is continuous, although it takes place now at one scaffold, now at another.

xxx. Herod desires to see Christ. Trial before Caiaphas (H. xxix, xxx).

xxxi. Death of Judas. Christ before Pilate and Herod (H. xxx).

xxxii. Pilate’s Wife’s Dream. The Condemnation (H. xxxi, xxxii).

xxxiii. Crucifixion (H. xxxii, xxxiii).

xxxiv. Longinus. Burial of Christ (H. xxxiv).

xxxv. Harrowing of Hell. Resurrection (H. xxxv).

Here, possibly, the group ends. Then follow:—

xxxvi. Quem quaeritis (H. xxxvi).

xxxvii. Hortulanus (H. xxxvii).

xxxviii. Peregrini (H. xxxviii).

xxxix. Incredulity of Thomas (H. xxxviii).

xl. Ascension (H. xxxix).

xli. Pentecost (H. xl).

xlii. Assumption of Virgin (H. xli).

The Assumption play, according to Halliwell, is inserted in a hand of the time of Henry VIII.

xliii. Doomsday (H. xlii).

A few lines appear to be missing at the end.

In dividing the plays, I have been helped by a prologue which is put in the mouths of three Vexillatores. Says Primus:—

The Vexillatores then take turns to describe the ‘ffyrst pagent,’ ‘secunde pagent,’ and so on, up to ‘the xlᵗⁱ pagent.’ This should be ‘xlii,’ but by a slip two numbers are used twice. The prologue ends:—

The prologue so far agrees with the plays that it must have been written for them; but it was not written for them as they stand. It gives some of the incidents, especially of the trial scenes, in a different order from the text. Plays viii, xiii, xviii, xxvi, and xlii are omitted altogether. Of these xlii is a late interpolation in the text; but the fact that the numbers viii and xiii are skipped over in the enumeration, although the order in which the Vexillatores speak proceeds regularly, shows that the prologue is later in date than the text, and contemplates the omission of existing plays.

The Problem.

The exact nature of the Ludus Coventriae is a nice literary point. It is much doubted whether they have anything to do with Coventry at all. Cotton’s librarians regarded them as Coventry plays, acted not by craft-guilds, but by monks or begging friars. But what was their authority? The earliest possessor of the MS. who can be traced is Robert Hegge, a Durham man by birth, and a Fellow of C. C. C., Oxford. Hegge died in 1629, and probably the MS. then passed into Sir Robert Cotton’s collection through Richard James, who happened to be also a C. C. C. man, and was in the habit of picking up finds for Cotton in Oxford⁠[939]. The note on the MS. may represent a tradition as to its origin gathered by James from Hegge.

With this note should be compared the following passage in Dugdale’s History of Warwickshire, referring to the house of Franciscans or Grey Friars at Coventry:—

‘Before the suppression of the monasteries, this city was very famous for the Pageants that were play’d therein, upon Corpus-Christi-day; which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto; which Pageants being acted with mighty state and reverence by the Friers of this House, had Theaters for the severall Scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the City, for the better advantage of Spectators: And contain’d the story of the New-Testament, composed into Old English Rithme, as appeareth by an antient MS. intituled Ludus Corporis Christi or Ludus Coventriae’ [in bibl. Cotton, sub effigie Vesp. D. 9].