Note 281 — Chapter XX · THE SECULARIZATION OF THE PLAYS

D’Ancona, i. 191, however, describes the Italian devozioni as taking place on talami or platforms in the naves of churches. In France, minor religious plays at least took place on scaffolds, built up sometimes against the wall of a church (Bapst, 23, 29). A raised stage, with sedes along the back of it, is shown by the miniatures in the MS. of the Valenciennes Passion (reproduced in Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, 63; cf. Julleville, Les Mystères, ii. 153); but this is as late as 1547.