THE "EARLY ENGLISH" AND "MEDIAEVAL" DANCE TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
The last illustration from the Baths of Constantine brought us into
the Christian era, although that example was not of Christian
sentiment or art. It is possible that the dance of Salome with its
diabolical reward may have prejudiced the Apostolic era, for we find
no example of dancing, as exhibiting joy, in Christian Art of that
period. The dance before Herod is historical proof that the higher
classes of Hebrews danced for amusement.
As soon, however, as Christianity became enthroned, and a settled
society, we read of religious dances as exhibiting joy, even in the
churches. Tertullian tells us that they danced to the singing of hymns
and canticles. These dances were solemn and graceful to the old tones;
and continued, notwithstanding many prohibitions such as those of Pope
Zacharias (a Syrian) in A.D. 744. The dancing at Easter in the
Cathedral at Paris was prohibited by Archbishop Odo in the 12th
century, but notwithstanding the antagonism of the Fathers, the dances
were only partially suppressed.
They were common on religious festivals in Spain and Portugal up to
the seventeenth century and in some localities continue even to our
own time. When S. Charles Borromeo was canonized in 1610, the
Portuguese, who had him as patron, made a procession of four chariots
of dancers; one to Renown, another to the City of Milan, one to
represent Portugal and a fourth to represent the Church. In Seville at
certain periods, and in the Balearic Isles, they still dance in
religious ceremonies.
We know that religious dancing has continually been performed as an
accessory to prayer, and is still so used by the Mahommedans, the
American Indians and the Bedos of India, who dance into an ecstasy.
[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Gleemen's dance, 9th century. From Cleopatra,
Cotton MS. C. viii., British Museum.]
It is probable that this sort of mania marked the dancing in Europe
which was suppressed by Pope and Bishop. This _choreomania_ marked a
Flemish sect in 1374 who danced in honour of St. John, and it was so
furious that the disease called St. Vitus' dance takes its name from
this performance.
Christmas carols were originally choric. The performers danced and
sang in a circle.
The illustration (fig. 43) of a dance of angels and religious shows us
that Fra Angelico thought the practice joyful; this dance is almost a
counterpart of that amongst the Greeks (fig. 11). The other dance, by
Sandro Botticelli (fig. 44), is taken from his celebrated "Nativity"
in the National Gallery. Although we have records of performances in
churches, no illustrations of an early date have come to the knowledge
of the writer. [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Dancing to horn and pipe.
From an Anglo-Saxon MS.]
That the original inhabitants of Britain danced--that the Picts,
Danes, Saxons and Romans danced may be taken for granted, but there
seems little doubt that our earliest illustrations of dancing were of
the Roman tradition. We find the attitude, the instruments and the
clapping of hands, all of the same undoubted classic character.
Tacitus informs us that the Teutonic youths danced, with swords and
spears, and Olaus Magnus that the Goths, &c., had military dances:
still the military dances in English MSS. (figs. 31, 32) seem more
like those of a Pyrrhic character, which Julius Caesar, the conqueror
of England, introduced into Rome. The illustration (fig. 29) of what
is probably a Saxon gleemen's dance shows us the kind of amusement
they afforded and how they followed classic usages.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Anglo-Saxon sword dance. From the MS.
Cleopatra, C. viii., British Museum.] The gleemen were reciters,
singers and dancers; and the lower orders were tumblers,
sleight-of-hand men and general entertainers. What may have been the
origin of our hornpipe is illustrated in fig. 30, where the figures
dance to the sound of the horn in much the same attitudes as in the
modern hornpipe, with a curious resemblance to the position in some
Muscovite dances.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Sword dance to bagpipes, 14th century. From 2
B vii., Royal MS., British Museum.]
The Norman minstrel, successor of the gleeman, used the double-pipe,
the harp, the viol, trumpets, the horn and a small flat drum, and it
is not unlikely that from Sicily and their South Italian possessions
the Normans introduced classic ideas.
Piers the Plowman used words of Norman extraction for them, as he
speaks of their "Saylen and Sauté."
The minstrel and harpist does not appear to have danced very much, but
to have left this to the joculator, and dancing and tumbling and even
acrobatic women and dancers appear to have become common before the
time of Chaucer's "Tomblesteres."
[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Herodias tumbling. From a MS. end of 13th
century (Addl. 18,719, f. 253b), British Museum.]
That this tumbling and dancing was common in the thirteenth century is
shown by the illustration from the sculpture at Rouen Cathedral (fig.
34), the illustrations from a MS. in the British Museum (fig. 33) of
Herodias tumbling and of a design in glass in Lincoln, and other
instances at Ely; Idsworth Church, Hants; Poncé, France, and
elsewhere. It is suggested that the camp followers of the Crusaders
brought back certain dances and amongst these some of an acrobatic
nature, and many that were reprehensible, which brought down the anger
of the Clergy.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.--A tumbler, as caryatid. Rouen Cathedral, 13th
century.]
In the fourteenth century, from a celebrated MS. (2 B. vii.) in the
British Museum and other cognate sources we get a fair insight of the
amusement afforded by these dancers and joculators. In the
illustration (fig. 35) we get A and C tumblers, male and female; D, a
woman and bear dance; and E, a dance of fools to the organ and
bagpipe. It will be observed that they have bells on their caps, and
it must have required much skill and practice to sound their various
toned bells to the music as they danced. This dance of fools may have
suggested or became eventually merged into the "Morris Dance" (fig.
50) of which some account with other illustrations of "Comic Dances"
will be given hereafter. The man dancing and playing the pipes with a
woman on his shoulder (fig. 36), the stilt dancer with a curious
instrument (C), and the woman jumping through a hoop, give us other
illustrations of fourteenth century amusements.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.--14th century dancers. A and C are tumblers;
B, tumbling and balancing to the tambour; D, a woman dancing around a
whipped bear; E, jesters dancing.]
[Illustration: Fig. 36.--A, man dancing and playing pipes, carrying a
woman; B, jumping through a hoop; C, a stilt dance. 14th century.]