MIRACLE PLAYS
There is a palpable resemblance between the subject just quitted and
that most characteristic product of the Middle Ages--the miracle play.
It may be observed at the outset that instruction in those days, when
reading was the privilege of the few, was apt to take the form of an
appeal to the imagination rather than the reasoning faculty, and of all
the aids of imagination none has ever been so effective as the drama.
The Boy-Bishop celebration was not only the occasion of plays which
sometimes necessitated the strong hand of authority for their
suppression--it was distinctly dramatic in itself. Miracle plays
represent a further stage of development, in which a rude and popular
art shook itself free from the trammels of ritual, outgrew the austere
restrictions of sacred surroundings, and yet kept fast hold on the
religious tradition on which it had been nourished, and which remained
to the last its supreme attraction.
The liturgical origin of the miracle play may almost be taken for
granted, and the single question that is likely to arise is whether the
custom evolved itself from observances connected with Easter, or
Christmas, or both festivals in equal or varying measure. Circumstances
rather point to Paschal rites as the matrix of the custom. The Waking of
the Sepulchre anticipates some of the features of the miracle play,
while the dialogue may have been suggested by the antiphonal elements
in the church services, and specifically by the colloquy interpolated
between the Third Lesson and the Te Deum at Matins, and repeated as part
of the sequence "Victimæ paschalis laudes," in which two of the choir
took the parts of St. Peter and St. John, and three others in albs those
of the Three Maries. In the York Missal, in which this colloquy appears
at length, its use is prescribed for the Tuesday of Easter Week.
Springing apparently from these germs, the religious drama gradually
enlarged its bounds until it not only broke away from the few Latin
verses of its first lisping, but came to embrace a whole range of
Biblical history in vernacular rhyme. The process is so natural that we
need scarcely look for contributory factors, and the influence of such
experiments as the Terentian plays of the Saxon nun Hroswitha in the
tenth century may be safely dismissed as negligible, or, at most,
advanced as proof of a broad tendency, evidence of which may be traced
in the "infernal pageants" to which Godwin alludes in his "Life of
Chaucer," and which, as regards Italy, are for ever memorable in
connexion with the Bridge of Carrara--a story familiar to all students
of Dante. These "infernal pageants" were concerned with the destiny of
souls after death, and their scope being different from that of the
miracle plays, they are adduced simply as marking affection for
theatrical display in conjunction with religious sentiment.
As far as can be ascertained, the earliest miracle play ever exhibited
in England--and here it may be observed that such performances probably
owed their existence or at least considerable encouragement to the
system of religious brotherhood detailed in our opening chapter--was
enacted in the year 1110 at Dunstable. Matthew Paris informs us that one
Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans, produced at the town aforesaid
the Play of St. Catherine, and that he borrowed from St. Albans copes in
which to attire the actors. This mention of copes reminds us of the
Boy-Bishop, and is one of the symptoms indicating community of origin.
To this may be added that miracle plays were at first performed in
churches, and, as we shall hereafter see, in some localities were never
removed from their original sphere. The clergy also took an active share
in the performances, as long as they were confined to churches; but on
their emergence into the streets, Pope Gregory forbade the participation
of the priests in what had ceased to be an act of public worship. This
was about A.D. 1210. From that time miracle plays were regarded
by the straiter sort with disfavour, and Robert Manning in his "Handlyng
Sinne" (a translation of a Norman-French "Manuel de Péché") goes so far
as to denounce them, if performed in "ways or greens," as "a sight of
sin," though allowing that the resurrection may be played for the
confirmation of men's faith in that greatest of mysteries. Such
prejudice was by no means universal; in 1328--more than a hundred years
later--we find the Bishop of Chester counselling his spiritual children
to resort "in peaceable manner, with good devotion, to hear and see" the
miracle plays.
We saw that the earliest religious drama known to have been performed in
this country was one on St. Catherine. William Fitzstephen, in his "Life
of St. Thomas à Becket," written in 1182, brings into contrast with the
pagan shows of old Rome the "holier plays" of London, which he terms
"representations of the miracles wrought by the holy confessors or of
the sufferings whereby the constancy of the martyrs became gloriously
manifest." Thus we perceive how the term "miracle" attached itself to
this species of theatrical exhibitions. Probably, towards the
commencement of the twelfth century, French playwrights fastened on the
miracles of the saints as their special themes, and, by force of habit,
the English public in ensuing generations retained the description,
though subjects had come to be chosen other than the marvels of the
martyrology. Dr. Ward would limit the term "miracle play" to those
dramas based on the legends of the saints, and would describe those
drawn from the Old and New Testaments as "mysteries" in conformity with
Continental usage. The distinction is logical, but its acceptance would
practically involve the sacrifice of the former term, since the
Dunstable play of St. Catherine, the plays founded on the lives of St.
Fabyan, St. Sebastian, and St. Botolph, which were performed in London,
and those on St. George, acted at Windsor and Bassingbourn--no others
are recorded--have all perished.
According to the "Banes," or Proclamation, of the Chester Plays, at the
end of the sixteenth century, the cycle of plays acted in that city
dates from the mayoralty of John Arneway (1268-76), and the author was
Randall Higgenet, a monk of Chester Abbey. These statements are, for
various reasons, open to impeachment. For one thing, Arneway's term is
incorrectly assigned to the years 1327-8--a far more probable date for
the plays, though there is no sort of certainty on the subject, and, in
the nature of things, a cycle of plays is more likely to have grown up
than to have been the work of a single hand. The later date is more
probable, because the re-institution of the Corpus Christi festival by
the Council of Vienne in 1311 has an important bearing on the annexation
of the miracle play by the trade-gilds, and it was only on their
assumption of responsibility that performances on the scale of a cycle
of plays could have been contemplated, or possible.
There are four great English cycles--those of Chester, York, Wakefield,
and Coventry. By a cycle is meant a series of plays forming together
what may be termed an encyclopædia of history; it was attempted to crowd
into one short day "mater from the beginning of the world." This
ambitious programme bespoke the interested co-operation of many persons,
and the gilds, embracing it with enthusiasm, transformed the Corpus
Christi festival into an annual celebration marked by gorgeous pageants.
The word "pageant," which appears to be etymologically related to the
Greek [Greek: pêgma], is technical in respect of miracle plays, and, in
this connexion, is thus defined, by Archdeacon Rogers:
"A high scafolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon four
wheeles. In the lower they apparelled them selves, and in the higher
rowme they played, beinge all open on the tope, that all behoulders
might heare and see them."
The pageants were constructed of wood and iron, and so thoroughly that
it was seldom that they needed to be renewed. In the floor of the stage
were trap-doors covered with rushes. The whole was supported on four or
six wheels so as to facilitate movement from point to point; and as the
miracle plays were essentially peripatetic--within, at least, the bounds
of a particular town, and sometimes beyond--this was a very necessary
provision.
Each pageant had its company. The word "company" here is not exactly
synonymous with "gild," for several gilds might combine for the object
of maintaining a pageant and training and entertaining actors, and the
composition of the company varied according to the wealth or poverty,
zeal or indifference, of different gilds. Thus it came to pass that the
number of pageants, in the same city, was subject to change, companies
being sometimes subdivided, and at other times amalgamated; and in the
latter event the actors undertook the performance of more scenes than
would otherwise have fallen to their share. Commonly speaking, there was
probably no lack, whether of funds or players, at any rate as regards
the principal centres. The cycles were the pride of the city, and it
would have been a point of honour with the members of the several
companies not to allow themselves to be outclassed by their competitors.
To enumerate the gilds taking part in the miracle plays is tantamount to
making an inventory of industrial crafts at the close of the Middle
Ages. The "Order of the Pageants of the Play of Corpus Christi at York,"
compiled by Roger Burton, the town clerk, and comprising a list of the
companies with their respective parts, yields the following analysis:
Tanners, plasterers, card-makers, fullers, coopers, armourers, gaunters
(glovers), shipwrights, pessoners (fishmongers), mariners,
parchment-makers, book-binders, hosiers, spicers, pewterers, founders,
tylers, chandlers, orfevers (goldsmiths), marshals (shoeing-smiths),
girdlers, nailers, sawyers, spurriers, lorimers (bridle-makers),
barbers, vintners, fevers (smiths), curriers, ironmongers,
pattern-makers, pouchmakers, bottlers, cap-makers, skinners, cutlers,
bladesmiths, sheathers, sealers, buckle-makers, horners, bakers
cordwainers, bowyers, fletchers (arrow-featherers); tapisers, couchers,
littesters (dyers), cooks, water-leaders, tilemakers, millers, twiners,
turners, tunners, plumbers, pinners, latteners, painters, butchers,
poulterers, sellers (saddlers), verrours (glaziers), fuystours (makers
of saddle-trees), carpenters, wine-drawers, brokers, wool-packers,
scriveners, luminers (illuminators), questors (pardoners), dubbers,
tallianders (tailors), potters, drapers, weavers, hostlers, and mercers.
The subjects of the plays were the story of the Creation, the Fall, the
Deluge, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the incidents preceding the Birth of
Christ, the Nativity, and in pretty regular sequence the chief events of
our Lord's life to the Ascension; and, finally, the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin. As a rule it is hard to discern any connexion between
the nature of a scene and the craft or crafts representing it, but the
assignment of the pageant in which God warns Noah to make an ark to the
shipwrights, and of its successor, in which the patriarch appears in the
Ark, to the "pessoners" and mariners has an obvious propriety, and must
have conduced to the--not historical, but conventional--realism which
was the aim of the miracle artists.
The whole town was made to serve as a huge theatre, and the many
pageants proceeded in due order from station to station. "The place,"
says Archdeacon Rogers--he is speaking of Chester--"the place where they
played was in every streete. They begane first at the abay gates and
when the first pagiant was played, it was wheeled to the highe crosse
before the mayor, and so to every streete; and so every streete had a
pagiant playinge before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for the
daye appoynted weare played; and when one pagiant was neere ended word
was broughte from streete to streete, that soe they might come in place
thereof excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes have their pagiantes
afore them all at one time playeing togeather, to se which playe was
greate resorte, and also scafoldes and stages made in the streetes in
those places where they determined to playe their pagiantes."
Should the supply of pageants be limited, different scenes were acted in
different parts of the same stage; and actors who were awaiting or had
ended their parts stood on the stage unconcealed by a curtain. In more
elaborate performances a scene like the "Trial of Jesus" involved the
employment of two scaffolds, displaying the judgment-halls of Pilate and
Herod respectively; and between them passed messengers on horseback. The
plays contain occasional stage directions--e.g., "Here Herod shall rage
on the pagond." We find also rude attempts at scene-shifting, of which
an illustration occurs in the Coventry Play of "The Last Supper:"
"Here Cryst enteryth into the hous with his disciplis, and ete the
Paschal lomb; and in the mene tyme the cownsel hous beforn seyd xal
sodeynly onclose, shewynge the buschopys, prestys, and jewgys sytting in
here astat, lyche as it were a convocacyon."
And again:
"Here the Buschopys partyn in the place, and eche of hem here leve be
contenawns resortyng eche man to his place with here meny to take Cryst;
and than xal the place that Cryst is in sodeynly unclose round abowt,
shewynge Cryst syttyng at the table, and hise dyscypulis eche in ere
degré. Cryst thus seyng."
The outlay on these plays was necessarily large, and the accounts of
gilds and corporations prove that not only were considerable sums
expended on the dresses of the actors, but the latter received fees for
their services. The fund needed to meet these charges was raised by an
annual rate levied on each craftsman--called "pageant money"--and
varying from one penny to fourpence. The cost of housing and repairing
the pageant, as well as the refreshment of the performers at rehearsals,
would also come out of this fund. As the actors were paid, they were
expected to be efficient, and the duty of testing their qualifications
was delegated either to a pageant-master or to a committee of
experienced actors. A York ordinance dated April 3, 1476, shows that
four of "the most cunning, discreet, and able players" were summoned
before the mayor during Lent for the purpose of making a thorough
examination of plays, players, and pageants, and "insufficient persons,"
in whatever requirement--skill, voice, or personal appearance--their
defect lay, were mercilessly "avoided." No single player was allowed to
undertake more than two parts on pain of a fine of forty shillings.
From the York proclamation of 1415 we learn that the players were
expected to be in their places between 3 and 4 a.m., while the prologue
of the Coventry plays contains the lines:
At Sunday next yf that we may
At six of the belle, we gynne our play
In N---- towne.
This is interesting, as proving that pageants were sometimes acted in a
number of places, somewhat in the style of strolling players. It is
known for a fact that the Grey Friars of Coventry had a cycle of Corpus
Christi plays; and it has been conjectured that they were forced by the
competition of the Trade Gilds to exhibit them outside the town.
Whatever may have been the case with the players, it is certain that
such plays were not confined to the centres of which we have spoken. We
read of a lost Beverly cycle, and of another at Newcastle, of which one
play--"The Building of the Ark"--has fortunately been preserved. Like
performances took place at Witney and Preston, at Lancaster, Kendall,
and Dublin. The relative perfection of Chester and Coventry, and
probably of York, were bound to influence those and other towns, which
looked to them as the capitals of the dramatic art. Evidence of the
popularity of miracle plays in places near and remote is forthcoming in
the shape of literary remains or parochial records. Cornwall is famous
for its religious drama, to which are due the best monuments of its dead
tongue; but other counties were not backward in zealous attachment to
the Miracle Play. A few excerpts from Church-wardens' and other accounts
may be given by way of showing the extent of the custom:
ASHBURTON, DEVON
1528-9. "ix^s ix^d for painting cloth for the players and making their
tunics, and for 'chequery' for making tunics for the aforesaid
players, and for making staves for them, and crests upon their
heads for the festival of Corpus Christi."
1533-4. "ij^d rewardyd and alowyd to the pleers of Cryssmas game, that
pleyd in the said churche."
1537-8. "j^d for a pair of silk garments (_seroticarum_) for King Herod
on Corpus Christi day."
1542-3. "ij^s i^d ij devils' heads (_capit. diabol._) and necessary
things in the clothes for the players."
1547-8. "ij^s to the players on Corpus Christi day." (During the reign
of Edward VI. the plays were discontinued, to be revived in that of
his successor.)
1555-6. "ij^d payd for a payr of glouys for hym that played God Almighty
at Corpus X^pi daye." "vj^d payd for wyne for hym that played Saynt
Resinent."
1558-9. "ij^d for a payr of glouys to him that played Christ on Corpus
X^pi daye."
ST. MARTIN'S, LEICESTER
1546-7. "Item p^d for makynge of a sworde & payntynge of the same for
Harroode viij^d."
In the Corporation MSS. of Rye, Sussex, are the following entries:
1474. "Payed to the players of Romeney, the which pleyed in the churche
16^d"
1476. "Payed to the pleyers of Winchilse, the whiche pleyed in the
churche yerde, vppone the day of the Purification of our Laday
16^d"
The performance of the York miracle plays went on until 1579. The
Newcastle celebration outlasted them by about ten years. The Chester
plays were acted till the end of the sixteenth century, and those of
Beverley till 1604. What killed the Miracle Play? This is a deeply
interesting speculation, but one with regard to which it is difficult to
form a conclusion owing to the co-existence of rival influences, the
relative strength of which cannot well be estimated. We have seen that
Puritan opinion suspended the miracle play at Ashburton during the reign
of Edward VI., and it would be natural to look for the same result from
the accession of Elizabeth, whereas, at Beverley it was maintained all
through the period of her rule. It is quite possible, however, that all
this time efforts were being made by extreme Reformers to bring about
its abolition, and that ultimately they were successful. Meanwhile the
growth of the secular drama, which was hardly more to the liking of the
Puritans, must have proved a powerful counter-attraction, and possibly
it is to this rather than religious opposition that the extinction of
the Miracle Play was actually due. At any rate, we need feel no surprise
that with two such antagonistic forces at work the ancient and pious
custom vanished from the land.
ACADEMIC