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• STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE NUMBER 1
AN INQUIRY INTO THE COMPOSITION AND
STRUCTURE OF LUDUS COVENTRIAE
BY
ESTHER L. SWENSON, M.A.
Sometime Assistant in English in the University of Minnesota
X
; • WITH A NOTE ON THE
^- ♦ HOME OF LUDUS COVENTRIAE
1^*
BY
HARDIN CRAIG, Ph.D.
Professor of English in the University of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS
Bulletin of the University of Minnesota
October 1914
IwiDgnph
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
These publications contain the results of research work from various de-
partments of the University and are offered for exchange with universities,
scientific societies, and other institutions. Papers will be published as sep-
arate monographs numbered in several series. There is no stated interval
of publication. Application for any of these publications should be made to
the University Librarian.
STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
(Continuing Studies in Economics)
1. Thompson and Warber, A Social and Economic Survey of a Rural
Township in Southern Minnesota, April, 1913.
2. Matthias Nordberg Orfield, Federal Land Grants to the States,
with Special Reference to Minnesota. In press.
3. Edward Van Dyke Robinson, Early Economic Conditions and the
Development of Agriculture in Minnesota. In press.
STUDIES IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS
(Continuing Studies in Chemistry)
1. Frankforter and Frary, Equilibria in Systems Containing Alcohol,
Salts, and Water. December, 1912.
2. Frankforter and Kritchevsky, A New Phase of Catalysis. Feb-
ruary, 1914.
STUDIES IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(Continuing Studies in Public Health)
1. Herbert G. Lampson, A Study on the Spread of Tuberculosis
in Families. December, 1913.
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
1. Esther L, Swenson, An Inquiry into the Composition and Struc-
ture of Ludus Coventriae; Hardin Craig, Note on the home of Ludus
Coventriae. October, 1914.
CURRENT PROBLEMS
1. William Anderson, The Work of Public Service Commissions.
November, 1913.
2. Benjamin F. Pittenger, Rural Teachers' Training Departments in
Minnesota High Schools. October, 1914.
3. Gerhard A. Gesell, Minnesota Public Utility Rates. October, 1914.
Sllf? Ilmwrattg of ilintt^fiota
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE NUMBER 1
AN INQUIRY INTO THE COMPOSITION AND
STRUCTURE OF LUDUS COVENTRIAE
BY
ESTHER L. SWENSON, M.A.
Sometime Assistant in English in the University of Minnesota
WITH A NOTE ON THE
HOME OE LUDUS COVENTRIAE
BY
HARDIN CRAIG, Ph.D.
Professor of EngHsh in the University of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS
Bulletin of the University of Minnesota
October 1914
(^trja^
Copyright 1914
The University of Minnesota
f). OF d.
PREFACE
During the year which has elapsed since my preparation of the Note on
the Home of Ludus Coventriae it has been possible for me to collect further
information from Lincoln records with regard to the Lincoln plays. This
I shall publish when opportunity offers. The paper printed here will, as
it stands, have value as a statement of the problem of the location of Ludus
Coventriae and as an explanation of the issues involved, so far as they are
capable of explanation in the light of the materials already available in
print. Another matter connected with this publication which demands
some explanation is that Miss Swenson's Inquiry into the Composition and
Structure of Ludus Coventriae was already out of her hands when Miss
M. H. Dodds' paper, entitled The Problem of Ludus Coventriae, appeared
in the January number of the Modern Language Review. Miss Swenson
did not, therefore, have opportunity, in the preparation of her thesis, to
consult Miss Dodds' article. I have made it the subject of a few com-
ments at the end of my Note on pages 81-83 below.
Hardin Craig.
October 1, 1914.
AN INQUIRY INTO THE COMPOSITION AND
STRUCTURE OF LUDUS COVENTRIAE
INTRODUCTION
The question of the locality to which the so-called Ludus Coventriae
ought to be assigned has long been debated. In the year 1841 Halliwell
edited the plays for the Shakespeare Society under the following title :
"Ludus Coventriae : A Collection of Mysteries formerly represented at
Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi." His principal authority for
assigning the cycle to Coventry is a note written on the flyleaf of the manu-
script by Dr. James, who was librarian to Sir Robert Cotton, the last private
owner of the manuscript : "Contenta Novi Testamenti scenice expressa et
actitata olim per monachos sive fratres mendicantes : vulgo dicitur hie liber
Ludus Coventriae, sive Ludus Corporis Christi." Later Dugdale in his
History of Warzvickshire, written in the middle of the seventeenth century,
states, probably only on the authority of James, that these plays were pre-
sented by the Grey Friars at Coventry. And so for a time scholars seem, to
have taken it for granted that the cycle belonged to the town of Coventry.
With the advent of modern critical methods, however, scholars have
begun to inquire into the authority upon which James based his assertion,
and have found that it rests on no reliable ground. It will be noted, first,
that James does not state positively that these were Coventry plays, but
simply that they were commonly so called ; and, secondly, that, in describing
the cycle as made up of plays dealing with subjects from the New Testa-
ment, James shows that he is unfamiliar with their contents. There were,
however, craft-plays at Coventry that contained only New Testament
material, and it seems possible that James confused them with the Ludus
Coventriae. On the first page of the manuscript the plays are entitled simply,
"The plaie called Corpus Christi," no mention being made of their location.
The inscription is written in a later hand, probably early in the sixteenth
century.
Attention has often been called to the last four lines of the Prologue :
A Sunday next, yf that we may,
At vi of the belle we gynne oure play,
In N. towne, wherfore we pray
That God now be youre spede. Amen.
They have been thought to indicate that the plays were performed by a
company of strolling players, the 'N' of 'N. towne' standing for nomen.
1
2 ESTHER L. SM'ENSON
Ten Brink and Pollard accept this interpretation and also point out that the
dialect indicates a North-East Midland origin for the cycle.^ Mr. Hohlfeld
suggests that the plays might originally have been presented by the Grey
Friars at Coventry, and later, when the craft-plays of Coventry had robbed
the Friars of their popularity, the cycle might have been taken over by a
strolling company. -
Mr. Chambers, on the other hand, does not consider it necessary to con-
clude that the *N' of 'N. towne' indicates nomen and consequently a band
of strolling players. He suggests that it may stand for Norwich or some
other North-East Midland town beginning with 'N.'^ Mr. Gayley, being
impressed with the large number of plays in the cycle dealing with the life
of the Virgin, suggests Lincoln as their possible location ; for in the Lincoln
craft-plays there was always ecclesiastical cooperation, and especial empha-
sis was laid upon the legends of the Virgin.* Mr. Gayley also calls attention
to the similarity of the Old Testament plays in the Ludus Coventriae to those
in the Chester cycle and also to the Viel Testament and suggests that all three
of the cycles spring from a common French source, located in time between
the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.^
These proposals are, however, not in any case sufficiently substantiated
and seem to be little more than guesses. The history of the manuscript is
shrouded in mystery, and so far examination of town records and other
external evidence has yielded no great positive results. It seems worth
while to turn to an examination of the cycle itself, its language, composi-
tion, style, etc., with the hope that an investigation of internal evidence may
prove more successful.
Mr. M. Kramer in his treatise called Sprache und Heimat des sogen.
Ludiis Coventriae has made a study of the linguistic peculiarities of the cycle
and arrives at the conclusion that there underlies the cycle, as it now stands,
an older "kernel cycle." This basal cycle, he believes, originated in the
southern part of England near the border between the South and the East
Midlands, possibly in Wiltshire, but that the old original cycle has been
further developed and revised in the North-East Midlands ; he thus partially
supports Ten Brink's assertion.
The composite nature of the cycle which seems to indicate that the play
is made up of various parts of cycles, originally not connected, as here
recognized by Kramer, has been pointed out by many other scholars. Crei-
zenach and Ten Brink both call attention to Prolosoie material in the
1 Ten Brink, History of English Literature, ii. p. 283; Pollard, English Miracle Plays, xxxvii.
2 A. R. Hohlfeld, Die altenglischen Kollektivmisterien, in Anglia, xi.
<* E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, ii. p. 421.
* C. M. Gayley, Plays of Our Forefathers, p. 136.
'•Gayley, pp. 325, 326. For a further discussion of the sources of this cycle, cf. Falke, Die Quel-
ten des sog. Ludus Coventriae.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 3
Nativity and Passion groups of plays which marks off separate units.®
And Collier expresses the opinion that Contemplacio was introduced
after the first production.' Mr. Davidson in his Studies in the English Mys-
tery Plays^ suggests that these materials, which sprang from various sources,
were recast into cyclic form by one writer at a late date, probably early in
the sixteenth century. The sixteenth century, however, is too late, since the
manuscript is generally thought to have been written in the year 1468.
Moreover, the metrical arrangement of the plays, as I hope to show later,
does not indicate that the whole cycle has been rewritten at one time and by
one hand. It may, however, be very possible that considerable portions of
the cycle, such as the ecclesiastical parts of the Nativity plays, are the work
of one author. Mr. Chambers^ cites a rumor that Lydgate of Bury was such
an author ; and Mr. Hemingway in his English Nativity Plays^^ gives a num-
ber of arguments in favor of such a conjecture.
In the book mentioned above Mr. Hemingway has made a comparative
study of the Nativity plays in the four cycles, together with an inquiry into
their origin and sources. He has printed from Ludus Coventriae five plays,
The Salutation, Joseph's Trouble about Mary, The Visit to Elizabeth, The
Nativity [Joseph and the Midwives], and the play of the Shepherds. As a
result of his study of these' plays, he finds that the ecclesiastical portions,
notably the Dispute of the Four Daughters of God in the play of the Saluta-
tion, were omitted from the Prologue ; and that the action of the plays would
not be seriously affected if these parts were omitted. He concludes
that the original plays did not contain the theological elements, but were like
the other English plays and possibly written originally for trading com-
panies.^^ It has occurred to me that a comparison of the general Prologue
and the individual plays throughout the cycle might help to determine the
structure and composition of the cycle. In connection with this comparison,
I have also made a study of the manuscript, the metrical arrangement, and
the stage-directions with a view to distinguishing between older and newer
elements in the plays.
The manuscript of Ludus Coventriae is found in the British Museum,
Cotton MS. Vespasian D. viii. It is generally thought to have been written
in the year 1468, since that date is written on the verso of fol. 100, and is
apparently in the hand of the scribe. In addition to Dr. James's note, quoted
above, the name of Robert Hegge. Dunelmensis, occurs at the beginning of
the manuscript and is followed by the title, "The plaie called Corpus Christi,"
written in a later hand, which Mr. Hemingway asserts to be the hand of
6 W. Creizenach, Geschichte des ncneren Dramas, i. 300; Ten Brink, i. pt. ii. 283.
7 7. P. Collier, History of English Dramatic Poetry, ii. 160.
8Dc ~' "" " """
)oct. Diss. Yale, 1892. 9 Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, ii. 145.
10 S. B. Hemingway, English Nativity Plays, xxxvii.
11 Hemingway, English Nativity Plays, xxxii.
4 ESTHER L. SWENSON
Robert Hegg'e. Hegge has written his name in a number of places on the
manuscript and other names also occur; written in the margins and on blank-
pages, John Holland, John King, William Dere, and John Taylphott. The
places where these names occur are indicated below in the discussion of the
various plays.
The absence of guild names or of clear divisions between plays in the
manuscript has led scholars to suppose that the plays were not performed by
craft-guilds. But the fact that numbers are written in the margins and else-
where to mark off the various plays may indicate that at some time in the
history of the cycle an attempt was made to divide the cycle up into separate
plays and to hold various crafts responsible for each part. The numbering
of these plays is in a hand contemporary with that of the scribe, and is done
at the same time as the marginal paragraph marks and the large initial let-
ters. The numbering and rubrications run straight through and include the
Assumption play, although this is written in a different hand. Whether or
not the numbering was done by the scribe who wrote the body of the manu-
script, it is certainly true that the numbering must have been done on a later
occasion, namely at the time of the incorporation of the Assumption play.
In the following discussion I have adhered to the divisions as marked
in the manuscript and not as they have been reproduced by Halliwell in his
edition. Wherever there is any disagreement between Halliwell and the
manuscript, and this occurs maiiily in the part of the cycle dealing with the
Passion, I have found that the manuscript divisions correspond better with
the Prologue than Halliwell's do. In the table of comparison between the
Prologue and the plays I have indicated Halliwell's divisions in the right-
hand margin with arable numerals in parentheses.
A study of the metrical arrangement of the cycle reveals the fact that
there are, belonging to the original cycle, five types of stanza that seem to be
basic forms, as follows : ( 1 ) A thirteen-line stanza rhyming abababab-
c d d d c. The first eight lines have generally four accented syllables, and
the ninth and thirteenth lines vary from one to three. This type is used
throughout the Prologue and the first part of the cycle. (2) A linked ballad
stanza a a a b c c c b, of which lines one to three and five to seven are tetram-
eter lines, and lines four and eight, trimeter lines. (3) The third type of
stanza is the four-foot quatrain. In the first half of the cycle double quat-
rains, a b a b b c b c, predominate, and in the second half the single quatrains
seem to be preferred. (4) Couplets are used here and there in the latter
part of the cycle, but never to any great extent. (5) The second part of the
play of Joseph's Trouble about Mary and the Purification play employ a
stanza that does not appear elsewhere in the c\cle, aabaabbcbc. The
lines vary in length from three to four feet, but are generally four feet
long. In addition to these five forms there is considerable use made of the
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 5
tumbling meter with various rhyming schemes, a form of verse which I
beheve may be mainly the work of a redactor. The interweaving of these
various stanzas is indicated in the discussion of the individual plays and also
summarized in a table at the end.^-
For convenience of treatment I have divided the cycle into four groups.
It is not meant that these groups indicate anything very definite as to the
structure of the cycle.
i. Fall of Lucifer
ii. Fall of Man
Prologue
GROUP I
iii. Cain and Abel
iv. Noah and the Flood
Abraham's Sacrifice
Plays
Creation of heaven and
the angels.
The angels worship God.
Rebellion and fall of
Lucifer.
The Fall of Lucifer
(Including the first 82 lines of Halliwell's Creation)
i. God makes an introductory speech, in which he speaks
of himself as "alpha et co," one God in three
persons, etc.
In the 29th line of this speech he says, "Now wole I
begynne my werke to make," and then goes on to
tell how he creates heaven with the stars and the
angels.
The angels sing, "Tibi omnes Angeli."
Lucifer rebels and is expelled from heaven by God.
He laments, but says nothing of plans for revenge.
(1)
(Including the rest of
ii. The other six days of
creation.
The creation of Adam
and Eve, the garden,
the command.
The temptation and fall.
Expulsion from garden,
angel left to guard
the gates.
The Fall of Man
Halliwell's Creation as well as his Fall of Man)
ii. God goes on in his speech to describe the work of
the other six days of creation.
The creation of Adam and Eve on the sixth day.
Thty are placed in paradise and given the com-
mand concerning the tree of knowledge.
God rests on the seventh day, blesses his work, goes
to heaven.
Adam and Eve express gratitude.
The temptation and fall.
God visits the garden, calls Adam, Eve, and the Ser-
pent to account. The Serpent gives jealousy of
man as a reason for his deed.
Condemnation and expulsion, angels left to guard
the gates.
Adam and Eve lament.
(2)
12 Davidson, English Mystery Plays, and Hohlfeld, Anglia, xi, have treated the question of the
meters of this cycle, but only incidentally.
ESTHER L. S WEN SON
Cain and Abel offer
sacrifices.
Cain slays Abel.
God's curse upon Cain.
Cain and Abel
Cain and Abel ask Adam's advice as to the best mode
of worship.
They select the offering. Abel chooses his best
sheep, Cain considers it foolish to give the best to
God, who does not use it. Abel remonstrates, but
to no purpose.
The sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice burns, while Cain's
does not. Abel explains this as betokening God's
approval of his selection of the best.
Cain slays Abel.
God's curse upon Cain. Cain's lament.
(3)
God is angry with man.
God sends an angel to
command Noah to
build an ark, etc.
After forty days, Noah
sends out a crow.
Later a dove, that
brought good tidings.
Noah and the Flood
. Noah and his family, in turn, pray for deliverance
from sin. Noah announces himself the second
progenitor of the human race.
God resolves to destroy man.
An angel delivers the command to Noah to build
the Ark. Noah hesitates ; he is too old (five hun-
dred years) to undertake such a task; but the
angel reassures him.
Noah and his family go to the sea.
The Lamech episode. Blind Lamech, walking with
a youth, boasts of his skill in archery. The youth
sets a mark for him ; Lamech inadvertently slays
Cain. In anger, he also kills the youth, and then
goes to hide.
Noah returns with his family ; they sing, lamenting
the flood.
When forty days have passed Noah sends out a
crow.
Later he sends out a dove, which returns carrying
an olive leaf.
They sing, "Mare vidit et fugit."
(4)
Abraham receives the
command to sacrifice
Isaac.
Abraham is willing to
do God's bidding,
But is prevented by an
angel.
Abraham's Sacrifice
Abraham praises God, exhorts his son to honor God.
Abraham goes for a walk, and an angel meets him,
gives him the command.
Abraham takes Isaac with him and goes forth to
the sacrifice. He tells Isaac of God's command.
Isaac comforts his father.
Angel prevents the slaying of Isaac.
Angel promises that Abraham's seed shall be as the
stars, etc.
Abraham and Isaac worship.
(5)
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 7
This group of plays contains none of the elaborations of the scripture
story, such as the long dialogue between Abraham and Isaac at the time of
the sacrifice ; nor any unscriptural humorous elements, such as the shrewish-
ness of Noah's wife, which are found in the York, Towneley, and Chester
cycles. Considered as a whole, these Old Testament plays are extremely
simple, almost direct paraphrases of the Bible stories. It is probably for this
reason that Mr. Gayley considers this part of the so-called Ludus Coventriae
older than the other cycles.^^ With one notable exception there is in this
part of the cycle a close correspondence between Prologue and plays. Such
minor differences as, for instance, (1) Cain's grumbling at giving God the
best of his fruits, (2) Noah's long prayer and his proclaiming himself the
second father of mankind, (3) the Angel's promise to Abraham that his
seed should be as the stars, are, I believe, simply elaborations of the themes
given in the Prologue and therefore negligible. The first of these occurs
in the Towneley play.^* The third or a similar promise occurs in the York
and Chester plays. ^^ In none of these cycles is Noah spoken of directly as
the second progenitor of the human race; this phrase has, to be sure, an
ecclesiastical flavor like that found so prominently in the Nativity plays, but
the touch is too slight to be of any significance.
The Noah play contains in the story of Lamech a striking addition
to the incidents provided for in the Prologue. If the play had, at the time
of the writing of the Prologue, contained the Lamech episode, it is highly
improbable that it would have entirely escaped mention in the Prologue.
When Noah has received his commission from the Angel, we have the direc-
tion : "Hie transit Noe cum familia sua pro navi, quo exeunte, locum inter-
ludii subintret statim Lameth conductus ab adolescente, et dicens." Then
follows the story of the death of Cain and after that this stage-
direction: "Hie recedat Lameth et statim intrat Noe cum navi cantantes."
The last part of this play, including the Lamech story, is written in a meter
different from that of the rest of the group. From the beginning of the
scene between Noah and the Angel to the end of the play a double quatrain
in a tumbling measure is employed. This tumbling meter is a later form of
verse and occurs elsewhere in the cycle only where the plays bear marked
evidence of later reworking. It seems probable, therefore, that this episode
was introduced into the cycle during the period of revision, and the adjoin-
ing parts of the play rewritten to suit it and to suit stationary performances.
In this connection it is significant that in the genealogies written in the
earlier folios of the manuscript in larger, more ornamental script, we have
after the name of Lamech, in the scribe's ordinary hand which he uses in
writing the text, this note : "that slew Caym, this Caym had 2 wyf fys, etc."
13 Gayley, Plays of Our Forefathers, p. 139. ^i The Towneley Mysteries, E. E. T. S., p. IS.
15 The York Mysteries, p. 56; The Chester IVhitsun Plays, E. E. T. S., p. /o.
8 ESTHER L. SWENSON
Aside from the tumbling meter, the Old Testament plays present three
regular forms of verse : (1) The prologue meter ababababcdddc,
(2) ballad verse a a a b c c c b, (3) simple double quatrain ababbcbc.
The prologue meter is undoubtedly the basal meter of this group and of
much of the rest of the cycle. It begins with the Prologue and, with but one
exception, where two simple quatrains are introduced (stanzas 15 and 16,
describing the Trial of Joseph and Mary and Joseph and the Midwives) is
maintained throughout the Prologue, the Fall of Lucifer, and the first part
of the Fall of Alan, down to the scene where God visits the garden and
reproves Adam, Eve. and the Serpent. It is noteworthy that this last-
mentioned scene is in a different meter, namely, the ballad measure. The
prologue meter is then again resumed and carried through the rest of this
play, the whole of Cain and Abel, and the first part of the Noah play, when
we have the introduction of the tumbling meter as noted before. Then with
the Abraham and Isaac play we have the introduction of the simple double
quatrain which is to be equally fundamental throughout the cycle.
A study of the stage-directions and the appearance of the manuscript in
this part of the cycle seems to indicate that these Old Testament plays were
at the time of the writing of this manuscript regarded as a unit and possibly
presented as one play. After the Cain and Abel play, instead of the direc-
tion, "Hie incipit apparicio Noe," or something to that effect, we have the
simple "Introitus Noe.'' This is written in the manuscript (folio 20b) oppo-
site Cain's last speech : then a half page is left blank and the Noah play
begins on the next page without any stage-direction. The direction, "In-
troitus Abrahe," is written (folio 25b) after the Noah play in the same line
with the direction, "Et hie recedant cum navi." The next play follows imme-
diately without any break in the manuscript, the figure "5" being written in
the margin. But at the end of the Abraham and Isaac play the word
"Explicit" is written in unusually large letters and nearly a page and a half
of the manuscript is left blank before the Moses play begins, which is
introduced with an "Introitus Moyses."
The manuscript in this section presents one or two other interesting fea-
tures. On folio 10 in the play of the Fall of Lucifer appears the name "Rob-
ert Hegge Dunelmensis," written across the top of the page. A genealogy
from Adam to Noah begins on folio 16b and extends to folio 18, written,
in the ornamental style noted before, across the bottom of the page. On
folio 21, the page on which the Noah play begins, this genealogy is resumed
and carried through from Noah to Loth, ending on folio 22b. There is on
folio 24 a description of the ark as being three hundred cubits long, fifty in
breadth and thirty high, and the flood as towering over the highest mountain.
The stage-directions in this group of plays are simple and written entirely
in Latin.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
GROUP IT
xiii. Mary's Visit to Elizabeth
xiv. The Trial of Joseph and Mary
XV. Joseph and the Midwives
xvi. The Adoration of the Shepherds
xviii. The Adoration of the Magi
xi. The Salutation and Conception xix. The Purification
xii. Joseph's Trouble about Mary xx. The vSlaughter of the Innocents
vi. Moses and the Laws
vii. The Prophets
viii. The Barrenness of Anna
ix. Mary in the Temple
x. Mary's Betrothal
Prologue
Plays
Moses receives the two
tablets
And preaches the ten
commandments to all
the people.
Moses and the Laivs
vi. The burning bush. Moses, praying, sees the bush.
God commands him to remove his shoes, etc.
God gives him the two tablets and orders him to
preach to the people.
The ten commandments, each followed by explan-
ations and applications, are recited in order.
(6)
vii. The seventh pageant
shall be of "Jesse
rote," out of which
doth spring our
"bote." Kings and
prophets shall proph-
esy of a queen, who
shall heal our strife
and win us wealth
without end, in heaven
to abide.
Her son shall save
us by his wounds.
The Prophets
vii. Isaiah: A virgin shall conceive . . .
Radix Jesse: A branch shall spring . . .
David rex: Out of my blood . . .
Jeremiah: God shall take lineage of priest and
king.
Solomon rex: Temple ... a figure of the maid.
Ezeckiel: A gate that was sperd . . .
Roboas rex: Of our kindred a maid . . .
Micheas: Even as Eve mother of woe . . .
Abias rex: All our mirth cometh of a maid . . .
Daniel: I saw a tree; all the fiends of hell shall
be afraid when that maiden's fruit therenn they
see.
Asa rex: God will be born of a maid and be torn
on the cross.
Jonas: On third day shall rise . . .
Josophat rex believes all that has been said.
Abdias: When he is risen, death shall be driven
to damnation.
Joras rex: After resurrection . . . shall return
to heaven.
Abacuche: He shall be judge in heaven.
Osias rex: He shall send the spirit.
Ezechias rex: A maid by meekness shall bring
mercy.
(7)
10 ESTHER L. SIVENSON
Sophosas: That maiden's birth our wealth shall
dress.
Manasses rex: The maid's child shall be prince
of peace.
Baruk: All his foes shall be punished on dooms-
day.
Amon rex: Lord grant us mercy on that dread-
ful day.
The Barrenness of Anna
viii. Contemplacio's Prologue. Cryst conserve the con- (8)
gregation, etc. This play is of the Mother of
Mercy.
1. How Anna and Joachim were her parents.
2. Later she was offered to temple service.
3. Married to Joseph.
4. Salutation.
5. The meeting with Elizabeth and therewith a
conclusion.
Therefore I pray you peace.
Ysakar announces festiim Encenniorujn, celebrated
three times a year, etc. ^
Joachim goes to the Temple. He introduces him-
self as a righteous man, because he divides his
property, giving one-third to the Temple, one-
third to pilgrims, and one-third to those who live
with him — as should every good curate. Anna
and Joachim grieve and fear to go to the Temple
because they have no child. Vow to consecrate
their child, if one be given them, to the Temple
service. Anna mentions the prophecy of the Vir-
gin. Joachim goes, taking two turtle doves to
offer as a sacrifice.
Service in the Temple. "Benedicta sit beata trini-
tas." Ysakar refuses Joachim's sacrifice, because
he is childless ; service continues, with an Epis-
copus. Minister, and Chorus.
Joachim and Anna grieve over disgrace. Joachim
goes to shepherds for comfort. Joachim and
Anna pray. Angel comes to Joachim, sings, "Ex-
ultet coelum laudibus," reminds him of Sarah,
Rachel, and the mothers of Samson and Samuel,
promises a child. Joachim and shepherds rejoice.
Anna, grieving, goes to seek her husband and is
comforted by the Angel.
Angel goes to heaven while Anna and Joachim
rejoice*
Mary in the Temple
ix. Contemplacio's Prologue (for this one play only). (9)
We have seen the story of Joachim and Anna,
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
11
how Our Lady was conceived. Now we show
you how she was offered in the Temple. She
shall appear as a child of three years, and remain
there, ever according to God's will, up to her four-
teenth year.
Joachim and Anna bring Mary at three years of
age to the Temple ; she gives her consent.
They present her to Ysakar ; prayers and fare-
wells, etc.
Mary ascends fifteen steps of the Temple, reciting
a psalm for each step.
Episcopus gives her five maidens to wait upon
her, Meditacion, Contryssyon, Compassyon, and
Clennes.
And seven priests to teach her, Dyscression, De-
vocion, Dylexcion, and Deliberacion, Declaracion,
Determynacion, Dyvynacion.
Mary offers seven petitions.
Angel ministers to her, gives her the significance of
the five letters of her name. The earth quakes
and an angel passes back and forth, bringing
gifts. Chorus in heaven. Mary brings the bish-
op's gift to her sisters.
Contemplacio's Epilogue. Here you have seen the
presentation of Our Lady. We pray you of your
patience that we have passed these matters over
so lightly. Now we shall proceed to "dissponsa-
cion," which was fourteen years after this. The
parliament of heaven and how God's son became
man and the Salutation after shall be.
y
(Written over another
figure.) Abyacar
(Abiathar) commands
that all maidens who
are fourteen years of
age be brought before
him.
Joachim and Anna
bring forth Marv.
Mary wishes to remain
chaste.
The bishop asks God
for guidance and the
Angel tells him to
send for David's kin-
dred and bid them
present their rods.
Mary's Betrothal
X. ^'sakar issues the command that all maidens who
are fourteen years of age be brought before him.
Joachim and Anna prepare to obey the bishop's
command. They bring Mary to the Temple, but
there is no allusion throughout the play to her
having lived in the Temple;
Mary tells the story of her parents' vow and says
that she wishes to live in chastity.
Bishop prays for advice and is told to send for the
sons of David and to bid them present their rods.
10
12
ESTHER L. SWENSON
/
(A new division also
numbered 10.) A
messenger is sent.
The presentation of the
wands. When Jo-
seph offers his rod, it
bursts into bloom.
He pledges his wife to
live in chastity.
The bishop gives her
three maidens that
she may have some
comfort.
Gabriel salutes Our
Lady. The three
maidens hear voices
but see no one. The
angel says her son
shall be called Jesus.
The messengers go. Joseph grumbles but is finally
persuaded to come to the Temple.
The presentation of the rods. Joseph does not at
first present his rod, but when he does so, it
bursts into bloom.
Upon being told that he is to wed Mary, he protests
that he is too old, but is finally prevailed upon.
He pledges her to live in chastity.
Marriage ceremony performed by bishop. He gives
Mary three maidens : Susanne, Rebecca, Sephore,
each of whom in turn expresses her willingness
to go.
Mary bids her parents farewell.
Joseph goes to prepare a home, bids Mary wait there
and worship God.
He returns and brings Mary to Nazareth, says he
must leave her again and labor for their sus-
tenance in a far country.
Salutation and Conception
xi. Contemplacio's Prologue. For four thousand six
hundred and four years man has suffered for
sin in hell. Now may God have mercy and re-
member the prayer of Isaiah, etc.
The Four Daughters of God. Virtutes : "Our ofifice
is to present prayers. Mercy we cry, etc." They
speak of the fall of Lucifer. Deus says he will
prepare a way of salvation. The four daughters
of God dispute. The Son comes forth and sug-
gests that one who is guiltless must die as an
atonement for man's sin.
Council of the Trinity, in which the plans for man's
salvation are made.
God sends Gabriel to Mary. The Son says he is
to be born of Mary. The Holy Ghost says that
he will perform this miracle.
Gabriel salutes Mary. Holy Ghost descends. They
depart.
(11)
xii. (The word "hellenthe"
crossed out.) Joseph
returns.
Joseph's Trouble about Mary.
xii. Joseph returns, says he can not see Mary's face for (j2)
the light that surrounds it. Mary explains that
it is ordained by God that whoever beholds her
shall be "grettly steryd to vertu."
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 13
He is troubled ; leaves Joseph realizes Mary's condition and, after he has
Mary, thinking never debated whether or not to expose her before the
to return. bishop, resolves to leave her forever.
Mary prays that God will convince him. God com-
mands an angel to visit Joseph.
An angel tells him the The angel explains to Joseph ; he returns home
story and Joseph and is reconciled.
goes back.
Mary's Visit to Elisabeth
xiii. Mary wishes to go to visit Elizabeth, and Joseph (13)
gives his consent.
Contemplacio's Prologue. King David, ordained
twenty-four priests to serve in the Temple. They
were called "summi sacerdotes." One was prince
of priests, Zachariah ; his wife was Elizabeth; the
story of the annunciation to Elizabeth and how
Zacharias was made dumb.
Mary and Joseph arrive at the house of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth greets Mary as the Mother of God.
Each of the women tells the story of her an-
nunciation.
Mary repeats the MagniUcat in Latin and Elizabeth
translates it, sentence for sentence, into English.
Mary says she will stay with Elizabeth three months
until the child shall be born.
Joseph greets Zacharias. Elizabeth explains why
Zacharias can not speak, and Joseph seeks to
comfort him.
Joseph and Mary go home. Elizabeth and Zach-
arias go to the Temple.
Contemplacio's Epilogue. Says he will give a con-
clusion (as promised in Contemplacio's prologue
to the whole group of plays). Here we see how
the Ave Maria was made. The Angel said, "Ave,
gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Benedicta tu in
mulieribus." 16 And Elizabeth said ,"Et benedictus
fructus ventris tui." '^'^ Thus the church added
Mary and Jesus. Who says Our Lady's psalter
daily for a year shall have pardon ten thousand
eight hundred years.
Mary , remained with Elizabeth three months
until John was born, and then Zacharias re-
gained his speech. They composed the Benedictus
and the MagniUcat. Then Our Lady took her
leave. We thank you; with Ave we began and
with Ave is our conclusion.
iSHalliwell, p. 112. " HalHwell, p. 126.
14
ESTHER L. SWENSON
This pageant shall be
of the trial of Jo-
seph and Mary.
How they were slan-
dered (a simple quat-
rain),
And must go to their
purgation.
Trial of Joseph and Mary
Den calls the court ; calls a long list of names, John
Jurdon, Geffry Gyle, etc.
xiv. "Hie intrabit pagentum de purgatione Mariae et (14)
Joseph."
Two detractors, "Bakbytere" and "Reyse-sclaundyr,"
meet and tell the gossip about Mary, resolving
to spread the news in all quarters.
The court scene. The Episcopus (called in the j
stage-direction Abizachar, as in Prologue to
Mary's Betrothal), having heard the slander,
sends for Joseph and Mary. They are summoned
by Den. Trial.
Joseph goes through the purgation ceremony and
proves his innocence.
Mary goes through the purgation and proves her
innocence.
First detractor drinks potion and falls to the
ground. All kneel to Mary.
Joseph goes after mid-
wives (a simple quat-
rain).
xvi. Christ shall be born.
Joseph and the Midwives
KV. Joseph and Mary start for Bethlehem.
The Cherry-tree episode.
They are directed by a citizen of Bethlehem to the
stable where they find shelter.
Joseph goes for midwives ; Salome and Zelomye re-
turn with him.
When they arrive, they can not enter the house for
the brightness of the light in it.
Joseph finally enters and finds that the child is
already born.
Test of Mary's virginity; Salome's punishment and
forgiveness.
(15)
Angels shall sing.
Shepherds shall hear of
the birth of Christ,
And shall visit Him
With reverence
worship.
and
The Adoration of the Shepherds
xvi. Angels sing, "Gloria in excelsis."
Three shepherds, two of whom are called "Boosras"
and "Maunfras," speak of the great light they
have seen and speak of the prophecies, Balaam,
Moses and the Law, Amos, and Daniel.
Angels' song repeated. The shepherds seek to imi-
tate the song.
They go to seek Christ, singing on the way, "Stella
coeli extirpavit."
They adore Christ (a series of dignified verses of
adoration; no gifts).
Joseph bids them spread the tidings, which they
promise to do, and take their farewell.
(16)
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
15
(The attempt to cor-
rect the numbering in
the Prologue is given
up here.)
Three kings shall come
with gold, myrrh, and
frankincense.
King Herod's steward
sees them and brings
them into the king's
presence.
The kings of Cologne
tell Herod of their
mission and of the
star, and of how they
intend to worship
Christ that day.
The Adoration of the Magi
xviii. (The number xvii is omitted in the MS.) (!')
Herod gives a long, boastful speech, introducing
and praising himself. He leaves to go into his
hall to change his garments.
The three kings meet; introduce themselves to each
other: first, Baltazare from Saba, bearing gold;
second, Melchizar from Tarys, bearing incense;
third, Jasper from Ypotan and Archage, bearing
myrrh.
Herod in another boastful speech brags of his
beauty and fine apparel as well as his power. He
has heard that a child is born in Bethlehem. He
sends his steward out to see if there is any trouble
abroad.
The steward finds the three kings sleeping under a
tree, and he brings them to Herod's court. They
tell Herod of their mission, of the star, of
Balaam's prophecy, etc. Herod bids them seek
the child and report to him.
The kings take their leave, while Herod expresses
his wrath. The kings see the star again.
They adore Christ, offering him gifts. They pre-
pare to go back to Herod.
On the way they fall asleep and the angel warns
them. The kings awake, tell of the vision, re-
solving not to go back to Herod.
The Purification
xix. Simeon Justus, priest in Jerusalem, prays that he (18 )
may see the Savior before he dies. An angel re-
assures hini.
Simeon and Anna rejoice; they go to the Temple,
prophesy Christ's death, etc.
Joseph and Mary come to the Temple. Simeon and
Anna hail Christ. "Nunc dimittis servum tuum."
Service in Temple. They burn four candles in
honor of Christ. The child offered on the altar.
Joseph pays five pence to take the child back again.
Capellanus gives them back the child.
Mary offers the fowls on the altar.
Slaughter of Innocents and Death of Herod
XX. Senescallus returns and reports that the Magi (19)
have fled.
16
ESTHER L. SIVENSON
Herod, angry, sends sol-
diers out to slay the
children,
But Jesus is not to
be found, for in re-
sponse to the angel's
warning, he has gone
to Egypt.
The children are torn
from their mothers'
arms and slain.
. The soldiers bring the
slaughtered children
before Herod. Herod
rejoices and orders a
feast.
Death enters,
And the devil takes his
soul.
Herod raves (a long alliterative speech). He sends
soldiers to slay all the children in Bethlehem
under two years of age. Two soldiers leave.
An angel appears to Joseph and warns him. He
takes Mary and the child to Egypt.
"Tunc ibunt milites ad pueros." Two women la-
ment the loss of their children.
The soldiers report. Herod is pleased and orders
a feast.
The banquet scene, merry-making. Death enters,
says he is sent by God to slay Herod. Herod
bids his soldiers rejoice. The minstrels play.
Mors slays Herod and the two soldiers.
The Devil carries them off. Mors moralizes.
In this part of the cycle we meet with greater complications and more
difficult problems. The evidences of revision are much more marked than
in the Old Testament plays. Four of the plays are not provided for at all
in the Prologue, and it seems probable that they have been added as a whole
to the cycle. Many of the plays that are demanded by the Prologue bear
distinct evidences of having been reworked to such an extent that they are
practically new. For the sake of clearness it seems best to treat each play
separately, discussing its relation to the general Prologue, its meter and
stage-directions, and any peculiarities that may appear in the manuscript.
Moses and the Lazvs
The direction, "Incipit Moyses," is written very conspicuously in large
letters at the top of the page, a thing which seems to indicate that the first
five plays had constituted a separate unit, and that this is the beginning of
a new group. This would place the Processus Prophetarnm, of which this
play is essentially a part, with the Nativity group rather than with the Old
Testament plays.^^ This play, however, ends with the direction. "Explicit
Moyses," indicating that it stood alone as a separate unit.
The stage-directions of the play are all very simple and written entirely
in Latin, a thing which leads one to infer that the play has kept its early
and rather primitive form. The meter too is simple. With but one very
minor irregularity of rhyme, where a couplet precedes the regular stanza, the
18 In this connection cf. Dr. Hardin Craig's article, The Origin of the Old Testament Plays, in
Mod. Phil. X 'April, 1913).
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 17
double quatrain is used throughout. There is nothing in the style or action
of the play to indicate that it has been revised by a later hand. But the in-
troduction of the burning bush in a play of the Laws presents an interesting
complication. This incident would properly belong in an Exodus play, and
its presence here may be a confusion of the Exodus with a play of the
Laws. The Chester cycle has no episode of the burning bush; but in the
York and Towneley, where the incident occurs, it is found in the Exit from
Egy^pt and the Pharaoh respectively. The play of the Ten Commandments
occurs in the Towneley cycle in the play called Processus Prophetaruni, in
the Chester, in the Pagina de Mose et Rege Balaak et Balaam Propheta.
York, having no regular Processus Prophetaruni, has also no play of Moses
and the Laws.
The Prophets
Although this play does not begin with an "Incipit," it ends with the
direction, "Explicit Jesse," which is the only stage-direction in the play. It
presents no peculiarities of manuscript except that a genealogy of Mary,
similar to the genealogies of the first group, begins on folio 37 and is con-
tinued on folio 37b.
The play is written in the double quatrain measure of the preceding play.
From the time Solomon enters each character speaks only four lines, but
the single quatrains thus formed can in every case be united to form the
typical double quatrain, ababbcbc.
It will be noted that the Prologue states that prophets shall prophesy,
not of Christ, but of a "qwene the whiche xal staunche our stryff and moote" ;
and an examination of the prophecies will show that the emphasis lies
upon the birth of the Virgin, and not of Christ. The introduction of
thirteen kings, all of whom announce themselves as progenitors of Mary,
shows this tendency, as well as the fact that there are no less than fifteen
direct references to the Virgin in these prophecies. In the Towneley Pro-
cessus Prophetarum Mary is mentioned directly only once, in the prophecy
of Daniel,^^ and there the main part of the prophecy concerns Christ. The
Towneley Shepherds' play introduces the traditional prophecy from Isaiah,
and also mentions the prefiguration of the Virgin in the burning bush. But
neither here nor in the cycles of York and Chester is the attention so con-
stantly directed to the Virgin. The fact that the Prologue specifically pro-
vides for prophecies of this nature indicates that the unusual interest in
Virgin Mary was a peculiarity of the cycle originally and not to be ascribed
wholly to the period of revision.
The following table of the prophecies found in the four cycles will serve to
show more clearly how Ludiis Coz^^w/na^ is distinguished from the other plays.
19 The Towneley Mysteries, E. E. T. S., p. 64, 1. 232.
18
ESTHER L. SWENSON
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LUDUS COVENTRIAE
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26 ESTHER L. SWENSON
After these two plays, which are comparatively simple, we have the in-
troduction of an Expositor who is called Contemplacio. He recites, before
the play proper of Anna and Joachim begins, a general prologue promising
to present to the people (1) the story of Anna and Joachim, (2) Mary's
presentation in the Temple, (3) her betrothal, (4) the story of the Saluta-
tion, and, finally, (5) Mary's visit to Elizabeth. In connection with this last
play he promises a conclusion. Then follow these five plays dealing with
the life of the Virgin which in general tone and style are very different from
the plays we have examined so far. The ecclesiastical element is very prom-
inent in these plays, and there can be little doubt that they were introduced
into the cycle at some time later than the writing of the Prologue. I do not
think, however, that an entirely new group of plays was simply incorpor-
ated as a whole into the cycle without any modification. Some of the plays
indicate clearly that old material has been combined with new. The Pro-
logue provides for plays on two of these subjects, Mary's Betrothal and the
Salutation. The other three plays promised by Contemplacio are not pro-
vided for in the Prologue, and in the case of the first two, the Barrenness
of Anna and Mary's Presentation, there can be little doubt that they are
entirely new. The Visit to Elizabeth, however, bears internal evidence of
the combination of two versions.
This Contemplacio does not appear again after this group of Virgin
plays and is probably, as Collier states, one of the later additions to the
cycle.^"
I With this group of plays the tumbling meter makes its reappearance, and
here, too, we have for the first time the introduction of English stage-
directions. Throughout the whole group of plays dealing with the Nativity,
English stage-directions are used only in these Virgin plays and in the play
lof the Purification which is also unprovided for in the Prologue. These
Ipoints will be discussed more specifically in connection with the individual
plays.
Tlie Barrenness of Anna
This play is taken up largely v»'ith services in the Temple, the singing of
hymns, sequences, etc. It is distinctly ecclesiastical in tone and is written
entirely in the tumbling measure, with a great deal of alliteration in the first
part of the play. There are two or three little irregularities of rhyme, but
the play, taken as a whole, employs the rhyming scheme of the double quat-
rain. The fact that it is not accounted for in* the Prologue, taken together
20 The one instance in the Herod play of the Passion where the expositor is called Contem-
placio is, I think, hardly to be considered as a reappearance of that character. It seems probable
that it suggested itself to the scribe that it would be well to call the expositor in the later play by
the same name as the similar character in the earlier group.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 27
with this use of the tumbling meter, seems to indicate beyond any doubt that
the whole play is an interpolation.
Here, too, we have our first English stage-direction/'There they xall synge
this sequens, 'Benedicta, etc.,' and in that tyme Ysaker with his ministeres
insensythe the autere and than thei make her offryng, and Isaker seyth, etc."
And from this point English stage-directions are used freely, though hot
exclusively, throughout the Contemplacio group. In this play and the fol-
lowing the bishop is given the name Ysaker, but in the general Prologue to
the tenth play, as well as in the play of the Trial of Joseph and Mary, he
is called Abyacar. So that it would seem that Abyacar is his cycle name. In
this connection it is interesting to note that in the manuscript (folio 37b)
in the genealogy there is a note to the effect that Ysaker was the father of
Anne. The name Ysaker (Issachar) is derived from the Gospel of the
Nativity of Mary; Abiathar from Pseudo-Matthew.
The Presentation of Mary in the Temple
This play, like the preceding, is not provided for in the general Prologue
and comes into the cycle as entirely new. It also is filled with ecclesiastical
material, such as the fifteen psalms that Mary recites when she ascends the
fifteen steps in the Temple, the allegorical names given to her maids and to
the seven priests who are to instruct her, the significance of the five letters
in her name, and so forth.
The manuscript shows no distinct division between these two plays ;
Contemplacio's introductory speech^^ follows immediately upon Anne's last
speech in the preceding play, and the figure 9 also stands in the margin here.
Then we have, following immediately, the direction, "Here Joachym and
Anna, with oure lady between hem, etc." After this there is a short space
left blank before Joachim's speech, "Blyssyd be oure Lord . . .," which
begins at the top of the next folio, 49b.
The stage-directions are in both English and Latin. The meter, like that
of the former play, is the tumbling measure. The stanzas are largely double
quatrains, but with occasional single quatrains, particularly in the part
where Mary recites her fifteen psalms. Contemplacio's speech at the end of
the play shows a confusion, as far as rhyme scheme is concerned, of the quat-
rain with the prologue stanza thus : ababcdcdbebefgggf.
Contemplacio introduces this play with a prologue that reviews the play
of Anna and Joachim before it tells what is to follow in this play. At the end
of the play Contemplacio gives an epilogue reviewing this one play and also
introducing the two which are to follow it. In the manuscript the figure 10
is written opposite this second part of Contemplyicio's speech, and if this
2iHalliwell, p. 79.
28 ESTHER L. SVVENSON
part be regarded as a prologue to the following play, each of the five plays
mentioned in Contemplacio's first general prologue are specially intro-
duced by that character. And, regarding the first four lines of his prologue
to this play of the Presentation of Mary-^ as an epilogue to the play of Anna
and Joachim, three of the five plays have a conclusion or epilogue recited
by this same Contemplacio.
This character would not appear on one pageant and recite his epilogue
and then suddenly appear on the next and recite a prologue to that play.
There are no directions to this effect, nor does it seem possible that he could
do so. Moreover, the characters of these five plays are much the same.
Anna and Joachim appear in the first three ; Mary plays in all of them ;
Joseph appears in the Betrothal and the Visit to Elizabeth ; the bishop Ysakar
or Abyacar appears in the first three. So that evidently these five plays, as
they now stand, were acted on the same stage as one continuous performance,
whether on a pageant or a fixed stage.
Mary's Betrothal
The material covered in this pla}^ is provided for by the general Pro-
logue, but it is divided into two pageants, one of which, originally num-
bered 8, treats of Mary's appearance in the Temple for espousal ; and the
other, originally numbered 9, treats of the presentation of the rods. As they,
now stand they are both numbered 10. It seems that the scribe attempted
at first to make the numbering of the Prologue agree with the plays. He
soon abandoned his attempt, however, as may be seen by looking at the pre-
ceding table of comparison between Prologue and plays.
The first section of the Prologue carries the action, from the bishop's
proclamation that the daughters of the Jews shall be presented for marriage
to the angel's command that David's kindred shall be sent for and that they
shall carry white, rods in their hands. The second part continues the action,
presenting the blossoming of Joseph's rod, and so on to the marriage. The
actual incidents of the play correspond exactly with those mentioned in the
Prologue, as far as the latter goes. But there seems to be an elaboration of
certain scenes introducing church ceremonies (such as that of the marriage
ceremony, which is given in detail) that are not in keeping with the general
simplicity of the earlier plays of the cycle. The Prologue ends with the
statement that the bishop gives Mary three maidens to live with her and wait
upon her. These maidens are given names in the play, Rebecca, Susanne.
and Sephore. Then the play goes on to relate how Joseph left Mary at the
Temple, went to Nazareth, rented a house, and came back to bring his wife
to their new home. He then leaves her again to go into a far country to earn
22HalliwelI, p. 79.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 29
means for their sustenance. Of all this there is no mention in the general
Prologue.
Another notable circumstance is that, whereas in the preceding play
Mary is left at the Temple with the understanding that she is to remain
there until her fourteenth year, in this play she is brought to the Temple by
her parents and no mention is made of her having been there before. So also
in his epilogue to the preceding play, Contemplacio speaks of this play as
taking place fourteen years after the Presentation instead of eleven years.
The story of the presentation of the rods is old material and generally
known throughout the Middle Ages. Though it is not actually presented
in any of the other cycles, it is mentioned both in the Towneley and York
cycles.^^ This circumstance, together with the closeness of parallel between
the Prologue and the play, makes it evident that the play as a whole does not
belong to the period of revision. What probably took place seems to me tq
be this : When the scribe came to add a new Virgin play, he found in the
old cycle a play on this same subject of the Betrothal of Mary which cor-
responded pretty closely with the section of the Virgin play dealing with
this subject ; so he used the old play as a basis and possibly borrowed little
touches here and there from the Virgin play. The elaboration of the mar-
riage ceremony and the adding of the incidents which follow may be ac-
counted for in this way.
A study of the metrical arrangement of the play supports such a conclu-
sion. There is very little use of the tumbling line which is elsewhere charac-
teristic of the Virgin play. It appears distinctly only in the scenes where the
bishop consults with his minister-* and where he pronounces the marriage
vows for Joseph and Mary. The main body of the play is in the prologue
meter, and other parts are written in the simple double quatrain stanza.
In this same connection it is interesting to note that all the stage-
directions of this play are in Latin.
This section of the manuscript also presents some puzzling problems.
Folios 51b, 52b, 53b are blank, while on folio 51 Joseph's speech, beginning
'Tn gret labore my lyff I lede," and ending "To some man dowty and bold,"^^
is written in a later hand. It is also out of place and should be inserted, as
noted in the manuscript, after line 7 on folio 53.
The Salutation and Conception
With this play we have the reappearance both of the ecclesiastical tone
and of English stage-directions. The general Prologue to the cycle men-
tions Gabriel's visit to the Virgin and also states that the three maidens
waited upon her, heard the conversation between Mary and the Angel but
23 The Towneley Mysteries, E. E. T. S., p. 93; York, p. 103. n
24Halliwell, p. 93. , 25 ifalliwell, pp. 94-95.
30 ESTHER L. SWENSON
saw no one. The three maidens do not appear at all in the play as we now
have it, but the greater part of the action is taken up with Contemplacio's
explanation of how mankind had suffered four thousand six hundred and
four years, and the debate between the four daughters of God, the council
of the Trinity, Gabriel's instructions, and so forth, all of which must
undoubtedly belong to our ecclesiastical Virgin play. This ecclesiastical
tone so pervades the whole play that it would almost seem as if none of the
original cycle play had been preserved and that this play, like the Barrenness
of Anna and Mary's Presentation, had been substituted entirely from the
Virgin play. Mr. Hemingway reaches much the same conclusion.-'' In this
connection it is interesting to note that the greater part of the play, beginning
with the speech of Justice"^ to the end of the play, is written in a different
hand.
The tumbling meter makes its appearance in this play in two instances,
the first three stanzas of Contemplacio's speech and the last stanza of
Gabriel's speech.^® Otherwise the play as a whole is written in simple double
and single quatrains.
Joseph's Trouble about Mary
Joseph's return was not mentioned in Contemplacio's prologue, nor does
Contemplacio appear in this play. It probably does not belong to the Vir-
gin play, but to the original cycle. The incidents are simple and there is a
comparatively consistent relationship with the Prologue, although little
touches here and there, such as the halo surrounding Mary's face upon
Joseph's return, seem to have an ecclesiastical quality.
The play has no stage- directions and the basal meter is the prologue
stanza. The first twenty lines of the play seem to be a confusion of single
and double quatrains. Then, beginning at the bottom of page 117 in Halli-
well's edition to the last stanza on page 1 19, with two minor irregularities of
rhyme, we find the prologue meter. This verse form is again resumed in
the last thirteen lines on page 121, where the angel speaks to Joseph, and
also in the last stanza on page 122, where Mary and Joseph are reconciled.
After the first four lines of page 119, we have the appearance for the first
time of our fifth type of verse, aabaabbcbc. It is carried on from this
point, with three exceptions where we have the prologue stanza, to the
last stanza of the play. The last twelve lines show the same sort of confusion
of quatrains that we find in the first part of the play. There is no appearance
of the tumbling meter.
28 Hemingway, English Nativity Plays, Intro, p. xxxv. For a comparison of this play with
others, see Hemingway, Intro, p. xfiv; and Pollard, English Miracle Plays, Ed. 1909, pp. xxix, 226;
also Miss Traver's Four Daughters of God, Bryn Mawr Diss., 1907.
27HalHwell, p. 110. 28 Halliwell, pp. 105, 106, 116.
^ LUDUS COVENTRIAE 31
Mary's Visit to Elizabeth
There is no provision for the Visit to Elizabeth in the general Prologue,
and the play as it now stands belongs largely to the ecclesiastical play.
Nevertheless, it seems improbable that the scene should have been entirely
omitted. It seems possible to me that the section of the general Prologue
devoted to this play was omitted in the rewriting that took place when the
Virgin play was added, or at some earlier period of revision. The Pro-
logue bears evidence of having been tampered with here, since the next two
sections, introducing the Trial of Joseph and Mary and Joseph and the
Midwives are written in simple quatrains instead of the regular prologue
stanza. Moreover, although the birth of Jesus actually takes place in the
play of Joseph and the Midwives, it is ascribed by the Prologue to the play
of the Shepherds. From its position in the liturgy it is very probable that
the play of the Shepherds stood in general for the Nativity.^^ 'I think it
probable that the two plays which follow the Visit to Elizabeth, with their
sections in the Prologue, are additions to the original Corpus Christi cycle,
though not parts of the Virgin play, since this ends with the Visit to
Elizabeth.
The play of Mary's Visit, as it now stands, bears internal evidence that
two plays have been combined to form it. After Elizabeth has greeted Mary
with the Ave Maria and they have recited the Magnificat, Mary says that
she will stay with Elizabeth three months. Then almost immediately she and
Joseph take their leave. At the end of the play, however, Contemplacio
says that Mary remained with Elizabeth. So that it would appear that in
one version, probably that of the original cycle, Mary and Joseph left as
they do here ; but that in the ecclesiastical play they remained with Elizabeth
three months, until John was born.
The inconsistency of the play of Mary's Visit to Elizabeth indicates not
only that this play is made up from two different sources, but also furnishes
evidence to substantiate our theory as to the composition of the whole group.
In the Virgin play Mary remained with Elizabeth three months, until John
was born. But John was six months older than Jesus, so that in. this play
the visit must have been thought of as taking place immediately after the
Salutation. In the original cycle, on the other hand, we believe that the
plays came in this order, namely. Betrothal, Salutation, Joseph's Return,
Visit to Elizabeth. Now, in the Betrothal, a play preserved largely in its
original form, Joseph tells Mary that he must leave her to be gone nine
months.^" When he returns, before the Visit to Elizabeth, he finds that Mary
is "great with child." So that in the earlier form of the cycle the Saluta-
tion must have taken place very shortly after the Betrothal, and the plays
2»Cf. Hemingway, p. 260. SOHalHwell, p. 104.
32 ESTHER L. SWENSON
oi Joseph's Trouble and the Visit to Elizabeth, shortly before the birth of
Christ. Thus it appears, beyond question, that the play of the Betrothal and
that part of the Visit to Elizabeth which indicates that Mary did not remain
with Elizabeth, are consistent with each other and belong to the earlier form
of the cycle. Mary's speech in the Visit to Elizabeth^^ indicates clearly that a
part of the present play of the Visit to Elizabeth belongs with the Betrothal
and the Return of Joseph, thus proving, beyond a doubt, not only that the
play of the Visit is composite in structure, but that there was such a play in
the original cycle.
Contemplacio's epilogue to this play is the conclusion promised in his
first prologue. It is didactic and is concerned for the most part with the
worship of the Virgin. Hemingway calls attention to the inaccuracy of the
English translations from the Latin in this play and cites it as a proof that
the original plays were written in English.^^
Another argument in favor of a stationary stage for this Virgin play
appears here in the stage-direction, "Et sic transiet circa placeam." That is,
Joseph and Mary walk about the place going to Elizabeth's house, while
Contemplacio speaks his prologue. There is also an English stage-direction
in this play.
The play begins in the tumbling meter, which is carried through to the
twenty-fourth line of page 128 in Halliwell. Beginning here, however, and
continuing to Contemplacio's epilogue, the simple double quatrain stanza is
used. This is the part that seems to belong to the original play and not to
the Virgin play. The first and last stanzas in Contemplacio's epilogue are
in tumbling verse, but it seems doubtful if those between are.
This play marks the end of the Virgin cycle.
The Trial of Joseph and Mary
This play is very different in tone and spirit from the other plays in the
cycle. The interest seems to center upon the coarse horse-play of the
slanderers, which must have been a later development, but surely not eccle-
siastical in origin. The Prologue to this play, as noted before, is a simple
quatrain. It does not adequately represent the play, but simply speaks of the
fact that Joseph and Mary were slandered and went to their purgation. The
purgation scene itself is simple and reverent enough and may possibly have
been a part of the original cycle.
The introductory speech of Den, with its long list of alliterative and
allegorical names, is written into the manuscript in a different hand before
the figure 14 occurs and belongs probably to a later period. It is followed
by the direction, "Hie intrabit pagentum de purgatione, etc." This is the
only place in the cycle proper where a play is introduced as a pageant.
"Halliwell, p. 124, 11. 13-16. 32 Hemingway, English Nativity Plays, p. 255.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 33
The stage-directions are all written in Latin. Metrically also the play is
very simple. Den's introductory speech represents a return to the linked
ballad measure, aaabcccb, but is a little irregular. The rest of the play
is written in simple double quatrains, ending with a simple quatrain. There
is no appearance of tumbling meter.
The return of the name "Abiyacher" for the bishop rather than "Ysaker"
in this play is interesting and may be regarded as an additional piece of evi-
dence that this play does not belong to the Virgin play. However, the name
is only written in parenthetically in one of the stage-directions and nowhere
in the play is the bishop called Abiyacher. He is always termed Episcopus.
It is possible that when the scribe was writing this play he noticed that in the
general Prologue to the play of the Betrothal the bishop had been called by
this name, and so he ascribed it to him here.
Joseph and the Midwives
This play may have come into the cycle at the same time as the preced-
ing play, for like that play it is represented in the general Prologue by a
simple quatrain. This Prologue simply states that Joseph shall get for mid-
wives. But the play presents the journey to Bethlehem (including the
Cherry-tree episode), the birth of Christ, the punishment of Salome, etc.
The Cherry-tree episode^^ is written in the tumbling meter, whereas the rest
of the play is in simple double quatrains. This appearance of the tumbling
meter, as well as the use of the legends from the life of Mary, the mentioning
of the bright light that surrounds the stable, etc., might relate this play to the
Virgin play. But there is no appearance of Contemplacio, or of English
stage-directions; nor does it contain any distinctly ecclesiastical material,
such as church ritual and elaborate ceremonies. I think it can hardly belong
to that play, but that it came into the cycle earlier from some other source,
as suggested before in the discussion of Mary's Visit to Elizabeth.
The Adoration of the Shepherds
With the exception that the Prologue provides for the actual nativity in
this play, an explanation of which has been suggested before, the corre-
spondence between Prologue and play is very close. The tone of the play is
dignified and reverent in contrast to the Shepherds' plays of other cycles.
It seems that the one case where the shepherds seek to imitate the angels'
song must be a later borrowing, for it is out of keeping with the rest of the
play. This part of the play presents an interruption of the meter which
would seem to confirm such a theory. The main body of the play is written
in the ballad measure, aaabcccb, with two stanzas in the prologue meter ;
33Halliwell, pp. 145, 146.
34 ESTHER L. SWENSON
but the part in which the shepherds imitate the angels is in single quatrains.
As in the Towneley and York cycles, the shepherds here also quote from
the prophecies.^* In the Chester play^^ one of the shepherds says, "Thd
prophets did tell thou shold be our succour." But there is no direct quota-
tion of prophecies.^^
The Adoration of the Magi
The action in this play is somewhat elaborated, written in a sort of
pompous mock-heroic style, with frequent alliteration in Herod's speeches,
and much variation of meter. But the first part of the play up to the
departure of the three kings from Herod's court, follows very closely the
action prescribed in the Prologue. It seems strange that the Prologue makes
no mention of the actual adoration of the Christ child, and of the angel's
warning to the three kings. However, it may be that this was taken for
granted and is implicit in the gifts.
The basal meter of the play seems to be the ballad strophe which occurs
in both long- and short-line stanzas. One of Herod's speeches is in the
prologue measure, but in his introductory speech Herod employs the tum-
bling line.
The part of Herod's speech beginning "He is yong and I am olde" and
continuing to the line, "Herowdys to the devyl he tryste,"^^ is written in a
different hand.
The Purification
The Purification play is a very simple biblical play, but its omission in the
Prologue, as well as the fact that the action in the following play seems to
follow immediately upon that of the Three Kings, would seem to indicate
that it belongs to the later additions. As it now stands, it may be that its
introduction between the two parts of the Herod play, as a sort of interlude,
indicates a stationary stage.
Here again we have the appearance of English stage-directions which
are used almost exclusively throughout the play ; whereas in the two parts
of the Herod play the directions are all Latin.
The entire play is written in the same form of meter that is used in part
of the play of Joseph's Trouble about Mary. This verse- form, our fifth type
of verse, aabaabbcbc, is not used elsewhere in the cycle.
'■* See the table given in the discussion of the Processus Prophetarum.
35 Chester, E. E. T. S., p. 155, 1. 568.
38 Folio 91b in the manuscript which follows ehe play of the Shepherds contains a number of
scratchings but is otherwise blank. Much of the writing is illegible, but the name William Dere can
clearly be made out and occurs three times on this page. The name John Taylphott of parish Bed-
inton is also written here.
"Halliwell, pp. 168-170.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 35
On folio 100b of the manuscript, which is the last page of the play,
occurs the date 1468, written in the margin and apparently by the scribe.
Upon this fact is based the belief that the greater part of the manuscript
was written at this time.
Slaughter of the Innocents
This play as it now stands includes the Flight into Egypt, the Slaughter
of the Innocents, and the Death of Herod. The Prologue divides these
scenes into two pageants, including in the first the Flight into Egypt and
the Slaughter ; and in the second the Death of Herod. This would seem to
be a logical division and is probably the way it occurred in the original cycle.
Death is mentioned in the Prologue as an allegorical figure, so that there
seems to be no reason to believe that allegorical figures must of necessity
be later additions.
This play presents two forms of meter. The second and fourth stanzas
of the play, which constitute the boastful parts of Herod's first speech, are in
the prologue meter ; also the banqueting scene and the death of Herod. The
rest of the play is in the ballad measure, long- and short-line forms being
used interchangeably, the short lines usually for the soldiers' speeches.
At the end of the play there are two folios of the manuscript, 105 and
105b, left blank.
We have then in this Nativity group a number of plays, the meter and style
of which seem to indicate that they come from various sources. Chief among
the later additions to the cycle is a very elaborate Virgin play which must
undoubtedly be ecclesiastical in origin. Though essentially a unit, as it now
stands in the cycle it is divided into five separate plays : ( 1 ) The Barrenness
of Anna, (2) Mary's Presentation in the Temple, (3) Mary's Betrothal, (4)
The Salutation, and (5) Mary's Visit to Elizabeth. The first, second, and
fourth of these have probably come into the cycle as entirely new. The third
seems in all essentials a play belonging to the original cycle with possible
touches here and there from the ecclesiastical source. The fifth is largely
new, but seems also to contain elements of an old play. The Trial of Joseph
and Mary, Joseph and the Midwives, and the Purification also represent later
additions to the cycle, though not springing from the same ecclesiastical
source.
Metrically the group presents, in addition to the forms of verse used in
the Old Testament plays (the prologue verse, single and double quatrains,
the ballad stanza), a new form aabaabbcbc which is found only in
Joseph's Trouble about Mary and the Purification. The tumbling meter also
plays a considerable part in the ecclesiastical group of plays. After that it
36
ESTHER L. S WEN SON
occurs only in the Cherry-tree episode and in Herod's introductory speech in
the play of the Magi.
English stage-directions make their first appearance also in the plays Of
the Virgin, and are used in all of these except Mary's Betrothal. They also
appear again in the Purification, but otherwise the directions are in Latin.
GROUP III
xxi. Christ and the Doctors xxiii. The Temptation
xxii. Baptism of Jesus xxiv. Woman Taken in Adultery
XXV. The Resurrection of Lazarus
Prologue
Plays
Christ and the Doctors
Christ at twelve years
of age disputed with
the doctors and over-
came them. They
marveled.
Three days he was
gone from his moth-
er. She sought him
about Jerusalem.
(20)
Preliminary conversation : Two doctors boast of
their learning; Jesus rebukes them and they make
fun of him.
Dispute : Jesus asks them how the world was made.
They discuss the Trinity, Christ's divinity, the
prophecies of his birth, etc. Jesus explains that
Mary was wedded to Joseph in order to deceive
rhe devil, and so that she would not have to go
alone into Egypt.
Mary and Joseph enter, find Jesus and take him
home. The doctors worship him.
John shall baptize Jesus
in Jordan. The
Spirit descends ; the
voice of God.
The Spirit shall lead
Him to the wilder-
ness to stay forty
days.
The Baptism of Jesus
xxii.38
John preaches in the wilderness.
"Ecce vox clamantis, etc."
"Penitenciam nunc agite !
Appropinquabit regnum coelorum."
Jesus approaches and asks John to baptize him.
John protests.
Baptism proper. Spirit descends; the voice of God;
John's testimony.
Jesus says he is going into the wilderness for forty
days, led of the Spirit.
John preaches to the people.
88 The MS. has no number here.
(21)
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
37
Council in hell, wonder
who Jesus is, send
Satan to tempt him
in three sins :
But Christ
them all.
answered
The Temptation
xxiii.
Council in hell. Satan is puzzled about Christ,
consults with Belial and Beelzebub. They de-
cide to test him, in the three sins to which man
is most prone. Satan is to tempt him.
Jesus appears soliloquizing; says he has fasted forty
days, etc.
The temptation: (1) stones to bread; (2) fall from
pinnacle of Temple; (3) kneel to Satan. Jesus
sends away Satan who is much grieved and puz-
zled.
Angels minister to Jesus.
Jesus preaches resistance to temptation.
(22)
The Woman Taken in Adultery
"xxist pagent shall be of a xxiv.
(23)
woman taken in adul-
tery."
Pharisees conceive a
plan to convict
Christ. If he show
the woman mercy, he
is against the law of
Moses. If he con-
demn her, he is in-
consistent with his
own preaching.
Jesus' long speech ; urges repentance ; talks of
God's mercy.
Conspiracy. Scribe and Pharisee are angry with
Christ, decide that they must trap him. Accusa-
tor comes in and tells them about the woman.
Scene at the woman's house. The woman before
Jesus ; customary scene. Jesus writes on the
ground while the Scribe and Pharisee accuse. "He
that is without sin, etc." They grow ashamed
and leave. Jesus speaks to the woman, gives a
little talk on repentance.
The Resurrection of Lazarus
i. The greatest miracle
that Jesus wrought
was the resurrection
of Lazarus, in whose
house he often vis-
ited.
Lazarus was dead for
four days,
And on the fourth day
awakened by Jesus.
(24)
Lazarus is ill; his sisters and four consolatores
seek to comfort him, but Lazarus asks for Jesus.
Fourth consolator and Nuncius go for Jesus.
Lazarus dies and is buried.
Jesus and the messengers ; says he will come ; walks
with disciples.
Messengers bring Christ's answer to Mary and
Martha.
Jesus arrives ; they go to the tomb ; Lazarus awak-
ened. Jesus says he must go to his passion.
38 ESTHER L. SWENSON
As far as incident and correspondence with the Prologue are concerned
this group of plays is even more simple than the Old Testament group.
There is no appearance of the tumbling meter, nor any clear evidence of inci-
dents which have been added to the original cycle. There are, however,
certain elements of style and general tone in two of the plays, Christ and
the Doctors and the Woman Taken in Adultery, which seem to indicate a
later period. The theological discussions between Christ and the doctors,
such as the explanations of the Trinity, the Virgin birth, the statement that
Mary was wedded to Joseph in order to deceive the devil, and others,^^ sound
too sophisticated for an early stage of the plays and recall the ecclesiastical
tone of the Nativity plays. The play of the Doctors in the York, Towneley,
and Chester cycles is much more simple, and is one and the same play.**
In all of these the doctors are discussing the sacredness of Moses' law, and
Jesus, after he has told them that he has been taught by the Holy Spirit,
recites the ten commandments. In the Towneley cycle this is preceded by
a discussion, by the doctors, of the prophecies concerning Christ ; and in the
Chester play the doctors mention these prophecies after Jesus has left. But
in none of these cycles is there any discussion of theological doctrines such as
we find in our play.
The parts of the play of the Woman Taken in Adultery that are specif-
ically covered in the Prologue are written in a quiet, reverent tone; but the
elaboration in the first part of the play, particularly the scene at the woman's
house, introduces much the same coarse, boisterous style that we have
already noted in the Trial of Joseph and Mary. Both plays are written
prevailingly in the same meter, namely, the simple double quatrain verse.
There seems to be nothing particularly noteworthy about the play of the
Baptism as far as style and content are concerned, except possibly that the
large number of Latin quotations may indicate an early stage.
In the play of the Temptation it seems strange that the Prologue makes
no mention of the Angel's ministering to Jesus after the temptation ; other-
wise, however, there is an exact correspondence between the two.
An interesting consideration in the Lazarus play is the rapid shifting of
scene from the house of Lazarus and his sisters to the place where Jesus
is resting with his disciples. Then we have Jesus with his disciples walking
through Judea; then a scene at the house of Lazarus again and, finally,
the scene at the tomb. In this respect the play reminds one of the
play of the Last Supper, where the scene of action alternates between
the room where Jesus and the disciples are eating the last supper and the
council chamber ; though the action here is much less elaborate and there is
89 On this point, see York, p. 94, 11. 25-32; Chester, p. 154, 1. 538.
40 Tiivo Coventry Corpus Christi Plays, E. E. T. S., edited by Hardin Craig, Introduction.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 39
nothing in the stage-directions to indicate definitely a stationary stage, as
in the later play.
Metrically this group of plays is- extremely simple, only two forms of
meter being used. Three of the plays, Christ and the Doctors, the Woman
Taken in Adultery, and Lazarus, are written entirely in simple double
quatrains ; and the other two, the Baptism and the Temptation, entirely in the
prologue meter.
In this part of the cycle there are no indications from stage-directions
or from the manuscript, such as were found in the Old Testament plays,
that the group was considered as a unit. On the contrary there is at least
one blank page left between each two of the plays; and the three plays
that are written in the double quatrain measure are introduced by a stage-
direction somewhat in the nature of an "Incipit." Thus the Doctors' play
is introduced by this direction, "Modo de doctoribus disputantibus cum
Jhesu in templo," and ends with an "Amen." The Woman Taken in Adul-
tery begins "Hie de muliere in adulterio deprehensa," and ends with an
"Amen." And finally the Lazarus play begins with the direction, "Hie
incipit de suscitatione Lazari," but does not, however, end with an "Amen."
With the other two plays, the Baptism and the Temptation, both of which
are written in the prologue meter, the case seems to be different. Although
there is a page and a half left blank between them in the manuscript, the
stage-directions would seem to indicate that they were acted together. On
the folio in the manuscript where the play of the Baptism begins" (folio
112), there is no "Incipit," but on folio 11 lb, which aside from a few other
scribbles is left blank, we have the direction, "Hie Incipit Johannes Baptysta."
There is no "Amen" in this play, nor any "Incipit" in the Temptation, but the
latter play ends with an "Amen." But more significant is, I believe, the stage-
direction near the end of the play of the Baptism, after Jesus has said that
he is led of the Spirit to go to the wilderness, "Hie Jhesus transit in deser-
tum, dicens, etc."*^ Then follows a short speech by Jesus in which he says
that he is going to fast in the desert for forty days and nights ; after which
comes John's sermon. The Temptation play then opens with the council in
hell.
The manuscript in this part of the cycle presents some interesting pe-
culiarities, the most important of which is the fact that the first speech of
John the Baptist in the play of the Baptism*^ is written in a different hand,
which may possibly be of the same general period, but not of the same
scribe as that of the rest of the cycle. This new hand is, I believe, the same
as that noted in the play of the Magi. After this speech the name "Jhesus"
is written as the next speaker in this same hand, but Jesus' speech begins
on the next page in the scribe's own hand.
« Halliwell, p. 199. 42 Halliwell, p. 203. 43 Halliwell, pp. 199, 200.
40 ESTHER L. SWENSON
On folio 111b of the manuscript, we have in addition to the "Hie incipit
Johannes Baptysta," the name "John Kinge the yownger" written in a later
hand tog-ether with another scribble that I have not yet been able to decipher.
Folios 119b, 120, 121, and 126b also contain minor scribbles; but as far as I
have been able to read them, they do not seem to be of any great signif-
icance.
The stage-directions of this entire group are very simple and without
exception in Latin.
GROUP IV
xxvi. Council of Jews and Entry xxxv. Release of Souls from Hell
xxvii. The Last Supper and Council and Report of Watch
xxviii. The Betrayal xxxvi. The Three Marys
xxix. Herod and Trial, Pt. I xxxvii. Mary Magdalen
XXX. Trial, Pt. H xxxviii. Peregrini and Thomas
xxxi. Pilate's Wife's Dream and xxxix. Ascension
Condemnation xl. Pentecost
xxxii. Crucifixion xli. Assumption of Virgin
xxxiii. Harrowing of Hell xlii. Judgment
xxxiv. Burial and Setting of the
Watch
Prologue Plays
The Council of the Jews and Entry
xxvi. Demon's Prologue. Says he is Lucifer who came (25)
out of hell, prince of this world, etc. His mis-
sion is to ruin men and torture them in hell.
He tells the story of his fall ; he took one-third of
the angels with him. He thinks nothing of get-
ting one thousand souls in an hour. But now
he is troubled about Christ. He has tried to
tempt him, but failed (mentions the three temp-
tations). He is worried about Christ's growing
popularity, raising Lazarus and forgiving Mag-
dalen, and resolves to seek to confuse him when
the time for his persecution comes ; to bring false
witnesses, induce his disciples to forsake him and
thus to be revenged.
Then he addresses himself to the people, urges
them to follow him, promises rewards, instructs
them.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
41
xxiii. The twenty-third pag-
eant shall be of
Palm Sunday. We
shall show how the
children of the He-
brews scattered flow-
ers before Christ.
John the Baptist appears, prophesies of Christ, "One
shall come after me, etc.," and preaches a long
sermon.
Annas appears, is troubled about Christ. Two doc-
tors advise him to consult with Caiaphas and
Rewfyn and Leyon. He sends Arfexe for these
men.
Caiaphas and his doctors appear ; he also expresses
his anxiety about Christ. His doctors advise him
to consult with Annas.
Annas' messenger enters ; in the meantime Rewfyn
and Lej'on appear "in the place." The messenger
speaks first to Caiaphas and then to the other
two men. They send back word that they are
coming to Annas' court.
The messenger delivers this message to Annas.
Annas goes down to meet Caiaphas and his fol-
lowers.
The council scene in the "myd-place." Annas wel-
comes them. They consult and resolve that Jesus
must be put to death. They decide to stay nine
days to discuss by what means his death is to be
brought about.
Jesus speaks. "The time of mercy is at hand, etc." (26)
He sends his disciples to "yon castle." They go,
meet the "Burgensis" who asks why they take
the beasts. Philip replies. They bring the two
animals to Christ.
"Here Christ rides out of the place," and Peter and
John remain to preach to the people. Peter : "O,
pepyl dyspeyryng, be glad." John corroborates
Peter's message ; tells them Jesus is now coming
to the city; bids them prepare to meet him.
Four citizens prepare to meet Christ. They meet
him and cast their garments before him.
The children come with flowers singing, "Gloria
Laus."
Jesus speaks. The first four lines of this speech
are a repetition of his earlier speech at the open-
ing of the entry scene.
Two blind paupers are healed.
The Last Supper and Continuation of Council
xxvii. Jesus proceeds on foot with his disciples. He
weeps over Jerusalem.
Peter and John ask Jesus where he wishes to keep
the Passover. Jesus directs them to go to Simon.
(27)
42
ESTHER L. SWENSON
Christ and his disciples
shall keep the
maundy of God.
And Judas shall sell
Christ for thirty
pieces of silver.
Christ shall pray to
God for relief.
Judas shall kiss him to
betray him.
His disciples forsake
him and let him
stand among his foes.
They go to Simon's house and see to the prep-
arations.
Christ enters, saying that he takes this way for the
love of man. Simon welcomes him.
Christ and the apostles enter and eat the paschal
lamb.
Council scene ("in cownsel-hous beforn seyd").
They have been unsuccessful so far ; they must
find a better plan. Caiaphas : "Better that one
man die, etc." Gamaliel, Rewfyn, and Leyon
speak.
Mary Magdalene enters, weeps at Jesus' feet. Jesus
expels seven devils. She pours ointment on his
feet. Judas objects.
Jesus speaks to the disciples and to Mary of one
who is about to betray him. They all ask. "Is
it I?" etc.
Judas leaves secretly; soliloquizes, resolves to go to
the council and to betray Christ.
He greets the doctors in council and tells his errand.
They offer him thirty pieces of silver. Judas
takes his leave, says he must go back to his mas-
ter. The council breaks up.
Jesus is talking to his disciples about the Passover.
The sacrament of the Last Supper instituted, etc.
Offers the bread to all the disciples including
Judas.
Judas goes out again; the devil meets him and
greets him as his own,
Jesus speaks : "Now is the Son of Man glorified."
Peter is warned that he is to deny his master.
The foot-washing.
Stage-direction, "Here Jesus goeth Bethany-ward
and his disciples following, Jesus saying."
The Betrayal
xxviii. Jesus speaks to his disciples on the way to the (28)
garden.
They enter the garden and Jesus asks Peter to stay
with the disciples and wait for him while he goes
to pray. He goes away three times and returns,
finds his disciples sleeping, etc.
The Angel ministers to him, bringing him chalice
and host.
Judas comes with the soldiers. They fall back
when Jesus tells them that it is he whom they
seek. Judas kisses Jesus. Peter strikes Malchus.
They lead Jesus away. Gamaliel, Leyon, and Rew-
fyn mock Jesus.
The two Marys come in and weep.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
43
Trial, Part I, Herod, Trial before Caiaphas, Peter's Denial
Doctors' Prologue. Expositor says, "To the people (29)
unlearned I stand as a teacher, and to the learned
as a preacher, etc." The apostles appear in pro-
cession and are introduced : Peter, prince and
president, and Andrew, these two first followed
Christ; James and John, two luminaries, given
by their mother to Christ in Jerusalem ; Philip,
who converted the Samarian, converted the treas-
urer of Queen Cabdas ; James the lesser, first par-
taker of the ordenaunce of Cephas ; Matthew,
apostle and evangeHst, called to the flock of ghost-
ly conversation ; Bartholemew, who fled all carnal
conversation; Simon Zelotes and Judas, who both
loved our Lord ; Paul, great doctor of faith ;
Thomas, Christ's wound was his reflection ; John
the Baptist, highest of prophets, a voice crying in
the desert.
Christ shall be brought
before Caiaphas. The
Jews are witnesses.
Peter's denial.
Herod, Pilate, Annas, and Caiaphas enter and take
their scaffolds.
Another expositor in doctor's weeds, Contemplacio,
enters. He hails the audience, "May the maiden's
son preserve you, etc." We shall proceed with
the matter that we left last year; the passion
shall be shown. Last year we showed: (1) Jesus's
coming to Jerusalem, (2) His maunde, (3) His
betrayal by Judas, and capture by soldiers.
Now he is brought before Annas and Caiaphas
and later before Pilate, and so forth in his passion.
Here Herod shows himself and speaks a boastful
speech. He is a follower of Mahownde and
hates Christians. He had John the Baptist killed
because he baptized Christ. Sends soldiers out
to bring in any Christian dogs they may find.
They go. He vows to put to the most shameful
death any who disobey him. He wishes to see
Jesus, tells the soldiers to bring Christ before
him, if Jesus should ever come to that country.
The soldiers say they will begin their search to-
morrow.
A messenger enters "the place," crying "Tidings, (30)
Jesus is taken, etc." He tells the story of the
capture.
Jesus is brought before Annas and Caiaphas. The
Jews testify; he is questioned, beaten, etc. Caia-
phas tears his clothes, etc.
Peter's denial. The cock crows, Peter goes out to
weep.
**This number does not occur in the manuscript until after this prologue; see note on manu-
script below.
44
ESTHER L. SWENSON
Trial, Part II, The Remorse of Judas, Jesus before Pilate and before Herod
XX. Caiaphas sends a messenger to Pilate.
xxvii. Pilate shall sit in
state. Jesus shall be
brought before him
zviih other thieves.
Pilate's wife goes to
rest.
xxviii. Judas shall weep be-
cause he has sold
Jesus, bring his
money back and hang
himself. His soul is
taken to hell.
The messenger appears before Pilate.
The remorse of Judas. He offers the money t6 the
priests; it is refused; he throws it down and
goes to hang himself.
Jesus is led before Pilate. Annas, Caiaphas, and
Doctors accuse him. The usual trial scene fol-
lows.
Pilate learns that Jesus is from Galilee and sends
him to Herod.
Trial before Herod. Herod appears in state. He
questions Jesus, seeks to induce him to speak, but
without success. He orders Jesus clad in fool's
garments after he has been beaten ; sends him
back to Pilate.
"Here enteryth Satan into the place in the most
orryble wyse, and qwyl that he pleyth, thei xal
don on Jhesus clothis and overest a whyte clothe,
and ledyn hym abowth the place, and than to
Pylat, be the tyme that hese wyf hath pleyd."
Trial, Part III, Pilate's Wife's Dream and the C ondemnation
xxxi. Satan boasts of his power, but is troubled be-
cause he has failed in his attempt to tempt Christ
He is still angry for the rebuke that Jesus gave
him in the wilderness. He vows that he will
have him crucified and brought to hell. He
speaks to his vassals in hell, tells them to forge
some particularly strong chains to bind Christ.
The demons object, they are afraid to have Jesus
in hell. Satan considers that it might possibly be
dangerous to bring him there, so he decides to go
to Pilate's wife.
Here the devil goes to Pilate's wife, "and he xal no
dene make," but after he is come in, she shall
make a "rewly" noise and run to the scaffold
where Pilate is "like a mad woman."
Pilate's wife shall ap-
pear sleeping, and the
devil shall appear to
her and attempt to
save Christ's life.
She sends to Pilate and
begs him not to con-
demn Christ.
Then Pilate is busy and
right "blyflF."
(31)
She urges Pilate to befriend Jesus. Satan told her
that he who condemns Jesus shall be damned.
Pilate thanks her and sends her back.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 45
Pilate gives counsel to The doctors bring Jesus back to Pilate. He seeks (32)
save Christ's life; but to persuade them to let Jesus go. Offers to set
the Jews demand his free Barabas or Jesus. Examines Jesus alone,
death and the release Annas and Caiaphas threaten to bring the matter
of Barabas. before Caesar.
Sentence passed. Jesus, the two thieves, and Bara-
bas before the bar. Barabas is freed-; Jesus and
thieves condemned to be beaten and crucified.
The two thieves are Dysmas and Jesmas (Dimas
and Gestas).
A stage-direction for the beating and the crowning
with thorns as well as for the weeping of the
women.
The Crucifixion
XXX. xxxii. Two women weep for Jesus ; he speaks to them,
"Daughters of Jerusalem, etc."
Simon appears and is forced to carry the cross.
Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her kerchief,
Jesus blesses her and gives magic power to the
kerchief.
They shall beat Christ Crucifixion proper, realistic description of the nail-
and nail him upon a ing to the cross, etc. They crucify the two thieves.
tree, between two
thieves.
John and the three Marys come in and mourn at
the cross.
Christ speaks seven "Forgive them, Father."
words on the cross. Dysmas is forgiven.
Jesus says to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son,
etc."
Pilate and the high priests come in. Pilate's in-
scription.
Jesus : "Eloi eloi, etc."
"I thirst, etc."
"Into Thy hands, etc."
"It is finished."
John comforts Mary Mary and John leave the cross and go to the
and takes her to the Temple.
Temple.
The Harrowing of Hell
xxxi. Longinus episode. A xxxiii. ^^^>
spear pierced Christ's
heart and Longinus
was healed, (See
next play.)
Christ's soul goes to Jesus speaks : "All mankind in heart be glad, etc."
hell and overcomes He tells the story of his crucifixion and says he
the fiend. shall rise again.
46
ESTHER L. SWENSON
Anima : "Against me it were but foolish to hold
portas, etc."
Belial: "Out and harrow."
Anima Christi goes to hell and says, "Attollite
out, etc."
Joseph and Nicodemus
ask Pilate for Christ's
bodv. He consents.
Burial and the Setting of the Watch
xxxiv. The Centurion, two other soldiers, and Nico- (34)
demus are at the cross. They are convinced of
Christ's divinity.
Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and asks per-
mission to bury Jesus. The request is granted and
Pilate sends two soldiers with Joseph to see if
Jesus is really dead.
Longinus episode : At the cross the soldiers see
Longinus and force him to pierce Christ's side.
The blood runs over his hands ; he wipes his
eyes and is healed. He worships Christ. (See
Prologue, section number xxxi.)
Joseph and Nicodemus take the body from the
cross. They lay the body in Mary's lap. She
weeps over her son.
They place liim in the grave and place a stone be-
fore it.
Mary is left at the tomb.
The Jews ask for a
watch.
Pilate sends four
knights to guard the
tomb.
But Christ's body shall
rise from the grave
nevertheless and
frighten the watch.
(See next play.)
Caiaphas asks Pilate to place a watch at the tomb.
Pilate calls four soldiers and sends them to the
grave. They boast of their courage.
Pilate sets his seal on the stone.
Pilate, Annas, and Caiaphas go to their scafifolds,
and the soldiers are left at the tomb. They take
their places and then fall asleep.
"Tunc dormient milites et veniet Anima Christi
de inferno, cum Adam et Eva, Abraham, John
Baptist, et aliis."
(35)
Harrowing of Hell and Report of the Watch
xxxiii. Christ shall bring
his friends from hell
to paradise.
The soul then goes to
the tomb and enters
the body.
XXXV. Anima speaks : Come forth, Adam and Eve,
etc."
Adam, Eve, John the Baptist, and Abraham in turn
express their gratitude.
Anima then binds the devil and Belial laments.
"Tunc transit anima Christi ad resuscitandum
corpus, quo resuscitato, dicat Jesus : 'Harde gatys
have I gon, etc' "
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
A7
Then he goes to his
mother in the Tem-
ple to comfort her.
She rejoices.
Jesus salutes his mother :
etc." Mary rejoices.
"Salve, sancta parens,
The watch awakens, is frightened, reports to Pilate
and is bribed. (See Prologue xxxii.)
xxxiv. The three Marys
seek the tomb.
The Angel tells them
Christ is risen.
They go and tell the
news to the disciples.
Peter and John run to
the grave and find
that Christ is not
there.
The Three Marys
xxxvi. Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacobi, Mary Salome (^")
talk to each other on the way to the grave.
Mary Magdalene looks into the grave and finds
Jesus gone. The Angel tells them he is risen
and bids them bring the news to the apostles.
Mary Magdalene and Mary Jacobi tell Peter and the
other disciples.
Peter and John run to the grave, each enters in
turn and finds the grave clothes laid away in
place.
Peter speaks to all the disciples gathered together
("omnes congregatus Thomas").
Mary Magdalene shall
see Christ, whom she
believes to be a gar-
dener.
When Christ calls her
by name, she recog-
nizes him. He bids
her not touch him.
Mary then goes to the
disciples and tells
them the truth.
Mary Magdalene
x.xxvii. Mary Magdalene stands outside the grave (37)
weeping. The Angel seeks to comfort her. She
walks away.
Hortulanus scene. She meets Jesus and thinks he
is the gardener.'*^ He calls her by name and she
recognizes him. "Do not touch me, etc." Mary
rejoices.
She tells the disciples that she has seen Christ.
xxxvi. Cleophas and Luke
go to the castle
mourning Christ.
Christ overtakes them
And expounds
prophets.
the
Peregrini and Thomas
xxxviii. Cleophas and Luke on the way to Emmaus are (38)
discussing the death of Christ.
Jesus overtakes them. They tell him the story and
also about the women's testimony.
Jesus expounds the prophets to them.
<5 There is no mention of his carrying a spade or anything to symbolize a gardener.
48
ESTHER L. SWENSON
He goes with them in-
to the house, and, at
the breaking of the
bread, disappears.
xxxvii. To Thomas of In-
dia Christ shall ap-
pear, and Thomas
shall touch his
wounds.
Scene in the house. Jesus blesses the bread, etc.,
and disappears before their eyes.
Cleophas and Luke go to the disciples and tell them
the story. Peter rejoices and urges Thomas to
believe. But Thomas says he will not believe
until he has seen the wounds of Christ.
Christ enters, "Peace be among you, etc."
He shows Thomas his wounds and Thomas be-
lieves and repents of his unbelief.
One angel comes to comfort them, tells them that
Jesus will return, etc.
The Ascension
xxxviii. xxxix. Jesus speaks : "Peace be with you, etc." Tells ^ '
Christ shall ascend into them to stay in Jerusalem. He ascends.
heaven ; all his apos-
tles shall be there and
be very sad.
Two angels shall com-
fort them and tell
them that he shall
come again.
[Peter] tells them to elect another disciple. They
draw lots and Matthew is chosen.
Pentecost
xxxix. The apostles were xl. The apostles are kneeling and praying in Jerusalem. (40
gathered in Jerusa-
lem, praying.
The Holy Ghost came The spirit descends upon them, "Et omnes osculant
upon them ; they terram."
spoke in all tongues.
The Jews mock them and Peter gives his defense.
And later they departed.
The Assumption of the Virgin
xli. "Ad mea facta pater assit Deus et sua mater."
Doctor says that St. John has written of this As-
sumption in a book called the Apocrypha. He
tells the story of Mary's life; how at fourteen,
she conceived Christ, lived with him for thirty-
three years, and after his death twelve years ; so
that now she was three-score years. "Legenda
Sanctorum" authorizes this truly. She lived in
Sion after her Son's ascension and visited all the
places where Christ had been ; Jordan, where he
was baptized, the place where he was captured,
and where he was buried and, finally, where he
ascended.
(41)
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 49
Upon inquiry the Episcopus learns that while there
is comparative peace in the land since Jesus was
slain, his mother is still living and has a number
of followers who travel about the country preach-
ing that Jesus is still living. They do not dare
to put these people to death, for fear that the
commons will rise. But they resolve at Mary's
death to burn her body and to slay the apostles.
Mary in the Temple prays that she may be delivered
from this life. Sapientia hears her prayer, sends
an angel down to tell his mother that in three
days she shall ascend to the presence of God.
Mary asks that the apostles may be present when
she dies and that she may not see the fiend. The
Angel ascends. Mary tells her two maidens ; she
goes to her house.
Suddenly John appears at Mary's house, carried
there in a cloud. Mary tells John how the Jews
have planned to burn her body and asks him to
prevent it.
Here suddenly all the apostles appear before the
gates. (The stage-direction says all the apostles;
but Peter and Paul are the only ones who take
any part in the conversation or action. These
two also come in clouds.) They meet John and
he explains to them why they were brought there.
Mary's deathbed. Each apostle lights a candle and
watches at the bedside. Jesus descends to comfort
his mother, accompanied by a heavenly choir.
Mary dies while the choir sings. Two virgins
care for the body.
Funeral procession. Peter, Paul, and John carry
the bier. Chorus of angels sings. Peter : Exiit
Israel de Egipto. Apostoli : "Facta est Judea
sanctificatio ejus, etc."
The Jewish leaders learn that Mary is being buried.
Three men are sent to capture her body. They
attack the apostles but are miraculously stricken
with some disease and two of them run away.
One of them makes bold to touch the bier and his
hand becomes fastened to it. He prays Peter to
help him. Peter bids him believe and kneel before
the bier. He does this and is healed. Peter gives
him a palm and tells him to take this and preach
repentance to the other Jews.
They place the body in the tomb and have a service
there.
The Jewish princeps who has been healed holds his
palm up before the other Jews and bids them be-
lieve that they may be made well. One of them
touches the palm and is cured. But the other
50 ESTHER L. SWENSON
refuses to forsake the law, and the devils come
and carry him off to hell.
Jesus and the angels descend to the apostles. Mary's
spirit again enters the body and they ascend to-
gether. Jesus crowns her queen of heaven and
mother of mercy.
The Judgment
xl. xlii. Jesus descends with Michael and Gabriel and the (42)
two angels summon men to judgment.
The earth shall quake "Omnes resurgentes subtus terram clamavit 'Ha !
and graves open. a ! a !' Deinde surgentes dicat, 'ha ! a ! a !' "
Dead men shall an-
swer before God's
face.
All the demons call "Harrow and owt."
Deus to the blessed: "Venite benedicti." Peter
opens the gates of heaven and the souls of the
saved enter.
"Whoso to God has The souls of the damned cry for mercy, the demons
been unkind. Friend- accuse them. Deus : "To hungry and thirsty,
ship there shall not etc."
find."
The devils go on accusing and the "dampnandi" ask
for mercy.
Deus :
The play is incomplete.
In the fourth division of the cycle we have a great number of complica-
tions and evidence of late extraneous influence, somewhat analogous to those
found in the Nativity plays. In the latter group there seemed to be a
distinct unit, or group of plays, concerning the life of the Virgin, that had
been incorporated, more or less completely, into the cycle. So here we see
the influence of a Passion play, similar probably to those that often existed
in the southern part of England. It is doubtful, however, whether this play
was incorporated as a whole. The actual incidents as we now find them in
the plays correspond fairly well with the general Prologue, and the additions
seem to be more in the nature of elaborate processions and prologues. So
that it is more probable that what we have in this part of the cycle is
a working over into another form, after the pattern of some Passion play, of
materials already present.
In the play numbered 26 (Halliwell 25), Lucifer appears and recites a
long prologue in which he introduces himself and tells the story of his fall,
and how now he is seeking to bring about the ruin of Christ. He ends with
a detailed description of his costume. This is just such a prologue as was
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 51
often used to introduce Passion plays on the continent. Then follow the
plays of the Council and Entry, the Last Supper, the Betrayal and Cap-
ture; after which comes, in the twenty-ninth play, another long prologue
scene with doctors and expositors. At the end of this prologue scene, an
expositor in doctor's weeds, Contemplacio by name, enters and says that they
will now continue where they left of? last year. He then mentions as plays
performed last year, the Entry, the Maundy, the Betrayal and Capture, which
is exactly what was covered since Lucifer's prologue. He goes on to say
that now they will show how he was brought before Annas and Caiaphas and
later before Pilate and so forth in his Passion. I think it impossible that
this division into two parts should refer to the whole cycle, which would
then be very unevenly divided ; but rather that this expositor's speech be-
longed to the Passion play only. It certainly indicates, for this part of the
cycle, an independent use at some time as a Passion play. The name Con-
templacio may have been introduced by the scribe when he was copying,
in an attempt to make this part of the cycle seem consistent with the Nativity
plays.
The part of our cycle, covering the action prescribed by Contemplacio,
presents a number of noteworthy differences from the rest of the cycle ; such
as the widespread use of the tumbling meter, and stage-directions that indi-
cate the use of a fixed stage and are peculiarly explicit in matters of costume
and properties. These directions are entirely in English down to the scene of
Peter's denial. In this and a few of the following scenes certain traditional
directions, such as "Et cantabit gallus," are written in Latin, but English
continues to be used prevailingly in the stage-directions to the end of the play
of the Burial and the Setting of the Watch. From this point on, with but one
single exception, the directions are entirely in Latin and are in the same sim-
ple form that we have found before in the plays covering Old Testament sub-
jects, and the life of Christ up to the Passion. The use of the tumbling
meter, with but one exception, also ends at this point. Moreover, in the
manuscript these plays follow immediately upon one another without any
blank spaces between them, except at the point that Contemplacio marks
as the division in the Passion play, until the end of the play of the Appear-
ance to Mary Magdalene. After that the blank spaces are left regularly
at the end of each play as they have been in the other parts of the cycle that
have appeared to be simple and unmodified.
Thus the meter and the stage-directions, as well as the fact that Con-
templacio speaks only of the passion of Christ, and not of the resurrection,
would seem to indicate that foreign influence ends with the play of the
Burial and the Setting of the Watch ; whereas the appearance of the manu-
script might point to the Appearance to Mary Magdalene as the end.
Before proceeding to a discussion of individual plays it may be well to
52
ESTHER L. SWENSON
indicate in an abbreviated form the variation of Halliwell's division of the
plays from that of the manuscript. I have followed the manuscript.
Manuscript Halliwell
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Demon Prologue
Council of the Jews
The Entry
Jesus Weeping over Jerusalem
The Last Supper and Continuation of Council
The Betrayal and Capture
The Doctors' Prologue
Herod
Trial before Caiaplias
Peter's Denial
Remorse of Judas
Jesus before Pilate
Jesus before Herod
Pilate's Wife's Droai
The Second Trial before Pilate
Weeping of the Women and Veronica
Crucifixion
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
53
Manuscript
Haluwell
33
34
Harrowing of Hell I
Burial and Longinus
33
34
Setting of the Watch
35
36
37
38
Harrowing of Hell H
Jesus Hails His Mother
Report of the Watch
35
The Three Marys
Mary Mngdalene
Peregrini and the Incredulity of Thomas
36
37
38
The Council and Entry
The Prologue for this play provides for nothing more than Palm Sunday
and the children, whereas the play presents in addition the introductory
speeches of Lucifer and John the Baptist, the convening of the council,
Peter's and John's sermons to the Jews, and the healing of the two blind men.
On folio 142b of the manuscript, immediately after the council scene,
appears this direction: "Here enteryth the apostyl Petyr and John the
evangelist with him, Peter seyng." This and the following speech of Peter's
is crossed out, and we have instead a speech by Jesus, in which he addresses
himself first to the Jews, and then sends his disciples into the city, after
which he leaves. When Christ has left, Peter and John begin to preach to
the people, and here we have the speech by Peter that had been crossed out
before. The direction, however, is not repeated. This may indicate, it seems
to me, that in this place we had originally a very simple play of the entry,
which began with Peter's speech and included simply the homage of the four
citizens and the songs of the children. In this connection it is interesting to
note that in Jesus' speech at the end of the play, just before the healing of
the two blind men,** the first four lines are a repetition of his first speech.*^
"eHalliwell, p. 256.
54 ESTHER L. SWENSON
This would leave the council scene, Jesus' two speeches, and the healing of
the two blind men to be considered as later additions to the cycle.
The play is written largely in single and double quatrains, the latter pre-
vailing. The tumbling measure also makes its frequent appearance, notably i
in the speeches of Demon, John the Baptist, and in Annas' first speech as |
well as those of his two doctors (to the top of page 246 in Halliwell). Two
stanzas (on pages 246 and 247) where Caiaphas is speaking, just before the
messenger from Annas appears, and also the last three stanzas of Peter's
speech,*^ are also written in the tumbling verse.
The prologue stanza makes its appearance in the scene where Jesus asks
his disciples to go into the city and in the conversation with the Burgensis,
with the exception that the first four lines of Jesus' speech, which are
repeated later, form a separate quatrain.
The following stage-direction from this play will serve to illustrate the \
peculiarities of the directions in this part of the cycle: "Here xal Annas )
shewyn hymself in his stage, be seyn after a busshop of the hoold lawe, in )
a skarlet gowne, and over that a blew tabbard furryd with whyte, and a ;
mytere on his hed, after the hoold lawe; ij. doctorys stondyng by h3'm in
furryd hodys, and on beforn hem with his stafif of astat, and eche of hem
on here hedys a furryd cappe, with a gret knop in the crowne, and on
stondyng beforn as a Sarazyn, the wiche xal be his masangere."*® This
careful attention to the position and costumes of the characters is entirely
foreign to the simple plays that precede this group. The elaborateness of the
stage properties called for, the frequent mentions of "the place" indicate a
fixed stage for this group of plays. Thus while the messenger is speaking
to Caiaphas in his scaffold, Rewfyn and Leyon appear in "the place." And
later "the buskopys with here clerkes and the Phariseus mett, in the myd
place, and ther xal be a lytil oratory with stolys and cusshonys clenly beseyn,
lyche as it were a cownsel-hous."^" A little while later, after Christ has
made his speech to the Jews, we are told that he rides out of "the place," etc.
I have also noticed that, beginning with the direction concerning the citizens'
homage to Jesus,^^ we have the frequent substitution of qw for wh in such
words as qzuan and qzvat.^~
The Last Supper and Continuation of Council
This play also appears to have been very much modified. The Prologue
provides for the Supper and for the selling of Christ by Judas, but not for
the elaborate council scene which we find here. This, I think, must have
been a part of the Passion play. It seems probable that the original play
play.
47 Halliwell, p. 252. -IS Halliwell, p. 254. 49 Halliwell, p. 244.
BO Halliwell, p. 249. si Halliwell, p. 256.
62 In the manuscript the name Wyllum Dere is written in the margin of the first page of thii
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 55
included simply the scene of the Supper and Judas' withdrawal, to meet
either with the Jews or, possibly, the devil. Or it may be that he simply
soliloquized. It is interesting to note that the stage-direction for the Demon's
speech^^ states that this scene may be included or omitted at the pleasure of
the performers.
That the Mary Magdalene episode is a later addition the manuscript
indicates clearly. On folio 148b the direction, "Here Judas Caryoth comyth
into the place,"^* has been crossed out, also the name Jesus as the next
speaker. At the bottom of the page three lines, "as a cursyd," "my herte is
ryth," and "now cowntyrfetyd I have," have been written and crossed out.
The first of these lines is the opening line of Mary's speech f^ the second is
the first line of Christ's speech after the Mary Magdalene episode,^® intro-
ducing the scene where Jesus says one of his disciples shall betray him ; the
third line is the opening line of Judas' speech, which follows the scene be-
tween Jesus and his disciples." Evidently the direction, "Here Judas goth
into the place," which is crossed out in the manuscript, though printed by
Halliwell (p. 263), is the same as that which precedes this last-mentioned
speech of Judas. ^^ This confusion would seem to me to indicate that the
scribe had at first intended to introduce the scene where Judas sells Christ
to the doctors, immediately after Annas' last speech,^® and thus make of the
council one continuous scene. Then later it seems that he thought to intro-
duce the scene between Jesus and his disciples®** at this point, but finally
decided to introduce the Mary Magdalene episode. This episode occupies
folios 149 and 149b in the manuscript, and the handwriting seems to indicate
that it was written by the same scribe, but at a different time and with a
different pen. It is much more closely written. Perhaps this indicates that
at first the scene between Jesus and his disciples followed Annas' speech
(p. 263) and that the story of Mary was written in at a later time on a blank
page that had been left there.®*
Metrically the play presents two main forms. The Mary Magdalene
episode is in the prologue stanza, whereas the greater part of the play is in
double quatrains. The scene between Jesus and his disciples, mentioned
above, as well as the one where he establishes the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper (pp. 270-274), are in the tumbling meter, which may point to a later
origin for these parts. There are also three cases of couplets in the play
(pp. 274, 276).
BS Halliwell, p. 275. •'* Halliwell, p. 263. 55 Halliwell, p. 263.
58 Halliwell, p. 265. 57 Halliwell, p. 267. 58 Halliwell, p. 267.
59 Halliwell, p. 263. 60 Halliwell, pp. 265-267. .
«i The name JoLn Holland occurs four times in this section of the manuscript on folios i51d,
152b, lS3b, and 155b. The handwriting resembles that of the scribe.
56 ESTHER L. SWENSON
The Betrayal
The preceding- play ends with the direction, "Here Jhesus goth to Betany-
ward, and his dyscipulys folwyng with sad contenawns, Jhesus seyng," and
this play opens with Jesus' speech on the way to the garden. Either this
direction ought to be transferred to this play, or the speech belongs to the
play of the Last Supper. However, if we conceive these plays to have been
performed on a stationary stage, considerations of this kind are of very little
importance.^^
The Angel's ministering to Jesus is not mentioned in the Prologue. His
bringing a chalice and the host is a theological touch. Moreover, the Pro-
logue says that Christ's disciples forsake him, but there is no direction in the
play to that effect. The laments of the Marys are also omitted from the
Prologue ; and these laments are also written in the tumbling meter, whereas
the rest of the play is in simple single and double quatrain stanzas.
Trial I (Herod, Trial before Caiaphas and Peter's Denial)
The play of the Betrayal ends on folio 162 of the manuscript and folio
162b is blank. The prologue of the doctors is written in on ff. 163 and
163b in a different hand ; then, except for a few scribbles, ff. 164 and 164b
are blank. So that the next play does not actually begin before folio 165,
although the doctors' prologue does occur before; nor does the number 29
appear before this point. After this there are no blank spaces in the manu-
script until the end of the play of Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene.
The hand in which Contemplacio's speech is written seems to differ both
from that of the usual scribe and also from that of the doctors' prologue.
The general Prologue for this play promises nothing more than a trial
before Caiaphas and Peter's denial, and these portions of the play are written
in simple meters. The actual trial before Caiaphas®^ is in simple quatrains,
with a good deal of confusion of rhyme due to the short speeches in the
buffeting scenes, etc. ; the scene of Peter's denial is in couplets, ending in
a simple quatrain. But the other parts of the play, Contemplacio's speech,
the speeches of Herod and the soldiers, the messenger's tidings to Annas,
Annas' greeting of Jesus, and Peter's lament are written almost entirely in
tumbling quatrains. Thus it seems probable that all of the play except the
actual trial before Caiaphas and Peter's denial is late.
The appearance of the stage-directions would also seem to support such
a theory. In the first part of the play we find the same elaborate sort of
directions that characterize this part of the cycle : "What tyme that pro-
cessyon is enteryd into the place, and the Herowdys takyn his schaffalde,
62 Hohlfeld also calls attention to this fact, Die Kollektivmisterien, Anglia, xi, p. 234.
••"• Halliwell, pp. 295-297.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 57
and Pylat and Annas and Cayphas here schaffaldys ; also than come ther an
exposytour, in doctorys wede, thus seyng." But with the buffeting scenes in
the Trial before Caiaphas and in Peter's Denial we have the occasional use
of simple Latin stage-directions. This is the first appearance of Latin direc-
tions since the Lazarus play.
Trial II (Remorse of Judas, Jesus before Pilate and Herod)
This play, as it now stands, seems to be a reworking of what was in the
cycle originally two plays, with some introduction of new material. If the
Remorse of Judas was a separate play, it is probable that it was presented
as a sort of interlude between the two trials before Pilate. Strangely enough
the Prologue makes no mention of a trial before Herod. Combining this
with the fact that the parts of the preceding play concerning Herod were also
omitted from the Prologue, it would seem that Herod was introduced into
this part of the cycle at the time of revision.
In connection with the first trial before Pilate, the Prologue states that
Christ shall be tried together with thieves. But the thieves do not actually
appear until the second trial before Pilate. There, however, they are omitted
from the Prologue. There are also in this play two other minor points of
disagreement between Prologue and plays. The former provides that Pilate's
wife shall go to rest, a thing which does not occur in the play ; also, the play
as it now stands presents no scene where the devil carries Judas off to hell,
but simply states that he goes to hang himself.
The meter of the play as a whole is very simple, largely simple quatrains
with an occasional double quatrain. A part of the scene where Pilate ques-
tions Jesus^* is written in couplets. The tumbling meter makes its appear-
ance only in the first part of the play where Caiaphas calls the messenger
and the messenger delivers his message first to Pilate and then to Caiaphas.
The last stage-direction in the play indicates beyond any doubt that these
plays were presented on a fixed stage : "Here enteryth Satan into the place
in the most orryble wyse, and qwyl that he pleyth, thei xal don on Jhesus
clothis and overest a whyte clothe, and leydyn hym abowth the place and
than to Pylat, be the tyme that hese wyff hath pleyd." This play contains
one Latin stage-direction.
Trial III (Pilate's Wife's Dream and the Condemnation)
Satan's prologue, which is not provided for in the general Prologue, and
is also written in the tumbling meter, probably does not belong to the original
cycle. The scene of the council in hell is also omitted from the Prologue
eiHalliwell, p. 301.
58 ESTHER L. SWENSON
and would seem to belong to a later period. It is, however, written in simple
quatrains, which is the prevailing meter of the play. With the exception,
noted before, that the thieves, placed by the Prologue in the preceding play,
actually appear here, the rest of the action is entirely consistent with the
Prologue and probably represents an early stage of the cycle.
This play also employs a number of couplets in addition to the prevailing
simple quatrains. "^^ Here also we have the occasional appearance of simple
Latin stage-directions.
The Crucifixion
Jesus' speech to the Jewish women, "Daughters of Jerusalem, etc.," is
written in tumbling meter, and probably belongs to a later period than that
represented by the Prologue. Although the laments of the women, Simon's
carrying of the cross, and the Veronica episode are written in simple quat-
rains, their omission from the Prologue may indicate that they were later
borrowings into the cycle. The Veronica story occurs only in this and the
York cycles ; it comes from a legendary source, such as would probably not
have been used in this cycle at the time of the writing of the Prologue. The
forgiving of Dysmas and Pilate's inscription are also omitted from the
Prologue, and the latter incident is introduced by just such a stage-direction
as we believe is characteristic of the Passion play.
After Pilate has gone back to his scaffold we have the reappearance of
the ballad stanza aaabcccb, which is continued to the end of this play and
throughout the next.
The Harrozving of Hell I
Although the one stage-direction here is in English, the plav is ex-
tremely simple and seems to be in its original form. The second scene of the
Harrowing of Hell (a part of the Resurrection play) is also written in the
ballad meter, and the action follows nnmediately upon that of the first Har-
rowing of Hell, as if the two had at one time been a single play. However,
that must have been before the Prologue was written, for that provides for
a division just as we find it here.
There seem to be no indications of any influence from the Passion play
in either of these two scenes. But there may have been some change in the
order of the incidents in this part of the cycle. In the Prologue the Longinus
story is placed with the first Harrowing of Hell, the two constituting a sep-
arate pageant, whereas as the cycle now stands, the first Harrowing of Hell
stands alone, and the Longinus episode is placed with the play of the Burial.
«5HalIiwelI, pp. 312, 313, 316.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 59
The Burial and the Setting of the Watch
Although this play corresponds fairly well, as far as incidents are con-
cerned, with the general Prologue, it presents some little evidence of for-
eign influence in that both English stage-directions and the tumbling meter
are used to some extent. This meter makes its appearance in the conversa-
tion of the Centurion and the other two soldiers at the cross. The other
scenes of the play are written either in simple quatrains or in the ballad
stanza. Nicodemus''*^ speaks one stanza in the ballad strophe. The rest of the
burial scene and the first part of the Setting of the Watch, are in quatrains ;
but beginning with Afifraunt's speech to Pilate on the way to the tomb, the
ballad measure is again employed. In the first part of this last scene the
lines are generally four feet long, but the last stanza of Pilate's speech and
the conversation of the soldiers at the grave are in the very short line ballad
stanza, often running into the form a a b c c b.
This play marks the end of the influence of the Passion play. The fol-
lowing plays, though not always corresponding in every detail with the Pro-
logue, are, with the exception of the play of the Assumption of the Virgin,
very simple. There is only one further instance (in the play of Thomas) of
the use of the tumbling meter; and only one stage-direction in English (in
the play of Mary Magdalene) throughout the rest of the cycle. The stage-
directions are again simple, as they were in the first part of the cycle, and
there is no further mention of "the place." The play of Mary Magdalene
ends with an "Explicit apparicio Mariae Magdalen," and each succeeding
play, except the Assumption of the Virgin, begins with a direction some-
what in the nature of an "Incipit." The play of Pentecost also ends with
an "Amen."
Resurrection and Awakening of the Watch
At the end of the Crucifixion a stage-direction, in agreement with the
Prologue, states that Mary, the mother of Jesus, goes to the Temple. But in
the play of the Burial she is present and at the end is said to be left with the
other Marys at the tomb. The Prologue for the Burial makes no pro-
vision for this, but states in the section devoted to the play of the Resurrec-
tion, that Christ goes to the Temple to find his mother ; whereas in the play
of the Resurrection Christ seems to find his mother at the tomb. Thus the
action in the Prologue is consistent with itself and with the direction at the
end of the play of the Crucifixion, whereas the action that follows this direc-
tion in the plays is not consistent. It is probable that in the cycle, at the time
which the Prologue represents, Mary went to the Temple after the cruci-
fixion and remained there to meet Christ after his resurrection ; whereas in
66Halliwell, p. 331.
60 ESTHER L. SWENSON
some other play, which has influenced this cycle, the Marys were left at the
tomb after the burial and remained there to be ready for the play of Christ's
Appearance to the Three Marys. In this latter play, the play of the Three
Marys probably stood for the Resurrection and there probably was no
special appearance to the Virgin Mary. In this connection it is interesting
to note that Virgin Mary is not one of the three women who go to the tomb,
according to the direction at the beginning of the play of the Three Marys.
"Hie venient ad sepulchrum Maria Magdalene, Maria Jacobi, et Maria Sa-
lome, etc." The direction first quoted is also inconsistent with that at the
end of the Burial referred to above: "Here the princes xal do reverens to
oure Lady, and gon here way, and leve the Maryes at the sepulchre." If our
theory is correct, the direction stating that the three Marys go to the grave
belongs to the second play which we believe has influenced the cycle.
Another inconsistency between Prologue and cycle appears in that the
former does not specifically mention the awakening of the watch, although
it does seem to imply some such scene in the section devoted to the preceding
play, when in providing for the setting of the watch, it suggests that at the
resurrection Christ shall frighten the soldiers. Possibly in the old cycle this
scene occurred in the same pageant with the setting of the watch.
The Remaining Plays of the Cycle
The play of the Journey to Emmaus is a very simple biblical play and
agrees with the Prologue with the exception that the Prologue treats the
story of Thomas as a separate pageant. The use of the tumbling meter in
this second part of the play would seem to be very significant in the light of
this inconsistency. It looks as if at the time of the revising of the cycle the
original Thomas play had been rewritten in this late meter and appended to
the regular Peregrini play.
In the Ascension play one angel only appears ; whereas the Prologue
states that there shall be two. At the end of the play Peter (whose name
is omitted from the manuscript and also from Halli well's edition) makes a
speech to the disciples telling them to elect another apostle, which is not
included in the Prologue but is consistent with the Bible story .^^
The play of Pentecost is remarkably short consisting of only thirty-nine
lines. It would almost seem that it, like the Judgment play, must be a frag-
ment, though there is no indication of this in the manuscript, as in the case
of the latter play. In the Judgment play we have at the end the name "Deus"
indicated as the next speaker, but no speech is provided for him.
The Assumption of the Virgin is not provided for in the Prologue and is
written in a different hand from that of the rest of the cycle. It is different
*^ Faike, Die Quellen des sog. Liidus Coventriae, also calls attention to the omission of Peter's
name.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 61
in tone and much more elaborate than any of the other plays. Directions
such as the following : "Hie cantabunt org,""^ and "Et hie ascendent in
coelum cantantibus organis,"®^ may be thought to indicate that this play was
at some time performed in a church.
Metrically this play is very much confused. There are a number of
passages in the prologue stanza, also a number of quatrains. Some of these
quatrains are double, thus, abababab, and a number of them also begin
with a couplet, aabababab. Five stanzas scattered through the play
seem to show a confusion of quatrains with the ballad stanza, a a a b a b-
a b a b.^° The play shows throughout, however, longer lines than the rest
of the cycle.
With the exception of this play and the Thomas scene, noted before, this
last part of the cycle is very simple metrically, presenting three main forms
of meter, the ballad stanza, the double quatrain, and the prologue stanza.
The Resurrection and the Three Marys down to Magdalene's speech to the
apostles are in the ballad stanza. Beginning with this speech and throughout
the next two plays as far as the scene of the Incredulity of Thomas the
simple double quatrain form is employed, with an occasional single quatrain
in the Appearance to Mary Magdalene. The Thomas scene is in tumbling
quatrains. The remaining three plays are in the prologue stanza. In the
Ascension and Pentecost the form of the stanza has been slightly changed
from ababababcdddc to ababbcbcdeeed, but the Judgment
play resumes the old form.
CONCLUSION
It appears, then, from our study that the Prologue provides for the fol-
lowing incidents :
1. Creation of Angels and Fall of Lucifer
2. Creation and Fall of Man
3. Cain and Abel
4. Noah and the Flood
5. Abraham and Isaac
6. Moses and the Laws
7. Prophets (prophecies of a queen)
8. Mary's Betrothal (in two parts)
9. Salutation
10. Joseph's Trouble about Mary
11. The Trial of Joseph and Mary
(This section is a simple quatrain and probably not a part of the original
prologue.)
eSHalliwell, p. 393. G9 Halliwell, p. 400. 10 Halliwell, pp. 387, 391, 392.
62 ESTHER L. SJVENSON
12. Joseph and the Midwives
(Also a quatrain.)
13. The Adoration of the Shepherds
14. The Adoration of the Magi
15. Slaughter of the Innocents (including a Flight into Egypt)
16. The Death of Herod
17. Christ and the Doctors
18. The Baptism of Christ
19. The Temptation (including a Council in Hell)
20. The Woman Taken in Adultery
21. The Resurrection of Lazarus
22. The Entry into Jerusalem
23. The Last Supper (including Judas' Selling of Christ)
24. The Betrayal
25. Christ before Caiaphas (including Peter's Denial)
26. Christ before Pilate
27. The Remorse of Judas
28. Pilate's Wife's Dream and the Second Trial before Pilate
29. The Crucifixion
30. Longinus and the First Harrowing of Hell
31. Burial and Setting of the Watch
32. Second Harrowing of Hell and Christ's Salutation to His Mother (i. e.,
The Resurrection)
33. The Three Marys {Quern Quaeritis)
34. Mary Magdalene (Hortulanus)
35. Cleophas and Luke (Peregrini)
36. Thomas of India ;
Z7. The Ascension ^
38. Pentecost
39. Doomsday
Mr. E. N. S. Thompson in an article on Ludus Coventriae''^ expresses the
opinion that this Prologue is not an integral part of the cycle, but is ante-
dated by the plays. This view, however, I can not agree with. The agree-
ment of the Prologue and the cycle in all essential scenes, and in such
peculiarities as (1) the emphasis on the Virgin in the Prophecies, (2) the
prefixing of a council in hell to the regular Temptation play, (3) the division
of the Harrowing of Hell into two scenes, (4) the fact that Christ appears
to his mother in the Resurrection before he is seen by the three Marys, and
many other instances make it impossible to doubt that the Prologue belongs
■"1 Mod. Lang. Notes, xxi.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 63
to the cycle. Moreover, it will be noted that the plays here provided for,
while sufficient for a complete cycle,^- provide only for very simple biblical
scenes. As the Prologue now stands there are only three scenes that come
from Apochryphal sources, namely, Mary's Betrothal, the Trial of Joseph
and Mary, and Joseph and the Midwives, and two of these seem from metri-
cal evidences to be later additions. So that it does not seem probable that
the Prologue is antedated by the plays, but rather that it represents an earlier
and more primitive form of the same cycle. Thus the theory that the Pro-
logue represents an early stage of our plays and that those scenes which do
not appear there are later modifications of the cycle, appears to be tenable.
Chief among these modifications are the Virgin play in the Nativity
group of plays, and the Passion play in the third group. In addition to
these two main instances, it will be remembered that other scenes not men-
tioned in the Prologue, such as the Lamech episode in the play of Noah's
Flood, the story of the Cherry-tree in the Journey to Bethlehem, and the
Veronica episode in the Crucifixion are to be regarded as belonging to the
period of revision.
To support this conclusion an examination of the metrical arrangement
of the cycle has revealed the fact that the tumbling measure, which we
believe to have been the meter of a redactor, is used to the greatest extent in
the Virgin and Passion plays, and that it appears elsewhere only in such parts
of the cycle as bear evidence of revision ; namely, the Lamech episode, the
Cherry-tree episode, Herod's first boastful speech in the play of the Magi,
and Christ's appearance to Thomas.
The following table represents the general distribution of the various
verse-forms throughout the cycle. It omits, however, the form a a b a a b-
b c b c which appears only in the last half of Joseph's Trouble about Mary
and in the play of the Purification.
72 The omission of the Visit to Elizabeth, which may seem to be traditionally necessary, has
been accounted for by the fact that the Prologue here bears evidence of' having been n-odified.
64
ESTHER L. SWENSON
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70 ESTHER L. SWENSON
This Passion play may have been presented in two divisions or scenes, as
indicated by Contemplacio ; but the properties in the two parts are sufficiently
ahke to indicate that the same stage was used in the two parts. In the first
part we have scaffolds for Annas and Caiaphas which they occupy when
the play opens, and continue to retain until they take part in the action, when
they descend into "the place." The first scene of the council is said to take
place in the "myd-place," that is somewhere between Annis' and Caiaphas'
stations. Then we are told that in the scene of the Entry, Christ rides out
of "the place." This place must have been large and divided into two
parts during such plays as the Last Supper, where the scene shifts from
the Supper to the Council and we are told that one place or the other shall
suddenly unclose. After Judas has made his arrangements with the Jews,
the Council breaks up and the priests go again to their scaffolds. After this
Christ walks from the part of "the place" where he has been keeping the
Last Supper to Gethsemane. The part of "the place" that was previously
used for the Council may here have been used for the garden. After the
usual scene in the garden a direction states that Jesus goes into "the place"
where the soldiers are who have come to capture him. This is probably
the part that was previously used for the Last Supper. Then Jesus is led
out of "the place" to Annas and Caiaphas.
The second part of the play begins with a procession after which Annas,
Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate take their scaffolds. It seems that Herod's sta-
tion was surrounded by a curtain, for after Jesus has appeared before
Pilate the first time, we are told that "Herowdys scaffold xal unclose shewing
Herowdes in astat, alle the Jewys knelyng, etc." In this part of the play
there must have been a spot to represent Hell. Before Lucifer goes to
Pilate's wife he speaks to the devils in hell. A station for Pilate's wife was
also needed. The scene of the second trial before Pilate calls for a court
room which was not the same as Pilate's scaffold, for we are told that he
returns to his station after he has pronounced sentence. The action here
takes place both within and without the court room. After this point Pilate
and the high priests presumably remain on their scaffolds until they come
down to put the inscription on the cross of Christ. Then they again
return to their stations where Pilate receives Joseph's request for the body
of Christ and the high priests' request for a watch. When the watch go to
the tomb, Pilate, Annas, and Caiaphas accompany them, but return again to
their scaffolds, where if the Passion play extends so far, they will receive the
report of the watch. The scenes of the crucifixion and the burial naturally
demand a station for the three crosses and one for the tomb ; certainly also
the Temple to which Mary, the mother of Christ, retires.
Granted, then, that the plays of the Life of the Virgin and the Passion
were acted on fixed stages, the question still remains as to how the other
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 71
plays were presented. It is possible that the Old Testament plays (i. e., the
first five of the cycle) were acted on one movable pageant, although the in-
troduction of a movable ark in the Noah play renders this unlikely. The
use of the word "pagent" in the Prologue together with the frequent "In-
cipits" and "Explicits" that often mark off individual plays, would seem to
me to indicate that our original cycle, represented by the Prologue, was
acted on a series of pageants ; and that when the later modification took place
some of the "Incipits" and "Explicits" were retained, whereas the greater
part of them were omitted.
If we grant that the play of the Assumption of the Virgin was acted in
a church, it may be possible that parts of the cycle, as it now stands, were
acted on a fixed stage, and other parts, on movable pageants. It is possible
that the plays which precede the Virgin play were acted on movable vehicles,
and then that the procession stopped and presented on a fixed stage the plays
dealing with the life of the Virgin. After this the procession resumed its
way through the streets, presenting the plays which intervene between the
Virgin and the Passion plays. The scenes presenting the Passion were again
played on another fixed stage, after which the players proceeded to the
church where the Assumption, and possibly the Judgment, were given.
Two circumstances, however, point to another interpretation, which I
believe to be more plausible. In the play of Noah's Flood, after the Lamech
episode, we are told that Noah enters with his ship.'® Again in the play of
the Trial of Joseph and Mary this direction occurs, "Hie intrabit pagentum
de purgatione Mariae et Joseph" (p. 132). These stage-directions seem to
me to indicate that the audience was stationary and that such movable pag-
eants, as were used in the performance, were rolled in before the audience.
In any case, Ludus Coventriae bears evidence of a change from the tradi-
tional Corpus Christi cycle acted on moveable pageants to a more elaborate
play on a fixed stage.
■76 Halliwell, p. 46.
NOTE ON THE HOME OF LUDUS COVENTRIAE
It has never been known where the cycle of mystery plays published by
the Shakespeare Society in 1841 as "Ludus Coventriae: a Collection of
Mysteries formerly represented at Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi,"
were acted, although it has long been known that they are not the Coventry
plays. The editor of the cycle, J. O. Halliwell (-Phillips), follows a tradition
to the effect that this cycle was formerly acted by the Grey Friars of Cov-
entry. The first connection of the manuscript with Coventry is an entry on
folio l*r, said by Halliwell to be in the handwriting of Dr. Richard James,
librarian to Sir Robert Cotton to the following effect: "Contenta Novi
Testamenti scenice expressa et actitata olim per monachos sive fratres men-
dicantes ; vulgo dicitur hie liber Ludus Coventriae, sive Ludus Corporis
Christi ; scribitur metris Anglicanis." The manuscript had formerly be-
longed to Robert Hegge of Durham, a fellow of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford ; he hqs written his name on it in several places. At his death in
1630 the manuscript passed into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton. Halliwell
states on the basis of a letter in the Cottonian collection^ that James was
about that time engaged at Oxford in collecting manuscripts for Sir Robert
Cotton. The only other descriptive entry on the manuscript is at the top of
folio Ir: "The plaie called Corpus Christi." This is in a seventeenth-
century hand, I should think, but not the hand of Robert Hegge, as stated
by Mr. S. B. Hemingway,^ or that of James in the preceding entry. Sharp
attributes the former entry to Dr. Smith, a later Cottonian librarian, who
enters it in a catalogue of the Cottonian MSS. in 1696, as "A collection of
plays, in old English meter : h. e. Dramata sacra, in quibus exhibentur his-
toriae veteris et 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 Frat-
ribus mendicantibus representata." It should be noted with regard to the
former entry that James does not say that the cycle is "Ludus Coventriae,"
but merely that "vulgo dicitur Ludus Coventriae." It is obvious that James
had not read the plays, since he speaks of "Contenta novi testamenti,"
whereas there are Old as well as New Testament subjects treated. It may
or may not be significant that Dr. Smith says nothing about Coventry,
The connection of this cycle with Coventry was perpetuated by the fol-
lowing passage from Dugdale's History of Warzvickshire, edition of 1656,
page 116:^ "Before the suppression of the monasteries, this city [Coventry]
1 The reference, as given by Halliwell, p. vii, is Cotton. Julius, C. iii, fol. 193.
2 English Nativity Plays, p. xxix.
3 Halliwell, pp. ix-x; Sharp, Dissertation, p. 5 ff.
72
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 73
was very famous for the pageants that were played 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 friars of this house [the Gray Friars
of Coventry], had theaters for the several 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 contained the story of the New-Testament,
composed into old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. (in bibl.
Cotton, sub efiigie Vesp. D. 9 [8] ) intituled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludiis
Coventriae.^ I have been told by some old people, who in their younger
years were eye-witnesses of these pageants so acted, that the yearly con-
flunce of people to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded no
small advantage to this city."
Thomas Sharp, writing in 1825, perceived that Ludus Coventriae "were
no part of the Plays or Pageants exhibited by the Trading Companies of the
City," but he did not reject Dugdale's tradition as to plays by the Grey
Friars, and this he thought might be the cycle they had acted. In this
opinion he is followed by Halliwell. Sharp cites an entry in the Coventry
Annals, "solitary mention in one MS. (not older than the beginning of Chas.
I.'s reign) of Henry Vllth's visit to the City in 1492, 'to see Plays acted by
the Grey Friars.' " In this I think we may find the source of Dugdale's
error. Dugdale was born in 1605, and the Coventry Corpus Christi plays
were discontinued in 1580. He pretends to give only a somewhat general
tradition as to the plays and the crowds that they attracted. This vague tra-
dition is rendered definite for him by two things ; the first is the note on the
MS. by James. James died in 1638, and Dugdale, according to Sharp, page
6, was introduced to Sir Thomas Cotton and the Cottonian MSS. that year.
Sir William Dugdale was working on his History of Warwickshire as early
as 1642, and, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, was using
Sir Thomas Cotton's library in 1652, and no doubt used it a great deal during
the years he was at work on the book. The second document that misled him
was the MSS. Annals. There are at least four of these books of annals still
to be found in manuscript.^ Two, A. 26 and A. 43, are among the Corpora-
tion manuscripts at Coventry ; neither is of very great age, and both contain
pretty much the same materials : lists of mayors, notable or miraculous
events, and a number of mentions of plays. There are also two at the British
Museum, Harl. 6388 and 11346 Plut. CXLII. A.; the latter is of no great
value as regards pageants. Harl. 6388 was written by Humphrey Wanley,
and is dated Dec. 17, 1690. Wanley says : "This book was taken out of
* In his MS., according to Halliwell, Dugdale says: "In that incomparable library belonging to
Sir Thomas Cotton, there is yet one of the bookes which perteyned to this pageant, entitled
Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventriae."
5 On this subject, see a fuller account in my edition of Two Coventry Corpus Christi Plays,
E. E. T. S., p. xix ff.
74 HARDIN CRAIG
manuscripts, the one written by Mr. Cristofer Owen Mayor of this citty
which contains the charter of Walter de Coventre concerning the commons
etc. to Godfrey Leg- Mayor 1637, the other beginning at the 36 mayor of
this citty and continued by several hands and lately by Edmund Palmer late
of this citty . . .. and another written by Mr. Bedford and collected out
of divers others and continued to Mr. Septimius Bott. And two other
collected by Tho. Potter and continued to Mr. Robert Blake, and another
written by Mr. Francis Barnett, to the first year of Mr. Jellififs Majoralty,
and another written by Mr. Abraham Astley, and continued to Mr. Sept.
Bott, and another written by Mr. Abraham Boune to Humfrey Wrightwick,
1607." In Dugdale's Warwickshire there is also a list of mayors of Coventry
with annals. Sharp quotes MS. Annals and Codex Hales, and there was at
least one copy of Coventry annals in the Birmingham Free Reference Library
at the time of the fire in 1879, so that Sharp may represent an original.
The entrv with which we have to do is given as follows: "Corp. MSS.
A. 26 and A. 43 : Thomas Churchman, bucklemaker. Mayor, 1492. This
year the King and Queen came to Kenilworth; from thence they came to
Coventry to see our plays at Corpus Christitide and gave them great com-
mendation. Dugdale and 11346 Plut. CXLII. A: In his Mayoralty K. H.
7. came to see the playes acted by the Grey Friars and much commended
them. Harl. 6388: The King and Queen came to see the playes at the
grey friers and much commended them." The entry as given in Dugdale
gave rise to the impression in his mind, I think, as it certainly did in the
mind of Thomas Sharp, that there were plays in Coventry acted by the
brotherhood of the Grey Friars. James's note had suggested monks or men-
dicant friars ; here was this entry in the Coventry annals which he prints.
It is easy to see that we have to do with a misunderstanding. "Acted by
the Grey Friars" need not mean that grey friars were the actors ; but may
mean "at the Gray-friars church." The grey-friars was a common way of
indicating the church. Wanley so understands the entry, for he says in
Harl. 6388, "to see the playes at the greyfriers." He worked from a large
number of manuscripts, and there is no doubt but that the entry means sim-
ply that the King and Queen watched the Corpus Christi play as it was
presented by the craft guilds in front of the Grey Friars church, where there
would certainly have been a station ; just as Queen Margaret had seen them
at a station in Earl Street in 1456.
The only mention of a place of performance in the cycle itself is at the
end of the general Prologue :
A Sunday next, yf that we may.
At vj. of the belle we ginne oure play,
In N. towne, wherfore we pray,
That God now be Youre Spede.*
SHalHwell, p. 18.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 75
This was understood by somebody, Sharp does not say whom,' to indi-
cate a series of plays for exhibition at Corpus Christi festival generally,
rather than expressly for Coventry, since N. (nomen) is the usual mode of
distinguishing a person or place under such circumstances, "as N. stands in
the marriage ceremony unto this day."^ Halliwell says, "If the opinion I
have formed of their locality be correct, I can account for this by supposing
that the prologues of the vexillators belong to another series of plays, or that
these mysteries were occasionally performed at other places. ... it
must be confessed that the conclusion would suit a company of strolling
players much better than the venerable order of the Grey Friars."^ The idea
that Ludus Coventriae is the play-book of a strolling company has been very
generally entertained since that time. Ten Brink follows that idea and as-
signs their dialect to the North-East Midlands ; so also Pollard.^* Ten
Brink's conclusion as to dialect is in part confirmed by a study of the dialect
by M. Kramer, Sprache und Heirnat des sogen. Ludus Coventriae, who, how-
ever, thinks that the plays are of southern origin but rewritten in the North-
East Midlands. Chambers does not consider the strolling company hypoth-
esis as proved. He perceives that they are stationary plays in their present
form, but does not take the trouble to ascertain that the manuscript is divided
into separate plays, although the numbers are large and in red. Another mis-
take he makes is that, although he sees that the Prologue must have been
written for the plays, he thinks that it is later in date than they are. It repre-
sents, as Miss Swenson's dissertation clearly shows, an earlier, purely cyclic
stage of the same plays. Still Chambers does not rule out the idea that we
have to do in the Hegge cycle with a series of craft-plays. He suggests Nor-
wich and says that the elaborate treatment of the legends of the Virgin sug-
gests a performance, like that of the Lincoln plays, and of the Massacre of
the Innocents in the Digby MS., on St. Anne's day (July 26).
I wish to make the last suggestion much more definitely, having arrived
at considerable certainty with regard to it from other points of view. There
are, I think, good reasons for fixing upon Lincoln as the home of these plays.
The somewhat scanty records of the Lincoln plays seem to point to a Corpus
Christi play which was transferred to St. Anne's day, and acted regularly as
a St. Anne's play until near the middle of the sixteenth century. It was ap-
parently an ordinary cyclic play with certain features appropriate to St.
Anne's day. The so-called Coventry cycle, or to use the name of a former
owner of the manuscript, the Hegge cycle, is unique in the possession of a
group of plays dealing with the nativity and childhood of the Virgin Mary, a
7 Sharp, p. 7.
8 See also J. P. Collier, History of Dramatic Poetry, ii, p. 156.
'J Loc. cit., p. xi.
10 Ten Brink, English Literature, ii, p. 283; A. W. Pollard, English Miracle Plays, p. xxxvii.
A. R. Hohlfeld, Die Kollektivmisterien, Anglia, xi, p. 228, suggests that the Grey Friars went on
the road with their play.
76 HARDIN CRAIG
subject of unmistakable connection with St. Anne's day. The Corporation
records show that each Lincoln alderman was required to furnish a silk
gown for one of the "kings" in the procession of St. Anne. This has been
supposed to refer to the Three Kings of Cologne in the Magi play ; but there
were only three of the magi, and there must have been more than three alder-
men. The Hegge prophet play calls for no less than thirteen kings, and is,
moreover, unique among prophet plays. The prophets foretell the birth of
Mary and not of Jesus. The play might be described as a dramatic form of
the mediaeval theme of the "Root of Jesse." They had, as we shall see pres-
ently, some special kind of prophet play known particularly as visus, or
"sights," though the name was applied to the whole St. Anne's play too, and
this Jesse, it is so called in the manuscript, with the accompanying Virgin
plays would be most appropriate.
The available information about the Lincoln plays is contained in the
14th Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission," and in an article
entitled Some English Plays and Players by Mr. A. F. Leach in the Furni-
vall Miscellany. Canon Wordsworth has also published a few bits of infor-
mation in his Lincoln Statutes and his Notes on Mediaeval Services in Eng-
land. One can not be sure whether or not the principal manuscripts have
been read carefully for the purpose of getting all possible information about
the plays, or whether a study of completer forms of the references already
found might not yield a good deal more information than they do in their im-
perfect versions. The Chapter Act Books and the Chapter Computi seem
particularly promising. The Historical MSS. Report on the Manuscripts of
the Dean and the Chapter of Lincoln^^ gives no information, and that which
we have comes from Mr. Leach's article.
We know of unusual dramatic activities on the part of vicars of the choir
and clerks of the Cathedral in the thirteenth century from the hostile writ-
ings of Bishop Grosseteste.^^ He denounces ludos and miracula together
with the Feast of Fools. In 1390 the vicars and clerks are still liable to
censure because they dressed like laymen, laughed, shouted, and acted plays,
which they commonly and fitly called the Feast of Fools. ^* There was ap-
parently much dramatic activity in the minster. Chapter Computi for 1406,
1452, 1531, have entries of payments, "In serothecis emptis pro Maria et
Angelo et Prophetis ex consuetudine in Aurora Natalis Dni hoc anno."^'
There is one very puzzling entry given by Canon Wordsworth^*^ in these
terms: "In 1420 tithes to the amount of ^s 8d were assigned to Thomas
" Appendix, 8, op. 1-120. ^^ Hist. MSS., xii. App. 9, pp. 553 ff.
18 Chambers, ii. p. 100 et passim; Luard, Letters of Robert Grosseteste, (Rolls Series), 74, 162,
317.
1* Chapter Act Book quoted by Leach, p. 222.
15 These entries are given by Wordsworth, Notes on Mediaeval Services, p. 126, and Lincoln
Statutes, ii, Iv.
16 Wordsworth, p. 126.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 77
Chamberleyn for getting up a spectacle or pageant ('cujusdam excellentis
visits') called Rubum quern viderat at Christmas." This is possibly to be
connected with the prophet play mentioned above, since Moses was in most
versions of the processus the first prophet — hence the allusion to the burning
bush — and with him possibly the play of the Tables of the Law.
Further references point to an identification of the Corpus Christi play
with the play acted on St. Anne's day. Leach gives entries from a list of
mayors and bailiffs of the reign of Henry VIII with annals of the city.
Amongst the entries are references to plays, two being to the Corpus Christi
play, namely, in 12 of Edw. IV, 1471-2, and 14 of Edw. IV, 1473-4. One of
the Chapter Act books, according to Leach, has a reference in 1469 to the
Show or Play of St. Anne. And if we trace this St. Anne's play by means
of the Corporation Minute Book covering the early fifteenth century,^'^ we
find that it was probably the Corpus Christi play under a new name. There
were no doubt extensive changes in the play to make it more appropriate to
St. Anne's day; but it is evidently, to all intents and purposes, a Corpus
Christi play transferred to another date, a thing familiar in the Chester and
Norwich Whitsun plays. The following entries will indicate the circum-
stances of the St. Anne's play so far as they can be determined from the
materials at hand :
1515, 27 July. It is agreed that whereas divers garments and other "heriorments"
are yearly borrowed in the country for the arraying of the pageants of St. Anne's guild,
but now the knights and gentlemen are afraid with the plague so that the "graceman"
(chief officer of the Guild of St. Anne) cannot borrow such garments, every alder-
man shall prepare and set forth in the said array two good gowns, and every sheriff
and every chamberlain a gown, and the persons with them shall wear the same. And
the constables are ordered to wait upon the array in procession, both to keep the
people from the array, and also to take heed of such as wear garments in the same.
1517, 10 June, 22 Sept. Sir Robert Denyas appointed St. Anne's priest ....
having yearly 5/., he promising yearly to help to the bringing forth and preparing of
the pageants in St. Anne's guild.
1518, 16 June. Ordered that every alderman shall send forth a servant with a torch
to be lighted in the procession with a rochet (1521, "an onest gowne") upon him about
the Sacrament, under pain of forfeiture of 6s. Sd., and also under like penalty, send
forth one person with a good gown upon his back to go in the procession. That every
constable shall wait on the procession on St. Anne's day by 7 of the clock. ... In
1525 the aldermen are each to provide a gown of silk for the kings. ... It is
ordered that every occupation shall prepare and apparel in all preparation except plate
and cups ("copes"). List of defaulters in 1526. In 1527 the parishioners of St. John
Evang. in Wykford refuse to lend "honroments."
1519, 18 June. Agreed that every man and woman in the city, being able, shall
be brother and sister in St. Anne's guild, and pay yearly 4d., man and wife, at the least.
Every occupation belonging to St. Anne's guild to bring forth their pageants suf-
ficiently, upon pain of forfeting 10/.
1521. 16 July. George Browne, alderman, elected in the place of the graceman
17 Hist. MSS., xiv. App. 8, pp. 25 ff.
78 HARDIN CRAIG
of St. Anne's gild, complains that as the plague is reigning in the city he can not get
such garments and "honourments" as should be in the pageants of the procession ;
wherefore it is agreed to borrow a gown of my lady "Powes" for one of the Maries, and
the other Mary to be arrayed in the crimson gown of velvet that belongeth to tha
gild; and the prior of St. Katharine's to be spoken with to have such "honourments"
as we have had aforetime.
30 Oct. The foundation of a priest to sing in the church of St. Michael upon the
hill . . . with a proviso that the said chaplain shall yearly be ready to help
to the preparing and bringing forth of the procession of St. Anne's day, and after
Mr. Dighton's decease to be called for ever St. Anne's priest.
31 Dec. ( ?) Every alderman to make a gown for the kings in the pageant on
St. Anne's day, and the Pater Noster play to be played this year.
1539, 18 July. Agreed that St. Anne's gild shall go up on the Sunday next after
St. Anne's day in manner and form as it hath been had in time past.
12 Nov. The stuff belonging to St. Anne's gild to be laid in the chapel of the
bridge, and the house in which it lieth to be let.
1540, 2 June. Agreed that St. Anne's gild shall go forward as it hath done in times
past ; that every alderman shall have a gown and a torch, and every sheriff to find
a gown, and every occupation to bring forth their pageants according to the old cus-
tom, and every occupation that hath their pageants broken to make them ready against
that day, on pain of forfeiting 20.?.
1542, 10 June. St. Anne's gild to be brought forth the Sunday after St. James'
day (St. Anne's day in 1539 and 1547).
On Nov. 14, 1545, the Great Gild made over its lands, tenements, and heredita-
ments for the relief of the city and its plate on the 5th of February, 1546. On Nov.
5, 1547, jewels, plate, and ornaments belonging to St. Anne's Gild are ordered sold for
the use of the common chamber ; but that year, 13 June, the procession and sight upon
the Sunday next after St. Anne's day shall be brought forth as hath been in times past,
and every occupation shall pay to the same as hath been accustomed.
1554, 6 July. Agreed at a Secret Council that St. Anne's gild with Corpus Christi
play shall be brought forth and played this year, and that every craft shall bring forth
their pageants as hath been accustomed, and all occupations to be contributories as
shall be assessed.
1555, 3 June. St. Anne's gild to be brought forth as hath been heretofore
accustomed.
To these entries add the following one summarized by Leach, page 224, "Again, on
Nov. 12, 31 Henry VII, it was agreed by the Common Council that a large door should
be made at the late schoolhouse that the pageants may be sent in, and rent was to
be charged for warehousing of Ad. for each pageant, 'and Noy schippe \2d.' "
There were, therefore, a Corpus Christi play and a procession on St.
Anne's day, directed by the mayor and the graceman ; the guild priest
helped in the preparation of the pageants; the host was carried in the
procession; the content, so far as it can be determined, is normal; Noah,
a play containing kings, an Ascension and an Assumption and Coro-
nation of the Virgin.^* In 1555 the order is for "St. Anne's guild and Corpus
Christi play." It is altogether probable that the entries in the annals for
1471-2, 1473-4, refer to the same play. The Hegge cycle has the striking
quality of possessing elaborate St. Anne's day characteristics and of having
18 See below.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 79
been at the same time, as it is stated in the Prologue, a Corpus Christi play.
Both these plays and the Lincoln plays were apparently regularly acted on
Sunday.
The Lincoln plays seem to have been processional, and yet to have been
acted, at least in part, upon a fixed stage. We have, on the one hand, the
records of the procession, and, on the other, a record which proves that the
Assumption of the Virgin was acted in the nave of the cathedral. We pos-
sess, moreover, a list of stage properties which may reasonably be believed
to have been employed in the Corpus Christi play, and were certainly the
properties of a stationary stage. Leach, page 223, gives an entry in this
form: "For example, in 1469, one of the Chapter Act Books (A. 2. 36, fol.
Z2) has a reference to the Show or Play of St. Anne. The Chapter provided
for the expenses of J. Hanson, chaplain, about the show (visum) of the As-
sumption of the Virgin on St. Anne's day last past, given in the nave of the
church, with a reward to him out of the money coming from the next open-
ing of the high altar, i. e., of the collection box there." And again to quote
the same authority, this time following more closely a passage in one of the
"act-books or minute-books of the Chapter A. 31, f. 18:" "On Saturday, the
Chapter Day, June, 1483, in the high choir of the Cathedral Church of the
Blessed Mary of Lincoln, after compline. Sir Dean with his brethren, the
Precentor, Chancellor, Treasurer, and Alford standing according to custom
before the west door of the choir, and discussing the procession
of St. Anne to be made by the citizens of Lincoln on St. Anne's day next,
determined that they would have the play or speech ( sermonium)'^^ of the
Assumption or Coronation of the Blessed Mary repaired and got ready, and
played and shown in the procession aforesaid, as usual in the nave of the said
church. The question being raised at whose expense this was to be done :
they said at the expense of those who were willing to contribute and give
anything ito it, and the rest to be met by the common fund and the fabric
fund in equal shares, and Sir Treasurer and T. Alford were made surveyors
of the work."
This state of things is exactly reflected in the Hegge cycle. The Pro-
logue of the cycle is divided into pageants and the word is freely used in the
Prologue. "Pageant" frequently meant the vehicle on which plays were
acted and was usually associated with that idea. This Prologue contemplates
a regular processional play; but what do we find? We find that the mass
of the plays were acted on a fixed stage ; so far as we find indications at all.
Those which are unmodified and agree with the Prologue may possibly at
any time, however late, have been acted on pageants. In two plays pageants
were actually employed, namely, in the Noah play, where Noah goes out and
19 The proper reading is no doubt "seremonium" for "ceremonium"; see Chambers, ii. p. 379.
80 HARDIN CRAIG
brings in the ark, and then when the play is over, withdraws with it ; and in
the Trial of Joseph and Mary where the play begins with the stage-direction :
"Hie intrabit pagentum de purgatione Mariae et Joseph."^" Pageants may
have been used in many other parts of the cycle for all you can tell from the
manuscript. The cycle is, moreover, divided in the manuscript into separate
plays, even when there is no break in the action. Now, why should this
have been done? It seems to me that it was done to preserve the identity
of these different plays, although they were no longer separate pageants ;
and that would have been necessary in order to preserve the responsibility
of the different trading companies. This responsibility was preserved at
Lincoln and thus fulfills the special conditions of the manuscript. The
manuscript of the Hegge plays (Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Vesp. D. viii.)
shows the play of the Assumption of the Virgin written in a different hand
from the rest of the manuscript, but evidently of about the same date as the
other plays; it was incorporated in the manuscript at the time that it was
made up. It is numbered and rubricated and even corrected in the hand of
the scribe. ^^ It was evidently a separate play-book ; another case of that is
certainly the Passion play in two parts, the first pages of which look as if
they had been exposed as outside covers. We evidently have to do with an
"original" which has been made up of old and new parts. It is probably
an official document analogous to the Corporation Register at York.
There is preserved at the back of a Lincoln Corporation minute-book^-
the following entry of stage properties: 1564, July. — "A note of the perti
. , . the properties of the staige . . . played in the moneth of July
anno sexto regni. reginae Elizabethae, etc.. in the tyme of the mayoralty of
Richard Carter, whiche play was then plaved in Brodgaite in the seid citye,
and it was of the storye of Tobias in the Old Testament. First, hell mouth
with a neither chap ; item, a prison with a coveryng; item, Sara ('s) chambre :
lying at Mr. Norton's house in the tenure of William Smart. Item a greate
idoll with a clubb ; item, a tombe with a coveryng ; item, the citie of Jerusa-
lem with towers and pynacles ; item, the citie of Raiges with towers and
pynacles ; item, the citie of Nynyve ; item, the King's palace of Nynyve ;
item, olde Tobyes house ; item, the Tsralytes house and the neighbures house ;
item, the Kyngs palace at Laches ; remanyng in Saynt Swythunes churche.
Item, a fyrmament with a fierye clowde and a duble clowde. in the custodye
of Thomas Fulbeck. alderman." It has been suggested that some of these
properties, if not all, are those of the defunct Corpus Christi plav : but be
that as it may, it is evident that a number of these properties could have
been employed in presenting plays in the Hegge cycle. "Hell mouth with a
zoHalliwell, pp. 46, 48, 132.
21 See Aiheneum, Aug. 16, 1913, and Mr. W. W. Grey's letter in same periodical Sept. 13, 1913.
"i^Hist. MSS., xiv. App. 8, w. 57-8.
LUDUS COVENTRIAE
81
neither chap," "Jerusalem with towers and pynacles," a "tombe with a cover-
yng," and a "fyrmament with a fierye clowde and a duble clowde," could have
been used in presenting the play of the Assumption of the Virgin. In the
case of the first three it is not a matter of much significance ; but with regard
to the last-mentioned strange piece of mechanism it is certainly most sig-
nificant to find evidence of its use. Before the death of the Virgin Mary she
desires to see the Apostles, who are abroad in distant lands ; suddenly St.
John appears and says :
In Pheso I was prechyng a fer centre ryth,
And by a whyte clowde I was rapt to these hyllys.
Later all the Apostles suddenly appear ; only Peter and Paul speak ; Peter
says:
In dyveris contreys we prechid of youre sone and his blis,
In dyveris clowdys eche of us was suddenly curyng ;
And in on were brouth before youre yate here i-wys
The cause why no man cowde telle of oure comyng.
One further slight point of some value is that the Hegge play of the As-
sumption of the Virgin makes use of a choir and an organ, as if it were acted
in a church.
The suggestion that the plays belonged to Lincoln has been made before,
and there are apparent agreements in the matter of dialect and content with
what we should expect to find there. The hypothesis explains at a glance
many of the perplexities and problems which have involved the cycle. In
fact it would be so rare to find in any other place such a set of conditions as
those of Lincoln that the identification must gain in credibility the more it is
considered. Lincoln was a great ecclesiastical center, and at that place we
have a close and intimate connection between the cathedral clergy and the
town plays, a set of circumstances which exactly accounts for the remarkable
homiletic and apochryphal interest of the Hegge cycle.
In her recent paper, entitled "The Problem of the Ludus Coventriae,"-^
Miss M. H. Dodds has also reached the same general conclusion as Miss
Swenson's study; namely, that the Prologue represents an earlier cycle
which was the foundation of the present Ludus Coventriae; but disagrees
widely with Miss Swenson's paper when she concludes that we have in
Ludus Coventriae a composite made up of five cycles from five different
places. Miss Swenson's conclusion is that we have to do with one cycle
and the changes it has undergone in one place.
23 Modern Language Review, vol. ix., pp. 79 ff.
82 HARDIN CRAIG
Arguing from the last stanza of the general Prologue, she makes two
statements with regard to the original N. Town plays: (1) That the
plays must have been accurately described by the Prologue; (2) that they
must have been founded upon stories from the Bible. With the first of
these propositions I agree perfectly, and, in general, I agree that the
earlier plays were simple and scriptural in their nature; but I find many
disagreements with her application of the principles stated.
In the first place. Miss Dodds' study of the relations between Prologue
and plays has taken no account of meters, nor of minor differences in
incident, and an insufficient account of stage-directions. This leads her
to conclude that the play dealing with the girlhood of the Virgin and the
Easter play have been incorporated as wholes and not simply combined
with old plays on the same subjects, and she makes no attempt to dis-
criminate between old and new elements in these plays. She says that the
first seven plays, including the Prophets, belong to the original cycle, but
she fails to note the emphasis upon the Virgin both in the Prologue and
the play of the Prophets and consequently concludes that all the plays
treating the subject of the girlhood of the Virgin (Barrenness of Anna to
the Visit to Elizabeth), as well as the stanzas in the Prologue which corres-
pond to them, have been incorporated about 1468 by some compiler who
was eager to glorify the Virgin.
The theory that the Prologue has been left intact except in the case of
the quatrains numbered fourteen and fifteen, as noted by Miss Swenson
above, and that the Girlhood plays are made up of old and new elements
can not, I think, be refuted simply by the statement in the Prologue that
Of holy wryth this game xal bene
And of no fablys be no way.
The people of England in 1468 did not draw a very sharp distinction
between those stories which were definitely in the Bible and those generally
accepted as "gospel truth" by the Church at large. Such stories as the
Betrothal of Mary might be included and accepted as very truth and "no
fablys." Miss Dodds also fails to notice the strange mixture of elements
in the Easter cycle ; although in this case she concludes somewhat incon-
sistently that the Prologue has been allowed to stand as it was. The play
thus incorporated, or, as I think, the play thus rewritten, she would end
with the Three Maries. It seemed to Miss Swenson more probable, from a
study of meter, stage-directions, and minute differences in incident, and
also because the prologue spoken by Contemplacio promises only a Passion
play (not a Resurrection play) that the influence ends with the scene of
the Burial.
There is, I think, no reason for considering the plays from the Adoration
LUDUS COVENTRIAE 83
of the Shepherds to the Death of Herod as a separate cycle, as Miss Dodds
does. They are not self-consistent in style or independent of the rest of
the cycle in style or meter, but seem to be a normal Nativity group. The
Purification is evidently from a different source altogether. It is not
mentioned in the Prologue and is in a meter rarely used in the cycle ; but
otherwise the Nativity group has seemed to me to belong with the rest of
the cycle. And so I should not agree that any of Miss Dodds' five groups
are independent of the cycle or imported from the outside.
There are other significant omissions in Miss Dodds' paper; such as
her failure to make note of such excrescences as the Lamech episode, the
Cherry-tree episode, and in general the passages written in tumbling
meter; also the way in which stage-directions are employed and plays
introduced and concluded and many points of disagreement between Pro-
logue and cycle; but these will be sufficiently plain by a comparison of
her paper with the preceding one by Miss Swenson.
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