The Chester Mystery Plays
By Joseph C. Bridge, M.A., Mus. Doc. Oxon. et Dunelm., F.S.A.
Introduction
There is no more interesting study in our early literature than the Mystery Plays which were once so popular throughout the length and breadth of England. It may be well to premise that their proper title is “Miracle” Plays, and no early writer ever alludes to them under any other name; nor was there in this country any difference between “Miracle” and “Mystery,” as stated by some authorities. But custom has now definitely coupled the latter title with those early dramatic efforts of our forefathers, and it will be used in these pages.
Excluding odd ones, four great series of plays have come down to us, viz. those of York, Wakefield, Chester, and Coventry, and each place probably served as a centre of dramatic influence. While York acted as a stimulus to Wakefield itself and Newcastle, so Chester supported the dramatic efforts from Kendal in the north to Shrewsbury in the south and Dublin in the west.
Each series of plays possesses distinct characteristics, and, happily, Chester can claim that her plays have in them “less to offend and a more reverential tone” than many others, for it is useless to disguise the fact that many readers object to these plays as seeming to treat religious subjects with levity. But with a little reflection we shall see that these plays do not deserve such condemnation if judged from the right standpoint, and that standpoint is assuredly not the twentieth century. We must throw ourselves back five centuries at least if we are to obtain a right focus. From the time of St. Paul, God’s Word has been preached in divers ways and by divers methods, and we must not be surprised if the mediæval preacher was shrewd enough to use the dramatic instincts of the people as distributing media of religious knowledge.6
Let us remember that the Bible and religious books could not be read or consulted by the people; and as late as the seventeenth century we find an aged rustic who knew nothing of our Saviour except what he had learnt by seeing a Corpus Christi play at Kendal, where “there was,” said he, “a man on a tree, and the blood ran down.”
There is a good deal of strong argument put into the mouths of mediæval players by the old Wycliffe preacher, who makes them say that “by such playing of miracles men be converted to good living—and, since it is lawful to have the miracles of God painted, why is it not as lawful to have the miracles of God played, since men may better read the will of God and His marvellous works in the playing of them rather than in the painting of them... for this is a dead book, the other a quick?”
The introduction of humour into these sacred plays is no novelty. There is a broad touch of it as early as the time of Hilarius in his play of St. Nicholas, and we cannot deny that the writers of our Miracle Plays showed some skill in thus early lighting upon one of the greatest of dramatic rules, viz. the law of contrast.
Then, again, one other point, which is generally overlooked, must be taken into consideration. The Persons of God and our Saviour are treated with the utmost reverence. It is only when the common people come on the stage that we find a certain coarseness and humour. And this is no more than we should expect to find.
These city actors would have thought it absurd to render shepherds as quiet, well-educated men. Did they not know plenty of shepherds round Chester who had hard times and hard fare, and whose only knowledge was of the diseases of animals? Were they not plagued with mischievous shepherd-boys who were ever ready for fun and play? And if Noah’s wife was a shrew, were they not well acquainted with many such, and was not the scold’s bridle and the ducking-stool kept at the Cross for such offending citizens? And can we blame them for looking upon many of the characters mentioned in the Bible as being ordinary everyday personages? I think not. However, opinions on this point will always be divided, and the following quotations from the writings of two well-educated women, who lived 100 years apart, are interesting:—
“Next he (Mr. Bryant) spoke upon the Mysteries, or origin of our theatrical entertainments, and repeated the plan and conduct of several of these strange compositions, in particular one he remembered, which was called Noah’s Ark, and in which that patriarch and his sons, just previous to the Deluge, made it all their delight to speed themselves into the ark without Mrs. Noah, whom they wished to escape; but she surprised them just as they had embarked, and made so prodigious a racket against the door that, after a long and violent contention, she forced them to open it, and gained admission, having first contented them by being kept out till she was thoroughly wet to the skin.
“These most eccentric and unaccountable dramas filled up chief of our conversation; and whether to consider them most with laughter, as ludicrous, or with horror, as blasphemous, remains a doubt I cannot well solve.”
So wrote that somewhat priggish but clever and witty young authoress, Miss Fanny Burney, in the eighteenth century.7
The following twentieth-century opinion is from a paper by the late Mrs. Henry Sandford, a woman of sound judgment and of great educational experience:—
“In the first place, we cannot but observe that, with all their faults, they did keep vividly before the mind of the English nation the leading outlines of Christian teaching, and that, in the historical form suggested by the Apostles’ Creed. Much that was legendary, coarse, incongruous, was there also, no doubt, but that was there above all.
“The old religious drama created in the popular mind a high ideal of the true use and purpose of dramatic art, namely, to present to the imagination a living picture of the realities of life and feeling.”
But I will not pursue the arguments any further. Suffice it to say that the sense of humour and the representation of everyday life occur in all the arts of the Middle Ages. Those who would eliminate all this human part of the plays, or would forbid their use, must, to be consistent, rip the Misereres out of the choir of Chester Cathedral and burn them for firewood.
It is sometimes said that not only was there irreverence, but even indecency, especially in the play of the Creation and Fall, where Adam and Eve are commanded to “stand nackede.” I believe this stage direction to be merely figurative,8 and the Cornish play of the Creation of the World9 gives a clue to the whole matter, as it contains specific instructions that Adam and Eve are to be “apparelled in white leather.”10 At Norwich also we know that Adam wore “a wig, gloves, and a cote of hosen steyned,” and Eve “a wig, gloves, and two cotes of hosen steyned.”
Further, there can be no doubt whatever that women were not allowed to take part in plays or to appear on the stage in public until some years after Mystery Plays had completely died out.11
Evidence of this may also be found in the music of the plays. In the Coventry Mysteries the “Lullaby,” supposed to be sung by the women in the Slaughter of the Innocents, actually has Tenor and Bass parts.12
Origin of Plays
These plays sprang from the Church, and “all evidence points to Easter as the festival with which the earliest religious dramas were most intimately connected, and it is probable that the first form which the Easter play assumed was that of a ceremony in which the Crucifix was solemnly buried on Good Friday and again disinterred on Easter Day amid a pompous ritual.”13
So long as the Church controlled the plays, the clergy were favourable to their performance; but when their popularity and their growth rendered it necessary to perform them out of doors, when the stage was pitched on the green or in the street before the Abbey gate, it became another matter.
The following rimes, written in 1303 by Robert Manning (Le Brunne), show this distinctly:—
“Hyt ys forebode in the decree
Miracles for to make or se
For miracles yf you begynne
Hyt ys a gaderynt, a syghte of synne
He may in the churche, thurgh thys resun
Play the resurrecyon.
Yf thou do it in weyis or grenys
A syghte of synne truly hyt semys.”
As late as 1385 we find William of Wykeham objecting to the plays taking place in the churchyard, and threatening those who should lend vestments from the church to the actors.14
The opposition of the clergy might have been fatal to the continuance of Miracle Plays but for the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was instituted in 1264, and firmly established in 1311. On this day the people and the trade gilds took part in processions with the clergy, carrying pictures and images of saints, and sometimes accompanied by the members of the gilds dressed as angels, the twelve apostles, &c.15 From this parade it was an easy step to dramatic representation; and this day was rigidly adhered to by the gilds as their great and common festival.
Chester has always had the credit of being an exception to the rule by holding the performances of the plays at Whitsuntide, but this view is incorrect, and Chester was, at first, in line with other places, for we find from the Bakers’ Charter, 2 Edward IV. (which is the earliest authoritative allusion to the plays), that “there hath been tyme out of mind a company of bakers,” and they are “to be redy to pay the costes and expenses and play and light of Corpus Christi as oft tymes as it shall be assessed.”16 Chester’s gilds were numerous and powerful, and many of them exist in some form or other at the present day.
The authorship of the plays is generally attributed to Ralf Higden, the author of Polychronicon, and a monk of Chester, where he is said to have died at a great age in 1353. But there is no evidence to justify such a definite statement as this. All we know of the origin of the plays is found in the following:—
1. A “Banes,” XV. Cent., giving Sir John Arneway as the “deviser.” He was Mayor 1268–1276;
2. A Proclamation, c. 1520, giving Arneway as the “deviser,” and Francis, a monk, as the writer.
3. A “Banes,” c. 1570, giving Arneway as “deviser,” and a “Dom Randall” as the writer.
4. An account of the plays, by Archdeacon Rogers, c. 1575; one version gives “Randall Higden” as the writer, and places the time in the mayoralty of Arneway, 1328; the other version gives “one Randoll a monke,” Arneway as Mayor, and the date 1339.
5. An endorsement or a Proclamation in the Harleian MSS., supposed to be written by one of the Holmes, c. 1628, stating “Hignet” was the writer.
6. A similar endorsement on a copy of the plays of about the same date.
If the religious tendency of the Chester Plays was owing to a guiding hand from the monastery, that hand was, according to our earliest tradition, one Henry Francis, whose name occurs in deeds dated 1377–82. Higden was never mentioned until late in the sixteenth century.
It is quite possible that Henry Francis and Ralph Higden may have translated and revised some of the plays, and rendered literary help in reducing the cycle to unity, and that is all we can say with safety.17 And this theory is supported by the fact that the closer the plays are studied, the more certain appears the fact that they are not by one hand.
Wright and Collier have pointed out many passages which are identical with the French plays published in the Mystère du Vieux Testament. Certain plays may therefore have been translated from the French. The Sacrifice of Isaac is probably derived from a play found at Broom Hall, Suffolk, or perhaps both are from some other original. Miss Toulmin Smith says:—
“Lines 163–314 have a strong resemblance to corresponding 134 lines in Chester version. This resemblance, sometimes of phrase, sometimes only of meaning, is interrupted by occasional passages in the Brome MS., which have no equivalents in Chester. Apparently, both editors worked upon a common original, but the Chester poet compressed the more freely, and, in so doing, greatly heightened the effect and dialogue. But he showed poor tact in omitting the charming scene between the father and the son after their agony is over.... It is possible, however, that the Chester play has come down to us mutilated. It was plainly at one time a separate play, and when amalgamated with that of Abraham and Lot may well have been cut down for greater convenience of performance.”
The germ of the fine speech from the Resurrection, quoted later, may be found in the Wakefield play, where it begins as follows:—
“Earthly man that I have wroght,
Wightly wake and slepe thou noght!
With bitter bayll I have thee boght
To make thee free;
Into this dongeon depe I soght,
And all for luf of thee.”
The Three Kings seems founded on a Latin play, and the exceptional plays of the series (Nos. 23 and 24) can be traced in that fine old poem the Cursor Mundi.
In The Shepherd’s Play we certainly find the work of a local playwright, as references are made to a “jannock of Lancastershire,” butter from Blacon (a suburb of Chester), and ale from Halton. Other examples might be given.
It seems probable that as the plays sprang from the Church, so the four great cycles now existing are derived from some greater and anterior cycle authorised by the Church.
We find numerous references in the Chester Companies’ accounts to the original book of the play, which is generally called the “reginall.”
This may in some cases refer merely to the special playbook belonging to the company, but it more often refers to the volume of the plays possessed by the City Corporation. If we still had this book we might settle many vexed questions. Unfortunately it is missing, for on April 30th, 1567, “Randall Trever gent was called before the Maior of the Citie of Chester and was demaunded for the originall booke of the Whydson Plaies of the said Citie who then and ther confessed that he have had the same booke which book he deposeth upon the holy evangelist of God that by commaundement he delivered againe but where the same is now or to whom he then delivered the same book, deposeth likewise he knoweth not.”
In the year 1883, Mr. Sutton (the chief librarian of the Manchester Free Library) found an old parchment book-cover, with some writing upon it, which he submitted to Dr. F. J. Furnivall, who pronounced it to be a portion of a late fifteenth century MS. of the Chester Plays. It is the commencement of the play of the Resurrection, and it is very probable—being on parchment—that it is a remnant of the original Chester Play Book.
We are therefore dependent upon certain transcriptions of the whole series of plays made at the end of the sixteenth century. When the plays were dying out, it is certain that some of the old citizens would desire to keep a “book of the words,” hence the number of MSS. of that period.
The Chester MSS. extant are:—
a. 1591, by “Edward Gregorie a Scholar of Bunbury”; now in possession of the Duke of Devonshire.
b. 1592 } by George Bellin, Brit. Mus.: Add. MS. 10305;
c. 1600 } Brit. Mus.; Harl. 2013.
d. 1604, by William Bedford, Bodleian.
e. 1607, by James Miller, Brit. Mus.; Harl. 2124.
f.“The Resurrection” Play, by George Bellin, in the books of the Ironmongers’ Company, Chester.18
George Bellin was parish clerk of Holy Trinity Church in Chester.19 He wrote an excellent hand, was a member of the Ironmongers’ Company, and had doubtless often acted in the plays, and he is therefore, on the whole, a reliable guide, especially as to stage directions. He made some curious mistakes, and his French is very bad, but we must be grateful to him for his labours.
As already stated, Chester was fortunate in possessing, like York, London, and other great centres, a powerful array of Trade Gilds.20 These City Companies provided workable units, and their power of organisation, the discipline exerted over their members, the brotherly feeling engendered by the Companies were all potent factors in the representation of these plays. “It made the performance a local work of art, in which all the city had a personal share. They believed with just pride that search England throughout none had the like, nor like does sett out.”
The preparation of the plays occupied many months. There was keen competition between the various City Companies, and great pains were taken by the civic fathers to see that really competent players were chosen, and that no one should have an undue number of parts, and the Mayor frequently attended rehearsals.
Then the “Pageant carriages,”21 which had been securely housed since the last performance, had to be newly cleaned and repaired, and there needed much mending and repainting of the canvas and boards which represented “Heaven and Hell,” “Morning and Night,” or, as in “Noah’s Play,” was embellished with representations of birds, beasts, and fishes.
—Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts.
The stage manager’s properties had also to be bought or borrowed throughout the town, and included many dozens of articles, ranging from a costly cope22 down to the whistles23 for the shepherd-boys and the ox tongue24 for the old shepherd to put in his haversack, and it is obvious that the success of these plays depended greatly on the felicitous subdivision of work amongst the numerous City Companies, for no one manager could have supervised the whole.
—Smiths’ Accounts.
| 23 | “For two Wystylls for Trowe | iid. | |
| 24 | “For a beast’s tongue and four calfe’s feet | viiid.” |
—Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts.
The expenses were evenly divided among the members of the Company. Sometimes there was a “passive resister” who thought the plays nonsense, and that there should be “no more cakes and ale”; but he was speedily disillusioned, for the Mayor promptly clapped him into prison until he, or his friends, paid his proper25 share.
It has been said that “no English play that has been preserved to us contains any mark of its representation by clerical actors,” but we find that as late as the sixteenth century the “clerks from the Minster,” the organist and choir boys, had no scruples about joining in the plays, and helping in those parts which required musical qualifications.
| 1561. | To Sir Jo: Jenson for songes26 | — | xiid. |
| ″ | To the five boys for singing | iis. | vid. |
| 1567. | To two of the clarkes of the Minster | — | viiid. |
| ″ | To Mr. Whyte27 | iiiis. | — |
This appears to be the only time that they did so:—
| “Item paid for a brode clothe againste the Witson plais | vis. | viiid. | |
| Item for a barrell of bere to gene to the pleares to make them to drinke | vis. | — | |
| Item for packe thread at Witson daye to hange up the clothe | — | iid.” | |
| 1568. | To Mr. Rand’ Barnes28 | iiis. | iiiid. |
| ″ | To Mr. Whyte for singing | iiiis. | — |
| ″ | Spent on the Chanter and Clark of the Minster | — | vd. |
| 1569. | For the Clergy for our songs | iiiis. | iid. |
But before the plays took place it was customary to send messengers on horseback and on stilts29 to various places round the city30 to read the “Banes” or “Banns,” announcing the performance, and Bellin has left us a copy of the “Banes,” which has been often printed, and is therefore here abbreviated. It is a curious document, for it is so extremely apologetic in tone, and notes even words in the plays which had become obsolete. The “Banes” is dated 1600, and it is possible that Bellin merely meant the date of his copying, but a careful study of it makes me suspect that there was in this year one last expiring effort made by the citizens to perform the plays, and that this “Banes” was specially written for the occasion. Although Archbishop Grindal had prohibited the plays in 1571, we know of performances up to 1576. In 1599, also, Henry Hardware, the Mayor, “was not liked by the commons,” because he tried to do away with the Midsummer show and all festivity, but we are expressly told that next year the Mayor, Robert Brerewode, “restored again all the ancient customs... and put down Mr. Hardware,” and he may have tried to revive the plays as well as the Midsummer show. However, no trace of any performance in 1600 has yet come to light.
| 29 | “To our horses at the rydyng of the Banes | xvid. |
| “To Richard Dobie for going on the stilts at the Banes ryding” | — |
—Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts.
Some of the performers from the Mayor’s Midsummer show gradually got grafted on to the “Banes Riding,” and increased the importance of it.
| “To the prisoners at the Castle | id. | |
| To the prisoners at the North Gate | id.” |
Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts.
The Banes which are reade beefore the beginninge of the Playes of Chester, 4 June 1900.
Reverende lordes & ladyes all,
That at this tyme here assembled bee,
By this message understand you shall
That some tymes there was Mayor of this Citie
Sir John Arnway, Knighte, who most worthilye
Contented hymselfe to sett out in playe
The devise of one Done Rondall, moonke of Chester Abbey.
This moonke, moonke-like, in Scriptures well seene,
In storyes travilled with the beste sorte,
In pagentes set fourth apparently to all eyne
The olde & new testament, with livelye comforth,
Interminglinge therewith, only to make sporte,
Some thinges not warranted by any writt,
Which to gladd the hearers he woulde men to tyke yt.
This matter he abrevited into playes twenty-foure,
And every playe of the matter gave but a taste,
Leavinge for better learninge the scircumstance to accomplishe;
For all his proceedinges maye appeare to be in haste,
Yet all together unprofitable his labour he did not waste;
For at this daye & ever he deserveth the fame
Which all monkes deserves, professinge that name.
These storyes of the Testamente at this tyme, you knowe,
In a common Englishe tongue never read nor harde;
Yet thereof in these pagentes to make open shewe,
This moonke & moonke was nothing afreayde,
With feare of hanginge, breninge, or cutting off heade,
To sett out, that all maye disserne & see
And parte good be lefte, beleeve you mee.
As all that shall see them shall moste welcome be,
Soe all that here them wee moste humble praye
Not to compare this matter or storie
With the age or tyme wherein we presentlye staye,
But in the tyme of ignorance, wherein we did straye;
Then doe I compare that this lande throughout
Non had the like, nor the like dose sett out.
This worthy Knighte, Arnway, then mayor of this Citie,
This order took, as declare to you I shall,
That by twenty-fower occupations, artes, crafts, or misterie,
These pagentes shoulde be played, after breeffe rehearsall;
For everye pagente a cariage to be provyded withall;
In which sorte we porpose, this Whitsontyde,
Our pageantes into three partes to devyde.
But a much older and more valuable “Banes” has been found by Canon Morris amongst the Harleian MSS.31 (not numbered or catalogued), and has been printed in his Chester during the Plantagenet and Tudor Periods.32
The Banes or Proclamation of the Playes
The comen bannes to be proclaymed and Ryddon with the Stewardys of every occupacon:—
Lordings Royall and Reverentt
Lovelie ladies that here be lentt
Sovereigne Citizens hether am I sent
A message for to say.
I pray you all that be present
That you will here with good intent
And all your eares to be lent
Hertfull I you pray.
Our worshipfull mair of this Citie
With all his royall cominaltie
Solem pagens ordent hath he
At the fest of Whitsonday tyde.
How every craft in his decree
Bryng forth their playes solemplie
I shall declare you brefely
Yf ye will a while abyde.
The worshipfull tanners of this towne
Bryng forth the heavenly manshon
Th’ orders of angells and theire creation
According done to the best.
And when the angells be made so clere
Then folowyth the falling of Lucifere
To bring forth this play with good chere
The tanners be full prest.
You worshipfull men of the draperye
Loke that paradyse be all redye
Prepare also the mappa mundi
Adam and eke Eve.
The waterleders and drawers of Dee
Loke that Noyes shipp be sett on hie
That you lett not the storye
And then shall you well chrue.
The barburs and wax channdlers also that day
Of the Patriarche you shall play
Abram, that put was to assay
To sley Isack his sonne.
The cappers and pynners forth shall bring
Balack that fears [fierce] and mightie Kyng
And Balam on an asse sytting:
Loke that this be done.
Youe wrights and slaters will be fayne
Bring forth your cariage of Marie myld quene,
And of Octavian so cruell and kene
And also of Sybell the sage.
For findyng of that Royal thing
I grant you all the blessing
Of the high imperiall King
Both the maister and his page.
Paynters glasiars and broderers in fer
Have taken on theym with full good chere
That the Sheppards play then shall appere
And that with right good wyll.
The vynteners then as doth befall
Bringe forth the 3 Kings Royall
Of Colyn or pagent memoryall
And worthy to appere.
Then shall you see how that Kynges all
Came bouldly into the hall
Before Herode proude in paulle
Of Crysts byrth to heare.
The mercers worshipfull of degre
The presentation that have yee
Hit falleth best for your see
By right reason and style
Of caryage I have no doubt
Both within and without
It shall be deckyd yt all the Rowte
Full gladly on it shall be to loke
With sundry cullors it shall glime
Of velvit satten and damaske fine
Taffyta sers-nette of poppyngee grene.
The gouldsmyths then full soone will hye
And masons theyre craft to magnifye
Theis two crafts will theim applye
Theyre worshipp for to wynne
How Herode King of Galalye
For that intent Cryste to distrye
Slew the Innocents most cruely
Of tow yeres and within.
Semely smythis also in hyght
A lovely caryage the will dyght
Candilmas day for soth it hyght
The find it with good will.
The buchers pagene shall not be myst
How Satan tempted our Savyour Cryst
It is an history of the best
As witnesseth the gospell.
Nedys must I rehers the glover
The give me gloves and gay gere
The find the toumbs of Lazarey
That pagene cometh next.
Also the corvesers with all their myght
The fynde full fayre syght
Jerusalem their caryage hyght
For so sayth the text.
And the bakers also be dene
The find the Maunday as I wene
It is a carriage full well besene
As then it shall appeare.
Flechers bowyers with great honours
The Cowpers find the Tormentors
That bobbyde God with gret honors
As he sat in his chere [chair].
The Iron mongers find a caryage good
How Jesus dyed on ye rode
And shed for us his precyus blud
The find it in fere.
Cryst after his passion
Brake Hell for our redempcion
That find the cookes and hostelers of this towne
And that with full good chere.
Also the skynners they be boune
With great worshipp and renowne
They find the Resurection
Fayre maye them befall.
Sadlers and Foysters [“Fusterers”] have the good grace
They find the Castell of Emawse
Where Crist appered to Cleophas
A faire pagend you shall see.
Also the Taylers with trew Intent
Have taken on them verament
The Assencyon by one assent
To bringe it forth full right.
Fysshe mongers men of faith
As that day will doe their stayth
To bringe there caryage furth in trayth
Wyt Sonday it hight.
The worshipfull wyves of this towne
Ffyne of our lady thassumpcon
It to bryng forth they be bowne
And meyntene with all theyre might.33
The Shermen will not [be] behynd
Butt bryng theire cariage with good mynde
The pagent of prophettys they do fynd
That prophecied ffull truly
Off the coming of Anticrist
That goodys ffaith would resist
That cariage I warrand shall not myst
Butt sett forth full dewly.
The hewsters that be men full sage
They bryng forth a wurthy cariage
That is a thing of grett costage
Antycryst hit hight.
They weyvers in very dede
Ffynd the day of Dame, well may they spede
I graunt them holly to theire neede
The blysse of heven bright.
Sovereigne syrs to you I say
And to all this ffayre cuntre
That played shalbe this godely play
In the whitson weke
That is brefely for to sey
Uppon Monday Tuysday and Wennysday
Whoo lust to see theym he may
And non of theym to sek.
“Erased in the Booke.”
{ Also maister maire of this Citie
{ Withall his bretheryn accordingly
{ A solempne procession ordent hath he
{ To be done to the best
{ Appon the day of Corpus Christi
{ The blessed sacrament caried shalbe
{ And a play sett forth by the clergye
{ In honor of the fest
{ Many torches there may you see
{ Marchaunts and craftys of this citie
{ By order passing in their degree
{ A goadly sight that day
{ They come from Saynt Maries on the Hill
{ The Church of Saynt Johns untill
{ And there the sacrament leve they will
{ The sauth [sooth] as I you say.
Whoo so comyth these plays to see
With good devocon merelye
Hertely welcome shall he be
And have right good chere.
Sir John Arnway was maire of this citie
When these playes were begon truly
God graunt us merely
And see theym many a yere.
Now have I done that lyeth in me
To procure this solempnitie
That these playes contynued may be
And well sett fourth alway.
Jhu [Jesu] Crist that syttys on hee
And his blessed mother Marie [erased]
Save all this goodely company
And kepe you nyght and day.
With regard to the Banes we must notice first that it is in the same metre and rhyming stanza as the Plays themselves, and may have been written with them. Secondly, it sheds light on some very important points. Here is one:—
“The worshipfull wyves of this towne
Ffyne of our lady thassumpcon
It to bryng forth they be bowne
And meyntene with all theyre might.”34
Here we have The Assumption definitely classed as one of the Chester series (a point hitherto unknown), and also, we see that it was provided by women; this is unique, I think. In none of the other cycle centres do the women manage a play by themselves.35
Again,
“Also maister maire of this Citie
Withall his bretheryn accordingly
A solempne procession ordent hath he
To be done to the best
Appon the day of Corpus Christi
The blessed sacrament caried shalbe
And a play sett forth by the clergye,
In honor of the fest.
Many torches there may you see
Marchaunts and craftys of this citie
By order passing in their degree
A goadly sight that day.
They come from Saynt Maries on the Hill
The Church of Saynt Johns untill
And there the sacrament leve they will
The sauth as I you say.”
It will be seen that the Mayor and Corporation had ordered a procession at Corpus Christi, and that the clergy were to provide a play. What this play was we have, unfortunately, no means of knowing.
This may account for the transference of the gild plays to Whitsun week. The clergy, anxious to have the Corpus Christi procession to themselves without the trade gilds, may have said to the citizens, “If you will have your plays at another time we will, at our own charge and expense, provide a play on Corpus Christi, so that there shall be no loss to the citizens in that respect.”36 Thus the plays got transferred to Whitsuntide.
My third quotation must be:—
“Sir John Arnway was maire of this citie37
When these playes were begon truly
God graunt us merely
And see theym many a yere.”
This is the earliest mention of their origin.
At last the momentous Monday in Whit-week arrived, and early in the morning the first car started from the great gates of the Abbey, where the Abbot and his followers sat in state, and proceeded down the street to the High Cross, where the Mayor and Corporation were assembled. As each car finished its play, its place was taken by another, and so in regular succession and at appointed places, the whole series of plays was gone through in three days. By this sensible and orderly arrangement a citizen could retain his standing place or seat, and be assured of missing nothing. No doubt seats at the performing points commanded a premium, and documents exist of an interesting law-suit between two citizens with reference to the right to occupy a “roome or place for the Whytson plaies in the Bridge-gate streets in the Cyty of Chester.”
We can imagine the pride of the Cestrian housewife when she saw her husband magnificently dressed as “Herod,” or her sons in parti-coloured costumes as “devils” rushing from the bottom to the top of the car only to disappear in “Hell’s mouth” amidst fire, smoke, and sulphur, and the laughter and applause of her neighbours; and may not she have felt a holy thrill when, perhaps, her youngest boy on bended knee offered his small shepherd’s pipe or his nutting stick as a gift to the “Lord of all”?
Depend upon it Chester was full of legitimate pride on such occasions, for, as the citizens said in their Banes, “None had the like, nor the like did sett out.”
And the educational force of this cannot be overestimated. The young citizen when he took up the freedomship of his company, took up also duties of stage craft and stage management which had been traditional for generations in that company. If he possessed ability as an actor he had no difficulty in obtaining a part to play, and if he could not act then he found plenty to do in preparation for the play, which esprit de corps demanded should not be behind other companies.
And so the Elizabethan drama found a people already prepared, by centuries of familiarity with the stage as an amusement, to respond to the demands good plays might make on their imagination and receptive faculties. The Mysteries were but young plants—Shakespeare was the fruit.
The fact is, the whole country was given up to plays of this sort, and we know of more than one hundred towns and villages which enjoyed these entertainments. The annual play at Wymonham (or Windham), in Norfolk, lasted two days and two nights; and the inhabitants of Lydd, in Kent, were so keen that they went to the play on a Sunday, while watchmen were paid to keep guard on the shore against a surprise from the French.
If the trade gilds showed any desire to shirk such representations, the Mayor could, and did, issue a notice commanding a performance; and it was also the Mayor’s duty, as officer of the King’s peace, to issue proclamations on all festive occasions of this sort.
The ordinances of the Mayor of York, in 1394 and subsequently, show that the regulations to control the plays and populace were most stringent and comprehensive, and that the plays began as early as 4.30 A.M.
In addition to the ordinary series of Chester Mystery Plays, we find that the play of the Assumption was performed at the High Cross in 1488, and before Prince Arthur in 1497, both at the Abbey gates and at the High Cross; and also in 1515 in St. John’s Churchyard. We find, also, the Cappers, Pewterers, and Smiths undertaking plays in 1520-1; and that in 1529 King Robert of Sicily had been performed at the High Cross.
The Plays
The number of plays now existing is twenty-five, but we know that the Assumption has been lost, and there are signs of two plays being compressed into one, as in the Histories of Lot and Abraham, so that the original number was no doubt larger. Fluctuations would undoubtedly take place with the rise and fall of City Companies, if for no other reasons. As the number of gilds expanded or were reduced, so the plays were increased or amalgamated.38 The list of plays and the gilds that performed them will be found in the “Banes” already printed. The Chester series is noted for two plays that occur nowhere else, viz. No. 23, on Prophecies, and No. 24, on Anti-Christ.
The English employed seems to be of the beginning of the fifteenth century, many of the stage directions are in Latin, and the Three Kings, Octavian, and Herod occasionally use French, that being the Court language.39
It is not to be supposed that we have the text of the plays as written at first, for the original plays are without doubt much older than the fifteenth century. We find that the quarrels of Noah and his wife formed so familiar a story that they became proverbial. Chaucer says:—
“Hast thou not heard (quod Nicholas) also
The sorowe of Noe with his felowship
Or that he might get his wife to ship.”
Chaucer wrote this about 1390, and it appears certain, therefore, that our play of Noah, and probably those on the same subject at Wakefield and Newcastle-on-Tyne, were often performed by the middle of the fourteenth century.
The metre employed varies, but a large proportion is in eight line stanzas, sometimes with two rimes:—
a a a b
a a a b
and sometimes with three;
a a a b
c c c b
as may be seen in the following example:—
Christ’s Entry Into Jerusalem
THE CORVYSORS PLAYE
Pagina decima Quarta, de Jesu intrante domum Simonis Leprosi, et de aliis rebus.
Jesus.
a a a b
a a a b
Brethren, goe we to Bethanye,
To Lazarre, Martha, and Marye,
For I love moche their companye!
Thedder nowe will I wende.
Symond the Leaper hath praied me
In his house to take charatye;
With them nowe it liketh me
A whyle for to lende.
Petrus.
a a a b
Lorde, all readye shall we be
In life and death to goe with thee;
Greate joye they maye have to see
Thy cominge into their place.
Philippe.
a a a b
Lazarre thou raysed through thy pittie,
And Symonde also, messille was he,
Thou clensed, Lorde, that wotten we,
And holpe them through thy grace.
Tunc ibunt versus domum Simonis Leprosi.
Lazarrus.
a a a b
c c c b
Welckome, Lorde, sweete Jesu,
Blessed be the tyme that I thee knewe!
From death to liffe through thy vertue
Thou raysed me not yore;
Fower dayes in eairth when I [had] layne,
Thou granteste me life againe.
Thee I honoure with all my mayne,
Nowe and ever more.
But other metres are frequently used.
A very fine dramatic effect is produced in some of the plays by the sudden use of the short Skeltonian metre. In the play of the Passion the Tormentors cry:—
And thou be messye
And loth for to lye
Who smote thee? Crye
If thou be Christe.
Now he is bounden
Be he never so wounden
Soon he shall be founden
With flaps in fear.
In woe he is wounden
And his grain is grounden,
No lad unto London
Such law can him lere (teach).
Again in the Crucifixion:—
Secundus Judaeus.
This coat shall be mine,
For it is good and fine
And seam is not therein
That I can see.
Tercius Judaeus.
Yea, God give me pain
And (if) that shall be thine,
For thou art ever incline
To draw towards thee.
Quartus Judaeus.
Nay, fellow, by this day
At the dice we will play,
And there we shall essay
That weed for to win.
Secundus Judaeus.
His other clothes all
To us four can fall;
First part them I shall
And after play for this.
This kyrtel mine I call,
Take thou this pall,
Each man in this hall
Note I do not amiss.
Again, we get later rhythms grafted on to the original, as in the drinking trio sung by Noah’s wife and her gossips in Noah’s Play.
The Good Gossips’ Song
The flood comes flitting in full fast,
On every side it spreads full far;
For fear of drowning I am aghast;
Then, good gossips, let us draw near.
And let us drink ere we depart,
For often times we have done so;
For at a draught thou drinkest a quart,
And so will I do ere I go.
The “Song” concludes with what is probably a portion of the original trio. The other half stanza is unfortunately lost:—
Here is a pottle good and strong,
It will rejoice both heart and tongue;
Though Noah thinks us never so long,
Here we will drink alike.40
A similar instance is the Ale-wife’s speech, which has been tacked on to the end of the play The Harrowing of Hell.
In the Resurrection play we have the following. It is one of the finest speeches in the plays:—
Jesus.
Earthly man that I have wrought,
Awake out of thy sleep;
Earthly man that I have bought,
Of me thou hast no keep.
From heaven man’s soul I sought,
Into a dungeon deep,
My dear leman from thence I brought,
For ruth of her I weep.
I am very prince of peace,
And king of free mercy;
Who will of sinnès have release
On me they call and cry.
And if they will of sinnès cease,
I grant them peace truly,
And thereto a full rich messe
In bread my own body.
I am very bread of life;
From heaven I light and am sende,
Who eateth that bread, man or wife,
Shall live with me without end.
And that bread that I give you,
Your wicked life for to amend,
Becomes my flesh through your belief,
And doth release your sinful band.
And whosoever eateth that bread
In sin or wicked life,
He receiveth his own death,
I warn both man and wife.
Three personages other than actors sometimes occupied the stage—a Preco or page, an expositor, and a messenger. They all three appear in the play of The Histories of Lot and Abraham. The page appears on the “pageant carriage” immediately after the play of Noah’s Flood, and says:—
All lordings that be here present,
And hearken me with good intent,
How Noah away from us he went,
And all his company;
And Abraham, through God’s grace,
He is comen into this place,
And ye will give us room and space
To tell you of story.
This play, forsooth, begun shall be
In worship of the Trinity,
That you may all hear and see
That shall be done to-day;
My name is Gobbet-on-the-Green,
With you I may no longer bene;
Farewel, my lordes, bydene
For letting of your play.
The expositor or doctor takes care that the play is “understanded of the people.” He appears early in the play on horseback, and says:—
Lordinges, what maye this signify
I will expound it appeartlye,
That the unlearned standing here by
May know what this may be.41
He interrupts at different points, and explains the rite of circumcision and the offering up of Isaac, and then we have the remarkable and significant fact that the crowd joins him in prayer.
Here, let the docter knele downe, and saie,
Such obedience grante us, O Lorde!
Ever to thy moste holye worde,
That in the same we may accorde
As this Abraham was bayne;
Then al togaither shall we
That worthy kinge in heaven see,
And dwell with him in greate glorye,
For ever and ever, Amen.
His place is now filled by a messenger, who announces the next play. The stage direction is—
Here the messenger maketh an ende.
Make rombe, lordinges, and give us waye,
And let Balacke come in and plaie,
And Balame that well can saie
To tell you of prophescie.
That Lord that died on Good Frydaie,
He save you all bouth nighte and daie!
Fare well, my lordinges; I goe my waie,
I may no longer abyde.
The ordinary reader has little or no idea of the literary and dramatic value of the plays, owing to the fact that printed copies are not easily accessible.
I have thought it well, therefore, to print (in a slightly shortened form) and to explain the following play.
It embodies most of the points mentioned in this article, it has distinct literary and artistic value, and, above all, the character of Herod made it the most popular play of the cycle, and is often alluded to.
Shakespeare uses the phrase “out-Heroding Herod.” Chaucer says of Joly Absalon:—
Sometyme to shewe his lightness and maistrye
He pleyeth Herodes on a scaffold hye.
In the Paston letters we find Sir John Paston’s agent, in describing the high-handed proceedings of the Duke of Norfolk in 1478, saying, “There was no man that played Herod in Corpus Christi play better and more agreeable to his pageant than he did.”
It will be seen, I think, that the verdict of the general public was a sound and good one.
The Eighth Pageant — “The Three Kings”
Presented by the Vintners.
This must have been a striking sight, for the Three Kings, richly apparelled, accompanied the pageant-carriage on horseback through the city, and the First King tells how they are looking for the fulfilment of Balaam’s prophecy and seeking a sign.
First King.
Mighty God in majesty,
That ruleth the people of Judye,
When thou on man wilt have pity
And his sins for-bye,
Send some tokening, Lord, to me,
That ylke star that we may see
That Balaam said should rise and be
In his prophecy.
For well I wot, forsooth, I wis,
That his prophecy sooth is,
A star should rise betokening bliss
When God’s son is born.
Therefore, these lords and I in fere (company)
In this mount make our prayer
Devoutly once in the year,
For thereto we be sworn.
Then they dismount, and the Third King hands his horse to attendants:—
“Say, fellows, take this courser
And abyde me right here,
Go we, sirs, to our prayer
I rede now in good faye;
I have done this many a year,
And my ancestors that before me were.
High God, prince of power,
Thou comfort us this day.”
Then they proceed on to the pageant-carriage which represented the “mountain” they had to ascend. On reaching the top, an angel appears carrying a star, and now the Kings burst forth into French:—
First King.
A, Sir Roy, si vous plaist
Gardez sus sur votre test.
Second King.
Une Esteile issi est
Que sir, vous repleist.
Third King.
A loys soyt luy une semblant
De une virgin portant
Comme le semble de une Infant
Embrace apportement.
Then they fall on their knees, and the angel says:—
A! rise up, ye Kings three,
And come along after me
Unto the land of Judye
As fast as you may hie;
The child ye seek there shall ye see,
Borne all of a maiden free,
That King of heaven and earth shall be,
And all mankind for-bye.
Then followed an incident which must have given great pleasure to the sightseers, for the Kings descended into the street42 and mounted imitation dromedaries! The Second King says:—
Yea, sirs, I rede us every one
Dromodaryes to ride upon,
For swifter beasts be there none.
One I have, you shall see.
To which the Third King replies:—
A dromodary in good faye
Will go lightly on his way
A hundred miles upon a day,
Such coursers now take we.
And then one MS. has the stage direction:—
“Then the Kinges go doune to the beasts and ride about.”43
After circling round the pageant-carriage they ascend it again, and then, the star having disappeared, they are in doubt as to the right way, but fortunately meet with a messenger or “explorator.”
First King.
Can thou say ought what place and where
A child is born that crown shall bear
And of the Jews be king?
Second King.
We saw a star shine verily
In the East in noble array,
Therefore we come now this way
To worship him with win.
Messenger.
Hold your peace, sir, I you pray
For if King Herod heard you so say
He would go mad, by my fay
And fly out of his skin.
Third King.
And sith a king is so near
Go we to him in all manner.
Messenger.
You may well see he wounes here (lives here)
A palace in to dwell.
But moy he wot, withouten were,
That any is born of more power,
You bring yourselves in great danger
Such tydinges for to tell.
“Here the messenger goeth to the King and the mynstrilles must play,” and the Kings are then introduced to Herod, and Court language again is spoken.
First King.
Sir Roy, royale et reverent,
Dieu vous gardes Omnipotent.
Herod.
Bien soies venues, rois gente;
Me dites toute votre intent.
(Welcome, stranger kings;
Tell me what is your intent.)
Third King.
Infant, queruns de grand parent
Et roi de ciel et terre.
(Seeking a child of great parentage
And king of Heaven and Earth.)
Then Herod bursts forth in the following fine ranting speech:44—
Herod.
Sirs, advise ye what you sayen;
Such tidings make my heart unfayne;
I rede you take these words again,
For fear of villany.
There is none so great that me dare gain
To take my realm, and to attain
My power, but he shall have pain
And be punished apertly.
I, king of kings, none so keen;
I, soveraign sire, as well is seen;
I, tyrant, that may both take and teen
Castle, tower, and towne,
I wield this world withouten wene,
I beat all those unbuxsome beene,
I drive the devils all by deene
Deep in hell adowne.
For I am king of all mankind;
I bid—I beat—I loose—I bind,
I master the moon: Take this in mind
That I am most of might.
I am the greatest above degree
That is, or was, or ever shall be.
The sun it dare not shine on me
If I bid him go down.
No rain to fall shall none be free
Nor no Lord have that liberty
That dare abide, and I bid flee,
But I shall crack his crown.
Nor far nor near that doth me (an)noy
Who wrathes me, I shall destroy;
For every freak I dare defie
That nill me pay ne please.
But you be bayne, I shall you beat,
There is no man for you shall treat;
[Then aside] All for wrath see how I sweat;
My heart is not at ease.
And to carry out his pretence that he is not frightened but quite cool, he throws his sword up in the air and dexterously catches it while he continues:—
For all men may witte and see,
Both he and you all three,
That I am King of Galilee
Whatsoever he saith or does.
What the devil should this be!
A boy—a groom of low degree
Should reign above my Royalty
And make me but a goose!
The Kings then answer:—
By prophecy well wotten we
That a childe born should be
To rule the people of Judye
As was said many a year.
Herod says:—
Other kings shall none here be
.....
But seeing you speak of prophecy
Whether ye speak sooth or lye
My clarke soon shall see.
He then bids his “chief of clergy” to look up the books of prophecy and tell him what they say.
Then the doctor reads the scriptures, and amongst other prophecies says:—
Doctor.
Daniel, fulfilled with heavenly grace,
Prophesied also by divine inspiration,
That when he was came, that all holy was,
The most holiest in earth, to take his habitation
In the womb of a virgin, and by his blessed incarnation
Out of Satan’s band to deliver mankind,
Whom sin original piteously did bind,
Then both unctions, sacrifices and rites ceremonial
Of the Old Testament with legal observation,
Shall utterly cease and take their end final,
Through Christ’s coming which for man’s salvation
A New Testament shall ordain by divine operation
Offering himself in Sacrifice for mankind’s offence,
Which from Heaven was exiled through his great negligence.
Herod.
Fie on that dream, reader! such dotards never shall
Nor no sleeping sluggard make my right title cease
But I shall knightly keep it, whatsoever befall,
Against that young godling, and if he once do press
This kingdom to claim, or put me to distress
His head off shall I hew....
Yet look if thou find there
Where this boy is born for whom these kings enquire.
Doctor.
Micheias, enflamed with ghostly inspiration,
Prophesied that Bethlehem should a prince forth bring
Ruler of God’s people and of the Jew’s nation
Should he be born of Israel to be king.
Esay, unto whom the spirit of prophecy
Was singularly given through the Holy Ghost
In this time prophesied that kings witterly,
And folk of strange nations from many a sundry coast,
That prince’s birth to magnify which of might is most
Should walk in great light, and brightness should appear
As did unto these kings in a bright star shining clear.
Herod (throwing his sword down).
Alas, what presumption should move that peevish page
Or any elfish godling to take from me my crown?
But by Mahomet! that boy for all his great outrage
Shall die under my hand, that elfe and vile congeon!
And all his partakers I shall slay and beat down,
And both of him and his final destruction make
Such vengeance, and such cruelty on them all will I take,
That none such a slaughter was seen or heard beforne
Sith Athalia here reigned....
Yet look and search again
If these kings shall find him and his presence attain.
Doctor.
David of all prophets called most prepotent
Prophesied that kings from Tharsis and Araby
With mystical gifts shall come and present
That lord, that king, and high Messie (Messiah),
That in Bethlehem shall be borne,
A child to save that was forlorne,
And rule all Israel.
Herod (breaking his sword in his rage).
By Mahoun! thou art foresworn.
Have done; these books were best rent and torn.
[Throws the book on the floor.
For he shall be no king in crown
But I fully in my weal.
And mauger David, that shepherd with his sling
Esay, Jeremy with all their offspring
Here get no other Messiah nor king
From my right title to expel,
.....
This realm is mine and shall be aye
Manfully to maintain it while I may.
Tho’ he bring with him to-day
The devil and all his host.
Then, concealing his anger, he turns to the Kings and suavely says:—
But go ye forth ye kings three
And enquire if it so be
But always come again to me,
For you I think to feed.
And if he be of such degree
Him will I honour as do ye,
As falls for his dignity,
In word, thought and deed.
First King.
By leave, sir, and have good day
Till we come again this way.
Second King.
Sir, as soon as ever we may
And as we see so shall we say.
Third King.
And of his riches and his array
From you we shall not leave.
Herod.
Farewell Lords, in good faye
But hye you fast again.
Immediately the Kings retire, Herod breaks forth again:—
Out alas! what the devil is this?
For shame almost I fare amiss
For was I never so cool, I wyss
For wrath I am near woode (mad)!
For every man may well say this
That I maintain my realm amiss
To let a boy inherit my bliss
That never was of my blood.
But to-morrow he will—
Raise the country on every side,
All that may ever go or ride;
So shall this boy lose his pride
For all his greatest boast.
Now he can do no more, and he sinks back, exhausted, into a chair:—
This boast doth me so great annoy
That I wax dull and clean dry.
Have done!—and fill the wine in high,
I die but I have drink.
Fill fast and let the cups fly
And go we hither hastily;
For I must ordain curiously
Against these Kings coming.
Such is the play of The Three Kings, and there can be no doubt whatever of its fine dramatic effect. We cannot wonder that this character of Herod is mentioned by old writers more than other characters of the plays. Imperious and proud, firmly believing in his own kingly right, but, like most ignorant people, profoundly impressed by prophecies and vaticinations which he did not understand, Herod is now impelled forward by swaggering pride and now dragged back by craven fear and subtle influences.
The part gives the actor every opportunity to show forth his art, and the calm, clear tones of the doctor quietly reading the scriptures give the required dramatic contrast. The speeches show the traces of late literary labour, and that we had got within measurable distance of blank verse when the play received its last polish, though the original play was probably founded on an early Latin one called Herodes, sive magorum adoratio.45
“Postea Herodes interroget Scribas, dicens:
O vos scribae
Interrogati dicite
Si quid de hoc puero
Scriptum videritis in libro.
Tunc Scribae diu revolvant librum, et tandem inventa quasi prophetica dicant....
Vidimus, Domine, in prophetarum
Lineis, nasci Christum
In Bethleem Iudae civitate
David propheta sic vaticinante.
Tunc Herodes, visa prophetica, furore accensus, projiciat librum,” &c.
This play, together with the play of The Salutation and the Nativity and The Shepherds’ Play, was acted at Chester in 1906 by Mr. Nugent Monck and his “English Drama Company” under the auspices of the Chester and North Wales Archæological Society, and with success, but the expense was too great to admit of the whole cycle being performed. The same plays have also been performed in London by Mr. Monck’s company, and by Mr. Benson’s company at Stratford-on-Avon during the Shakespeare Commemoration week.
In conclusion, I would point out that the motto of the city of Chester is curious and indeed unique:—
“Antiqui colant Antiquum Dierum.”
“Let the ancient people worship the Ancient of Days.”
I cannot help thinking that this contains an occult reference to the Chester Mystery Plays.
Notes
6 Milton thought of writing Paradise Lost as a Mystery Play, but changed his mind.
7 It may be interesting to note that her father, Dr. Burney, was educated in Chester.
8 Thomas Wright, the able editor of the Chester plays, comes, I am glad to say, to the same conclusion.
9 The Creation of the World. A Cornish Mystery, edited by Whitley Stokes.
10 The Person of God was also occasionally represented in white leather with the face gilded.
11 Miss Hamilton Moore, in English Miracle Plays and Moralities, seems to think that I assert in my Introduction to the Chester Plays (published for the revival in 1906) that women acted the play of The Assumption. Not so: I merely stated that the ale-wives of the city provided and furnished the play, but I am quite sure they did not perform it.
12 This trio would be sung by two men and a boy. Similarly the trio in Chester Noah’s Play would be sung by the “Three clerkes from the Minster,” who, as we shall see, were duly engaged as professionals.
13 Professor Pollard.
14 We must not forget that the Welsh played interludes in their churchyards on Sunday afternoons down to a very late period.
15 This is frequently to be seen in Italy at the present day.
16 The alteration must have occurred very soon after this, for the “Banes,” quoted later, which gives Whitsuntide as the time of the plays, cannot, I think, be much later than 1470.
17 It seems to me sheer waste of time to try and synchronize Arneway and Higden as many writers do. I see no reason why we should not believe in the earliest tradition that Arneway devised the plays. The writing of them would be a gradual process, covering many years and involving, probably, several authors.
18 Found by me last year. It is no doubt the “riginall” which the Company used, as they were responsible for the play. I have collated it with the other MSS., but the differences are not very important.
19 “George Bellin ironmonger & Clarke of this p’rish bur: in the middle Ile 23 July 1624.”—Holy Trinity Registers.
20 The City Gilds still hold an annual dinner in Chester, and in January 1908 representatives of some thirty Companies attended. Many of these Companies possess badges, flags, and documents of priceless interest; but in many cases they are insecurely kept.
21 The carriages themselves were sometimes called “Pageants,” and were kept in special houses. Most of the Gilds had their own, but sometimes two Gilds shared the cost between them. They were drawn by men, as a rule, e.g.:—
“To twelve porters of the cariage iis. ivd.”
22 “To the Clark for loan of a Cope an Altar Cloth and Tunick xd.”
25 Andrew Tailer of the Dyers’ Company was thus treated in 1575.
26 Senior Minor Canon.
27 Organist and a very celebrated musician. It was probably due to his influence and co-operation that the Cathedral authorities joined in the preparation and plays, as appears from the Cathedral Treasurer’s accounts for 1567.
28 Organist.
30 The Castle and the North Gate were two of the appointed places, and the “Banes” would be heard by the wretched prisoners there, to whom a donation was generally accorded:—
31 Collected by the Randle Holme family of Chester.
32 By his kind permission printed here.
33 Played in 1488.
34 It is worth noting, that in 1483, at York, four men came before the Mayor, “& by the assent of all the Innholders of this said Citie tuke upon them to bring furth yerely during the term of VIII. yere, then next folluying the pagent of the Coronacion of our Lady perteyning to the said Innholders, etc.” It seems likely, then, that the “worshipful wyves” were the ale-wives of Chester, and it is by no means improbable that Chester again followed the lead of York. As Mrs. Green says, “Cooks and brewers and hostellers were naturally deeply interested in the preservation of the good old customs, and it was, in some cases, certainly this class (the most powerful in a mediæval borough), who raised the protest against the indifference and neglect of the townspeople for public processions and merry-making, because ‘thereby the victuallers lose their money’; and who insisted on the revival of these festivals for the encouragement of trade.”—Town Life XV. Century, i. p. 153.
35 Canon Morris says: “It is omitted from Bellin’s transcript in 1600, and was, in all probability, discontinued in Edward VI.’s reign, in deference to the religious feeling of the time.”
36 This is precisely what happened at York, where after 1426 the Corpus Christi procession and the plays were separated.
37 Arneway was Mayor, 1268–76.
38 At York the MS. of the plays (c. 1430) shows 48; but in 1415 there had been 51; and another earlier list shows 57.
39 It is not generally considered to afford any argument as to the plays being derived from the French.
40 With revised spelling the whole has a very modern “ring” about it. The first two verses may have been sung as a solo and the last half stanza as a trio.
41 Being on horseback, he would, of course, be more easily heard by the crowd. Everything in the play points to the fact that it was looked upon as a means of instruction for the people, and not a mere amusement. The play itself consists of two plays compressed into one, and seems to be one of the oldest of the series.
42 In the Coventry plays Herod “rages in the pagond and in the streete also.”
43 Chester was accustomed to produce beasts of this sort. In 1564 an agreement between the mayor and two citizens shows that the latter undertook to provide yearly for 40s. “4 gyants, 1 unikorne, 1 dromodarye, 1 Luce, 1 Camel, 1 Dragon,” &c. These were for the midsummer play. Each beast required two men to work it.
44 It compares very favourably with the “Coventry” play, where the ranting oversteps the mark and becomes balderdash.
45 See Wright’s Early Mysteries, p. 26.