York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling

by Richard Beadle (Editor), Pamela M. King (Editor)

The York Corpus Christi cycle is the oldest and best-known of the English mystery cycles, and its depth and scope are reflected in the selection of twenty-two pageants offered in this volume. Included are plays on the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of
Christ, and the Last Judgement. The Passion sequence has been expanded by six of the eight plays generally attributed to the great poetic dramatist known as the York realist; this is the only edition of these works available in paperback, and the only volume to offer modern spelling throughout.
Including detailed notes and a general introduction, this is the perfect source for students of medieval music, drama, and literature as well as actors participating in revivals of these famous plays.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Literature, Medieval, Fiction, College

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 1984

Reviews

[Steven "Steve" · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult read, but a worthwhile one. Although written in Middle English, these plays do seem much easier to read than Chaucer, although that might also be because of the modernized spelling. At any rate, it was absolutely fascinating to read these plays that contributed to the birth of modern theatre. The introduction to the book provides the background of how this cycle came to be written and has some ideas about how the plays would be staged on carts moving around the city for the festival of Corpus Christi, with some 50 carts involved sponsored by various guilds, often with a connection between the guild and the particular play presented. All-in-all, a must-read book for anyone interested in the history of the theatre, medieval history, or the role of the Church in creating and then effectively giving away the rights to write and perform these plays.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading a couple of these would have been interesting, but this was too many.

4/10

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I pity whoever has to also read these for class

[Ashley Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why did you read this book, you ask? Well, for school. Honestly, I loved this book and I loved the essay I wrote for it (which drained my time and my soul but also reminded me why I loved literature). However, I’m salty. Not at my tutor, she’s right, I misinterpreted the critical sources. If anything I should thank Richard Beadle for his modernised spelling—the other Medieval books were a PAIN IN THE ASS to read, maybe I’ll add them to my Goodreads too. Anyways, it’s so interesting to learn poetry/lyric from this time period, since it has all this history, culture, politics, religion, etc. behind it. Nothing will change that I like academic validation (maybe trying not to base worth on academic validation should have been my new year’s resolution), and for that reason, I’m so angry over this book. Again, it’s not Richard Beadle’s fault, or the York Realist, or whoever the unknown author of this cycle is, or my tutor Sian’s fault. I’ll go out on a limb to say it is 10% Clifford Davidson’s fault (he’s a critic—a confusing, arsehole critic) and 90% my fault. Anyways, such a lovely mystery cycle. Old literature is dope as fuck.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the language and the roots of the intersection of religion and mercantilism here. These plays were produced and financed by the craft guilds: the carpenters; coopers; brewers; saddlers, etc. as a way to disseminate Christian doctrine. Each guild was assigned a particular feature of Christianity: The Passion; The Fall of Man; Last Judgement; Creation, etc. I love this particular era...the stirrings of the Early Modern Era where commerce fosters Christian ethos and the Protestant Work Ethic. These early mystery plays foreshadow morality plays like Mankind and Everyman, where allegory is used to engage people in a public discourse on socioeconomics, not only religious doctrine.

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

These works were meant to be didactic and the cycles wound their way through the medieval and Renaissance periods. From the “Fall of the Angels” to the “The Last Judgment,” the text provides a historical overview of the craft guilds and their role in bringing the plays to life. The annotations are helpful in translating the work, however, they would have been more helpful in the margins rather than as footnotes. The introductory notes provided for each play are truly indispensable, and at times the commentary more enjoyable than the plays themselves.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most drama, these lose something by being read rather than viewed. It's a great idea to watch them while reading in order to get a better feel for the pieces. These stand in nice contrast to the more formal religious writing from the Medieval period. Humor is added in to make them more engaging for a common audience. If interested in early religious writing or the Medieval period and how the ideas of early Christianity were shared with common audiences, these are worthwhile.

[Miles Robson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically just the bible. I really like the mystery play cycles, but purely reading them can get a bit grating. Best parts are its additions, like Noah’s wife or Joseph getting scared he’s been cucked. The passion is weirdly fun.

[Daisy (bookishflower) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assayed to be lered, my lord.

Yeah, it was for uni but my favourite line out of context was:
'we were so rad.'
In context it means frightened but I'd rather imagine the soldiers having a frat party and then realising oh shit jesus left

[Dwayne Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good anthology that gives a good sense of what a medieval mystery play cycle was like.

[Caroline Renkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crucifixion

[Bronte Madeleine]

always a good read and the anachronisms are hilarious

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

how wonderful that the earliest major work of surviving vernacular english theatre is explicitly communal, by and for ordinary citizens in their working roles.

[Abbey]

Read for English 301

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way they said you’d have been able to hear Herod shout whilst Mary and Joseph were running away - insane.

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cycle of passion plays from the medieval period
2 April 2013

Okay, here I am sitting in an airport lounge at Hong Kong International Airport waiting for the boarding call for my flight back to Melbourne. Okay, some of you probably are not interested in knowing where I am when I am writing this commentary, but would rather me get straight onto it. If that is the case, then just skip this first paragraph. The only reason that I am doing this is because, even if only for myself, I like to make a note of where I am when I am writing some of these (though sitting in my bedroom is obviously not one of those places exotic enough to mention). Okay, I doubt it will be the last time I do this (particularly since I am probably off to Sydney in early May to see a performance of Henry IV) but for now (unless I write a commentary on the plane back) this will be the last one for a while.

Okay, the date and the author of these plays are not known. They are a collection of plays (I don't know why they are referred to as mystery plays, though I suspect that it has something to do with the plays re-inacting the passion of the Christ, which as Paul indicates, is a mystery in itself) that form a cycle that follow the life of Christ and culminate in his death and resurrection. They were generally performed by travelling bands of actors who would visit towns and villages and would act out all of the plays over a period of time. The majority of the plays focus on Christ's death and resurrection (which is why they are called passion plays).

The tradition has not really continued, but we still see this occur in musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar (which is coming to Melbourne, and I so want to see it), or even in the local church at Easter and Christmas (and these are usually performed by the Sunday School children). I have been to some Church events where children and families are taken through various rooms were aspects of the passion are played out. However the idea of the passion play appears to have vanished, and this is most likely due to the development of the film and television industry (though I wonder whether industrialisation also had something to do with it). Plays are still performed (and I must admit that I do enjoy going to the theatre) but the time of the travelling minstrel has disappeared (though there are still those that travel from city to city for various festivals, and you would have seen this if you have been to the Adelaide Fringe Festival).

These plays are probably one of the earliest forms of English plays that we have, and this particular version is drafted with modern spelling and grammar (which makes it a much easier to read). However when these plays were performed it is highly unlikely that they were written down. It is more likely that the actors would have known the various plays really well and I also suspect that they would not have necessarily been literate. They most likely would have performed the plays from memory rather than memorising lines from a script. This was different in Shakespeare's time when actors would have had to have been literate, but then there are suggestions that not all of Shakespeare's plays were written down. Personally, I find that hard to believe, though there are suggestions that some of the plays that we do have were written down by people who were attending the play rather than having some draft that Shakespeare wrote.

Anyway, these plays are fascinating as they provide a window on early English theatre, as well as an insight into the culture of the era. In those days of superstition, pretty much most literature took the form of Christian literature. This it not entirely true since the earliest English work is an epic called Beowulf, however since the time of Theodosius anything that had an hint of pagan roots was considered evil and destroyed. Also, being an illiterate society, the only way the majority of the people could have understood the Bible was through either artwork on the walls of the church (which is why many of the churches are full of beautiful artwork) or through the form of Mystery Plays (since sermons were generally not preached in those days). In the end it was irrelevant that the Bible was not written in the vernacular because anybody that could read would have been able to read Latin, and even then, many of the vernacular languages did not have a written alphabet (as we can see that most of the vernacular languages of Europe have taken the Latin, or Greek, alphabet, and we even see this in modern times with Vietnamese taking the Latin alphabet as its written form).

[Leslie Wexler · Rating 3 out of 5]

These plays were nothing like what I was expecting. Instead you get a kind of comic Joseph playing the enraged cuckold, and Roman soldiers speaking in alliterative verse making the crucifixion nothing less than a parody. Pretty rollicking reading so get ready for raucous raillery.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

These plays were more exciting than I expected and the modernized spelling really made them easier to read, which improved the whole (assigned) experience.

[Alex Robertson · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

[Lulu]

performed from the mid-fourteenth century until their suppression in 1569. manuscript of the plays, dating between 1463 and 1477

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