Community as Celebrants: Medieval Mystery Plays, Cycles, and Morality Traditions

Context and Motivation for Community Spiritual Celebration

• Community as Celebrants: The core focus of the lecture is how the average person, rather than just religious professionals, organized to celebrate spiritual heritage.
• Geographic and Temporal Scope: This phenomenon was predominantly seen in Western Europe, originating in the Middle Ages and persisting in specific communities like Omeramaga (also referred to as Oberammergo) to the present day.
• Barriers Between Church Authorities and the Laity:     * Language Barrier: The Catholic Church conducted services in Latin, while the congregation (laity) spoke various local vernacular languages including Italian, French, Spanish, Basque, and Cavalad.     * Literacy and Access: There were no Bibles available in vernacular languages, and a high percentage of the population was illiterate. This created a profound educational gap between the clergy and the congregation.     * The Communion Barrier: For a significant period, the congregation was prohibited from receiving the physical communion bread and wine; they participated only through ocular communion, where they watched the elements being elevated by the priest.
• The Church’s Strategic Response: To bridge the gap in language and education, the Pope approved more vivid, visual services, beginning with practices initiated in monasteries.

Monastic Contributions and the Development of Ordines

• Monasteries as Educators: Monasteries had the mandate to minister directly to European congregations. They developed small chanted playlets to foster greater understanding and participation in the Mass.
• Special Services (Ordines):     * These were sung or chanted services with a specific focus.     * Etymology: The name derives from ordo or ordine, referring to the very specific sequence in which they were performed.     * Purpose: These performances were designed to raise the spirits of both performers and the audience.
• Reinforcement of Community: An example cited is Hildegard of Wingen and her Play of Virtues, intended to reinforce the identity and belonging of the women within the convent.

The Corpus Christi Festival and the Rise of Biblical Spectacles

• Authorization and Timing: In the early $1200s$, Popes authorized a special mid-summer festival called Corpus Christi (Latin for "the body of Christ").
• Theological Basis: The festival celebrated the bread transformed during Mass into the body of Christ for communion.
• Evolution into Spectacle: Over time, the festival grew from simple celebrations to elaborate stagings of Bible stories.
• Inter-Town Rivalry: Towns and villages competed to stage the most magnificent biblical spectacles, involving the best writing, acting, and special effects. This competition was likened to the rivalry involved in building the largest and most beautiful churches.

The Role of Mystery Guilds and Craft Mysteries

• Delegation of Staging: Specific biblical episodes were delegated to specific craftsman's guilds based on their professional skills.     * Framing Carpenters: Tasked with staging the story of Noah and the Ark.     * Goldsmiths: Responsible for the arrival of the three Magi to the infant Jesus.
• Definition of "Mystery":     * The guilds were known as "mysteries" because craft knowledge was a tightly held professional secret.     * The word "mystery" in this context means secret or private.
• Mystery Cycles: Together, the individual mystery plays created a cycle representing the history of the world from the Bible’s perspective, beginning with the Jewish book of Genesis and concluding with the Second Coming of Jesus.
• Social and Economic Functions:     * Civic Pride: Shows were an occasion for the community to exhibit pride.     * Advertising: Guilds used the plays to demonstrate their mastery of craft to potential customers.     * Commerce: Festivals attracted visitors, allowing local merchants to sell goods, food, and "tchotchkes."
• The Amateur Tradition: The term "amateur" literally means "lover." These plays were driven by people performing for the love of their craft, community, and spiritual tradition rather than for professional fees.

The Feast of Fools: Medieval Revelry

• Identity and Function: The Feast of Fools was characterized as the medieval equivalent of Halloween and April Fool's Day combined into a single event.
• Traditions and Costumes: Participants wore masks and costumes. Named examples include:     * A man dressing as a stag.     * A man dressing as a nun.     * A person dressed as a tall rabbit (a common motif in manuscript margins).     * Someone dressed as a horse.     * A person portraying the Virgin Mary.
• Ecclesiastical Parody: A common tradition involved placing a miter (a bishop's hat) on a donkey and designating it the "bishop for the day."
• Geographic Reach: These parades occurred across both Catholic and Orthodox contexts, including the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and throughout Europe.
• Purpose: To let off steam and demonstrate that the church could laugh at itself.

Staging Logistics: Mansions and Hellmouths

• Production Duration: Staging a full biblical cycle from start to finish could take between several days and $2$ weeks.
• Single Stage (Fixed) Method:     * A long, wide stage divided into specific sections called mansions.     * Each mansion was associated with a specific biblical episode.     * The Hellmouth: Located on the far right of the stage. Likely built by the blacksmith’s guild due to their association with coal fires and smoke. Characters who were evil were tossed into the Hellmouth with theatrical wailing.     * Heaven: Represented by a mansion on the far left featuring a large, fantastical disc on top.     * Blocking and Demons: Actors dressed as demons were drenched in soot (all black from head to foot) and carried spears. They would move through the audience to "haul" bad characters (and occasionally lighthearted audience members) to hell. Characters dressed in white as angels would escort the "good" characters to the left.
• Pageant Wagons (Mobile) Method:     * Each mystery guild possessed its own decorated wagon.     * Stationary Audience: The audience sat in grandstands in the town square while wagons moved past like a modern-day Rose Bowl or Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.     * Mobile Audience: Wagons were parked side-by-side around a square's perimeter, allowing audiences to walk through and watch plays in sequence, much like "streaming" or "YouTube."     * Visibility: Wagons provided a raised stage high above street level for better visibility.

Case Study: The Second Shepherd’s Play

• Context: Contained in an anthology of plays performed annually in medieval England. It is the "second" play because it followed another shepherd-themed play in the script book.
• Spatial and Temporal Duality: Medieval audiences were comfortable with the story taking place in two times and locations simultaneously: contemporary England and ancient Bethlehem.
• Plot and Social Critique:     * Features $3$ British shepherds in a long dialogue complaining about current events (politics, taxes, and being cheated).     * This used the biblical narrative to talk openly about contemporary social injustice.
• The Lamb Stealing Subplot:     * A character named Mac (or Matt) and his wife (both con artists) steal a lamb from the shepherds.     * They hide the lamb in a crib and wrap it in swaddling clothes to pretend it is a newborn human baby.     * Metaphorical Layer: This is an intentional "inside joke" on Jesus's title as the "Lamb of God."     * Communion Fasting: The joke plays on the Catholic/Orthodox tradition of fasting before communion; Mac and his wife intended to eat the lamb for dinner.     * Resolution: The theft is discovered, and Mac is subjected to a non-lethal, comedic punishment.
• The Nativity Scene:     * The shepherds receive the news of Jesus's birth and transition from being "British" to "Jewish" shepherds outside Bethlehem.     * Comparison to the Magi: In the Gospels, the $3$ Magi bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The shepherds are humble and bring "really, really cheap" presents, which are nonetheless theologically significant because they represent the best of what they had to give.

Regional Variations and the Impact of the Reformation

• Mystery Play at Elka:     * Staged in honor of the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.     * Recognized by UNESCO.     * Features sophisticated medieval special effects still maintained by local craftsmen.
• Transition to Morality Plays:     * In the early $1500s$, the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther caused a religious schism.     * Competing play festivals (Catholic vs. Protestant) became a pretext for religious riots and street fights. This eventually led to a ban on religious plays.
• Rhetoric Chambers (Rederijker):     * In the Netherlands and Belgium, "City Fathers" created a secular alternative called morality plays.     * Staged by rhetoric chambers (rederijker), which were essentially debate societies.     * The Format: Instead of biblical narratives, they addressed non-sectarian, philosophical, and ethical questions.     * Teams would compete to create the most persuasive and vivid argument in the form of a play.     * Example: The play Everyman is a noted example of this ecumenical, general morality tradition.