Middle English pageant wagon: Scene of Christ before Pilate

1
Middle English pageant wagon Scene of Christ
before Pilate From Sharp, A Dissertation on the
Pageants... (1825) Courtesy www.luminarium.org
2
Images from modern productions of Mystery Plays
in York Courtesy Poculi Ludique Societas at the
University of Toronto
Nativity/Shepherds, 1995
Last Judgment, 1977
3
Images from modern productions of Mystery Plays
in York Courtesy Poculi Ludique Societas at the
University of Toronto
Harrowing of Hell, 1977
Wagon in motion, 1977
4
Play Stations in Medieval York http//jerz.setonhi
ll.edu/resources/PSim/
5
The York Register, fol.249r (British Library
Additional MS 35290) Courtesy York Doomsday
Project
List of York Plays http//www.chass.utoronto.ca/
reed/yorkplays/york.html
6
From Genesis 22 And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto
him, Abraham and he said, Behold, here I
am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah and offer him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which
I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early
in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two
of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and
clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose
up, and went unto the place of which God had told
him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up
his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And
Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship, and come again to you. 6 And
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and
laid it upon Isaac his son and he took the
fire in his hand, and a knife and they went both
of them together.
Abraham Sacrificing Isaac, Detail, Stjorn
Manuscript, Arni Magnusson 227 fol., fol. 23v,
7
From Genesis 22 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and said, My father and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so
they went both of them together. 9 And they
came to the place which God had told him of and
Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood
in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him
on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham
stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to
slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD
called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham and he said, Here am I. 12 And he
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do
thou any thing unto him for now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy
son, thine only son from me.
Abraham Sacrificing Isaac, Detail, Stjorn
Manuscript, Arni Magnusson 227 fol., fol. 23v,
8
CAST LISTBrome Play of Abraham and
IsaacAbrahamGodAngelIsaacDoctor
Mystery Plays and Morality Plays Compared

• CAST LIST Everyman
• Messenger
• God
• Death
• Everyman
• Fellowship
• Kindred
• Cousin
• Good Deeds
• Knowledge
• Confession
• Beauty
• Strength
• Discretion
• Five Wits
• Angel
• Doctor

9
Norton 1B, endpiece
10
The Swan Theatre, circa 1596
11
A London Playhouse of Shakespeares Time
(Norton 1B, p. A80)
12
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Tamburlaine I
II The Jew of Malta Doctor Faustus Edward II The
Massacre at Paris
13
Stipendium peccati mors est. (Romans
623) For the wages of sin is death
14
Stipendium peccati mors est gratia autem Dei vita
aeterna in Christo Iesu Domino nostro . (Romans
623the full verse)
For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of
God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15
Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus ipsi
nos seducimus et veritas in nobis non est (I John
18) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us.
16
Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus ipsi
nos seducimus et veritas in nobis non est. Si
confiteamur peccata nostra fidelis est et iustus
ut remittat nobis peccata et emundet nos ab omni
iniquitate (I John 18-9) If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all iniquity.
17
Doctor Faustus has been the subject of quite
divergent critical opinions is it the most
nearly Satanic tragedy that can be found in
which Faustus is a martyr to everything that the
Renaissance prized --power, curious knowledge,
enterprise, wealth, and beauty, or should we
instead say that there is no more Christian
document in all Elizabethan drama?
Christopher Marlowe the Corpus Christi
portrait, 1585
18

• English 2310
• Sixteenth-Century Quiz
•  
• Elizabeth A. Ruler who was made head of the
  English Church by the 1534 Act of Supremacy
• 2. Sir Francis Drake B. Courtier, poet,
  statesman, literary critic, soldiera real
  Renaissance Man
• 3. Henry VIII C. Succeeded her brother as
  monarch and violently returned England to the
  Catholic faith
• Martin Luther D. Said, I know I have the body
  but of a weak and
• feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of
  
• a king, and a king of England, too.
• 5. Mary E. English pirate/explorer who sailed
  around the world, 1577-1580.
• 6. Sir Philip Sidney F. German monk whose 1517
  dispute with the Catholic Church sparked the
  Reformation

19
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
20
ENGLISH 2310 KING LEAR QUIZ 1 (4)

1. King Lear has three daughters list them, while
   correctly spelling their names.
2. What do we know about the actors who would have
   played these parts?