The mediaeval stage, volume 2 (of 2)Chambers, E. K. (Edmund Kerchever)
History
The mediaeval stage, volume 2 (of 2)
Chambers, E. K. (Edmund Kerchever)
Drama, Medieval -- History and criticism; Theater -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500
Mery Talys_ (1526)
has a story of a preacher, who wound up a sermon on the Creed with ‘Yf
you beleue not me then for a more suerte & suffycyent auctoryte go your
way to Couentre and there ye shall se them all playd in Corpus Cristi
playe[798].’ And John Heywood, in his _Foure PP_, speaks of one who
‘Oft in the play of Corpus Cristi
He had played the deuyll at Couentry[799].’
Foxe, the martyrologist, records that in 1553 John Careless, in Coventry
gaol for conscience sake, was let out to play in the pageant about the
city. There is some confusion here, as Careless was only in gaol in
Coventry for a short time in November before he was sent to London[800].
When the _Annals_ say that in 1575-6 ‘the Pageants on Hox Tuesday that
had been laid down eight years were played again,’ there is probably some
confusion between ‘Hox Tuesday’ and ‘the Pageants,’ for the account-books
show that the latter were played regularly, except in 1575, until 1580,
when the _Annals_ report them as ‘again laid down.’ In 1584 a different
play was given (cf. _infra_), and possibly also in 1591, although the
fact that the songs of the Taylors and Shearmen’s pageant are dated 1591
rather suggests that after all the regular plays may have been revived
that year. Some of the pageants were sold in 1586 and 1587, but the
Cappers preserved the properties of their play in 1597, and the Weavers
had still players’ apparel to lend in 1607. According to the _Annals_, by
1628 the pageants had ‘bine put downe many yeares since.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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