medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear all
I've just come upon this discussion after stacking my emails for a while, so
I enter both in ignorance and haste. I was just wondering if the works of
Nerida Newbigin and Cyrilla Barr on liturgical drama in Florence would be of
any use? Or do they deal mainly with confraternities?
best
Catherine
-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Jacobus
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 17/10/2005 13:00
Subject: Re: [M-R] church dramas
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
I agree that Chambers' idea that the plays spilled out of the churches
and on to the town squares is long dead- outdoor performances on sacred
themes clearly had their own history and my guess is that this needs to
be looked for in histories of civic religion and secular drama.
However, I was speaking of something rather different- the idea that
early church dramas/para-liturgical performances tended to be performed
by and for the clergy, either as devotional practices or didactic ones,
rather than for the laity. Hence, *within* the church, they would be in
or around the high altar, rather than in the nave. The laity, if
present at all, might be aware that a special kind of service was going
on, but wouldn't necessarily have seen it.
However, since no-one has yet come forth with a source for my original
assertion, and the more I think about it the more problematic it seems,
I'll assume I made the whole thing up and will scrap that particular
sentence! The mind can play funny tricks.
Laura
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill East <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 15 October 2005 08:26
Subject: Re: church dramas
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Laura Jacobus < [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
In the course of somethng I'm writing at the moment, I blithely wrote
that 'most early church dramas were originally perfomed by and for the
clergy in the privacy of their choirs, only gradually becoming
accessible to the laity in the nave'. Something of an
oversimplification I know, but now I cannot find any reference to this
idea, though I'm sure I haven't just made it up! I thought I got it
from Young's Drama of the M/E Church, where I thought it was coupled
with the idea was that the dramas could be understood as a form of
participatory devotion- but can't find it there now! Does this idea
ring any bells?
Laura
This very misleading idea stems from E.K. Chambers, "The Medieval
Stage", volume 2, page 69 ff, "The secularization of the plays." I quote
the famous sentences: "From ecclesiastical the drama had become popular.
Out of the hands of the clergy in their naves and choirs, it had passed
to those of the laity in their market-places and guild-halls." But don't
believe it!
Bill.
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