medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I'm also joing in late due to the press of other e-mails, but I wonder
if Laura had also considered trying out the question on one of the
specialist lists, like REED-L (Records of Early English Drama). As the
list-owner, I'd be happy to forward a question, she plugged shamelessly.
A.
Catherine.Lawless wrote:
> 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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--
Abigail Ann Young (Dr), Associate Editor/ Records of Early English Drama/
Victoria College/ 150 Charles Street W/ Toronto Ontario Canada
Phone (416) 585-4504/ FAX (416) 813-4093/ [log in to unmask]
List-owner of REED-L <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed-l.html>
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed.html => REED's home page
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