medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Much of what's been cited in English thus far is a bit on the old side,
useful certainly and in some cases still basic (e.g. Karl Young's _Drama of
the Medieval Church_). A more recent survey is William Tydeman, ed., _The
Medieval European Stage, 500-1550_ (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Medieval passion plays are intimately connected with a broader tradition of
Mary's lament (_planctus Marie_; _Marienklage_) under the Cross and at
least usually offer versions of this widespread literary type. Discussions
of the latter can be good avenues of approach to passion plays in general
and to some well-known ones in particular. Two English-language
discussions that are particularly useful in this way are:
Peter Dronke, "Laments of the Maries: From the Beginnings to the Mystery
Plays," in G. W. Weber, ed., _Idee, Gestalt, Geschichte: Festschrift Klaus
von See_ (Odense University Press, 1988), pp. 89-116; reprinted in his
_Intellectuals and Poets in Medieval Europe_ (Roma: Ediz. di Storia e
Letteratura, 1992), pp. 437-89
and
Sandro Sticca, _The_ Planctus Mariae _in the Dramatic Tradition of the
Middle Ages_, tr. Joseph Berrigan (Athens: Univ. of Georgia Press,
1988). This originally appeared in Italian in 1984 and should be read with
Dronke's strictures on the original ("Laments of the Maries," n. 20) very
much in mind.
As it happens, both the earliest preserved medieval Western passion play
(the "Monte Cassino passion play"; only partly preserved) and what some now
think probably the next oldest (the "Greater [or "Longer"] _Carmina Burana_
passion play") come to us from portions of today's Italy and are in Latin
with vernacular segments as well. English translations exist for both of
these, in:
Robert Edwards, _The_ Montecassino _Passion and the Poetics of Medieval
Drama_ (Univ. of California Press, 1977), pp. 10-21
and
Peter Dronke, ed. and tr., _Nine Medieval Latin Plays_ (Cambridge Univ.
Press, 1994), pp. 185-237.
Relatively recently discovered additions to our knowledge about passion
plays from late medieval Friuli (with important new texts only now
beginning to get mentions in the surveys) are edited and discussed in
Giulio Cattin, "Tra Padova e Cividale: Nuova fonte per la drammaturgia
sacra nel medioevo," _Il Saggiatore musicale_ 1 (1994), 7-112.
Best,
John Dillon
At 01:35 PM 2/18/2004 -0500, Tom Ryan wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>The release date of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is fast
>approaching, and I've received emails worrying about its anti-semitic
>character by comparing it to medieval passion plays. I'm less interested
>in the merits of this movie or even in its comparison to medieval passion
>plays. However, I am interested in scholarship on medieval passion plays
>and medieval Jews. Can anyone recommend bibliography that I might share
>with students and colleagues? Thank you in advance.
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