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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Two of the better known twelfth-century liturgical dramas from monastic sites in continental Europe are or were bilingual (Latin / vernacular): the Monte Cassino Passion Play, which breaks off at the start of a section in Italian, and the Greater Carmina Burana Passion Play, which has many lines in German. I've always thought that these will have been performed for their abbeys' household staffs and perhaps other laity as well as for the choir monks. Best, John Dillon On 11/19/14, John Shinners wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture There's a 14th-century ms from Essen that describes a “Quem quaeritis” Easter interlude for a collegiate church there. After the discovery of the empty tomb, the rubric says “let the people [presumably in the congregation] sing a hymn in German about the Resurrection. This suggest to me that laity must have sometimes been present, otherwise why sing in German? The document is From Karl Young’s The Drama of the Medieval Church v. 1 , pp. 333-35. I’m afraid I only have my translation handy, not the Latin. > > > Best, > John > > > On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Laura Jacobus <[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask])" target="1">[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture My feeling, though it's no more than that, is that early liturgical dramas need to be thought of as participatory dramas ie. there was not necessarily an external audience in the more modern theatrical sense, but nor was there 'no audience': the audience were the performers and vice versa, making it an immersive devotional experience. I'd bet there's a theoretical literature on this somewhere, and someone on the list will know where. I'm pretty sure I've come across work on later dramas by lay devotional confraternities which treats them in this way, and though I know it's not the same thing there are perhaps parallels. > > > > Laura > > > > > > Dr. Laura JacobusSenior Lecturer in History of Art > > Birkbeck College, University of London > > > > > > > > For details of my book on Giotto and the Arena Chapel see http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9781905375127-1 > > > > > > > > > > On 19 November 2014 15:18, John Briggs <[log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose()> wrote: > > > > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > > > > > I think as a general rule there would not have been an audience. There > > > is a complication that matins at Christmas would be a special event - > > > presumably matins would take place very early (midnight-ish - normally > > > matins at a secular > > > cathedral slipped very late!), but there could well have been > > > attendance by other > > > members of the 'cathedral community', which could be surprisingly > > > large. Are you sure that this "theatrical performance" is really > > > liturgical drama? And how late is it? > > > -- > > > John Briggs > > > > > > On 19/11/2014, Jason Burg <[log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose()> wrote: > > > > > > > > I am trying to find information on the office of matins in English > > > > cathedrals from about the 13th century until the reformation. I am looking > > > > at a theatrical performance done in Lincoln cathedral at matins at > > > > Christmas and I am trying to determine if there would have been an audience > > > > for the event besides the men singing the service. This affects my > > > > argument, but I have been unable to find any information or precedents for > > > > the public attending a matins service. > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > > To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME > > > to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() > > > To send a message to the list, address it to: > > > [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() > > > To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion > > > to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() > > > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > > > [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() > > > For further information, visit our web site: > > > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask](javascript:main.compose() For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion > > > > > > -- > John Shinners > Professor, Schlesinger Chair in Humanistic Studies > Saint Mary's College > Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 > Phone: 574-284-4494 or 574-284-4534 > Fax: 284-4855 > www.saintmarys.edu/~hust(http://www.saintmarys.edu/~hust) > > "Learn everything. Later you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141) > > > > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion